Fun Playing With Rosh Hashanah Dinner At Blu

Regular readers of this blog know that I love to cook, especially for the Jewish Holidays. Love it and do it so well that I was fortunate enough to be featured in the Cleveland Plain Dealer doing it in 2011! But circumstances are not permitting this tradition to continue, at least in my current home.

Restaurateur Brad Friedlander to the rescue! After closing his iconic Moxie, the Restaurant in Beachwood Ohio earlier this year, he reinvented the space as Blu, the Restaurant and the emphasis of the cuisine to fish and seafood. Moxie had done Rosh Hashanah dinner for a number of years, and we sampled it once with friends. It was ok, but lacked profundity. 

Blu offered a Rosh Hashanah dinner this year, with essentially the same menu as Moxie had before. Given the home kitchen situation, we decided to give it a try, and it proved to be a winner. Not as good as mine, you know, but a lovely meal to welcome in the New Year. 

After making Gefilte Fish from scratch for most of my life, I find most others' versions range from lame to repulsive. Still, Blu specializes in fish. How could it be bad?

Gefilte Fish with Grated Beet and Horseradish

The answer is that it was light and fresh, and quite good. Not as good as mine (they probably didn't use any carp), but a delightful start to the holiday feast. I would have liked a higher ratio of horseradish to beets in the topping, but that's a quibble.

House made Challah followed the fish. We asked for honey and it was brought immediately. Lovely.

Next up, the big test. Chicken Soup with Matzoh Balls.

Though not quite as special as mine is, this soup offered chickeny flavor, with a nice balance of sweetness from the carrots. The matzoh balls were softly textured and tasted great. I would eat this again.

Brisket Au Jus and Roasted Chicken 

I always made brisket for the entree. My mother would occasionally roast a turkey in addition to the brisket, but I never did. This brisket was more pristine, without the tomatoes that are a staple in mine. Still, it was cooked to melt-in-your-mouth tenderness, and the jus complimented it nicely. The roast chicken was a standout - crispy skin, deftly seasoned, and perfectly cooked. 

Green Beans Almondine

Carrots

We really enjoyed the vegetables. Somehow, despite the nearly full restaurant and the hustle and bustle of service, these plates were hot, but the contents were still al dente. So not only did they taste good and have great texture at dinner, the leftovers didn't turn to mush on reheating. Well done, Blu!

Roasted Potatoes

Accented with a generous hit of rosemary, the potatoes were likewise perfectly cooked. 

Sweet Noodle (Lokshen) Kugel (Pudding)

My mom (and I) never did noodle kugel, or anything too sweet for the main courses. My Russo-Hungarian dad was all about the pepper and salt, so we always made potato kugel. Nonetheless, this was probably my favorite dish of the evening. Eggy and creamy, with a little sweet and a nice hit of cinnamon, I would welcome this dish on my own table.

This brings us to dessert.

The menu said that this was Rugelach and Spiced Apple Cake. The Apple Cake is on the left. The honey went so well on it! The pastry on the right didn't resemble the Rugelach I grew up on. But the buttery rich flaky pastry, and infusion of what tasted like home-made preserves (prune and apricot, I think) made them a winner whatever they are called. 

Service, which had been poor on our first visit to Blu, was mostly excellent. We were glad to see they've worked those glitches out! And the portions - we had enough leftovers (about half or a little more than half) for dinner for the second night of Rosh Hashanah at home, and leftovers remained even after that!

So if you wonder how this dinner stacks up against mine, here are some links to previous dinners I've done at my house or my mom's. 2009, 2008, 2011 (at Mom's). But we had a lot of fun playing with Rosh Hashanah dinner at Blu, and a big thank you to Brad for doing it.

Oh, and here's what a fish dish from a non-holiday night looks like at Blu.

"Special" Swordfish, corn relish, avocado creme. 

Blu The Restaurant

3355 Richmond Road

Beachwood, Ohio 44122

(216) 831-5599

https://blutherestaurant.com/

Open for lunch and dinner Monday-Friday

Saturday dinner only

Closed Sunday

Fun Playing With A Gem in the Raw: Tim Bando's Grove Hill

July 2014 has been a roller coaster. It started with an amazing meal at Jonathon Sawyer's Trentina (blog post on that to come shortly), then a week plus in Boston enjoying fresh fish, seafood, and great friends. My fiftieth birthday was approaching at the end of the week, and I had been planning culinary adventures to celebrate it for months. Then, it happened -- the crud descended the night before and crushed all the plans. I spent my big day going from doctor, to lab/xray, to pharmacy, to the couch, to sleep.

