Pam R

Speaking of matzo farfel .. my contribution to dinner tonight was 'fried farfel'. Farfel is what we call matzo that's been broken up into little pieces. You can actually buy it in this form - and they charge more for it . Different brands vary greatly - some are uniform small pieces, some are a mix of large chunks and lots of sawdust. I made my own farfel today by breaking up pieces of spelt matzo. I know it doesn't look all that different from this morning's matzo brei - but it will. Small pieces of matzo, eggs whisked with salt. Toss together and add more eggs or farfel so that all the pieces are lightly coated in egg. Then lay the farfel out on a tray - lined with parchment - in as much of a single layer as possible. Into the oven at 375 until dry and starting to brown slightly: I'm not sure if you can tell in the picture - but this was taken after the farfel was taken out of the oven - and it's in one solid sheet. Now you have to break all the pieces up again. Some of them will still be moist - so it goes back into the oven until all the farfel is dry and toasty. Set aside. Get all the vegetables ready (bad picture - sorry) - red onion, orange peppers, celery and mushrooms. You'll also need garlic and chicken broth. Saute the vegetables in olive oil for several minutes, until they start to soften - add garlic, salt, black pepper - it was a little lifeless, so I added a little onion and garlic powder. Cook another minute and add some broth. I like to simmer this for a couple of minutes before adding the farfel: This should all cook together for a few minutes. When it's finished the farfel should be soft and moist, without being soupy - so add broth if it needs it. Ready to go: There were 19 of us at dinner tonight. We contributed some of the meal as did my aunt and uncle - so it was quite a mish mash. Chicken soup with matzo balls, salad, cole slaw, fried farfel, matzo meal pancakes, mixed veg, brisket, chicken, cornish hen and bbq short ribs. Fruit, brownies, cake and cookies for dessert.

I just realized that I completely forgot about the radio show today. I'm trying to find it online - but none of the links are working right now. Should I find it, I'll post the link. Anybody hear me rambling on this morning? The brisket cooked for about 2 hours - I was surprised at how much it shrunk. It's very lean and I figured the yield would be better than beef. I'm holding off my review of the meat. I wasn't really in the mood to eat it earlier today - so I only had a small bite. For lunch I wanted something light and fresh (too much junk food on the run recently). I had a salad I really enjoyed. Romaine, papiya, blueberries, red onion and toasted almonds. Dressing was fresh ginger, lime juice, s&p and olive oil. Off for Shabbat dinner at my uncles.

I've never seen matzo balls made this way- I can't wait to see where you go from here.

Me too - pictures on my blog. Sweet though - a la french toast.

I referred to some Buffalo meat a couple of days ago. I have a few samples of kosher buffalo brisket and stewing meat - and I wanted to try preparing the brisket the same way we prepare our beef briskets. The price of beef briskets here is astronomical - there is a source for buffalo (and lamb) in South Dakota that we've been on contact with. Their prices are potentially quite a bit less than beef and our currant, erratic supply of lamb. I wouldn't expect to replace beef with buffalo across the board - but I think the ability to offer both has a lot of potential. I've talked to several customers about it, and they'd love to try the buffalo. Just over an hour ago I put this together: A small piece of brisket, slathered in fresh garlic, secret spices and some oil. Wrapped in a double layer of foil and into a 300 degree oven. I'll check it in a half hour or so.

Good Morning. And Good Friday to those who celebrate it. Breakfast this morning was Fried Matzo, or Matzo Brei. First I break up some matzo, and pour water from the kettle over it. Let it sit and soften up a bit (about 1 minute). Drain the water off, then add a pinch of salt and a couple of whisked eggs. (1 egg should be enough for 1 board of matzo): Pan over medium-high heat. Butter. Single layer of matzo/egg mix: And onto a plate with syrup - served with mango juice: How do you like your matzo brei?

