What We're Cooking for Shabbos: 2004 - 2006

[bloviatrix]

Is there anyone besides me who uses a blech on shabbos? Because the soy-poached chicken is an amazing dish for the blech. Basically, you poach the chicken on heat for about 30 minutes and then you keep the chicken in the poaching liquid -- Ash says it can remain for up to 3 hours -- and it remains incredibly moist and tender.

The poaching liquid contains water, soy sauce, balsamic vinegar, sugar, garlic, star anise, cinnamon stick, fennel seed, and ginger and lightly flavors the chicken. Even better is the fact that the poaching liquid can be re-used. I chilled it, removed the accumulated fat, strained and reboiled. It's now in my freezer awaiting a second poach.

[bloviatrix]

I've been asked to explain what a blech is. So, I'm going to try without getting too complicated and involved with the laws of shabbos.

The laws of shabbos prohibit cooking. Food can be re-heated, but is not to come in contact with a direct flame. This is where the blech comes it. Think of it as a giant flame tamer that gets placed over the range top. A burner is kept on -- usually at a medium-low flame -- and the food is placed on the "flame tamer." This way, food gets heated but doesn't cook further.

Edited January 17, 2005 by bloviatrix (log)

[Comfort Me]

I know this is completely sacreligious, but in honor Christmas, we sang Shir HaMalos to the tune of Jingle Bells at lunch. 

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On New Years Eve, which was eruv shabbat, we sang Adon Olum to the tune of Auld lang Syne. Try it...it's quite catchy.

Happy New Year, Y'all.

[Swisskaese]

I know this is completely sacreligious, but in honor Christmas, we sang Shir HaMalos to the tune of Jingle Bells at lunch. 

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On New Years Eve, which was eruv shabbat, we sang Adon Olum to the tune of Auld lang Syne. Try it...it's quite catchy.

Happy New Year, Y'all.

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Welcome back Comfort me! Hope you are able to join in more often.

Shabbat Shalom everyone.

[jaynesb]

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

[bloviatrix]

Dinner last night was:

Curried coconut squash soup

Veal Schnitzel

Kasha Varnishkes

Roasted Cauliflower

Alfasi Reserve Malbec - Cab 2002 (Chile).

I made a big pot of lamb stew for lunch today. Perfectly hearty for a very cold snowy day in NY.

[Swisskaese]

We were not feeling well on Shabbat. I made stuffed eggplant and served it with steamed artichokes.

Yesterday, I served roasted chicken wings with sliced lemons, garlic, fresh rosemary and thyme. Baked sweet potato and broccoli.

Edited January 23, 2005 by Swisskaese (log)

[Pan]

I hope you're feeling better today.

[Comfort Me]

Hello, dear friends. I've missed you all!

I'm back -- a little worse for wear, but I'll be back to my cantankerous old self in no time!

Having been sick for the last two months, I haven't had anyone for shabbas dinner in longer than I can remember. Can it be since Thanksgiving? (My mom's house burned down at Thanksgiving, then I got sick!) Anyway, I am having company for SHabbas dinner for the first time in a long time. I'm sure then I will feel like me again.

Comfort food is a must. So the menu:

Chicken soup with kreplach

Mixed greens with a tart mustard viniagrette

meatloaf with garlic mashed potatoes

peas and carrots

Challah

Baked rice pudding (made with vanilla soy milk -- a new parve recipe)

Coffee

It'll be nice to cook for a crowd again.

Shabbat shalom, y'all.

Aidan

[cakewalk]

Shabbat Shalom Aidan. It's nice to be reading your posts again. T'hiyeh bari.

[Tapenade]

Well, this Shabbat, we decided to try out one of the recipes that we had volunteered to test for David Leite, chicken with a sauce of root vegetables, pomegrate and dried fruit.

I've made several variations of chicken with pomegranate syrup and dried fruit in the past (usually with figs, apricots and dates, and seasoned with ginger, cinnamon, cloves, nutmeg and paprika), and these have all been great successes, so I was a little sceptical about whether this recipe would turn out any better. But it was really excellent: not better than my creations, but certainly different and equally good. OK, this time, Swisskaese was doing most of the work, although I helped out, so to be fair, the glory was mainly hers. What was different was essentally the root vegetables in the sauce -- a sofrito of diced carrot, celery root and onion -- which was sauted before adding the golden raisins and dried apricots, and the addition of about 1/2 tsp of dried chili pepper flakes, which made the final result just a little sharper than what I usually make. We also didn't have to go through the whole process in the recipe of concentrating pomegranate juice, because we can get excellent ready-made pomegranate syrup from Turkey or Azerbaijan in the shops here. Anyway, the final result was a total pleasure, served with potato roasted with garlic and rosemary, and steamed broccoli, and accompanied by a Golan Wineries Sion Creek (a light and very fruit red).