After a week of misery, the fog began to lift, so we took a chance on getting a seat at Tim Bando's one-and-one-half week old Grove Hill in Chagrin Falls (the website isn't really up yet; you'll get better info on their Facebook page). I didn't want to make a reservation, in case the cough wouldn't permit me to go out at the last minute, so we hoped 6pm would be early enough to get a table. We missed it by that much (the diner ahead of us got the last one). The cheerful hostess suggested the bar, but at first that didn't appeal - were there tables at the bar area, I asked? She said no, but as we headed out, we saw a communal "sidebar" that can hold up to 7 people next to the bar, looking out the front window, with comfy leather stools. And only two of the seven seats were occupied. Sold. I hope they come up with a better name or description for that table, since it's the bar area, but not the same as sitting at the bar; in fact, it was quite lovely, except for the aggressively perfumed plants on the window sill.

Service was mostly expert, though the bread service was delivered by a runner who didn't tell us what the components were. Despite a couple of flaws, we thoroughly enjoyed our meal and it was a worthy consolation prize for the recently cancelled festivities.

Bread Service: Whipped Soft Butter, Garlic, House-made Hummus

The bread was assertively crusty with a melt-in-your mouth middle. I don't know what the garlic cloves were intended to be. They didn't seem soft roasted and weren't spreadable, but they didn't taste pickled either. Cut up, they went nicely with the soft whipped butter. The bean dip tasted very fresh with an herbaceous pop, but was a bit too salty. 

Roasted Corn

Bob's roasted corn was topped with Calabrian Chili Aioli, Pecorino, and Basil. Not local corn yet, but close enough to be enjoyed, accompanied by a great balance of sweet and slightly spicy flavors, with mouth hugging creaminess from the aioli bringing it all together.

Grove Hill Chicken Soup

This chickeny elixir is thick with orzo, chicken meat, carrots, celery, onion and chili oil, and topped with parsley. Though it needed a big pinch of salt, this creative approach to Grandma's chicken soup made this sick girl feel like she'd had the most comforting bowl of poultry penicillin ever. Be forewarned that the chili oil heat is pronounced, so if it is not your favorite flavor, steer clear. 

Texas Cut Sirloin
Summer Bean Salad, Herb Butter, Fries

Bob's steak was cooked to a perfect medium-rare and crusted nicely, though it was also a bit under salted. The bean salad offered an unexpected but welcome pork-infused flavor punch, and the crispy fries rounded out the plate nicely.

Seared Scallops
Polenta Croutons, Truffled Corn, Chives

This dish would have been magnificent if the Polenta Croutons hadn't been cold. The scallops, my first seafood since enjoying local/super fresh products in Boston, were a very good quality product, well seasoned and perfectly seared. The warm corn salad complimented the seafood with both texture and acid enhancing the natural pairing of corn and shellfish. The Polenta Croutons were a great idea and had nice flavors, but they needed to be served hot and crispy to really impress. 

Desserts are made in house and sounded delicious, but the portions were so generous that we hadn't even cleaned our dinner plates. Guess that means we'll have to get back to Grove Hill for another meal!

We had fun playing with our dinner off the bar at Grove Hill. The deft hands in the kitchen and in service are cranking out both creative and more familiar comfort food, at very reasonable price points, and it all bursts with flavors, colors and textures that left me hungry for more. The restaurant also offers a full raw bar; I haven't seen that menu posted anyplace on line, but the regular menu is on the Facebook page. I expect the few flaws in seasoning and temperature will work themselves out as everything settles in, but I really hope that they re-think those stinky flowers by the window seats (I love roses too, but not right by my dinner plate or wine glass). I'm excited to try additional offerings from the regular and raw bar menus and playing with food at Grove Hill after hitting the farmers' markets later in the summer; they are supposed to start serving Saturday and Sunday brunch sometime in August.

Grove Hill
25 Pleasant Street
Chagrin Falls, OH 44022
(440) 247-4800
Closed Monday

Fun Playing With Passover Food With Family

And so we come to the reason for the trip east in the first place - preparing Seder delectibles to share with my family! My nephew came home from school and the game was on.

First order of business for Saturday: a 20 quart pot of chicken soup. 

While the soup bubbled, and before starting on the Gefilte Fish, we paused for an amazing lunch treat. My parents have new neighbors in the house behind theirs. The neighbors have chickens, which are allowed to free range all over their properties. This morning, the doorbell rang and we were presented with a half-dozen just-collected eggs by the two adorable children of the neighbors, with a delightful hand drawn card that made Mom's day. Those eggs did not last long:

Soft Boiled Fresh Egg

On Sunday, we turned our attention to the brisket, matzoh balls, and hard boiled eggs. Cleveland's own Mister Brisket provided the beef:

Here, the meat has cooked a bit over half way, and we sliced it then chilled it, to finish cooking before the first Seder. This is the first cut or flat. I also brought some of the deckle, or point, just to be sure we'd have enough (we had plenty, so I brought that back home with me).

Here's a look at the finished matzoh ball in soup; I took this after I got back to Cleveland:

And finally, the eggs. Yoda, um, Mom took charge of those; even she marveled at how hard it is to peel farm fresh eggs even if you cook them perfectly (Mom's Passover claim to fame was hard cooking and peeling over 500 eggs at a time for the Hebrew School Model Seders when I was kid):

And so, it was time for the first Seder in my parents' house in . . . I don't know how many years.

