Beverley Kort is a registered psychologist by day and a cartoonist in her off hours. She recently took a course in comics journalism at the School for Visual Arts in New York and one of the assignments was to do a local story. Bigsby the Bakehouse is her local bakery in Vancouver and surviving the pandemic is a current topic. She decided to merge these two interests to create this article.
Cauliflower rice, ready to serve. (photo from cookingclassy.com)
With Passover approaching, the meal planning has begun. Looking into my Passover folder for something new to share, I found a few side dishes – and many desserts. I hope you are able to try some of them out, and that you enjoy the ones you do. Chag Pesach sameach!
CAULIFLOWER RICE
(From foodnetwork.com. Makes 4 servings.)
1 large cauliflower separated into 1-inch florets
3 tbsp olive oil
1 finely diced medium onion
1 tsp salt
2 tbsp finely chopped fresh parsley leaves
juice of half a lemon
LEEK PATTIES
(From the Jerusalem Post, April 2015. Makes 12 servings.)
2.2 pounds leeks
1 large, peeled boiling potato
3 large beaten eggs
3 tbsp matzah meal
salt and pepper to taste
oil
PASSOVER SQUASH PUDDING
(From Annice Grinberg. Makes 6 servings.)
2 pounds peeled summer squash
2 peeled carrots
1 1/2 cups matzah farfel or broken matzot
1/4 cup oil
3 eggs, separated
salt to taste
MOM’S CREAM PUFF BUNS
(Makes 9-12 servings.)
2/3 cup water
1/3 cup oil
1/4 tsp salt
1 tbsp sugar
3 eggs
1 cup matzah meal
ALMOND CAKE WITH CITRUS SYRUP
(From Chef Peter Hoffman, in Food & Wine. Makes 6 servings.)
citrus syrup:
2 1/2 tbsp sugar
2 tbsp fresh lemon juice
finely grated zest of half a large lemon
cake:
1 1/2 tsp oil
1 tbsp matzah meal
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 cup ground almonds
1/4 cup finely chopped blanched almonds
finely grated zest of half a large lemon
4 eggs, separated
confectioners sugar (optional)
MIRIAM’S PAREVE ICE CREAM
2 10-ounce packages frozen fruit, slightly thawed (strawberries work very well)
4 egg yolks
6 egg whites
1 cup sugar (if using frozen fruit with added sugar, decrease this amount)
PASSOVER SORBET
4 cups strawberries or other fruit
1/2 cup sugar
1 tbsp lemon juice
1 egg white
Sybil Kaplan is a journalist, author, editor/compiler of 10 kosher cookbooks and a food writer living in Jerusalem. She leads English-language Shuk Walks in Machane Yehuda and writes restaurant features for janglo.net.
Maureen Abood’s verion of ma’amoul. (photo from maureenabood.com)
There are many different Purim foods around the world. In an article from several years ago on aish.com, Dr. Yvette Alt Miller gives recipes for a dozen lesser-known treats. Among them are kreplach, which she describes as a “hidden” food in that the filling is covered up by dough; therefore, it’s appropriate for Purim because of all the hidden aspects in the Purim story.
Other baked treats Miller suggests are French palmiers, to evoke the ears of Haman; Russian kulich, a long, sweet challah loaf, resembling ropes like those Haman wanted to use to hang Mordechai and on which he was hanged; Moroccan Purim bread, boyoja ungola di Purim, using hard-boiled eggs to represent Haman’s eyes; the Bulgarian pasta dish caveos di Aman (Haman’s hair); the Israeli orecchi di Aman (Haman’s twisted ears) and Persian nanbrangl (Haman’s fleas). For all the recipes, visit aish.com/purim_foods_around_the_world.
Here are three other recipes to try. Jews from Syria, Lebanon and Egypt make ma’amoul (which means filled) for Purim – the filling can be nuts (including, but not usually, almonds) or dried fruits, like dates or figs. I’ve also made poppy seed pound cake for the holiday, and my friend (cookbook author) Joan Nathan’s recipe for figs stuffed with walnuts.
MA’AMOUL
(makes 36 cookies)
filling:
1 cup finely chopped nuts (pistachio or walnuts)
1/4 cup sugar
1 tsp orange-blossom water
1 tsp water
dough:
3 cups white flour
1 cup unsalted butter or margarine, cut in pieces
2 tbsp water
1 tbsp orange-blossom water
confectioners’ sugar
POPPY SEED POUND CAKE
1/3 cup poppy seeds
1 cup milk
1 cup margarine
1 cup sugar
4 eggs, separated
1 tsp vanilla
1/2 tsp almond extract
2 1/2 cups flour
1 tsp baking soda
2 tsp baking powder
1/2 cup sugar
1 tbsp cinnamon
FIGS STUFFED WITH WALNUTS
(This recipe comes from Joan Nathan’s Jewish Holiday Kitchen. It makes 6 servings.)
