jaynesb

Francois Payard's sweet tarte dough (the one with the confectioner's sugar) worked ok as a crust for me last year. I can't remember if I was just "settling." I did put the recipe in my save pile though..... I guess I'm already losing my mind. But you might not be looking for a sweet dough. Forgot to mention that my substitution was to use cake meal in place of the flour. jayne

This is wonderful. Thank you so much for sharing it. Last year was the first time I hosted and I really didn't quite have it all together (plus my mother was in the hospital until about 4 days before so things were a little crazy.) I do have a shopping list and I'm mostly on schedule having bought a lot of non-perishables. However, I didn't really have a game plan. Your suggestions will definitely help me over some of those rough spots. Thank you again. jayne

I've never tried making them but here are 2 sources for recipes Alford and Duguid's "Home Baking" book contains a recipe for them (meat version) A tiny paperback by Betty Jung, "The Kopan Cookbook." (Subtitled "Vegetarian Recipes from A Tibetan Monastery") It contains recipes for potato as well as vegetable momos. The momo sauce is also in there. The book itself is a little hard to find but some of the recipes can be found online by searching for Kopan. Sorry, no help here on the meat version though. jayne

I've been trying out dessert recipes. No more sponge cakes for me. (And it's not even Passover yet!) My husband thinks I'm crazy and that I should just put all the ingredients directly into the garbage and save myself some time. Every time he turns around, he sees me buying eggs. And I'm just making half-recipes!! Most recent success story: I found 2 spectacular-looking but dairy Passover recipes by Master Pastry Chef Delphin Gomes Passover Baking Here's the interesting part though. The Lemon Supreme Sponge Cake recipe contains a really good cake layer recipe. We're talking basic yellow cake like you'd want for a frosted layer cake. Not "potato-starch/egg-white squishy" at all. The small amount of butter can easily be replaced with margarine. I dropped the amount of cake meal and made some other minor modifications. If anybody has any suggestions, I'd welcome them. I'm pretty happy with this cake though and am thinking of what to do with it now. (I did divide the recipe in half for testing purposes.) .... all those eggs!! I think that the reason for all the zest is that the lemons get used for the rest of the mousse/curd in the original recipe but I left them in anyway. For a single 8-inch layer: 1 1/2 Tbsp unsalted margarine melted 2/3 cup cake meal 1/4 tsp salt zest of 3 lemons or 1/2 tsp vanilla extract 4 whole eggs - room temperature 4 egg yolks - room temperature 1 cup sugar 1 Tbsp lemon juice Preheat oven to 350F. Line an 8-inch round pan with parchment on the bottom and grease the sides. Combine cake meal, salt, and zest, (if using) in a small bowl. In another bowl, combine melted margarine, lemon juice, and vanilla (if using). Beat eggs, yolks, and sugar in an electric mixer or with an electric hand-mixer, until mixture is thick and a creamy pale yellow. Fold in cake meal. Gently fold in margarine mixture. Put in pan and bake about 30 minutes or until cake springs back and toothpick comes out clean. Let cool 10 minutes in pan on rack and then take out of pan to finish cooling. Jayne

I'm also trying out the farfel muffins from Grandma Yetta (z''l) I have a question. Since they're a family tradition, I realize that storage is probably not a consideration or an issue for you. However, I was wondering how far ahead of time I'd be able to make them and how best to store them. (Do you think they'd be able to be frozen?) jayne

One hint if you are roasting/steaming golden beets in their skin. I found that the beautiful golden color turned gray if I left the beets in their skins too long after they were done cooking. I was cooking them in tin foil so I'm not sure if the tin foil caused the problem but when I tried peeling them without waiting too long, they kept the nice color. jayne

The gingerbread ones were yummy. Thank you again, bloviatrix, for the recipe. I had some extra dough scraps and decided to try a two tone cookie. (If there is a hamantaschen police, I'll probably be reported.) Anyway, I was aiming for a kind of spiral looking cookie so I rolled out 2 rectangles of dough, put one on top of the other and rolled them up and sliced them. I didn't make the log fat enough. I should have remembered what diameter I needed for my circles. So after I made slices, I had to flatten them a bit which blurred the spiral a bit. They still came out kind of cool looking. The prettiest ones had a kind of "trim" that surrounded the filling. The less pretty ones had a marble effect or something like the Gateway Computer cow pattern. The underneath side looked very cool though, with a spiral pattern, even though nobody really looks at the underside. The apricot filling was also kind of clear so you could see a bit of pattern from the top. All in all, I'd probably try it again but with a chocolate dough and a plain dough. Maybe just go for the "trim" effect. It would be less alarming to the traditionalists. Happy Purim everyone! jayne