Tomorrow is another family dinner - I will try to make something to take with. I also need to work on 2 columns that must be completed by Sunday. All recipes but one are complete - but I need to type them all up and then write out some intros. I'll have to see what I feel like cooking tomorrow. Plans for Saturday include (at the moment) smoking a turkey roast (boneless double-breast, rolls in the skin and then netted). Everything else will be decided later. I accidently threw those brisket pieces into the freezer - not sure if I'll pull them out or not. Are there any traditional foods anybody wants to see? goodnight!

I didn't get any food pictures tonight. Too much talking and eating and playing. (and not enough energy) But these two seemed to have a good time and enjoyed dinner:

Turkeys just out of the oven: Rolls waiting to be bagged: Kugles - vegetable and sweet: Assorted meringues being packaged (coconut, chocolate and chocolate chip): Vegetables waiting to be mixed together and seasoned: Brisket sliced, waiting to be weighed and juiced: Just a few of the 1200 blintzes that went out: Berries washed, drying and on call for decorating flans: Our tasting table - so people can decide which matzo they want: Boxes folded, waiting for the cakes to go out yesterday:

Some random photos from the last few days: We had boxes everywhere. One shipment weighed 7000 lbs. I'll try to get a picture on Sunday so you can see what's left. But this picture was taken in the middle of it all: My cake and matzo meal pouches. Most people get theirs in 1 or 2 lb. containers - mine come in 25 lb. (cake/matzo meal) or 20 kilo (potato starch): Brownies anyone? Sometimes the mixer gets away from me and I'm left with a mess: I seem to bake mandelbroit on a daily basis: Kichel (raw and baked) - new oven caused major problems - had to make thse 3 times before they turned out well: Making chicken and veal schnitzel:

Bravo! That one's definitely a keeper! And what aspect of Jewish culture is complete without a little bit (or a whole hunk) of humor? Hag Sameach, Pam! ← When I told it at dinner tonight it didn't go over that well - apparently I draw the joke out too much

OK. I have to admit that I didn't make it to a seder last night. For those of you who don't know, Winnipeg is located quite north (well.. it is Canada). This means that the sun didn't set last night until after 8 PM. Last night's seder was being hosted by the religious members of my family - starting at 9 PM. I just couldn't physically do it. In fact - when I got home from work, I decided to take a nap and didn't wake up until almost 9. Back to sleep again at about 10:30. This is the first year I haven't made it to both seders. I truly enjoy holidays - the traditions and spending time with family - it's a little sad that I didn't make it. But, I'm leaving now for a family seder (dad's side) - and tomorrow will be Shabbat dinner with other family (mom's side). So I'll make up for missing last nights. Back later.

As we know from the Exodus story, the Israelites spent a long time wandering around the dessert. For those of you who haven't been to that region, let me assure you that's it's hot - and dry. Just a few days into the journey, the nation was traipsing through the parted Red Sea. They were all terribly thirsty and uncomfortable, but the adults were most concerned about their children and begged Moses to do something about the lack of fluids. Moses thought their concerns were valid and grasped at straws trying to come up with a solution. There he sat on the bottom of the now split sea looking around at all the salt water that would do nothing to quench their thirst. Eventually looking into the salty water he became aware of all of the fish swimming around in the sea - all filtering the water naturally. Moses called on the head-fish and made a request. "Please - our children are thirsty - I beg you to help us. You're already filtering all the salt water, would you please spit the clean water out so that we have something to drink?" The spokesman for the fish thought it over. Eventually he said to Moses "Tell ya what. We'll do this for you - we'll help you survive your time in the desert - but you have to make us a promise." Moses - "Please - whatever it is, we will do." Fish - "I want the future generations to always remember what we, the fish, have done to help the Israelites. From this day on, every year when you remember the Exodus of Egypt, you will have a feast - let's call it a seder. At this seder, you will eat something to remember us by." Moses responded quickly - "Of course! Every year at our seders we will remember you - now, Go Filter Fish." ** And thus, we have this: Whitefish - whatever variety you like. Some people are very finicky about which fish to use - we're less finicky. Ground up: With matzo meal, onions, eggs and seasonings: Scooped, ready to be rolled into balls and boiled: Boiling: And pulled out of the pot, draining: ** based loosely on something I was told last year

First time I've noticed this thread - but I'm smokin' turkey too. I have a boneless, rolled breast (skin on) that I want to smoke on Saturday. It's been thawing since this morning. I have no plans to brine - it's kosher, so I figure it's brined enough. And then I thought I'd just wing it (oooh... I should throw some wings on too). Any tips to smoking the turkey roast greatly appreciated. I'm also going to toss some small brisket chunks on with it. As they're so small, I'm assuming they'll be done with or before the turkey. Because I'm doing the brisket I don't want the smoker to be too hot - make sense?

