Pam R

Haven't made a sweet potato kugel as of yet but I would think that grating the raw sweet potatoes first and then adding the remaining ingredients might be viable. I don't parboil nor do I use a ricer. Have also made Vidalia onion kugels (from nearby Vidalia, Georgia), carrot kugels, cauliflower kugels ... ← I tried grating the sweet potato and adding the rest of the ingredients - but there is something about the sweet potato - it just did not work! I will have to give it anothing go this week... after I'm done writing my Purim articles. What is the cauliflower kugel? Sounds like a great idea... (I also like noodle kugels, but of course off limits for this column)

I'm testing a bunch of kugels for some Passover columns I'm working on and I want to do a sweet-potato kugel. I do a potato and chive kugel that uses boiled potatoes (I use a ricer), so I thought I'd shred the sweet potato for a different texture - but I'm not happy with the result. I'm also doing a sweet kugel (matzo meal base with fruits and cinnamon) and a vegetable kugel (also matzo meal with assorted veggies) and a mushroom and onion farfel kugel. What's your favorite kugel?

I arrived at my parents place this afternoon - my mom was making shabbat dinner - but she's now not feeling well. There are chickens thawing as we speak and dinner will be Chicken Soup. And more chicken soup. :) I'll just pack it full of veggies, cooked chicken and maybe some matzoh balls/noodles/rice and that's it. I've been testing Passover recipes this week.. and that's all I can handle today! Bitayavon! (I have no idea how you spell that in english!)

A restaurant around the corner from me serves crepes with nutella and pears... yum. When I was a child we never had nutella in out house but my grandmother always had it at hers - on homemade challah (I like it toasted so that the nutella gets warm and oozy)

I'm of the "everything is better with fluff" school. I'd have it as dessert... would somebody like to send one up here?

A slice of plum kuchen still warm from the oven..

We catered a dinner party this weekend... so that's what we had for Shabbat Dinner: Chicken in Filo (phyllo) with mushroom sauce Baked potatoes Green Beans Almandine

Blueberry Soup You don't get a strong rosemary taste in the soup, but it does add a certain 'je ne sais quoi'. 2 lb. / 1 kg fresh blueberries -- picked through and well rinsed 1 ½ tsp. / 7 mL fresh rosemary -- finely chopped 5 cups / 1.25 L water 5 Tbsp. / 70 mL sugar ¼ tsp. / 1 mL salt 1/3 cup / 75 mL sour cream Place everything but the sour cream in a pot. Cover and bring to a boil over high heat. Reduce heat and simmer for 3-5 minutes, until the blueberries are soft and have started to split. Use either a hand blender, a blender or a food processor to puree the soup. After the soup is pureed, pour through a fine-mesh strainer and use a wooden spoon to work as much liquid and flesh through, while leaving the skin and rosemary behind. Chill before serving. Top each bowl of chilled soup with a heaping tsp. of sour cream, or if you prefer, you can substitute yoghurt for the sour cream. Again, for my book launch I made vats of this and used frozen blueberries instead of fresh. I prefer the 'wild' frozen blueberries - but either will work. When I was on tour, my publicist kept telling people that this was a dessert soup - but I don't think of it that way. I like to think of it as a blueberry borscht. Serve it with some Cheese Blintzes and you have a great meal. I just want to add... that there are non-fruit soups in my book as well

Mmmmm... you're all set for one of my favorite soups. Lots of beans and legumes - whatever you like. If you have any meat leftover throw that in too. Then add some carrots, onion, celery, mushrooms and enjoy. Wild rice also works well with smoked turkey...

I often spray whatever I'm baking the cheesecake in, then line it with homemade parchment collars. Graham crust won't stick to the bottom - and the parchment strips help the cheese part release - so I'd try the ramekins this way. I also prefer to bake them in a bain marie - the moisture helps. But if your cheesecake is browning too quickly, loosely tent some foil over it (making sure the foil doesn't touch the cake or it will stick). Some great cheesecake flavours: key lime, mango, raspberry... hmm I guess I like cheesecake with some fruit.

