KCC

This month's Kosher Cooking Carnival is up at Batya's site. Enjoy!

Cherry crumb kugel

This is a nice, versatile recipe. It can be served either as a cake, dessert, or side dish during a holiday meal (it's parve so you can serve it with either meat or milk). It freezes well and is wonderful both warm and cold. Pick your favorite pie filling to make it into a cherry, apple or blueberry kugel.

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4 cups flour
2 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
1 cup oil
1 cup sugar
2 vanilla sugar

2 eggs
1 can pie filling

1. Preheat oven to 350
2. Grease 9 x 13 pan
3. In a large bowl, combine all ingredients
4. Pour 1/2 batter into pan
5. Spread pie filling over batter
6. Pour remaining batter over pie filling
7. Bake for 1 hour

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PS. When I googled on 'kigel' to find a nice image to go with the recipe, I found this painting of a bird in a cherry blossom tree, painted by Jean Kigel. How funny!

Carrot muffins

These muffins are a great alternative for serving plains veggies. They turn out wonderfully with carrot and apple, but I can imagine that adding drained zucchini or even potatoe could also work well.

1/2 cup walnuts (optional)

2 cups grated carrots

1 large apple, grated

2 cups all purpose flour

1 cup sugar

3 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp salt

2 tsp cinnamon

3 eggs 3/4 cup oil

2 tsp vanilla

1 cup coconut (optional)

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease muffin tins (or use silicon ones)

2. Toast nuts (optional)

3. Combine dry ingredients

4. In separate bowl combine eggs, oil and vanilla

5. Add carrot and apple

6. Fold into flour mixture. Don't overmix!

7. Pour mixture into muffins tins

8. Bake 20-25 min. or until toothpick inserted comes out clean

Sweet potatoe pie

Sukkot is celebrated during the harvest season. Many dishes are prepared with seasonal veggies. I love this recipe for sweet potatoe pie. The flavour is fairly similar to pumpkin pie. The sweet potatoes can be substituted with pumpkin or butternut squash.

2 9-inch prebaked pie shells, frozen or homemade

2 cups cooked, mashed sweet potatoes

1 tsp cinnamon

1 tsp all spice

1/2 tsp powdered ginger

1/2 tsp salt

1/2 cup light brown sugar

3/4 cup non dairy creamer

2 tbsps margarine, melted

3 eggs, beaten

1. Preheat oven to 450 degrees

2. Mix sweet potatoes with spices and sugar

3. Add creamer, melted margarine and eggs

4. Mix well and pour into pie shells

5. Bake at 450 degrees for 10 minutes, then reduce to 350 for 45 minutes

PS. Pie crust can be made easily. For 4 shells, mix 4 cups flour, 1 tbsp sugar and 2 tsps salt. Cut in 1 3/4 cups shortening (or margarine) with two knives. In small bowl, mix together 1/2 cup water, 1 tbsp vinegar and 1 large egg. Combine both mixtures and mix with a fork until moistened. Divide into four portions, shape into balls and chill for 30 minutes. Roll out each ball on a floured board, place in 9 inch pie plates and prick dough. Preheat oven to 450. Weight the bottoms with a sheet of wax paper topped with dried beans. Bake 10 to 15 minutes and cool.

Latkes

Chanuka is the holiday of the mighty victory of a brave group of Hashmoneans over the powerful army of the Greek Syrians. It is also the holiday of the miracle of the menorah, that kept burning for eight days although there was only enough oil for one day.

And yes, Chanuka is the holiday of oil. Lots of it, preferrably. Sufganiot are served (also known as 'ponchkes'), which are doughnuts fried in oil and filled with jelly, pudding or chocolate, and other dishes in which oil plays an important role.

One such dish is the latke, a potatoe pancake which, of course, is fried in oil and eaten with apple sauce and sour cream. They are very easy and quick to make, and very nice. To vary (and make the dish (even) more healthy), you can add shredded vegetables such as carrots, zucchini or leek.

Latkes (makes about 20)

6 large potatoes
2 medium onions
2 eggs
5 tbsp flour
pepper
salt
oil for frying

Peel potatoes. Potatoes can be shredded uncooked, but then you need to drain them and squeez the excessive liquids through a seeve. I prefer to slightly cook them, until they are softer but still firm. Shredd potatoes in food processor. Shred onions and add to potatoes. Mix. Check the two eggs, beat, and add to potato mixture. Gradually add flour and mix. Season with pepper and salt to taste.

In frying pan, heat a thin layer of oil (the original recipe uses 2 cm of oil, but this is out of the question for me. There is a maximum amount of oil one can take in, and this is where I draw the line). When oil is hot, take a large tbsp of potato mixture. Form into patties with your hands and place in pan. Bake for about 5 minutes, or until both sides are golden brown.