12 dried figs
12 walnut halves
grated coconut (optional)
Open the centre of each fig and place a walnut half inside, then roll the stuffed fig in grated coconut, if using. Place on a dish with other fruit and serve.
Sybil Kaplan is a journalist, author, editor/compiler of nine kosher cookbooks (working on a 10th) and a food writer living in Jerusalem. She leads English-language Shuk Walks in Machane Yehuda and writes restaurant features for janglo.net.
Pumpkin spice snickerdoodles (photo by Greg Dupree, food styling Torie Cox, prop styling Christine Keel / Food & Wine)
November arrives and I think pumpkin. Here in Israel, the d’la’at is amazing. Whole, they are huge in size and weight, cream in colour, with stripes all around.
Pumpkins are a variety of winter squash that belongs to the Cucurbitaceae (or cucurbits) family. Melon, watermelon and cucumber also fall into this category. Technically, pumpkins are fruit but, since they are often eaten in savoury dishes, many people refer to them as vegetables. Just about every part of the pumpkin is edible, including the seeds, their shell, leaves and flowers. Pumpkins are a superfood and are high in iron, packed with vitamins and minerals, and considered natural antioxidants.
But, enough about that and on to some recipes. Forget pie, though, and try these treats for your holiday guests.
The first dessert is pumpkin spice snickerdoodles. I was unfamiliar with snickerdoodles until coming across this recipe by Kelly Fields. Probably German in origin, the name of these sugar cookies could be a corruption of the German word schneckennudel, but notice the word schnecken, popular in Jewish cooking. American cookbook author Joan Nathan tells us: “Schnecken – the word means snail in German – are made of a rich and sweet yeast dough enriched with egg, sour cream and butter. The dough is pressed out in a large rectangle shape, sprinkled with sugar, cinnamon, raisins and ground nuts, and rolled up like a jelly roll. Cut on the cross section, the roll is sliced, baked and served open-side up in small coiled rounds.” Here is my version made pareve with slight changes.
PUMPKIN SPICE SNICKERDOODLES
(Adapted from Food & Wine. Makes 20 cookies.)
1 3/4 cups sugar
2 tbsp cinnamon
1 1/2 tsp cardamom
1/2 tsp nutmeg
1/2 tsp cloves
2 3/4 cups flour
2 tsp cream of tartar
1 tsp baking soda
1 cup unsalted butter or pareve margarine
2 large eggs
1 1/2 tsp orange blossom water or 3/4 tsp orange extract
1 tsp vanilla
BAKED PUMPKIN WEDGES
(While I found this recipe in a newspaper some 40 years ago, it comes from the 1976 cookbook Pumpkin Happy, written by Erik Knud-Hansen and illustrated by Andrea Grumbine. It makes 6 servings.)
1 4-pound pumpkin, cut into wedges, strings and seeds scraped out
1/2 to 3/4 cup pareve margarine
1/4 cup brown sugar or honey
1 tsp cinnamon
PUMPKIN BUTTER
(This butter is great on toast with cream cheese, according to Kelsey Youngman, writing on Food & Wine’s website. This recipe makes 2 1/2 cups.)
1 3-pound pumpkin, stemmed, halved lengthwise and seeded
1 tbsp vegetable oil
1/4 cup apple cider
1/2 cup brown sugar
3 tbsp honey
1 tsp apple cider vinegar
3/4 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp ginger
1/4 tsp nutmeg
a pinch of cloves
Sybil Kaplan is a journalist, editor of nine kosher cookbooks (working on a 10th) and a food writer living in Jerusalem. She leads English-language Shuk Walks in Machane Yehuda.
Syrian doughnuts can be made with a hole, or not. And they are topped with lemon or another type of glaze or syrup, rather than having a jelly filling. (photo from vegankinda.wordpress.com)
One of the things I have enjoyed the most as a food writer is learning the different customs of Jews from around the world. When it comes to doughnuts, all the communities make a dough dessert fried in oil, but there are differences.
Dov Noy, who was an Israeli folklorist and ethnologist, related a Bukhharian fable, which says that the first sufganiya was a sweet given to Adam and Eve as compensation after their expulsion from the Garden of Eden. He says the word sufganiya comes from the Hebrew word sof (meaning end), gan (meaning garden) and Ya (meaning G-d). Thus, the word means, the end of G-d’s garden. According to Noy, this fable was created at the beginning of the 20th century, since sufganiya was a new Hebrew word coined by pioneers.
