Cheese and Vegetable Kugel

When my kids were young and still living at home, I made kugel a lot. My daughters were not terribly anti-vegetable, but I realized that pairing veggies and noodles would make it even easier to have more vegetables at our meals.

Also, it is a good way to use leftovers -- the recipe below is extremely versatile. Add cut up cooked green beans or asparagus, corn kernels, peas. Like that.

This kugel is filling enough for dinner. Also yummy with a sunny-side egg or two on top of each serving for a meatless (Monday) dinner. And a wonderful choice for dairy-fest Shavuot.

Veggie Kugel

• 4 tablespoons olive oil or vegetable oil
• 1 medium onion, chopped
• 10-12 ounces mushrooms, chopped
• 1 bunch spinach or kale, washed and dried, coarsely cut
• 2 medium carrots, shredded
• 12 ounces medium-wide egg noodles
• 3 large eggs, beaten
• 1/2 cup sour cream
• 1 cup grated Swiss cheese
• salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste
• 3 tablespoons grated Parmesan cheese
• paprika

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees. Lightly grease a 9”x9” baking dish. Heat 2 tablespoons of the olive oil in a sauté pan over medium heat. Add the onion and mushrooms and cook for 3-4 minutes. Add the spinach and cook for another 1-2 minutes or until it has wilted (kale may take a minute or so longer). Add the carrots and cook for another minute. Remove from the heat and set aside. Cook the noodles according to package directions, drain and place in a large bowl. Add the remaining 2 tablespoons vegetable oil, the cooked vegetables, eggs, sour cream and 3/4 cup of the Swiss cheese. Season to taste with salt and pepper. Stir to mix ingredients well. Place in the prepared baking dish. Sprinkle the top with the remaining Swiss cheese, Parmesan cheese and paprika. Bake for about 35 minutes or until the top is crispy and brown.

Makes 6-8 servings

Banana Marble Cake

Whenever my mother had leftover sour cream that was still safe to eat but had been hanging around the fridge for too long for it to taste fresh, she would use it to bake something. Like her marble cake. 

That cake was a simple wonder. Tender, vaguely sweet, with just enough melted chocolate swirling through the vanilla crumb. Rarely frosted, we ate it like coffee cake, just as is.

I've made that cake many times, and for the same reasons. Leftover sour cream (I also use leftover plain Greek yogurt when I have some). I've made it the original way and with coconut oil in place of shortening. 

Recently I had sour cream and yogurt leftover, the not exactly new kind.

I also had bananas left over. I always have bananas left over. I usually make banana bread with the leftover bananas.

So I took a cue from my mother and decided to bake marble cake. Using bananas.

So good.

Banana Marble Cake

• 4 ounces semisweet chocolate
• 2-1/2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• 1 cup sugar
• 3 large eggs
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1/2 cup vegetable oil
• 4 very ripe medium bananas, mashed
• 1 cup dairy sour cream or plain Greek yogurt 

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Grease and flour a (10-inch) 8-cup bundt pan. Melt the chocolate and set it aside. Mix the flour, salt, baking powder and baking soda together in a bowl and set aside. In the bowl of an electric mixer set at medium speed, beat the sugar and eggs for 2-3 minutes or until well blended. Add the vanilla extract and vegetable oil and beat for 1-2 minutes or until thoroughly blended. Add the bananas and sour cream and beat them in. Add the flour mixture and beat for 1-2 minutes or until the batter is well blended. Pour half the batter into the prepared pan. Pour in half the melted chocolate and swirl it into the batter using a knife or wooden spoon. Repeat with the remaining batter and melted chocolate. Bake for 50-60 minutes or until a cake tester inserted into the center comes out clean. Remove from the oven and let cool in the pan for 10 minutes. Remove to a cake rack to cool completely.

Makes one bread, serving 12-16

Mashed Potato Pancakes

It has been said that on St. Patrick's Day everyone is Irish.