I'm glad you liked it .... next you should try my blueberry soup with rosemary

Thanks folks.... I''ll check these out. I know my supplier in Toronto brings in some of these cheeses... but for some reason won't send them here (expiration dates or something). I'll keep trying.

The cake may also fall if it is underbaked - that has happened to me more than once. Chiffon cake is a great friend of the Jewish baker. Throughout the year, we make them at work for a couple of different cakes/tortes. (Shmoo - pecan chiffon with whipped cream and homemade caramel sauce. Chocolate logs - chocolate chiffon baked in a sheet pan and jolled a la jelly roll. Filled with chocolate filling, chocolate icing and chocolate chunks - AKA The porcupine cake - and others.) During Passover Chiffon cake is the star. At work I bake at least a 100 for a 2 day period. Basically I bake chocolate chip chiffons - they are sold un-iced. I bake honey chiffon cakes. Most of all, lemon chiffon cakes. I bake them in a flan pan, and don't invert it after it bakes - then fill it with lemon curd and top it with fresh fruit. Bake in a tube pan and sold as is. Or layered with lemon curd, whipped cream or covered in meringue. Personally, I never add more whites to the recipe. I never use cake flour - I use either all purpose or a combo of cake meal and potato starch. If the cake does fall in, or out of the pan, I cut them into cubes and freeze them. When I have a ton of them, I make chocolate rum mousse and using a loaf pan, put the two together and make a Chocolate Mousse Log. It's almost time to start zesting lemons and freezing them for Passover!

Oy! It's been too long since I've been to Israel and your reports are great - I want to go back. We all know Israeli cheese is amazing - do you know where I can get some (fresh soft cheeses)? I have several customers who would like me to bring some in for them (we bring in an assortment of hard cheeses) but I can't seem to get them - any ideas?

I'm all for paper. We even used disposables in our restaurant - for dietary reasons (kosher food - not supervised, so customers could have a smoked meat sandwich with a cup of coffee and milk all because we used disposable stuff). dixie came out with this amazing stoneware line - it's actually made with some crushed stone in it - so it's very strong and can handle hot soup without melting! There is also great plastic cutlery (utensils outside of Canada) - it's coated in some sort of metal finish. Almost every one of our customers thought it was real until they picked it up and found out how light it was.

Flan - not the mexican caramel custard - but use a flan pan, sweet dough (or pie crust) then lots of pecans and a filling similar to pecan pie. There is much less filling than in a pecan pie and it is a different consistency... (The filling has brown sugar, butter/margarine, vanilla, eggs). Marshmallows - Kosher marshmallows contain fish gelatin - I don't know if you can actually buy fish gelatin. (but some homemade marshmallows rolled in toasted coconut would be amazing)

Loves: Honeydew Melon Strawberries my father's garlic brisket cottonseed oil (when I cook with it, the kitchen smells like Israel to me - good memories) latkes - but only if you're making a couple of dozen .... when I make over 10 dz, the smell becomes nauseating Vanilla Hates: Liver broiling any and all canned fish roasting peppers (love the taste, hate the smell) Love and Hate: Chocolate - it's good in small doses, but serve samples of Chocolate Log Torte all day and see if it doesn't make you sick!

Here they are! (Only took me 1/2 an hour to figure out how to get the picture on here) These are otherwise known as: egg kichal, bowties or in another shape, Haman's Ears. This batch was dipped in sugar before being baked, but I usually roll them in sesame seeds.

What are "nothings"? ← A dry cookie - some people call them kichlach (sp?). Few ingredients - flour, a little sugar, eggs, oil - then you beat the heck out of the mixture. Roll the dough in sugar or sesame seeds and bake. I'm assuming they are from Eastern Europe, but don't quote me on it. My grandmother from Poland used to make them - and they are common in these parts.

