Does Making it Three-Cornered Mean it's Hamantaschen?

In short, yes! 

Last year Soom Foods, who produces absolutely fabulous tahini, sponsored a contest which was basically to come up with an unusual or new riff on an old Purim favorite: hamantaschen.

I won!

I won with this idea: Spiced Lamb in Phyllo Hamantaschen with Lemon-Tahini Sauce. Sure, it's not classic cake-dessert hamantaschen with prune or poppyseed filling. But, although I love those (all year, not just on Purim), I don't think hamantaschen has to be a sweet, cakey version in order to qualify. 

My prize for winning was a jar of Soom sesame butter. What could be better when you want to make hummus or tahini sauce or anything else using sesame paste (butter, tahini)?

I've gone through a few jars of the stuff since then.

So here, folks, just in time for Purim, is:

Spiced Lamb in Phyllo Hamantaschen with Lemon-Tahini Sauce

• olive oil

• 1 large onion, finely chopped

• 1-1/2 teaspoons finely chopped ginger

• 1 large clove garlic, finely chopped

• 1-1/2 pounds ground lamb

• 3 tablespoons chopped fresh mint

• 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon

• 1/4 teaspoon nutmeg

• salt to taste

• 1/2 cup currants or raisins

• 1/3 cup pine nuts

• 12 sheets phyllo dough, approximately

Heat 2 tablespoons olive oil in a sauté pan over medium heat. Add the onion, ginger and garlic and cook for about 2 minutes, or until slightly softened. Add the lamb and cook, stirring occasionally, for 3-4 minutes or until the meat is completely brown. Stir in the mint, cinnamon, nutmeg, salt, currants and pine nuts. Set aside to cool.

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees. 

Place the phyllo sheets on a cutting board and cut out circles using a 3-inch cookie cutter (work with about 6 layered sheets at a time; you'll need about 12 sheets in all; some will crinkle and dry and need to be discarded). Keep the cut out phyllo circles in a pile, covered with plastic wrap. Working with three circles at a time, brush each circle with a small amount of olive oil and place a heaping tablespoon of the lamb filling in the center of the circle. Bring up the sides to form a triangle and press the edges together. Place each triangle on a baking sheet. Repeat the process until all the lamb has been used (about 24 filled triangles).

Bake the triangles for about 35 minutes or until browned and crispy. Serve hot with Lemon-Tahini Sauce.

Makes about 24

Make the sauce while the triangles are baking:

Lemon-Tahini Sauce

• 1/2 cup tahini (sesame paste, sesame butter)

• 1/3 cup lemon juice

• 1/4 cup water

• 2 tablespoons olive oil

• 2 cloves garlic, finely chopped

• salt to taste

Stir the tahini in the jar to blend in any oil that has risen to the top. Spoon the 1/2 cup tahini into a bowl. Add the lemon juice and blend it in. Add the water, olive oil, garlic and salt to taste. Blend thoroughly (use a food processor or immersion blender).

Makes one cup

Matzo Farfel Fattoush

Every year I buy a kitchen’s worth of Passover ingredients and most of it gets eaten, except for the matzo farfel. I know you can use matzo farfel for stuffing, matzo brei, granola and other foods. But I don’t. A few family members like it cooked like oatmeal, for breakfast, but that’s about it. So I always have a lot left over.

Last year I decided to experiment a bit and see how I could use matzo farfel to advantage.

Fattoush, a light and refreshing salad, was a big winner. 

The word fattoush means “crumbled bread” in Arabic and the salad is pretty basic — seasonal vegetables such as tomatoes, cucumber and greens mixed with toasted flat bread.

During the year it’s a good way to use up stale bread. During Passover, matzo farfel is perfect.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                        

Matzo Farfel Fattoush

• 2 cups matzo farfel
• 6 tablespoons olive oil
• 3 cups shredded Romaine lettuce (6-8 large leaves)
• 2 medium tomatoes, chopped
• 1 medium cucumber, chopped
• 1 ripe avocado, peeled and chopped
• 1/2 medium red bell pepper, deseeded and chopped
• 2-3 scallions, chopped
• 1/2 cup chopped parsley
• 1/4 cup chopped mint
• 1/4 cup lemon juice
• salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Place the farfel on a baking sheet. Pour 2 tablespoons olive oil over the farfel and toss, coating all the pieces. Bake for about 15 minutes, tossing the farfel occasionally, or until it is lightly browned. Remove from the oven and let cool. Place the lettuce shreds, tomatoes, cucumber, avocado, bell pepper, scallions, parsley and mint in a bowl. Mix the remaining 4 tablespoons olive oil and the lemon juice together. Pour the dressing over the salad, sprinkle with salt and pepper to taste and toss the ingredients. Add the toasted farfel, toss again and let rest for a few minutes before serving.