That's okay by me! I've been to Ireland. It's gorgeous. The people are friendly, the sites are interesting, the weather is glorious, the food is awesome. What's not to like?

The potato dishes are especially good.

Like mashed potato pancakes. You absolutely cannot go wrong making these. A terrific side dish with fish or at a vegetarian dinner. But, ya know, I've had these for dinner just by themselves, topped with sunnyside eggs (and served with some grilled tomatoes) and that's a perfect meal as far as I am concerned.

Mashed Potato Latkes

• 2 pounds boiling potatoes (such as Yukon Golds)
• 2 tablespoons butter
• 1/2 cup milk
• salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste
• 2 tablespoons chopped fresh chives, optional
• 1 large egg
• Panko crumbs
• vegetable oil for frying

Wash the potatoes and cut them into chunks. Bring them to a boil in a large pan in lightly salted water. Reduce the heat to a simmer and cook for about 15 minutes or until the potatoes are tender. Drain and, when cool enough to handle, peel the potatoes. Mash the potatoes in a bowl using a potato masher or ricer. Add the butter and the milk and stir them in. Stir in the chives, if used, and the egg. Make flat cakes, about 1/4-inch thick out of the potato mixture. Press each side of the cake into Panko crumbs. Heat about 1/4" vegetable oil in a cast iron or other heavy heat retaining skillet over moderately high heat. Fry for 2-3 minutes per side or until the pancakes are golden brown and crispy. Drain on paper towels.

Makes about 12

Latkes of a Different Kind

Hanukkah wouldn't be right without latkes. And, while classic potato latkes are my favorite and I once made 200 of them for my sister-in-law and brother's annual holiday party, I also like to cook up different varieties.

In addition to fried foods, dairy is also an iconic food for Hanukkah.

So -- dairy latke!

This one is made with cornmeal and cheddar cheese. Good for breakfast, lunch or as a side dish at a vegetarian meal. Perfect accompaniment to sunnyside eggs, for dipping into runny yolks.

Also, versatile. Add chives, scallions, corn kernels, chili peppers. Whatever.

Also -- make them ahead and rewarm. 

 

Cornmeal-Cheddar Latkes

• 4 tablespoons butter
• 1-1/2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1-1/2 cups cornmeal
• 3 tablespoons sugar
• 2 tablespoons baking powder
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 2-1/3 cups milk, approximately
• 2 large eggs
• 5 ounces shredded cheddar cheese 
• butter for frying
• optional: 1 small chopped jalapeno or serrano pepper; 1 cup corn kernels; 2 tablespoon chopped chives

Melt the butter and set it aside to cool. In a bowl, mix together the flour, cornmeal, sugar, baking powder and salt. Set aside. In a separate bowl, mix the milk, eggs and cooled melted butter. Pour the milk mixture into the flour mixture, stirring gently. Fold in the cheese. If the mixture seems too thick, stir in more milk.

Heat about 1 tablespoon butter in a sauté pan over medium-low heat. When the butter has melted and looks foamy, drop 1/4 cup of the batter per pancake and cook for 2-3 minutes per side or until golden brown.

Makes about 24

Cleveland Cuisine! Really.

Cleveland cuisine? Really?

Yes!

Cleveland is an important place.

For one thing, it's the home of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.

And that should be enough.

But there's also The Cleveland Museum of Art -- it has a large, diverse collection. And unlike so many museums of its kind, admission is FREE!!!!

Also -- Cleveland has a world-famous orchestra, a distinguished university (Case Western Reserve), an AFC football team (the Browns) and a major league baseball team (the Indians).

AND, of course, their basketball team is this year's NBA Champions! (You've surely heard of the Cavaliers!)

I'm impressed!

And now there's more. This summer Cleveland will be home to the 2016 Republican National Convention (July 18-21).

And, whatever the goings on at the convention itself, the city will get lots of extra attention in the press. There will be loads and loads of extra people in Cleveland.