The latkes are parve, and can be served with apple sauce and sour cream (or Israeli white cheese) which will of course make the dish milchig.

Chanuka is not the healthiest holiday foodwise, but it certainly is one of the warmest and happiest holidays from the Jewish calendar. Plus recent research proved that two eggs a day can even cut your cholesterol levels! :-)

Vegetarian moussaka

Visiting the open air veggie market is something I love doing, but hardly ever find the time for. The vegetables are much cheaper and of better quality than in the supermarket. I bought a big bag of eggplants. I love these deep purple vegetables with their beautiful shape. I could hold them for hours, but in stead sliced them up for this wonderful vegetarian moussaka (milchig). I tried this recipe for the first time, and it's a definate winner. Not only is it kosher because it leaves the meat out, but for that same reason it has far less calories than the original version. This recipe is from about.com and serves 4 to 5 people. But it was so good we finished it with only 3 ;-)

Prep Time: 40 minutes
Cook Time: 1 hour

Ingredients:
1 1/4 pounds of eggplants (long slender type), trimmed, cut in 1/8" slices
1 1/4 pounds of small zucchini, trimmed, cut in 1/8" slices
1 1/4 pounds of potatoes, peeled, cut in 1/8" slices
1/2 teaspoon of salt
2 cups of water
3 tablespoons of crushed toasted breadcrumbs
1 3/4 cups of finely grated gouda cheese
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For the tomato sauce:
2 medium tomatoes, run through blender
1 medium onion, minced
1 large clove of garlic, minced
1/2 teaspoon of salt
1/2 teaspoon of pepper
3/4 cup of olive oil
3/4 cup of water

Preparation:
Place sliced vegetables in a colander over a bowl, sprinkle and toss with 1/2 teaspoon of salt, and set aside while making the sauce.
Make the sauce: Combine all sauce ingredients in a saucepan and bring to a boil over high heat. When it reaches a full boil, reduce heat to medium and cook until excess liquid has cooked off and a chunky tomato sauce remains (about 1 3/4 cups).

Preheat oven to 480F (250C).

Make the moussaka: Sprinkle the bottom of a 12-inch diameter (or equivalent) roasting pan evenly with the breadcrumbs. Place a single layer of potato slices on the breadcrumbs, overlapping only slightly if needed to cover the bottom. Top with a layer of eggplant slices. Sprinkle with 1/3 cup of the grated cheese. Add a layer of zucchini slices, and a layer of the remaining eggplant and zucchini mixed. Top with a layer of potato slices. Spoon the tomato sauce evenly over the top. Add 2 cups of water (pour around the sides so as not to disturb the tomato sauce on top) and top with the remaining grated cheese.

Bake at 480F (250C) until the liquid in the pan comes to a full boil, about 20 minutes. Reduce heat to 390F (200C) and cook for one hour. Cover the pan loosely with foil when the cheese on top is nicely browned.

Yield: serves 4-5

Marak perot kar

The only way to survive Passover without gaining weight and without messing up your digestive system, is to eat loads of fresh fruit. On the second seder I served this cold fruit soup, and everybody loved it. It's perfect for such a late night meal, and it really suits the spring atmosphere of the holiday of Passover.

Ingredients

1 medium Cantaloupe

1 quart Strawberries, fresh

1 mango

2 medium Apples

3/4 cup Lemon juice, fresh

1/2 cup Sugar

6 cups Water

1 1/2 cup Orange juice, fresh

Directions
Cut the cantaloupe in half. Remove the seeds and stringy fibers, scoop out the pulp with a large spoon and chop it coarsely. Wash the strawberries under cold running water, picking out and discarding any fruits that are badly bruised. Remove and discard the stems. Peel mango and chop it up. Combine the cantaloupe, strawberries, mango, apples, 1/2 cup of the lemon juice, the sugar and water in a 4 to 6 quart enameled or stainless steel saucepan. Bring to a boil over high heat, reduce the heat to low and simmer uncovered for 15 minutes. Puree the soup through a food mill, or pour the entire contents of the pan into a large fine sieve set over a deep bowl and force the ingredients through with the back of a spoon, pressing down hard on the fruits before discarding any remaining pulp. Stir the remaining lemon juice and the orange juice into the soup and refrigerate for at least 2 hours, or until thoroughly chilled. The lemon juice will make sure your soup keeps its beautiful red colour. Serves 8-10.

Optional

Soup can be garnished with pieces of fresh strawberry or with a mint leave.

Mango can be replaced with 1/2 pound of green seedless grapes, or any other fruit you like.