Some consider sufganiyot, which means sponge-like, to be reminiscent of the sweet, spongy cookies that have been popular along the Mediterranean since the time of the Maccabees. Hebrew dictionaries say the word actually comes from the Greek word sufgan, meaning puffed and fried.
A few months ago, I happened to stop at a vendor in Machane Yehuda, the Jewish market where I shop and lead weekly walks, to ask about a pastry he was selling. He told me it was shvinze. Many years ago, a neighbour had given me her mother’s receipt for shvinze and I share it with you here.
I’ve also included a recipe from another neighbour, who made a similar type of dessert that she learned from her mother, who came from Syria. And the third recipe is for traditional Israeli doughnuts that can be filled or left plain. Talia was 5-and-a-half years old when she gave me this recipe – today, she is the mother of four, a tour guide married to a photographer, and living in the scene of the Chanukah story, Modi’in.
MOROCCAN SHVINZE
1 2/3 tbsp yeast
1/4 cup lukewarm water
a pinch salt
4 cups flour
oil
honey or confectioners’ sugar
SYRIAN ZINGOLE
2 tsp yeast
a few spoons warm water
2 cups flour
1 1/2 cups water
oil
icing:
1 cup sugar
1 cup water
1 1/2 tbsp lemon juice
TALIA’S SUFGANIYOT FOR JUNIOR COOKS
3 1/2 cups flour
1 1/2 cups plain yogurt
2 eggs
2 tbsp sugar
a pinch salt
1/2 tsp vanilla
oil
Sybil Kaplan is a journalist, editor of nine kosher cookbooks (working on a 10th) and a food writer living in Jerusalem. She leads English-language Shuk Walks in Machane Yehuda.
(photo from twopeasandtheirpod.com)
They don’t make ’em like they used to. And, almost without exception, recipes from yesteryear are tastier, precisely because they’re reminiscent of gentler times. When I think Rice Krispie squares, I recall sitting on our old brown couch in the den, watching Ed Sullivan with the whole family. And I longingly remember eating Mom’s cheesy broccoli soufflé during Rosh Hashanah. Or, I’m back in 1966, enjoying a mountain of fried onions with my mother’s world-class chicken livers. And those salmon patties! And how about that creamed tuna in patty shells? Does anybody even eat this stuff anymore? If not, it’s a crying shame.
Maybe it’s a longing for those days when you could send your children out into the neighbourhood armed with only roller skates, in the certainty that they would be back, safe and unharmed, for lunch (or dinner, depending). A time when TV dinners were acceptable and ubiquitous. (I especially liked the one with fried chicken, corn, peas and tiny, unnaturally square carrots, mashed potatoes and canned pears/peaches.) I remember when an hourglass figure was desirable, and women actually ate to their fill. Of course, most of them smoked, too, but that’s a whole other column. I’m talking food right now. Uncomplicated, unapologetic, unfussy food. Anybody remember chip steaks? How about fondue? Sloppy Joes? Pineapple upside down cake? Aspic (now that’s one heinous creation)?
What’s old can always be new again. Especially if you’re willing to look the other way when it comes to nutrition, calories and cholesterol. Some of my favourite desserts are classic 1950s and ’60s numbers. In other words, any recipes that call for Jello or Dream Whip. And, preferably, have fewer than five ingredients.
My dad, alav hashalom, loved one particular dessert I made. Not that my repertoire was so enormous back then, but, still, it was always a winner with Dad. He’d take one bite and look at me like I’d just discovered fire. It was an easy (understatement of the millennium) recipe given to me by a woman I used to work with when I was a librarian at West Kildonan Library, in the North End of Winnipeg. Naturally, I just call it Liz Westlake’s Jello Dessert. I don’t make it very often, because I’m afraid of being shamed by my fancy foodie friends. But, occasionally, I break down and splurge. Let it be known, however, that no one – I repeat, no one – ever turns down a second piece of this dessert. It’s quaint, refreshing and … old-fashioned.
LIZ WESTLAKE’S JELLO DESSERT
1 can (398 ml or 14 oz) fruit cocktail (drained)
1 1/3 cup Graham cracker crumbs
1/3 cup melted butter
1/4 cup brown sugar
1 box cherry Jello
Preheat oven to 375°F. Mix the Graham cracker crumbs together with the melted butter and brown sugar and pat it into the bottom of a springform pan. Bake for five to seven minutes.