So, me being me, I got to wondering about what those people might be eating during their stay. 

I don't mean the food they're going to get at the convention. I mean real, special, famous Cleveland food. 

Not every city has its own culinary specialties. Surely nothing in Stamford, CT., where I live. 

But Cleveland does! And some real goodies, at that! 

For example, because the city is home to large numbers of families whose origins trace back to central and eastern Europe, bratwurst (on a bun) and crunchy apple fritters are really popular.

The apple fritters alone are worth a visit I think.

But also this -- among the most famous of "Cleveland food" is something called the Polish Boy (basically a kielbasa sandwich with coleslaw, french fries and barbecue sauce all on a club roll).

Well, okay. Maybe.

Then I discovered that among the iconic Cleveland dishes are pierogi.

Pierogi. Do you hear my heart pounding? Can you see my grin?

Oh! How I love pierogi! Doughy dumplings stuffed with stuff. Like beef cheeks or potato and cheese (served with thick, tangy sour cream).

Pierogi. The kind of food some of us used to get at grandma's, if we were lucky.

I haven't had a pierogi for as long as I can remember. Thanks to Cleveland I was reminded of that fact.

I had to have some. But the only ones I could find in Stamford, CT. were packaged.

So I decided to make some myself. And after a couple of tries -- oh!

They are as wonderful as I remember.

Thank you, Cleveland, for inspiring this recipe. Good luck this summer.

 

Potato Cheese Pierogi

Filling:

• 3 large Yukon Gold potatoes (about one pound), peeled, cut into chunks (about 3 cups mashed potatoes)
• 2 tablespoons butter
• 1 large onion, chopped
• 1 cup farmer cheese
• salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste

Place the potato chunks in a large saucepan, cover with water and bring to a boil. Lower the heat to a simmer and cook for about 15 minutes or until the potatoes are tender. Drain the potatoes and spoon into a bowl. While the potatoes are cooking, heat the butter in a sauté pan over medium heat. When the butter has melted and looks foamy, add the onions and cook, stirring occasionally, for 12-15 minutes or until soft and golden brown. Add the onions to the potatoes. Add the farmer cheese, sprinkle with salt and pepper and mix the ingredients until well blended. Set aside to cool before filling the dough.

Dough:

• 3-1/2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1/4 cup butter, cut into chunks
• 1/2 cup water, approximately
• 1 cup dairy sour cream

Extras:

• butter
• vegetable oil
• sour cream

To make the dough: place the flour and salt in a large bowl. Add the butter and work it into the dough until the mixture is crumbly. Add 1/2 cup of the water and the sour cream and mix the dough until it is smooth, soft and well blended. If the dough seems too dry, add more water. (You can do this in a food processor.) Let the dough rest for at least 30 minutes. Using portions of the dough, roll the dough on a floured surface to 1/8-inch thick and cut out circles with a 3-inch cookie cutter. Place the circles on a board or cookie sheet and cover them with plastic wrap or a kitchen towel while you cut the rest of the dough. Fill the dough using about one tablespoon of the filling for each circle.

To fill the pierogis: place the filling in the center of the dough circle. Fold the circle in half, pinching the edges to seal in the filling.

To cook the pierogis: bring a large pot of lightly salted water to a boil. Add the filled pierogis, 6-8 at a time, and boil for about 3-8 minutes depending on whether they are at room temperature, refrigerated or frozen (or until they float to the surface). Remove the pierogis with a slotted spoon and set aside; repeat with remaining pierogis.

Extras: To serve the pierogis: serve boiled (as above), with sour cream (can also serve with caramelized onions – make more when making filling above). OR, heat 1 tablespoon butter plus 1 tablespoon vegetable oil in a sauté pan over medium heat. When the butter has melted and looks foamy, add some of the pierogi (do not crowd the pan) and cook for 3-4 minutes on the flat side, or until golden brown on the bottom, then turn the pierogis over and cook for another 2-3 minutes or until crusty and golden brown. Repeat using more butter/vegetable oil with the remaining pierogis. Serve with sour cream (and sautéed onion if desired). 