I hadn't told my husband I was considering an ice-cream maker for Passover. He laughed at me last year when I bought a kitchen-aid and a candy/deep fry thermometer (but then he stopped laughing when he started eating.) So I'm so happy to hear you all discussing them. I've had a lot of success adapting recipes from Alice Medrich's "Chocolate and the Art of Low-Fat Baking" for Passover. There is a chocolate walnut torte and a fallen chocolate souffle cake that look very elegant and only called for small amounts of flour in the first place. Since they also didn't call for fats, I don't have to deal with the margarine taste/non-taste. They've gone over really well despite not being created as Passover recipes. So when I found that "A Year in Chocolate" contains recipes specifically intended for Passover, I was ready to give them a try. We did a taste test of the Chocolate Nut Sponge Torte last week. Big success. Flavor comes from almonds, chocolate, instant coffee, and orange zest. (amazon.com happens to have the book and it has the search inside the book enabled for anybody curious about the recipe.) The other recipes are a gateau and brownies. I'm also planning on making candied orange and grapefruit peels. They were very popular last year on the cookie tray. jayne

Hi everyone, I'm trying the bloviatrix's gingerbread ones now. (Just put one batch in the oven.) I chopped up some dried apricots and added them to apricot preserves which I've done in the past. The apricot bits plump up a bit and I can use a little more filling without the boil-over problem. The kitchen smells really wonderful. Then I'm off to pack Purim baskets at our synagogue. (I'll be making some of the plain kind later with my children. Not only are they not going to be interested in the gingerbread ones but they don't even want filling in the ones they do eat.) jayne

Cook's Illustrated did a piece about making fresh lemonade. Some of the more interesting suggestions involved mashing halved lemons with sugar a little to get some of the lemon oil flavor. But you can't mash too much or the flavor turns bitter. Also, it was possible to come up with a kind of a lemon/sugar concentrate liquid that could be diluted or poured over ice as needed. Tremendous storage advantages to this approach. I didn't make huge batches but found that my potato ricer was a good squeezer. I have one of the Kitchen-Aid (stand-mixer) juicer attachments and remember reading that most folks set aside that strainer part of it because it filled up too fast. They did their own straining at the end. I found it a bit messy to use and it would have been nice to have something under my hand as I held onto the fruit. Good luck however you go about this. jayne

We are invited to my sister-in-law's house. Not sure what she'll be making but she's always looking out for my husband because she knows he usually gets a veggie Shabbos dinner. jayne

I second the recommendation. It's a fantastic place. From the outside, it looks like a storefront with a purple neon sign. So you might not think there's much going on inside but the food there is really wonderful. The food is very fresh, served very quickly. Chai is probably an exception because it of the way it needs to be prepared. I think that they make their own chutneys, pickles, and yogurts, but I'm not sure. My husband always gets Pondicherry (spelling?) Masala Dosa and the person taking the order makes sure we know that it is very spicy. I try different things all the time but often have a Masala Dosa. I'm fascinated by all the different shapes that the Dosas are folded/cut/rolled. We also like the tamarind rice and bhel puri but can't always order these because we get too full. The rasam is especially good for clearing out sinuses. One spoon is usually all I can take of it. For the thali, there is a weekly schedule. I don't think it's listed anywhere though. This is a very good opportunity to try out different items on the menu. The ordering of the dishes on the tray is also done intentionally, although I'm not sure of the real reason. One day, I rotated the tray around a little to taste something out of one of the little dishes. I then asked someone to tell me about what I was eating and he rotated the tray back as he described it to me! I'm usually there once or twice a month. When we go as a family, my children eat the plain roti and plain rice and they are happy with ginger ale. (Of course, we have "plain pasta" kids so seeing them eat anything is a bonus.) When I go alone, for the thali lunch, I usually bring along a book or newspaper. I would like to add that the people who work there are very kind. (Also, that if you want a peek into the kitchen, just head to the restrooms. There's a kitchen doorway that you will pass and you can see a very tidy kitchen.) For what it's worth, the Hicksville LIRR station is not too far away. Also, in addition to the groceries listed in the original message, there is a nearby Patel Brother grocery that I like. (Recommendation: look up Suvir Saran's bhel puri recipe on egullet and pick up bhel mix and chutneys to make it at home.) jayne