Sorry, all you readers who weren't there to share it with us!

Edited January 30, 2005 by Tapenade (log)

[jaynesb]

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

[Pam R]

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

[Gifted Gourmet]

Tonight we are serving:

gravlax rolled around hearts of palm, garlicky dijon vinagrette on greens

homemade chicken soup with glass vermicelli noodles

Asian turkey cutlets with Peanut-Ginger Sauce

recipe here

Basmati rice

fresh asparagus

and an orange compote with cinnamon rugelach

Shabbat Shalom, everyone!

[gestalt768]

Well tonight I have a whole group of almost college kids and we're having

Chickpea and Leek Soup

Bruschetta

Spagettini with Cherry Tomatoes and Scallions

"Fagioli all Toscana" (cannellini beans Union Square Cookbook style)

Spinach sauted with Garlic

Roasted Peppers

Tricolor Salad

this meal is basically thanks to Marcella Hazan and Union Square....they are two of my favorites and get pulled out again and again...

I must admit though that sometimes I wouldn't mind if this wasn't a vegetarian house and if I could just roast a chicken!!

[bloviatrix]

I had last weekend off since we were in S. Florida for a bar mitzvah.

Things have been very hectic since we got home so I'm going to be lazy this shabbos.

I went shopping in my freezer for mushroom-barley soup. Plus I pulled out soy-ginger marinade in which I'll poach a chicken. I'm going to roast some cauliflower and do something with bulgur.

We're going to friends for lunch.

[Comfort Me]

We are going to a family potluck, and I'm still in my comfort food schtick. So I'm taking tuna casserole made with fresh tuna, mushrooms, peas and a mornay sauce topped with crushed potato chips! Tomorrow it's chili cholent and corn muffins, cucumbers in lime and chili powder, and apple pie topped homemade caramel ice cream.

[Gifted Gourmet]

Tomorrow it's chili cholent

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and I presume that you will be willing to share the recipe, Senor Aidan?

[jaynesb]

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

[Pam R]

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!)

[akur23]

DH is cooking, so it'll be simple: salad, broiled steak and fries.

[Gifted Gourmet]

Bitayavon! (I have no idea how you spell that in english!)

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With your soup cookbook having been published, I rather imagine that there are few, if any, of us who know more about 'goldene yoich' (chicken soup) than you do, Pamela!

Betayavon = a good appetite, I think, if my failing Hebrew can be trusted any longer ...

[Swisskaese]

Your're Hebrew has not failed you Melissa. That is correct.

It is cold and rainy here in Tel Aviv.

Tapenade cooked for Shabbat.

He made:

His famous Onion Soup

Hungarian Goulash

Rice

Green Beans

Golan Wineries Sion Creek (Dry, light and fruity red)

I made Lemon Biscotti, which was a test recipe for David Leite and it was ghastly! It was made with flour and cornmeal and it tasted like gravel. It smelled wonderful. Maybe the cornmeal is different here than in the States? I don't remember what it is like. Oh well, I tried.

Edited February 5, 2005 by Swisskaese (log)

[Comfort Me]

Tomorrow it's chili cholent

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and I presume that you will be willing to share the recipe, Senor Aidan?

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It's really quite simple -- I soak dark and light kidney beans overnight. Drain them, add them to my cholent pot along with some dried hominy. Then I throw in some cubed chuck (or, if I have nothing else, I cube the ubiquitous "cholent meat" from the kosher Jewel) a large diced onion, a few cloves of chopped garlic, a can of diced tomatoes, a couple of teaspoons of salt -- maybe a tablespoon, a beer, some chicken broth, and an uncivilized amount of the most wonderful Chili Powder from The Spice House. I may use 1/3 of a cup. IT is bold and spicy. I heartilly recommend it. Order from the Milwaukee store -- they are supervised and hecshured. And ask for the spices to be marked kosher!

Bring the cholent to the boil then slap it in a slow oven. Easy. I serve it with a dash of hot pepper vinegar and oyster crackers.

One caution -- you have to soak the beans overnight. Cheating with the boil and rest method doesn't work for some reason.

[bloviatrix]

Aidan, you can get away without soaking the beans if you wait to add the tomatoes until after the beans get tender. The acid in the tomatoes prohibits the beans from softening (check out the bean thread for a discussion about this or look in McGee).