Makes about 4 dozen

Salmon Spread for Easy Summer Entertaining

My mother was one of those women who always had too much food in the house. Just in case.

Just in case company came. You can't just let them sit there and not eat.

Just in case you needed a little something extra for supper. Or as a snack over the weekend.

Just in case you had some leftovers and you didn't want to throw them out.

If you ever took a look in my freezer, my fridge and my kitchen cabinets you would know, like mother, like daughter.

I have a ton of food things.

Just in case.

This past weekend when my cousins came for a sleepover, I discussed this with my cousin Leslie, whose mother was my Mom's sister. She was bemoaning her overstuffed freezer, refrig, pantry. With all the "just-in-case" stuff. 

We are who we are, products of our upbringing, including our need for just-in-case food.

But I did point out to her that with the leftover salmon I made the other day, the dill, lemons, celery and cream cheese I always have on hand, I made this spread. Which is a perfectly easy-to-make, quick-as-a-wink to make hors d'oeuvre to be served with chips or crudites. And I served it over the weekend.

Easy. 

You can do it too. And if you don't have leftover salmon, you can used canned salmon, tuna or sardines. It's also delicious with leftover cooked bluefish.

 

Salmon Spread

• 8 ounces cooked salmon, crumbled
• 2 scallions, chopped
• 1 stalk celery, chopped
• 4 ounces cream cheese
• 2 tablespoons lemon juice
• 2 tablespoons chopped fresh dill
• 2 teaspoons Dijon mustard

Place the salmon, scallions, celery, cream cheese, lemon juice, dill and Dijon mustard in the workbowl of a food processor and process until thoroughly blended. 

Makes about 1-1/2 cups

Red Velvet Cake

Last week a New York Times article bemoaned the fate of Red Velvet, which, like so many other American products, got twisted and turned and commercialized beyond repair and has been reproduced in so many gimmicky ways — red velvet candles, red velvet body mist, and so on — that it has become preposterous.

We’ve all seen this happen before. When something, anything is popular, there are going to be those who want to cash in on it in ways never intended.

They can sell it, but of course we don’t have to buy it. And if we don’t buy it, they will stop selling it and we can move on.

But that doesn’t mean that the original product was outlandish. There is a reason that Red Velvet Cake has endured. People love how it tastes. It has a miraculously soft texture. In its article, the New York Times, while ridiculing the commercialization, deemed Red Velvet Cake a classic.

Truth to tell, I never understood the wow in the whole red velvet cake thing. To me the versions I tasted seemed as if they couldn’t make up their minds about whether to be a vanilla cake with too much color and too-little cocoa to make a flavor difference or a devil’s-food cake.

But after experimenting somewhat with recipes, I came up with one that’s mighty good! So, now I get it. It isn’t vanilla cake. Or devil’s-food. Or chocolate cake. It’s its own thing. A classic. Here’s the recipe, plus a recipe for frosting that’s way less sweet than most:

Red Velvet Cake

• 3-1/2 cups all-purpose flour
  1/3 cup cocoa powder (not Dutch process)
  1 teaspoon salt
  2 cups sugar
  1-1/2 cups vegetable oil
  3 large eggs, at room temperature
  1 ounce red food coloring mixed with 6 tablespoons water
  1-1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract
  1-1/4 cups plain yogurt
  2 teaspoons baking soda
  2 teaspoons white vinegar
  Lemon-Cream Cheese Frosting 

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Lightly grease 3 9-inch cake pans. Sift the flour, cocoa powder and salt into a bowl and set aside. Beat the sugar and vegetable oil together at medium speed for 1-2 minutes or until thoroughly blended. Add the eggs, one at a time, beating after each addition. Add the food coloring mixture and vanilla extract and stir the ingredients at low speed until thoroughly blended. Add the flour mixture, alternating with the yogurt, beating the ingredients after each addition. Mix the baking soda and vinegar in a small bowl, pour it into the batter and blend it in thoroughly. Spoon the batter equally among the cake pans. Bake for about 30-35 minutes or until a cake tester inserted in the center comes out clean. Let the cake layers cool for about 10 minutes, then insert them onto a cake rack to cool completely. Before serving, frost the cake.