Every once in a while, I make something that causes my husband to say "It's times like this that I become even more aware that I married a vegetarian." It seemed like a good idea. Something worthy of preparing for a vegetarian Thanksgiving entree. (I think it was from the SF Chronicle online but I've already tossed/deleted everything associated with the recipe.) I figured it was worth a try. In the end, there was way too much going on in it. Layers of flour-dredged butternut squash were sauteeed, cabbage was seasoned and also sauteed, onions caramelized and combined with swiss chard, thinly sliced cooked potatoes. All this was layered with some cheese. I should have seen it coming. It came out of the oven looking pretty much the same as it did when it went in. Ultimately, we each tasted a bit and headed for other things on the table. Steve made references to the Gallery of Regrettable Foods (now a book, previously http://www.lileks.com/institute/gallery/ .) Then he ate what was left of the swiss chard lasagna I'd prepared for my children. I went back for more challah and cut-up veggies. Oh, well..... I promised something better for next week. jayne

Mmmm thyme honey. My husband and I went to the Greek Islands (and then Rome) for our honeymoon and enjoyed fresh fruit with thick Greek yogurt and honey drizzled over it. So yogurt with honey brings back some very special memories for us. (There are some special sheep milk Greek yogurts but if you can drain yogurt in a coffee filter/strainer for a cheater method.) The first honey I bought was a brand called Thymelli but I haven't seen it lately. I now have a 900 gram can of Dinas brand Cretan thyme honey that I'm working my way through. (I keep the whole can in a giant ziplock.) My little honey jar gets refilled as needed. Winter in NY makes the honey ridiculously thick. Huge amounts come up with the honey dripper. jayne

I got a tilt-head kitchen-aid for use during Passover (wonderful for all that veggie grating and beating of eggs.) My friends and relatives think I'm a bit crazy but I was happy to have a new toy. My older one is bowl-lift and I didn't really take the height of my upper cabinets into account when I bought the second mixer. I can't tilt the head up when the mixer is pushed back to the wall. It's not a big problem for the week or so when I actually need it but it might be something to think about. jayne

We're going to be 6 adults, 2 kids and an infant tonight. Challah (braided by one of my daughters) and 2 rolls (unusual yes, but we have twins who each want a roll so we do it this way.) Onion soup from my mother (usually, it contains a lot of wine...) lentil stew with eggplant, mint, and pomegranate (I'm using an interesting Indian bean called moat or moth, it looks like a roundish lentil and it seems to be holding it's shape.) rice to go with the stew plain pasta and cooked zucchini (for the 7-year olds) cheerios roasted strips red peppers with garlic and aleppo pepper salad with mustard vinaigrette apple tarte tatin (it's a dairy meal) One of the guests for the evening is either Russian or Greek Orthodox and she has some interesting dietary restrictions. Today she cannot have meat, fish, eggs, or dairy. Shopping is simplified a bit for her because she can look for pareve foods but then she has to check for the egg!! (At least one time during the year, olive oil is not permitted in addition to the other restrictions. I can't quite figure that out unless it was considered a luxury item.) Shabbat Shalom everyone jayne

I don't usually do lots of muffin tin greasing but it occurred to me that maybe a 2-beater hand-mixer could be rigged up as a muffin greaser if only one wand was popped in. (I'm sure it would invalidate the warranty and there are probably safety considerations but it seems no more unsafe than a drill and the cheap mixers are usually under $20 anyway.) jayne

Mushrooms for Shabbat for us also!! We're having a mushroom cobbler (Anna Thomas recipe) It's got caramelized onions, fresh mushrooms, rehydrated porcini, red wine and the topping is kind of a biscuit with Parmesan in it. Salad (probably arugula) Dessert will be some pieces of an already-started but very yummy pear tarte tatin Shabbat Shalom everyone. jayne p.s. anybody know a good way to get those little thyme leaves off the stalks? Every time I do it, I think to myself, "there has to be a better way."