Makes 8 servings

Mom’s Fried Chicken Wings

MOM’S FRIED CHICKEN

• 12 chicken wings, cut into pieces
• 2/3 cup all-purpose flour
• 3/4 teaspoon paprika
• 3/4 teaspoon salt or to taste
• 1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
• 1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
• shortening or vegetable oil

Rinse the chicken pieces and set them aside. In a large dish, mix the flour with the paprika, salt, garlic powder and black pepper. Coat the chicken pieces with the seasoned flour. Place them on a cake rack to air dry for 25-30 minutes. Heat the shortening or vegetable oil in a deep saute pan over medium-high heat (should be about 1/2-inch) to 365 degrees (a bread crumb will sizzle quickly when you add it to the pan). Add a few chicken pieces at a time (adding too many will make the cooking oil too cool) and cook, turning the pieces occasionally, for 8-10 minutes or until crispy and golden brown. Drain on paper towels.

Makes 12

Rumaki

Would you believe this is kosher?

I mean — looks like bacon doesn’t it?

But it’s Facon. Fake bacon. A new product from Jack’s Gourmet. It’s made with beef. It is salty, smoky and with just the right amount of fat to give it a rich, smooth feel.

I used it to make these Rumaki, which I served at my Academy Awards get-together. I can tell you this: some of my guests were not kosher, not Jewish. Everyone ate these and raved about them.

When people come to my house for dinner they know they’re usually going to get some experiment (or two or three) and are always wondering when it will come in the meal. But they didn’t think this was it and when I told them what this stuff was they were all flabbergasted.

So here’s the recipe:

Rumaki

• 1/2 pound chicken livers

• 1/4 cup soy sauce

• 2 tablespoons molasses

• 2 tablespoons honey

• 2 tablespoons water

• 1 tablespoon vegetable oil

• 2 tablespoons crumbled crystallized ginger

• 1 clove garlic, finely chopped

• 1/2 star anise (or use 1/4 teaspoon anise extract)

• 1/2 pound Facon (or use other kosher bacon)

Cut the chicken livers into bite-sized pieces. Combine the soy sauce, molasses, honey, water, vegetable oil, ginger, garlic and anise in a saucepan. Bring to a simmer. Add the livers and poach them for 5 minutes. Preheat a grill or broiler. Remove the liver pieces with a slotted spoon and let cool. Cut the Facon slices into smaller pieces that are large enough to wrap around each piece of poached liver. Secure each Facon-wrapped liver with a toothpick. Broil or grill the rumaki for several minutes, turning occasionally, until the Facon is browned and crispy.

Makes 18-20 pieces

Bitter Greens Salad with Orange

Bitter Greens Salad with Orange 

There’s always so much food on Thanksgiving that everyone I know complains, including me.

Before: there’s going to be too much food. Day of: there’s too much food. Day after: there was too much food.

The complaining is a necessary part of the routine IMHO, maybe in a way to forgive ourselves the plenty. And for overeating of course. 

But the whole idea of Thanksgiving IS the plenty. Isn’t that symbolic of all the things we are thankful for?

Well, I don’t want to get any more philosophical. So I’ll just say I like serving lots of food, even if everyone groans “there’s too much!” and then eats everything and then complains. Call it the Jewish mother in me.

But honestly, one thing I find helpful when serving a meal of plenty that includes heavy dishes like stuffing and potatoes and gravy and vegetables with crusts or sauces, is to have a salad too. Not just as an extra, another side dish to put on the table, but because salad ingredients, especially if they have robust greens (arugula, endive, radicchio, watercress and so on) and acidic dressings (vinaigrette as opposed to Ranch or thick sour cream dressings) help balance and lighten up the meal. 

Here’s a salad made with three kinds of hardy greens, cut with chunks of orange, a little crunch of nuts (you can leave these out if you wish) and a light citrusy dressing. It’s pretty too, adding a bit of color to the meal.