Lemon-Cream Cheese Frosting

• 1 pound cream cheese at room temperature
  1/2 cup butter at room temperature
  2 cups confectioner sugar
  1 tablespoon lemon juice
  1 teaspoon vanilla extract
  1 teaspoon grated fresh lemon peel

Beat the cream cheese, butter, confectioners sugar, lemon juice, vanilla extract and lemon peel together at low-medium speed until smooth, creamy and well blended.

Makes 10-12 servings

Tagged: red velvet cake, cake, dessert

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Caprese Salad Grilled Cheese

Someone should build a monument to the grilled cheese sandwich.

Say what you will about burgers or hot dogs, I don’t think any other dish is as well loved as this one. We should preserve one in a time capsule and send it to another universe so whoever eventually gets it will know how good the food is here.

Anyone old kind of grilled cheese sandwich will do. The plain old classic works: cheddar or American cheese on white bread. But few would argue the merit of variations.

Like this one: caprese salad grilled cheese panini made with fresh mozzarella cheese, ripe red tomatoes, fragrant basil and fruity olive oil inside a crusty hunk of ciabatta, fried to a crisp in a little butter.

It’s the perfect light lunch or supper, weekend brunch dish. Excellent choice for Shavuot, the “cheese” holiday.                                                                                                                                                                                 

Caprese Salad Grilled Cheese    

•   ciabatta bread (or 2 slices sourdough bread)

• 2 teaspoons olive oil

• 3-1/2 to 4 ounces fresh mozzarella cheese, sliced

• 3-4 slices fresh tomato

• 1 tablespoon chopped fresh basil

• 2 teaspoons butter

Cut the bread to make two sandwich size slices from the loaf. Brush or spoon one teaspoon olive oil on each bread slice. Place the cheese on one of the bread slices. Place the tomato slices on top of the cheese. Scatter the basil on top. Cover with the second bread slice. Melt half the butter in a saute pan over medium heat. When the butter has melted and looks foamy, place the sandwich in the pan. Weight down the sandwich (use a large pan with a saucepan or cans inside; or use a panini grill). Cook for 2-3 minutes or until the bottom slice of bread is crusty and brown. Lift the sandwich using a rigid spatula. Add the remaining butter to the pan. When the butter has melted and looks foamy, add the sandwich, uncooked side down. Replace the weights. Cook for another 3 minutes or until the bottom is crusty and brown and the cheese is melted.

Makes one sandwich

Spinach Feta Cheese Pie

Several couples I know, fellow food-bloggers, have recently had babies, one just a day or so before Mother’s Day. I’m sure their families and the friends who live close by to them will lend a hand. Life is always so hectic and emotional after a baby is born and new moms and dads can always use extra help.

In our family we have tried to anticipate a birth by a few weeks and get together to cook foods that can be packed into containers and stored in the freezer, so that cooking dinner won’t be another something to do during the first week or so after the baby is born when everyone is tired.

We’ve made carrot soup and something we call "green soup" because most of the time — but not all — we use dried green split peas and the liquid part looks sort of green. We’ve cooked baked ziti and our famous, family, tried-and-true butter cookies. And more.

But the favorite is always Spinach Pie. We make a dairy version with feta cheese and a non-dairy version using sauteed mushrooms. This dish freezes well, it’s easy to defrost and pop into the oven (we freeze the pies before baking them). Spinach pie is suitable for lunch or dinner or even as a side dish.