When I woke up this morning it was -34 C. What exactly grows locally? I think if you live in an area where it is possible to eat things seasonally and locally, more power to you. But since we grow potatoes and ... well.... potatoes here - I say eat what you want, wherever it's from. Having said that, for the first time ever, I saw apricots in the grocery store in January. I actually looked twice at them - but the $5.99/lb told me that I wasn't that desperate. (the grapes, nectarines and apples will do for now) Oh wait, I had some strawberries last week and they were much better than the ones I had during the summer. They must be bringing them in from a tastier place now.

What timing! We're catering a bar-mitzvah this weekend and have been in and out of a synagogue for the last two weeks prepping for it. (Due to varying levels of kashrut.) First, most things freeze. So you can make a lot ahead. Are you having a group of kids there? Today I made cupcakes - chocolate and vanilla, but you can have fun here. I made one icing - vanilla buttercream - then used some dye to make the icing match the party 'colours' (blue, yellow and orange). I also did a bunch of chocolate suckers - the easiest thing around, but people are impressed by it and the kids really enjoy them. Last week I made rumballs - and truffles. Frozen in one layer then placed in foil pans, layers of parchment or wax paper between layers of dessert. Wrap the whole thing in plastic wrap and stick it in the freezer. The tart idea is great - you can go crazy with that. Take a Pecan Flan recipe and bake it in little tart shells. Fill pre-baked shells with either the lemon curd/ whip cream combo or a bavarian cream (lightened with whip cream) and top with an assortment of fresh fruit - do some strawberry, some blueberry, some kiwi... etc. Glaze them all and they'll stay in the fridge for a day or two. I was also going to suggest choux paste ... but somebody got ahead of me on that. Bake them, cut them in half and dry them out really well. Then when you add the filling and topping, letting them sit in the fridge (or thaw in the fridge after freezing them) they will absorb some of the moisture from the filling and soften up, but won't get soggy because they were dried before hand! I also suggest some of the traditional: nothings, cinnamon twists, komish, rugalach ... it is a bat mitzvah after all. (and they all freeze well - and are good with cappuccino). I think that's it. Mazel tov and good luck!

← By writing a whole cookbook about soups... at least you try to make a living And I sell a lot of soup at work... my family has a catering company and we sell kosher ingredients and prepared foods... and winter in Canada means we sell a lot of soup!

Wow! I'd like to know more about that Strawberry Sambuca dessert soup. Care to share? ← My publishers would kill me if I gave the recipe!! (don't tell!) 3 lb. / 1.5 kg fresh strawberries -- hulled and sliced into 1/4" (5 mm) slices 4 oz. / 125 mL sugar 1 cup / 250 mL water ½ tsp. / 2 mL black pepper 3 Tbsp. / 45 mL Anisette -- or Sambuca Place the strawberries, sugar, water and black pepper in a covered soup pot over high heat and bring to a boil. Reduce the temperature and simmer for 5 minutes, or until the strawberries have softened. Use a hand blender, blender or food processor to puree the soup. Do it in small batches and be very careful. Put a towel over the top of the food processor or blender , to prevent any of the hot soup from spraying out. Chill. So simple, but so good. I like simple but good. You can sub frozen berries if you can't get good fresh ones - but not the ones in syrop. If your strawberries are really ripe and sweet, you can leave out some of the sugar.

It's -32 C here right now (not factoring in the wind which makes it about -45). All I can say is Chicken Soup. Tonight we had them with matzo balls - but any way you like them. I also like braising when it's this cold - if nothing else having the oven on for a couple of hours helps warm up the house! Tomorrow should be much nicer .. .the high is -24 C ... so maybe I'll bbq ;)

Though I've been looking in on you all for a couple of months now, I only came across this thread tonight - it's great! I've been making my living off soups lately, and people keep asking me what my favorite is - and my favorite keeps changing. But for now I've narrowed it down to two: Carrot Dill - the easiest soup I make. It's completely vegan but tastes rich and buttery. (Olive oil, onion/shallot, carrots, s&p, stock and lots of fresh dill - puree it all and serve. Pear Soup with Feta, Pecans and Balsamic Reduction. And how about soup for dessert? Chocolate soup and Strawberry Sambuca are two of my favorites.