What We're Cooking for Shabbos: 2004 - 2006

[Comfort Me]

It felt like we were in shul nonstop from Thursday morning to Sunday night. And we were! Except for Shabbas dinner.

The bar mitzvah went smoothly, and the bar mitvah made everyone proud. What a great kid!

We made all of the food for the luncheon -- all favorite foods of the bar mitzvah. So we had potato knishes (thank you again, Andrea!), pesto casserole, carrot pudding, hummos, pita, home-graveled lox, a mesclun salad with a sweet mustard dressing, and a sensational apple salad we "invented" a few years ago which, again, was the thing people kvelled about.

This Shabbas is going to be decidedly low key. I'm making macaroni and goat cheese, pan roasted salmon and a tossed salad. Probably ice cream for dessert. If it seems like fun and not work, I may make a few loaves of challah. Saturday is going to be chili cholent.

We provided respite foster care for our Rabbi's dog, Abraham, while the Rabbi and family were in Israel for two weeks. WHen they returned, they brought us an incredibly beautiful, embroidered Challah cover from the shuk at Ramla. It is so beautiful, I'm trying to convince my wife that we now need to paint the dining room and buy new linens to compliment it! But, even without redecorating, we plan to put it to use this Shabbas. (Oh -- they also brought us a wonderful cholent/kubbanah pan with an exceptionally tight-fitting lid! That, too, will be used this Shabbas!)

Would it be wrong to have the challah cover matted and framed and hung on the wall? It really is almost too beautiful to use.

[bloviatrix]

Maybe it was Torakris's thread on roasting beets or maybe it's because it's spring, but I saw golden beets in Fairway yesterday and decided it's time to make a pot of beet, apple, and ginger soup. I'm also making one of my favorites - yemenite chicken in a garlicy tomato sauce as well as roasted green beans.

For tomorrow's lunch I picked up some turkey breast. We have a ton of challah rolls in the freezer which need to get finished before pesach, so we'll do sandwiches with chopotle mayo and a red cabbage salad with a cumin vinaigrette.

[Comfort Me]

This week I want to be able to rest, relax, and enjoy my company. I'm serving smoked salmon with mustard viniagrette for the fish course, followed by Chicken Marbella, noodles, vegetables a la greque, and brownies. Also some wonderful decaf (Trader Joe's Bay Decad -- I just found it, but my company Saturday night couldn't stop talking about it.).

I was thinking mashed potatoes instead of noodles for a while -- they would be yummy AND they have the added luxury of being easy to make in advance. But then i figured noodles wouldn prevent me for being social.

Aidan

[bloviatrix]

Last night was a simple meal of mushroom soup, poached salmon with a fig vinaigrette and roasted cherry tomatoes with garlic and thyme.

We host lunch for 3 other kids today.

Spinach Salad with Aisan pears and chicken-apple sausage

Brisket

Bulgur Pilaf with Orzo and Hazelnuts from Marlena Speiler's column in the SF Chronicle this week. I used evoo instead of butter. Completely disappeared!

Sweet potato salad

Steamed asparagus with drizzled fig vinagrette

Meyer Lemon sorbet

Fruit platter

Terras de Belmonte 2003, Abelour 15 year, and seltzer to drink.

[silverbrow]

This shabbat was the one I'd been planning for a while - my wife's birthday and given all the help I'd received I thought I should post on here what I eventually did. We had a couple of pescetarians (fish eating veggies, so I had to cater for them as well)

Broth from bollito misto (see below) w/kreplach

Vegetable soup with roast butter nut squash kreplach

Tuna tartare on a marinated onion salad

Bollito misto (tongue, chicken, salt beef, vita salami)

Seabass en papillote stuffed with fennel and orange

Salsa verde

Salsa rosso

Roast potatoes

Spinach and rocket salad w/ vinaigrette

Dark chocolate torte

Grapefruit, vodka and black pepper sorbet

Chocolate dipped vodka chillis (these didn't taste great, it has to be said)

Challa

Yatir Forest 2001

[Pam R]

sounds great. I imagine it was received well?

[silverbrow]

I was praised to the rafters - although I always have this nagging self-doubt that people are just being polite when they say how nice it was. Having said that, I enjoyed the food.

[Gifted Gourmet]

I was praised to the rafters - although I always have this nagging self-doubt that people are just being polite when they say how nice it was.  Having said that, I enjoyed the food.

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The overriding question is not whether they were being polite but how empty their finished plates were.

Did they seem to enjoy it as they were munching merrily along?