If someone in your life has had a baby recently, why not give them a break and cook some food for them?

Here’s the family Spinach Pie recipe, dairy version:  

SPINACH FETA CHEESE PIE

2 10-ounce packages frozen whole leaf spinach, thawed

2 tablespoons olive oil

1 medium onion, chopped

3 large eggs

8 ounces feta cheese, crumbled

6 tablespoons grated Parmesan cheese

1 tablespoon finely chopped fresh dill

freshly ground black pepper to taste

4 sheets phyllo dough

2 tablespoons butter, melted

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees. Squeeze as much water out of the spinach as possible and set aside. Heat the olive oil in a saute pan over medium heat. Add the onion and cook for 2-3 minutes. Stir in the spinach and mix well. Remove the pan from the heat. Add the eggs, feta cheese, Parmesan cheese, dill and pepper. Mix well and place in a baking dish. Top with 4 layers of phyllo dough each brushed with melted butter. Bake for about 20 minutes or until golden brown.

Makes 4-8 servings (as main course or side dish)

Meyer Lemon Yogurt Pie

When life gives you lemons, make lemonade, right? Or lemon pie, lemon bars, lemon vinaigrette. And so on.

That’s exactly what I did, years and years ago, when one of Ed’s business associates moved to California and mentioned the lemon trees in his backyard. He had so many lemons that he wanted to send us a box.

They were the strangest looking lemons I’d ever seen. Thin-skinned and vaguely orange. They also tasted sweeter than the standard, in fact, they tasted almost as if it were some kind of lemon mixed with an orange.

This was in the pre-Google search era. No one I knew had ever heard of a Meyer lemon.

In fact, Meyer lemons, which seem so familiar now, popped into popularity only about a decade ago. And when they started appearing in supermarkets during the winter I realized what I had in that box all those years before.

I had used those lemons in all the recipes I cooked that called for lemon juice and peel. It worked, though not perfectly. Meyer lemons are sweeter and they don’t have the tang and pop of a standard lemon, so they’re not ideal for recipes that need a lemony acidity.

On the other hand, because the flesh is sweeter than the more usual lemon, Meyer lemons are perfect for cookies and quick breads. I also slice them and use it as a bed for roasted fish. I make Meyer Lemon Chutney.

And this fabulous, rich, sweet and mildly tangy Meyer Lemon Yogurt Pie. 

Meyer Lemon Yogurt Pie

• 1 fully baked pie crust or Graham Cracker crust
• 1 cup sugar
• 5 tablespoons cornstarch
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 cup cold water
• 1/3 cup fresh Meyer lemon juice
• 2 large eggs
• 1-1/2 cups boiling water
• 1-1/2 tablespoons butter
• 2 tablespoons freshly grated Meyer lemon peel
• 1 cup plain Greek style yogurt
• whipped cream

Bake the crust or set it aside. Or, make a graham cracker crust (or use a store bought crust).* Combine the sugar, cornstarch, salt, cold water and Meyer lemon juice in a saucepan. Add the eggs and blend them in thoroughly using a whisk. Gradually add the boiling water and whisk the ingredients until the mixture is smooth. Place the saucepan over medium heat and bring the mixture to a boil. Continue to cook, whisking constantly, for one minute. Remove the pan from the heat and stir in the butter and Meyer lemon peel. Let the mixture rest for 15 minutes. Add the yogurt and whisk it in. Pour the mixture into the pie crust and chill in the refrigerator until cold, about 4 hours. Top with whipped cream and serve.

Makes one 9-inch pie

*to make a graham cracker crust: preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Combine 1-1/2 cups crushed graham crackers and 5 tablespoons melted butter. Mix until all the crumbs are coated. Press the mixture onto the bottom and sides of a 9-inch pie dish. Bake for 10 minutes. Remove from the oven and let cool.