Mom, Justin, Andrea, Jeff, Stan, Daniel, Bob

The only family member missing is my sister Chaya. She couldn't make it up from Florida. But it was great to see my two nephews!

Seder Plate

Charosis

Dad made the salad

Baked Cauliflower with Scape Pesto (no cheese)

Unfortunately, here is where I got too busy serving to take pictures.

Potato Kugel

This leftovers photo came after I got home; I never did take a picture of the Farfel Pudding, which is one of my Passover staples. Because I couldn't get apricots at the two stores I looked in (who knew apricots in natural juice were so rare?) I used a can of mango instead - and liked it a lot better; mango and coconut oil (in place of margarine) will now be de rigueur in my Farfel Pudding.

We enjoyed two holiday breakfasts with my parents before we left. First, Dad made Matzoh Brei; note the coconut oil taking the place of the traditional onion Nyafat that is no longer made.

Perhaps Bain Capital, who's Sankaty Advisors Unit just bought Manischewitz (which had bought up Rokeach, maker of Nyafat, several years ago), will bring Nyafat back. Who needs Nyafat? I sweated some onions in the coconut oil to simulate the Nyafat, and it wasn't a bad knock off.

At Dad's request, I scooped the onion pieces before out of the pan before he put the raw food into the fat, and then served them on the side. Delicious!

For our last meal Wednesday morning, Dad asked me to make Matzoh Pancakes. We served these with berry jam and strawberries, neither of which wound up in the photos.

Matzoh Meal Pancakes

And then we left.

Fun Playing With Food and Family - I could not ask for anything more. Wishing you the best of this spring and holiday season!

Fun Playing With Myer USA Prime Brisket

This year, the Jewish High Holy Days came early (as you surely know by now - they are never on time!). Since I was busy with Regional Gathering food preparation, I wound up rushed and only made a small Rosh Hashonah holiday dinner for a few friends. I'm glad that I did, though, because I got to work with  (and then to eat) the most amazing brisket I have ever tasted. 

I initially ordered straight from my comfort zone: one first cut brisket flat, please. Then, Hank at Mister Brisket told me of a new product they carry - Myer USDA Prime Whole Briskets. I'd never cooked the whole brisket before, and the ones I've seen others cook always look sooo big.  But because Myer raises their Angus cattle without antibiotics or hormones, on grass and feed until "corn finishing," the product is smaller than commercial beef. Was I willing to take a chance on cooking it? Hell yes!

This is the whole brisket, but was about the size and weight of a conventional first cut. 

I had parsnips left over from soup-making, so they joined the sliced onions in the bottom of the roaster.

This is how my Mommy made it - rubbed with garlic granules (from Heather's Heat and Flavor), Sweet Paprika (ditto), Telicherry Pepper (ditto), Kosher Salt, and a bit of hot Hungarian Paprika made from our garden peppers (ok, I lied - my mother would never put anything remotely spicy on anything she cooked).

Here, we see the brisket covered with Mom's secret brisket weapon: Manischewitz Tomato-Mushroom Sauce. But since we also had an abundance of perfectly ripe tomatoes (and since I thought it might balance nicely with the parsnips) - we also added lots of fresh tomato to the pan. Cover with parchment paper and heavy-duty foil, then roast at 325 degrees for a bunch of hours.

Once the brisket is cooked about halfway - it will look like the above photo (after you slice it, of course).  And then - back into the pan to finish!



Unfortunately, I didn't see the episode of The French Chef where Julia Child cooks brisket until the day after I made this (on the Cooking Channel), so I didn't know that you are supposed to separate the flat from the rest of the brisket before you slice them, because the grain runs in a different direction in each section of the meat. And do you know what - this meat was so incredibly tender and tasty that it mattered not at all.



This lovely slice came from the flat. I marveled at the exquisite taste of the meat and the amazingly silky taste of the fat (which I would normally cut away and discard).



This slice was from the "other" part of the brisket, and though it is clearly sliced with and not against the grain - it was tender and delicious.

This post is about brisket, but I am so happy with my chicken soup and kreplach (meat dumplings) that I can't resist showing them off here:



My potato kugel (first one that I've made in years - Bob usually makes it) also came out fluffily wonderful:



By Yom Kippur (a week later), we'd finished the kugel, though we'd saved brisket and kreplach in the freezer. We decided to fry up some kreplach as a side dish to have with our brisket (this is how I'll get us back to brisket) -





A hearty meal to help prepare for the fast. And that brisket just kept getting better and better with each day that it lasted.



And now it's all gone.

But I know where I can get more: Cleveland's very own Mister Brisket! And the Meyer's product costs the same as the conventional first cut brisket - such a deal! This was the most fun I've ever had cooking  a brisket and the result was nothing short of spectacular - between the quality of the meat and the addition of fresh tomatoes, it rates as the tastiest brisket I have ever bitten into.