Make the Jello according to the instructions on the box and, when half congealed, but still smooth enough to stir (approximately 1 1/4 hours), add the drained fruit cocktail to the Jello and mix it together. Pour this on top of the Graham cracker crust and refrigerate until completely firm. (If you want to get really fancy shmancy, you can put whipped cream on top. I don’t – I’m a purist.)
Even the most kitchen-challenged soul can make this dessert. And I guarantee it’s a winner, especially on a hot day. Once again, you’re welcome.
Now to a sturdier sweet – the ubiquitous chocolate chip zucchini brownie. Anyone who grows zucchini knows that it can take over your entire garden. If you let it. This is all hearsay, of course, since I’m known far and wide to have a black thumb. But I read a lot. And I’ve heard of people whose gardens produce so much zucchini that they sneak out in the dead of night and drop bags of zucchini on neighbours’ doorsteps, then flee into the darkness, nary a trace of their identity to be found. Personally, I just buy mine at Safeway. But I’m getting off track. This dessert is easy, healthy (OK, let’s just say it’s in the general vicinity of health) and satisfying for those with a hankering for chocolate.
CHOCOLATE CHIP ZUCCHINI BROWNIES
1 1/2 cup white sugar
1/2 cup canola oil or vegetable oil
2 cups all-purpose flour
1/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
2 cups shredded zucchini (but don’t squeeze out the liquid)
2 tsp vanilla extract
1 tsp salt (or a little less)
1 1/2 tsp baking soda
1 1/4 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips
Preheat oven to 350°F. Grease a 9”x13” baking pan and set it aside.
In an electric stand mixer, or using a hand mixer, combine the sugar, oil and flour. It will look dry, but that’s OK. While mixing on low speed, add the cocoa, shredded zucchini, vanilla, salt and baking soda. Mix until well combined. Stir in the chocolate chips.
Pour the batter into the greased pan and bake for 28 to 32 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the centre comes out clean. The brownies should look set, not mushy. Cool completely on a wire rack. Cut into squares and serve.
Don’t even consider asking me how many calories there are in one square. Think of it as a serving of vegetables. I mean, there is something green in there. Beigey-green? For goodness sake, just enjoy, and stop with the guilt. They’re a nice, moist alternative to regular brownies and you get to feel all high and mighty because they’re [semi] healthy.
If neither of these desserts float your boat, try making your own popsicles. Nothing spells old-school quite like those plastic popsicle molds with the multi-coloured tops. You can over-spend and get the molds at one of those highfalutin, hoity-toity kitchen stores, or you can rock it like it’s 1964 and buy them at your local dollar store. I chose Door #2, and it works just fine. (There’s also the ice-cube tray option, with toothpicks as the popsicle sticks.) There are a gazillion recipes for popsicles on the internet, most of them calling for Greek yogurt, frozen fruit, juice and honey. Check ’em out and keep cool.
Shelley Civkin, aka the Accidental Balabusta, is a happily retired librarian and communications officer. For 17 years, she wrote a weekly book review column for the Richmond Review. She’s currently a freelance writer and volunteer.
Mandy Silverman (photo from mandyliciouschallah.com)
Dozens of eager bakers joined Mandy Silverman, aka Mandylicious, for an evening of “thinking inside the braid,” as she shared various ways of making babkas – as well as her enthusiasm towards them – during a Zoom class hosted by Congregation Schara Tzedeck before Passover.
Silverman, a self-described “carbololgist,” is founder of Mandylicous Challah in Sharon, Mass. She was accompanied in this pre-Pesach virtual baking binge – titled Babkalicious with Mandylicious – by her husband and assistant, Dannylicious. The setting was their East Coast kitchen, where, by the time the first ingredients hit the mixing bowl, it was past 10 p.m., for them.
She demonstrated both traditional and new-wave babkas: the first, a standard babka twist filled with chocolate and, the second, shaped like a flower and filled with cookie dough. The secret for the latter’s filling is brown sugar, Silverman confided.
Throughout the presentation, she provided the audience with numerous pointers regarding the dough. Her recipes called for a more glutenous flour, one that is called bread flour – as opposed to all-purpose flour – which “helps the dough ball up easier.” Early on, she emphasized the importance of using instant yeast, which “means that it can just be added in with the rest of the ingredients in no particular order.” She suggested one should avoid quick-rise or rapid-rise yeasts, except when there is no alternative available.
“You can use it – you just have to proof it first. To proof active dry yeast, use the same amount (one tablespoon) but add it to one-third cup [of] 40ºC water and a pinch of sugar, and mix. When it bubbles, the yeast has been activated and can be added to the rest of the ingredients. Use one-third cup less water in the rest of the recipe,” she said.