How the numbers worked out this year: Chicken Soup - 75 L Chopped Liver - 35 lb. Matzo Balls - 195 pieces Gefilte Fish - 540 pieces Carrot Dill Soup - 15 L Planked Salmon - 5 sides Roasted Turkey - 18 turkeys Roasted Chicken - 45 pieces Garlic Brisket - 20 lbs. Apricot Honey Chicken - 85 pieces Sweet and Sour Meatballs - 55 lbs. Breaded Veal Cutlets - 45 pieces BBQ Short Ribs - 83 strips Glazed Cornish Hens - 8 full, 15 halves Potato Blintzes - 100.5 dz. Chicken Fingers - 45 lbs. Vegetable Cutlet - 35 pieces Chicken Schnitzel - 86 pieces Vegetable Kugle - 18 small, 9 large Cole Slaw - 33 lbs. Stir Fry Vegetables - 32 lbs. Sweet Kugle - 25 small, 9 large Mandarin Salad - for 12 Garden Salad - Balsamic Dressing - for 20 Passover Rolls - 340 pieces Choc Mousse Log - 14 cakes Komish with Nuts (Mandelbroit) - 45 dz. Komish NO Nuts - 15 dz. Nothings with Sugar (Keichal) - 16 dz. Shmoo - 12 cakes Lemon Chiffon Cake - 9 cakes Chocolate Chip Chiffon Cake - 23 cakes Chocolate Brownies - 24 pans Lemon Filled Chiffon - 17 cakes Fruit Flan - 8 cakes Strawberry Shortcake - 3 cakes The above numbers are what we had on order. People continued to call until yesterday afternoon to see if they could get anything more. We tried to prepare some extras of everything - some things had more extra than others - and everything went. I hate to have to refuse orders - but there is just so little time to do so many things. So we let all the people calling over the last few days know that any extras will be put out on pick-up day (yesterday) and it's first-come, first serve. We're also always concerned about any mistakes that we may make when calculating the totals - so the extras aren't put out until the end.

Why does it seem odd to me that land-o-lakes has Passover recipes? Again, this recipe doesn't look all that different from the others - but I'd be concerned about the amount of cake meal - it seems a little high for the amount of fat/liquids. I'd love somebody to report back after they've tried it

Hrm. First of all, I added my usual brownie recipe here. (I'm still a little tired and hope I scaled it down properly! And I don't think my recipe is all that different from the one you have). But yes, they're a brownie and still somewhat dense - and being Passover, a little crumbly. You don't really have much choice - either sponge or dense. That's the nature of the beast. I have had a lot of success with regular baking recipes by just replacing Passover products for the non-Passover ones - but I haven't really tried cakes. If you have the time and/or inclination - I would take a typical cake recipe and sub the appropriate ingredients. Keep in mind that you need to use less cake meal than flour, as it absorbs more liquid (it depends on the brand, but I tend to cut the cake meal by 1/4 of what's called for in a recipe). And try it. The fact is that it's going to be heavier than you'd want - but the funny thing is, people will just be happy to have something that tastes great for Passover. Having said all that - why not a sponge? If you do something like a chocolate sponge, and ice it - they could have a wonderful birthday cake. Tell them I said that

Yikes! Sorry about that. Please let me know what you need defined and I'll be happy to do it. I have problems using words that are in a different language because it's so natural to me. On a daily basis I speak English peppered with Yiddish and Hebrew. Partly because of my customer base - I'm constantly asked where the polkas (drumbsticks), fleigals (wings), gvina (cheese), lechem (cheese), etc. are. When I was a young, naive child, I was shocked to learn that the word 'laydle' wasn't Yiddish. It sounds like such a yiddish word to me!