Did they make "ooh" and "ah" sounds?

Were they smiling at your creative efforts?

And, most importantly of all, did the birthday honoree, your wife, seem pleased?

My own opinion is that you can answer all of these questions in the affirmative! I have noticed that overall, my efforts are well appreciated because they are something a bit unique, and that the diners are usually "wowed" by effort and diligence on the part of a chef.

Bet you did just fine! and it was a hell of a creative, very ambitious menu!!

[bloviatrix]

I was praised to the rafters - although I always have this nagging self-doubt that people are just being polite when they say how nice it was.  Having said that, I enjoyed the food.

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I know that feeling of self-doubt well. I'm sure it was wonderful. Sounds like you made your wife a lovely birthday.

[Comfort Me]

Blovia, darling:

I am, today, a Bear of Little Brain. Tell me what to make for dinner.

I'm a bit "cooked out" -- so nothing too strenuous. It will be the first Shabbas in a long time that we are alone, just the three of us. And I am surprising my Beloved with new wedding rings (mine original was lost in a mugging and hers hasn't fit since pregnancy). The rings were supposed to come (from Israel) for our anniversary in March, but they just arrived.

Do you ever find yourself in a place where you just want someone to tell you what to do?

I can always trust you, Andrea, to have a great idea.

Aidan

[bloviatrix]

That's so sweet about the new rings. Why not get a bottle of champagne or a late harvest wine to celebrate with? Laurent Perrier has a kosher rose which is particularly festive.

My suggestion is to finish whatever you have that's open and needs to get done before pesach. For example, I'm making kasha varniskes because I want to finish the open box.

BTW, what's in your freezer? This is a good opportunity to cook that down as well.

[Gifted Gourmet]

This year, in a fit of ambition and the need to get rid of stuff early on, I find myself with virtually nothing left to serve .. pantry pretty empty and only some frozen meat in the freezer .. no bread, bagels, nothing and we still have a long time to eat! Oy! Buying chametz day by day ... still 10 more days ...

Our synagogue is having a Chinese dinner for folks on the 22nd, Shabbat night, because no one will want to eat challah at home by then (day before Passover begins) ...

[bloviatrix]

My freezer is looking pretty empty.

Friday night we had borscht, a greek-influenced chicken dish with artichokes and lemons and bulgur with pine nuts and raisins. Roberto Cohen 2002 Pouilly Fuisse to drink

Yesterday's lunch was for 4 adults and 1 kid. Started with borscht. The kid (age 3 1/2) loved it. After mom gave her a taste she requested her own bowl. And most of it made it into her mouth, although she had a light coat of magenta on her. Main course consisted of Short Ribs braised in a coffee-ancho sauce. Ribs were meltingly soft. Roasted Green Beans with shallots and garlic. Orzo with caramelized onions and mushrooms. Meyer Lemon sorbet for dessert (I bought 6 lemons last week and only needed 3, hence the second batch). Grapes and tea. Segal Golan Heights Cabernet Sauvignon 2000 and seltzer to drink for the grown-ups. Apple cider for K.

[Comfort Me]

It was an unusual shabbat. I decided to cook a recipe I read in an epicurious e-mail. It was for Pesach, but there isn't a rule, you know.

The recipe was for sweet and sour chicken thighs (from the freezer) with onions and carrots. I used half hot paprika and half sweet, and also made it a bit richer by using chicken stock where the recipe called for water. I served it with spicy garlic roasted potatoes.

About an 45 minutes before shabbas one of my dearest friends called to say that her husband, who was supposed to be making shabbas dinner while she was at work, had gotten distracted by last minute tax filings, was just running out to mail the taxes, and hadn't started dinner. I told her to grab a pound of peas from the freezer and tell her husband to walk to our house when he got back from the post. (Don't you hate it when you start an argument just before Shabbat starts? That is such an ugly feeling. You really notice shalom ha'bayit when it's gone!)

I quickly cut up a few more potatoes and seasoned them up to roast. I set more places at the table, then put more decaf on and checked to see that the timer was set right. I had plenty of sponge cake and berries for dessert. An extra bottle of pinot grigio stuck quickly in the freezer to chill and dinner for three became dinner for six.

It wasn't the most abundant shabbas spread I've ever put on the table, but it was peaceful, relaxed, tasty, and even a little romantic. I "remarried" my wife by placing the new ring on her finger. Our Rabbi had suggested saying a shehekianu, so we did. And it makes me feel good to know that we are so close that they can call and say "Invite us to dinner!" That's friends.