Bitter Greens Salad with Orange

• 3 navel oranges

• 1 tablespoon white wine vinegar

• 3 tablespoons olive oil

• 2 teaspoons Dijon mustard

• 3 large Belgian endives

• 1 bunch watercress

• 1 small head radicchio

• salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste

• 3-4 tablespoons toasted pignoli nuts, optional

Grate enough of the peel of one orange to equal one teaspoon. Place in a bowl and add the white wine vinegar, olive oil and mustard. Halve the orange that has been grated and squeeze the juice from one of the halves into the bowl. Mix to blend the ingredients completely and set aside. Reserve the other half of the orange for other purposes. Peel the remaining two oranges and remove all the white pith that surrounds the segments. Cut the orange flesh into thick slices, then cut the slices into chunks and set aside. Wash and dry the endive leaves and cut them in half. Place the endive in a bowl. Wash and dry the watercress, discard any thick stems and add to the bowl with the endive. Wash and dry the radicchio leaves, cut them if they are large, and add them to the bowl and toss the greens. Pour the dressing over the leaves and toss. Sprinkle with salt and pepper to taste. Scatter the nuts over the salad if desired.

Makes 8 servings

Hummus with Zatar

I come from a talkative and political family, a family who discussed lots of different stuff at the table over dinner. I was the youngest child, but was still included, encouraged to have my say.

I remember that we yakked about all sorts of things from what happened at school to when we were going shopping for new socks to why we had to take polio vaccinations to whether the government should put fluoride in the drinking water.

On the drive back from college one year my parents, brother and I discussed the merits of Medicare.

On that same trip — during the 1960s — we drove through Tennessee to visit my father’s sister and we were all aghast at the signs in the restaurants saying “we reserve the right to refuse service to anyone.” We knew what that meant and found it horrifying.

It prompted a family discussion about civil rights.

We were a lively bunch and, thinking back, a thinking bunch too. We actually cared about issues and people and what kind of country we were living in.

My parents and brothers always talked about the importance of voting. Not just because we were people who were passionate about issues, but because it is so important to exercise a right that so many people don’t have. And to voice your opinion.

Every vote counts. My one vote among the millions makes a difference. To the total tally and also to me, because if my candidates win I can feel proud to be part of the victory. And if they lose, well, it won’t be because of me.

Please vote everyone. You are too important not to.

I will be hosting an election night get-together, something I do every four years. My guests are friends and family who feel the commitment to vote as strongly as I do (including one of my brothers).

We’ll be having sandwiches (smoked fish, cream cheese, bagels) for dinner so we can eat in the family room and watch TV for hours.

But we’ll start with a few hors d’oeuvre. Including hummus.

I like zatar, the Middle Eastern spice blend, so I’ll make this easy hummus recipe and sprinkle the seasoning on top.

There will be popcorn for sure and leftover Halloween candy.

Plus a pie.

It’s always a comfort to share this evening with other people. I recommend it highly.

Please vote.

HUMMUS WITH ZATAR

1/3 cup pine nuts

1 15-ounce can chickpeas

1/4 cup fresh lemon juice

1/4 cup tahini

1-1/2 tablespoons olive oil

1 clove garlic

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/4 teaspoon ground cumin

2 tablespoons chopped fresh parsley

zatar

pita chips

Toast the pine nuts until lightly browned. Set aside. Drain the chickpeas but reserve the liquid. Place the chickpeas, lemon juice, tahini, olive oil, garlic, salt, cumin, parsley and pine nuts in a food processor. Add 4 tablespoons to 2/3 cup reserved bean liquid, depending on desired texture (start with the minimum). Process until blended to the desired texture. Place the hummus in a serving dish. Sprinkle with zatar. Serve with cut up pita wedges or pita chips.

Makes 1-1/2 cups

Essie’s Soup

It’s awfully dark out there. And although it looks like the usual gloomy morning when a hurricane-is-about-to-strike, somehow this one seems more ominous. Maybe I’ve just listened to too many news and weather reports, but I’ve prepared for Sandy like never before.

Water, batteries, ice. Check, check, check. Take in the outdoor furniture. Check.

Everything is closed. Schools, stores. No government services, like garbage pickup.

Judging by the lines at the gas stations, the horns honking too often when a light turns green, the empty shelves in the supermarket and number of people using ATMs, it seems as if everyone around here in Connecticut is stressed out.