No we don't. I feel that we should not impose our religious beliefs on our pets. Seriously - I don't. But I haven't had anybody ask for it. ← Umm. Somebody asked for it. Maybe next year. I'm glad you're enjoying! Jewish food is similar to many other cultures. Our foods are influenced by the food cooked in the different regions one can find Jews. My family is from Poland and Russia - so we were brought up with Jewish perogies (vernekes, kreplach), cabbage rolls, dumplings, etc. The differences come through because of the laws of kashrut. No pork, shellfish, mixing of dairy and meat - but basically similar recipes. There is also some evidence that Jewish traders helped to influence certain cuisines around the world. A ragu sounds wonderful (minus the cheese ) - but will have to wait until after Passover. Only the first day of the holiday and I'm already dreaming about pasta!

Pam's Passover Brownies #1 1/2 c oil 1 c sugar 3 large eggs 3 oz melted chocolate (b/s or s/s) 1/3 c cocoa 1/2 c cake meal pinch salt Mix the oil and sugar together until combined. Add the eggs and mix through - then the melted chocolate. Add the cocoa, cake meal and salt and stir in until well mixed. Pour into a well greased pan and bake at 350 for about 35 minutes - or until a toothpick inserted in the middle comes out with only a few, moist crumbs on it. Cool and eat or frost. Keywords: Dessert, Passover ( RG1700 )

Whew. I am exhausted. About 135 of the 140 orders are gone. A few phonecalls to make - sending some deliveries out and home to rest. I'll post more later - after dinner tonight hopefully. Pesach sameach!

Ditto that. In the last 5 hours, 50 dz. mandelbrot, 16 dz. kichel, 24 pans of brownies, 50 cakes and 350 rolls have gone out. (plus food) I do all the baking - mom helps decorate. I've also had one university student helping. (and we do all the other food too - with another 2 people in the kitchen) How do we do it? Freeze what we can ahead of time - and stay at work until 2 am. I'm going home to sleep now.

whoops. I forgot to talk about the brownies! I can't find the recipes in my last blog (did I post them?) This year I'm making the version with cake meal, oil, melted chocolate and cocoa - I can try to get the recipe up at some point tomorrow - will that be too late? I also did another version for a column this year... if it's not too late I'm happy to share.

I must apologize for being such a bad blogger . Only two posts all day. Each time I opened the window to post more I got called away. I'm still at work (12:11 AM) and will be for a while. Then home for a few hours of sleep and back by about 7:30. I'm not sure if I'll have time to log in until late afternoon - though you never know. It's odd, but people always come in waves. Occasionally we have a few minutes of downtime. In spite of a few glitches, things have been going well. Almost all of the customers are behaving themselves (don't get me started ). The food is almost all done (with the exception of some finishing stuff and things we prefer to leave until the morning of). Most things have even been weighed, packaged and some of it's even priced (we usually don't get a chance to do that until people are already crowding in and it really makes things fall behind). I have taken many pictures over the last few days - I'll get them off of my camera and into my computer tomorrow or Thursday. I will also share final figures on the ordered food - and for my own amusement some statistics (I figure we've sold over 1000 lbs. of matzo - I need to take notes for next year so I'll be going through all the invoices in the next few days). I'll get going or I'll end up staying here right through the night. In case I don't get a chance to get online early enough tomorrow, I'd like to wish everybody celebrating Passover a happy, healthy and kosher Pesach. Chag Sameach. Goodnight.

I hear ya. I know I do this commercially - but I think it's incredible what you all do for your friends and families. They are so lucky to have people who care so much about them, about traditions and about sharing these gifts. Your menus all sound wonderful - I hope to see more pictures . I'm sure i'll be back at some point(s) before tomorrow night - but since we're all in different time-zones, let me wish all of you a Chag Sameach! Have a very happy and healthy one - b'shana haba'ah b'Yerushaliym