“Dough consistency is crucial,” she stressed. “Dough that is too wet will be hard to shape and won’t bake properly. Dough that is too dry will not rise well and [will] taste dense and floury. The goal is to create a cohesive ball of dough that is not floury to the touch. Dough consistency can vary from kitchen to kitchen based on weather, humidity levels and type of flour used. You can get your dough to the proper consistency simply by adding flour or water, one or two tablespoons at a time, as the dough comes together, before the first rise – dough consistency will not improve as the dough rises.
“If you are finding that you are having to add a lot of flour, try using one-third cup less water at first and adding more as necessary,” she added. “After the first rise, dough can be refrigerated for up to five days or frozen for up to a month.”
Completely self-taught, Silverman became curious about baking after a family friend in her hometown of St. Louis would not divulge the recipe of a challah filled with honey. Before then, she confessed, she had never made anything with yeast, but decided to face the challenge.
Silverman started Mandylicious in 2013. During American Thanksgiving that November, which coincided with Chanukah, she posted an image of a turkey-shaped challah with a pumpkin-flavoured stuffing on Facebook. The image was so widely shared that people drove from as far away as New Hampshire and Maryland to purchase her challah. Since then, she has created more than 300 challah and babka recipes and has developed a worldwide following, including more than 33,000 Instagram followers.
Her fearlessness with challah and babka indicates that nearly all things can go well with the right dough. Among her culinary inventions, which she has described as “a diving board into carbs,” are Buffalo chicken challah, salami challah, pistachio pesto-stuffed challah and a red-velvet Christmas challah. Recent variations posted on her Instagram page have included challah French toast with a caramel core, rainbow-coloured challah (with rainbow sprinkles) and a strawberry and vanilla babka with a Fruity Pebbles crust.
Besides selling challah and babka and teaching classes, Silverman loves sharing recipes and tips, and supporting others who want to make their own challah. In the Boston area, Mandylicious offers a rotating assortment of gourmet challot. She uses 100% kosher and dairy-free ingredients and keeps a kosher kitchen.
For the recipes covered during the March 18 lesson, go to images.shulcloud.com/197/uploads/MandyliciousBabkaClass-Vancouver.pdf. Silverman is open to questions and can be direct messaged @mandyliciouschallah on Instagram.
Silverman’s class was part of the eight-part Schara Tzedeck Speaker Series. Two speakers remain: Rabbi Dr. Edward Reichman, a professor at Montefiore Medical Centre and the Albert Einstein College of Medicine, on April 11; and Judaics educator Michal Horowitz, from Five Towns, N.Y., on April 25. The Zooms start at 7 p.m. Register via scharatzedeck.com.
Sam Margolis has written for the Globe and Mail, the National Post, UPI and MSNBC.
The holiday of Chamisha Asar b’Shevat or Tu b’Shevat is not mentioned in the Torah but makes its first appearance in the Talmud, where it is called Rosh Hashanah l’Ilan (New Year of the Tree).
Jewish literature of the sixth to 11th centuries identifies Tu b’Shevat as the day on which the fate of the trees and fruit is decided. The holiday gets its name from when it occurs. “Tu” is an acronym for the Hebrew letter tet, which in the Hebrew system of counting is nine, and the letter vav, which is six, thus adding up to 15, the day on which the holiday falls in the month of Shevat.
The date was chosen when the rabbinic schools of Hillel and Shammai (from the time of the Second Temple) argued about the dates. Hillel said it fell on the 15th of Shevat; Shammai said it began on the first. Hillel’s opinion prevailed because it was thought that, by the later date, the winter rains in Israel were almost over.
Tu b’Shevat links Jews to the land of Eretz Yisrael. In the time of the Second Temple, on the 15th of Shevat, Jewish farmers would estimate their obligatory tithes for tax collectors, as well as other contributions that Jewish law required. In effect, Tu b’Shevat was the beginning of the new fiscal year.
Part of the celebration is a seder with certain foods.
In her book The Jewish Holiday Cookbook, Gloria Kaufer Greene mentions that the drinking of four cups of wine at the seder symbolizes the changing of seasons. She suggests that the first cup is chilled, dry, white wine, to symbolize winter. The second cup of wine is pale, perhaps a rosé, and signifies spring and the early thaw. The third cup of wine is deeply coloured, like a dark rose, and represents the late spring and the blossoming trees. The fourth cup of wine is rich and red and stands for the fertility of summer.