I’ve prepared just-in-case food. Just in case we lose power, which is almost a certainty. During hurricane Irene we were out of power for 4 days.

I fried chicken cutlets and cooked (and sliced) a pot roast so we could have sandwiches. Bought fresh carrots and other vegetables we can eat raw, canned tuna, and milk for cereal. Baked some cookies so we could nibble something sweet.

And made soup. One of my favorites, which we call “Essie’s Soup,” because it was concocted years ago by my cousin Essie.

When my son-in-law Jesse first tasted some he said “what’s the difference between this and cholent?” And I had never thought about that before, but he nailed it. Essie’s soup is as thick as cholent, loaded with beans and dried peas, plus a few extras like: barley, lentils, wheatberries and stuff. Sometimes I add fresh carrots, onions and celery, but didn’t this time because, to tell you the truth, I forgot.

Essie’s soup is very very thick and gets thicker the more it cooks.

There’s no particular recipe really, so I’ll give you the broad parameters in a recipe.

This is a soup I can rewarm on my portable cooktop (which I use for cooking demonstrations). I did also buy extra butane canisters. But it’s also the kind of thing you can eat at room temperature in case that becomes a necessity.

Essie’s Soup

6-8 marrow bones

2 packages Streit’s or Manischewitz packaged vegetable, split pea or lima bean soup

2 cups mixed dried beans

1 cup split peas

1/2 cup barley

1/2 cup wheatberries, farro or spelt

4 carrots, sliced, optional

2-3 stalks celery, sliced, optional

1 large onion, peeled and sliced, optional

salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste

Rinse the bones and place them in a large soup pot. Add water to within 3-inches from the top of the pot. Bring to a boil, lower the heat and skim the surface for a few minutes. Add the entire contents of both packages of soup (including the contents inside the seasoning packet). Add the beans, peas, barley, wheatberries, carrots, celery, onion and salt and pepper to taste. Bring to a boil over high heat, lower the heat to a simmer and cook for several hours (at least 5), stirring occasionally, until the soup is thick. Cook longer if desired. If soup is too thick, add water and heat through. Makes a lot, depending on how long you cook it, but about 4 quarts

Old Fashioned Carrot Soup

In our family, when there’s a baby about to be born, we cook a bunch of stuff to freeze so that the tired, sleep-deprived new Mom and Dad don’t have to worry about dinner. My daughters Meredith and Gillian and I make stuff like Spinach Pie, Baked Ziti, Bean Soup and so on, pack them into family-size containers and put them in cold storage until the time comes.

So it’s a good thing we start well ahead because SURPRISE, we got a call at about 4:00 a.m. on September 30th that Gillian was on her way to the birthing center, 17 days before the due date and lickety-split, baby Carina Joy was born before we could even get there.

We are thrilled of course. New babies do that. Carina has a head-full of hair and two fat dimples. Gillian, who worked out almost every day and is fit as ever, is doing well and looks great.

All of this happened suddenly to Gillian and Jesse after a big move and in the middle of pre-school applications for Remy, age 2 (for next year!).

So yesterday I opened the freezer and brought them a few stored items, including this carrot soup. Dinner was all done.

Old Fashioned Carrot Soup

·      2 tablespoons butter or margarine

·      2 tablespoons vegetable oil

·      1 medium onion, coarsely chopped

·      2 pounds carrots, coarsely chopped

·      2 medium all-purpose potatoes, peeled and coarsely chopped

·      1/4 cup chopped parsley

·      2 tablespoons chopped fresh dill

·      1-1/2 teaspoons salt, or to taste

·      freshly ground black pepper to taste

·      7 cups vegetable stock

·      pinch of sugar

·      1 cup cream (any kind) or cream substitute

Heat the butter and vegetable oil together in a soup pot over medium heat. When the butter has melted and looks foamy, add the onion and cook for 3-4 minutes or until softened. Add the carrots, potatoes, parsley, dill, salt and pepper and cook for 3-4 minutes, stirring occasionally. Add the stock and sugar. Bring the soup to a simmer. Cook, partially covered, for 45 minutes. Puree the soup in a food processor or blender (or use a hand blender). Return the soup to the pan. Stir in the cream. Heat the soup through and serve.

Makes 6 servings

Best Hummus Ever

Best hummus ever?

That’s what everyone told me Wednesday night at our Break-the-fast. They said it was the best hummus they ever tasted. Also the best texture; smooth but with some graininess; moist but not pasty.