Cobblers and vegetable tarts work well. I made one with celery root, other vegetables, and a kind of bechamel sauce earlier this year. Also bean stews are good. I mentioned a lentil stew with pomegranate molasses and mint earlier in this thread. It's yummy, easy, and works at almost all temperatures. It also benefits from being made a day early. I've adapted a Moroccan Stew recipe that I found in a Moosewood cookbook and adding lots of root veggies (parsnips are especially good) and some preserved lemon. We like that a lot. jayne

I have one of those plastic step shelving things in my cabinet. (Kind of like stadium seating) It's not ideal but it works ok with my ordering method. http://www.bedbathandbeyond.com/product.as...10166667&RN=205 I've got spices/herbs in a pseudo-alphabetical order with the stuff I use the most in the front row. (cinnamon, ground cumin, cumin seed, oregano, rosemary, thyme, and vanilla are some of the items in the first row.) The second row is for medium use stuff. I use the stuff in the back row about once every month or 2. Since each row is independently alphabetical, I kind of know which side of the cabinet to look at and I generally know which row I'm heading for. One of the neatest things I've seen [in a book] is something that a chef did in his home kitchen. It involved putting up a set of those magnetic knife racks and then using magnetic tins. It looked cool and assumes that you've got big wall and nobody who likes to knock stuff down. jayne

Well, the salad was originally supposed to be bulgur. I found it on epicurious and I like the idea that it could be made easily with a lot of staple/canned foods. I meant to take it along as my main dish for Thanksgiving. Somehow, I wasn't paying attention to what I had in my pantry and actually started making the salad with fine buckwheat. Oops.... Then I looked for bulgur and realized I didn't have any so.... couscous it was. It was pretty tasty as a salad on Shabbos. (It didn't taste nearly as good on Thanksgiving because someone tried to be helpful and nuked it before bringing it to the table. ) Here's a link to the recipe. http://www.epicurious.com/recipes/recipe_views/views/109729 jayne

We're having dairy (actually that's what we eat most of the time.) Homemade challah Herb Stuffing (that I set aside from what I brought to my MIL for Thanksgiving) Cranberry/pineapple/orange relish (that didn't go to the Thanksgiving meal because someone else was making it. My husband teased me about the quantity I prepared but understands that it's a family favorite for me so I have no concept of "too much") slow-cooked green beans with tomato and onion (based on a Paula Wolfert recipe) couscous salad with chickpeas, roasted pepper, and cumin dressing cold veggies / pasta (mostly for our children) chocolate cake (from the Pastry Forum "best recipe" challenge.) I'm not sure whether I'll be icing it or not but I will be writing "Yom Huledet Sameach" for my mother. Her birthday was Tuesday but she was in California and is only returning today. jayne

In the section where vegetable stock is discussed, the instructions indicate that I should I used whole cloves of garlic and wondered if I was supposed to also be using cloves, the spice. I figured I'd ask for next time since my stock is cooking now. jayne

Bloviatrix, Thanks for the kind words and encouragement. In response to your question about whether my children help with the challah, mostly it's just me making it because the time block in the early morning seems to work the best for me. But sometimes my children help me out. I think that I make it much more frequently now than I did when I lived in the city.... (We used to live on the Upper West Side and I have fond memories of Royale Bakery's challah.) Making your own gives you a lot of flexibility on the size. On Succot, I made smaller ones for days when I knew we'd be accumulating half-loaves otherwise. If we've got a lot of company, I just make larger ones. I've also been making a lot of rolls lately. (They freeze well and are the school lunch of choice for Tuesday and Thursday when my children need to bring pareve lunches.) jayne

Hi, I just wanted to say that I enjoy reading this thread also. As a family, we don't have very elaborate meals. Mostly, it's just the 4 of us (and my 7-year old twins are more of the "plain pasta" types, although we are trying to encourage them to try other foods.) I'll try to share some of the more interesting dishes on this thread. So right now, we are having a lot of lasagna-type stuff and some tarts that have been simplified to what our children are willing to try. I try to make Challah at least twice a month and even if the rest of the meal doesn't work, I know that my children are happy. I mostly cook vegetarian and recently enjoyed the Musa's lentil dish with pomegranate. I learned about it on egullet. The recipe is on the "Food and Wine" site but since I don't have a subscription, when I tried saving it to a file, only the intro and ingredient list showed up. http://www.foodandwine.com/invoke.cfm?obje...7EB57&preview=1 On the other hand, google helped me to find a site where someone has an [uncredited] adaptation of the recipe where the layering of the ingredients is described: http://www.recipezaar.com/recipe/getrecipe.zsp?id=94413 The instructions on "Food and Wine" say that the stew gets better if it sits for a few hours or maybe if served the next day. It also can be served hot, warm, or at room temperature. It's really yummy and it did freeze pretty well. The only tricky thing was finding pomegranate molasses. Anyway, I reallly just wanted to let you all know that I enjoy this thread. Thank you again. jayne