In between drinking, one eats fruit in order of “ascending spirituality.” After the first cup of wine, one eats fruit with inedible coverings, like almonds, avocado, banana or melon, to represent the body covering the soul. After the second cup, one eats fruit with pits, such as plum, prune, date, apricot, olive or carob, to symbolize the heart being protected. After the third cup of wine, one eats fruit that can be eaten in its entirety, such as berry, apple, pear or fig, because they are closest to the pure spiritual creation.
In Encyclopedia of Jewish Food, the late Rabbi Gil Marks lists different ethnic dishes for the holiday, including borleves, Hungarian wine soup; salata latsheen, Moroccan orange salad; dimlama, Bulgarian vegetable and fruit stew; savo, Bukharian baked rice and fruit; gersht un shveml, Ashkenazi barley with mushrooms, fruit strudels and fruit kugels; and schnitzelkloese, German fried dumplings with fruit. Food customs associated with Tu b’Shevat are fruits and nuts connected to Eretz Yisrael, such as the seven species mentioned in Deuteronomy 8:7-8 – barley, wheat, figs, dates, grapes, olives and pomegranates.
Here are a couple of my fruit recipes. The first is one that a friend gave me about 40 years ago.
CREAMY FRUIT SALAD
6-8 servings
2-3 cut up apples
1-2 peeled, cut-up oranges
2-3 cut-up bananas
1/4 cup coconut
1/4 cup chopped nuts
3/8 cup sour cream or 3/4 cup lemon yogurt
1 1/2 tbsp sugar or whipped cream
1/8 cup orange juice
3/8 cup vanilla yogurt
raisins (optional)
Combine apples, orange and bananas in a bowl. Add coconut and nuts. Combine sour cream or lemon yogurt, sugar or whipped cream, orange juice and vanilla yogurt. Pour over fruit and refrigerate.
I have altered this recipe at times and use pareve whipping cream to make it pareve, leaving out the sour cream/yogurt.
HOT SPICED FRUIT
4 servings
6 peaches, pears or apricots, halved
1/2 cup red wine
2 tbsp sugar
dash cloves
1/8 tsp cinnamon
dash cardamom
3/4 tsp grated orange peel
Combine wine, sugar, cloves, cinnamon, cardamom and orange peel in a saucepan. Add fruit and cook 15-20 minutes. Drain and reserve liquid. Chill fruit. Serve with vanilla ice cream. Spoon sauce on top.
Sybil Kaplan is a journalist, lecturer, book reviewer and food writer in Jerusalem. She created and leads the weekly English-language Shuk Walks in Machane Yehuda, she has compiled and edited nine kosher cookbooks, and is the author of Witness to History: Ten Years as a Woman Journalist in Israel.
These loaded sweet potatoes were satisfyingly filling. (photo by Ingrid Weisenbach)
In a word: yum. I tried out four recipes in The Tahini Table: Go Beyond Hummus with 100 Recipes for Every Meal by Amy Zitelman with Andrew Schloss. All were delicious. All worth making. I will definitely bring more tahini into my life, but not every day, as the meals are somewhat complicated to make; at least they were for me.
Published by Surrey Books, an imprint of Agate Publishing, the cookbook is gorgeous. The colour photos by Jillian Guyette and the overall look and layout make The Tahini Table as much eye-candy as cooking guide. The first chapter is all about tahini – what it is, how to use and store it, with a foray into hummus and halvah and ingredients one should have close at hand, such as avocados, various oils, garlic and onion, yogurt, different vinegars, date syrup, etc. There is a relatively helpful instruction on how to mince garlic and a section on herbs and spices. Each recipe is labeled with the diets with which it is aligned; vegan or gluten-free or Paleo, for example.
There are six chapters, covering sauces, dips, breakfasts, lunch-type food and sides, main courses and, finally, desserts. While Zitelman promises easy and quick recipes – and perhaps they are if you do as recommended and stock up on the sauces, dressings and dips – I was starting from scratch. The two mains – the benedict and the sweet potatoes – each took almost two hours to make. Only once I started did I see, for example, that one of the benny recipe ingredients was pickled red onion, carrot or radish … go to page 127. So, off to make that before I could proceed. Oh, and don’t be fooled, as I was, by the directions for the pickles – for the benedict, you only need to make pickled onions, so adjust accordingly, unless you’re also wanting to have the carrots and radishes for other purposes. (In the end, I was happy to have made all three, but I was quite hangry while making them.)