Maybe they were all just hungry? And hummus is the first nibble of food they consumed in 24 hours, the initial tidbit to prepare the stomach before eating dinner?

But I kept it out even during dinner and by the end of the night it was gone, gone gone. Several people took a bit more to eat with the Mujadarah, Spinach Pie, Kugel, chopped salad and egg salad.

So, here’s the recipe. Try it yourself and let me know what you think. 

Btw, hummus stuffed cherry tomatoes is a good treat for Sukkot. 

HUMMUS WITH ZATAR

• 15 ounce can chickpeas

• 2 large cloves garlic

• 1/4 cup tahini

• 1/4 cup lemon juice

• 2 tablespoons olive oil

• 2 tablespoons chopped fresh parsley

• 1 teaspoon paprika

• 1/2 teaspoon salt

• 1/2 teaspoon zatar

Drain the chickpeas but reserve the liquid. Place the chickpeas in a food processor. Cut the garlic into smaller chunks and add to the food processor. Add the tahini, lemon juice,   olive oil, parsley, paprika, salt and zatar. Process to combine ingredients into a rough puree. Continue to process while adding some of the reserved liquid though the feed tube until the mixture reaches the desired consistency (approximately 3-6 tablespoons).

Makes about 1-1/2 cups

Herb and Cheese Gougeres (Choux Puffs)

Gougeres are the easiest and also the hardest hors d’oeuvre to cook.

I say that because they are easy to make once you get the knack. But I admit, they’re a little tricky for first-timers, so you need a few pointers. Which I am going to give you here.

Then once you make them a couple of times you can practically do it in your sleep.

Also, gougeres are extremely useful. I serve them plain, heated to a crisp. But sometimes I serve them at room temperature, cut open and stuffed with all sorts of fillings from plain old egg salad to toasted nuts with cheese or smoked salmon tartare.

And sometimes I fill them with things like mushroom ragout or ratatouille and serve them hot.

Of course, if you make the gougere dough without the herbs and cheese they are …. profiteroles. Which you can fill with ice cream!

Or you can make bigger ones and fill them with ice cream, whipped cream or custard, the way my mother did, and call them Cream Puffs.

It’s all the same dough. The method is the same, so once you get the knack you have this extraordinarily versatile recipe.

I always have gougeres in my freezer. Just in case company comes. Like my daughter Meredith, who loves them and always heats up a few for herself when she’s here.

Or for dinner company or weekend guests, which I am having this weekend.

Or to celebrate Bastille Day, tomorrow, because, well, this is a French recipe. Called choux.

Herb and Cheese Gougeres (Choux Puffs)

1 cup minus 2 tablespoons water

1/4 pound unsalted butter, cut into chunks

1 cup all purpose flour, sifted

3/4 teaspoon salt

4 large eggs

1-1/2 tablespoons chopped fresh mixed herbs, or 1-1/2 teaspoons dried

1/2 cup grated Parmesan or Gruyere cheese

pinch cayenne pepper

egg glaze: 1 large egg mixed with 2 teaspoons water, optional

Preheat the oven to 425 degrees. Cook the water and butter in a saucepan over medium heat. When the butter has melted, add the flour and salt all at once. Stir vigorously with a wooden spoon until the mixture is well blended and begins to come away from the sides of the pan. Remove pan from the heat and let the mixture cool for 2-3 minutes. Beat in the eggs one at a time, blending well after each addition.* Add the herbs, cheese and cayenne pepper and blend them in thoroughly. 

Butter and flour a baking sheet. Drop 3/4 to 1-inch mounds of dough from a teaspoon onto the sheet. Leave space between the mounds for the puffs to rise. For a shiny surface on the puffs, lightly brush the tops of the mounds with some of the egg wash. Bake for 18-20 minutes or until the puffs are lightly brown and crispy. Lower the heat to 300 degrees and bake for another 5-6 minutes. Turn off the heat but leave the puffs in the oven for 3-4 minutes. Serve hot or at room temperature. Or cut them open and fill them. Makes about 60

*Incorporating the eggs is what most people find difficult. Be sure to add them one at a time. Use a sturdy wooden spoon to help you. The mixture will be sticky and at first you think it will never come together, but keep mixing and you’ll see that it does come together. After each egg is incorporated the mixture becomes softer and pastier and stickier. That’s the way it’s supposed to be.