[bloviatrix]

And it makes me feel good to know that we are so close that they can call and say "Invite us to dinner!"  That's friends.

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Friends like that are important as they become part of your family. There's something special about knowing there are people you can count on and even better is being able to be there for someone who needs your help.

Edited April 18, 2005 by bloviatrix (log)

[Comfort Me]

And it makes me feel good to know that we are so close that they can call and say "Invite us to dinner!"  That's friends.

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Friends like that are important as they become part of your family. There's something special about knowing there are people you can count on and even better is being able to be there for someone who needs your help.

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Let me also say for the record how very much I appreciate the friendship of my eGulleteers. You, Andrea, and Gifted, and so many others have been so kind throughout this last year. Even though sometimes I disappeared for months at a time, and when I reappeared it was with tales of illness, grief, fires, and the like, you took the tzurris of the week in stride and offered encouragement and laughter in return. May the one who blessed your ancestors...

I just made myself laugh -- I mispelled friendship in the paragraph above -- I left out the "r". Made it a much different post!

Oh -- I almost forgot to post the link to the Sweet and Sour Chicken. This is definitely a recipe we will make all year long. It would be really good with rice.

Later!

[Comfort Me]

A Haiku for our time:

With Pesach over

We have only one question;

Where is the damn bread?

In keeping with the spirit of the season, this Shabbat will be a huge salad nicoise accompanied by a dairy (only) version of Mario Batali's Potato Pizza. Since I'm not using salami (because of the riccota) I'm stuffing with a mixture of sun dried tomatoes, marinated artichokes, olives, anchovies, and a generous sprinkling of Aleppo peppers. Dessert is going to be an almond polenta cake with riccotta whipped cream.

Oh -- and challah. This is a Shabbat I'm not worried about having leftover bread!

[bloviatrix]

My darling husband had some surgery this morning (he's home, he's fine) that will prohibit his ability to eat solid foods for the next week or so. So, for him shabbos will be all about pureed soups:mushroom, borscht, and carrot/organge/ginger, plus sorbets: strawberry, strawberry balsamic and blackberry lime.

For me, dinner tonight will be some mushroom soup, spinach salad with a soy-toasted sesame dressing, roasted salmon painted with horseradish-dill mustard and bread crumbs. Tomorrow is sweet and sour meatballs, smoked turkey, cole slaw and potato salad.

[Kokh Leffle]

My challah just came out of the oven, my first loaf since Passover. I’m still trying to decide what I’m going to dip it into.

[Swisskaese]

I am back!!!!!

It has been crazy since the end of March. My parents stayed until April 25th and we had a very nice seder at my cousins in Jerusalem.

I made a really good Pistachio cake for the Seder that I adapted from a River Cafe recipe and a recipe from Godiva chocolates.

I hope your husband feels better soon Bloviatrix and thanks for the congratulations.

I made Asado for Shabbat. I rubbed it with thyme and garlic and marinated it in red wine, mustard, balsamico and olive oil. It was very good.

I served it with broccoli and artichokes.

Next Shabbat I will be in Beijing......

[bloviatrix]

Blovie is still limited with what he can eat - he's now on soft solids. So, I'm making an Asian style chicken soup infused with lemongrass, star anise and red chilis and served with shredded chicken, mushrooms and peppers. The main will be a thai chicken curry served over basmati. And apricot sorbet. I made a pot of chili for tomorrow's lunch.

[Comfort Me]

I'll say another prayer for a refuah schleymah. With you providing nutritional medicine, he's sure to feel better soon.

Shabbat Shalom.

[AmyDaniel]

Let me also add my wishes for your husband's speedy recovery, bloviatrix!

One question for you: where do you purchase your lemongrass?

[bloviatrix]

Let me also add my wishes for your husband's speedy recovery, bloviatrix!

One question for you: where do you purchase your lemongrass?

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I'll pass on the get well wishes - thanks.

The lemongrass came from Gourmet Garage on the UWS.

[Kokh Leffle]

Heartfelt wishes for your husband’s speedy recovery Blovi.

Here is my menu for tonight:

Challah (I tweaked my regular recipe and got fantastic results)

Garden Salad with garlic vinaigrette

Chicken leg quarters stuffed with mushroom duxel

Broccoli with shaved garlic and onion confit (I had a load of confit as a result of playing along with the onion confit thread)

Spaetzel

Coffee cake with walnut streusel topping

Shabbat shalom everyone