Zitelman, who is a co-founder with her sisters of Soom Foods, writes in the introduction, “we founded Soom Foods with a vision that tahini would be a staple pantry item in the American market simply because it is a delicious, nutritious and versatile ingredient. Although this ambition was somewhat far-fetched at the time, tahini is increasingly recognized as a superfood that is rich in omega-6 fatty acids, protein and calcium.” More reason, if I needed it, to experiment further with the recipes in The Tahini Table. Here are the ones I’ve kitchen-tested so far, sans Zitelman’s informative and delightful preambles or suggestions, because of space limitations.
TAHINI BENEDICT
(serves two)
sauce
2 large egg yolks
1 tbsp freshly squeezed lemon juice
1⁄4 cup premium tahini paste
1⁄2 garlic clove, chopped
1⁄4-1⁄2 tsp sea salt
2-3 tbsp boiling water
eggs
1 tomato, cut into 4 rounds
3 tsp extra virgin olive oil, divided
fine sea salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste
1⁄2 tsp ground cumin
1 tbsp white vinegar
4 large eggs
assembly
2 English muffins, split and toasted
1⁄2 cup pickled red onion, carrot or radish (see below)
To make the sauce: Fill a blender with very hot tap water to warm up the container. Wait five minutes, then drain. Add the egg yolks, lemon juice, tahini, garlic, salt and two tablespoons boiling water. Blend on medium speed until just combined, about 30 seconds. If the sauce is too thick, add the remaining one tablespoon of boiling water and blend to combine. Set aside.
To make the eggs: Turn on the broiler to high and position the broiler rack as close to the heating element as it will go.
Coat the tomato rounds with two teaspoons of the oil and set on a broiler pan. Season with salt and pepper and sprinkle on the cumin. Broil until the surface is speckled but the tomato is still firm, about three minutes.
Meanwhile, fill a 10- to 12-inch skillet with water and bring to a boil over medium heat. Add the vinegar.
Crack each egg into a separate cup or ramekin. Gently slip each egg from its cup into the water. Turn the heat to medium-low so that the water in the pan barely simmers.
Poach the eggs until the whites are set and the yolks remain creamy, about two minutes.
To assemble: Put an English muffin on each plate. Top each half with a broiled tomato. Use a slotted spatula to remove each egg from the water, wait a few seconds to let any extra water drain back into the pan, then place it on the tomato. Top each with sauce and a little pile of pickled red onion. Serve immediately.
QUICK PICKLES
(makes about three cups)
6 carrots, peeled and julienned
1 red onion, peeled and very thinly sliced
12 red summer radishes, trimmed and thinly sliced
1 1⁄2 cups apple cider vinegar
1 1⁄2 cups water
6 tbsp honey
1 tbsp fine sea salt
1⁄2 tsp crushed red pepper
Put each of the cut veggies in their own pint container.
In a small saucepan, combine the vinegar, water, honey, salt and crushed red pepper and bring to a boil over medium-high heat. Pour a third of the pickling mixture over each of the veggies. Let cool for about 30 minutes before serving.
Store in closed containers in the refrigerator for up to two weeks.
LOADED TAHINI SWEET POTATOES
(serves four)
1 leek, trimmed, halved lengthwise, thinly sliced (white and pale green parts)
1 (15-ounce) can chickpeas, rinsed and drained
2 tbsp extra-virgin olive oil, divided
1 garlic clove, minced with coarse sea salt
1 tsp ground coriander
1⁄2 tsp ground cumin
1⁄2 tsp smoked paprika
pinch ground cinnamon
fine sea salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste
4 medium sweet potatoes, halved lengthwise
1 bunch lacinato kale, coarsely chopped
1 cup orange-rosemary tahini sauce (see below)
12 cherry tomatoes, quartered
1⁄4 cup chopped fresh
flat-leaf parsley
hot sauce, to taste
Turn the oven to 400ºF.
Toss the leek and chickpeas with one tablespoon of the olive oil on a rimmed sheet pan. Add the garlic, coriander, cumin, paprika, cinnamon, salt and pepper and toss to coat everything evenly. Push the leek and chickpea mixture to the edges of the sheet pan.
Rub the cut surfaces of the sweet potatoes with the remaining one tablespoon of olive oil and season with salt and pepper. Put the sweet potatoes, cut-side down, in the centre of the sheet pan. Bake until the potatoes are fork-tender, about 45 minutes.
While the potatoes are baking, boil the kale in a good amount of salted water until tender, about 10 minutes.
When the potatoes are tender, put two halves on each plate and flatten them with the back of a large fork. Transfer the kale to the sheet pan and toss with the chickpeas and leeks. Drizzle some of the tahini sauce over the potatoes and pile the veggies on top. Top with more tahini sauce and the tomatoes, parsley and hot sauce.
ORANGE-ROSEMARY TAHINI SAUCE
(makes about 2 cups)
1 tbsp extra-virgin olive oil
2 tbsp finely chopped fresh rosemary leaves
2 garlic cloves, minced with coarse sea salt
grated zest and juice of 1 orange (about 1⁄3 cup)
2 tbsp freshly squeezed lemon juice
1 cup premium tahini paste
1 tsp ground cumin
3⁄4 cup ice-cold water
Heat the olive oil in a small skillet over medium heat just until warm, less than a minute. Stir in the rosemary, remove from the heat and give it 10 minutes or so to cool down and get flavourful.
Meanwhile, combine the garlic, orange juice and lemon juice in a medium bowl. Let it sit for one to two minutes. Whisk the orange zest, tahini and cumin into the garlic mixture until just combined. Don’t worry if it gets thick and grainy. Whisk in the water, a quarter cup at a time, until the sauce is smooth and creamy. It should be the consistency of a creamy salad dressing, like ranch.
Stir the cooled rosemary oil into the tahini.
Store in a closed container in the refrigerator for up to three days.
TEHINA REGINA COOKIES
(makes about 40 cookies)
1⁄2 cup premium tahini paste
1 cup granulated sugar
3 large eggs
1 1⁄2 tsp vanilla extract
1⁄8 tsp almond extract [optional, I’d say, as I could barely taste it]
2 1⁄4 cups all-purpose flour
2 1⁄2 tsp baking powder
1⁄2 tsp fine sea salt
1⁄4 tsp ground cardamom
1 cup white sesame seeds
Mix the tahini and sugar in a large bowl until well combined. Beat in the eggs, vanilla and almond extract until the mixture is smooth.
Mix the flour, baking powder, salt and cardamom in a medium bowl, then stir the flour mixture into the batter just until there are no visible dry spots. The dough will be very stiff. Wrap it in plastic and refrigerate for at least one hour or as long as 24 hours.
Set two oven racks near the centre of the oven. Turn the oven to 350ºF. Line two sheet pans with parchment paper or silicone baking mats.
Put the sesame seeds in wide bowl. Scoop the dough with a one-tablespoon measure and arrange as mounds on a big sheet of aluminum foil, plastic wrap or parchment. Wet your hands and roll the mounds into egg-shaped ovals. As each one is made, coat all over with sesame seeds and place on the prepared pans, about one inch apart. You will probably get 13 to 14 cookies per pan.
Bake until golden brown, about 10 minutes. Cool the cookies for two minutes on the pans, then transfer them to wire racks to cool completely. When the pans are at room temperature again, form the remaining batter into cookies and bake in the same way.
Store in a closed container at room temperature for up to two weeks.
Blueberry Bottom Pie is garnished with blueberries and fresh mint. (photo from pxfuel.com)
When I think of summer, I think of fresh fruit. When I think of fresh fruit, I think of pies. Early pies may have originated with Egyptian cakes and ancient Greek pasties filled with fruit. According to Wikipedia, Medieval England had sweet pies, but they were called tarts, and fruit pies were unsweetened, because sugar was a rare and costly “symbol of wealth.” Also according to Wiki, a pie could have a number of items as its filling, but a pastry would have only a single filling. Fruit pie recipes began appearing in the 15th century. Here are recipes for three of my favourite fruit pies.
PEACH PIE
1 1/2 pounds seeded, sliced peaches
1 cup sugar
2 tbsp unsalted butter or margarine
2 tbsp flour
2 large eggs
pinch nutmeg
nine-inch crust (bought or homemade)
BLUEBERRY BOTTOM PIE
2 packages vanilla pudding
1 1/4 cups milk or non-dairy creamer or soymilk
1 1/2 cups pureed blueberries
1/2 tsp cinnamon
2 tsp grated lemon rind
1 baked nine-inch pie shell
3 1/2 cups kosher whipped topping
blueberries and mint leaves for garnishes
FAUX CHERRY COBBLER
(Cobblers generally have a dough-like topping dropped on top of fruit. This cobbler is more like a pie).
2 cups pitted cherries
1 cup sugar
1 cup flour
1 1/2 tbsp baking powder
1 cup milk or soymilk
2 1/2 tbsp melted butter or margarine
brown sugar
Sybil Kaplan is a journalist, lecturer, book reviewer and food writer in Jerusalem. She created and leads the weekly English-language Shuk Walks in Machane Yehuda, she has compiled and edited nine kosher cookbooks, and is the author of Witness to History: Ten Years as a Woman Journalist in Israel.
