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 Passover Food 2009

We are in the midst of the Passover holiday. I have always loved Passover, because of the special food memories that go with it. Many foods eaten during Passover are made and consumed just this once a year. Since moving to Cleveland 13 years ago, I usually make the traditional two Seders (unless we go to NY to visit the family). This year was a Cleveland Seder year.

The week before Passover turned out to be exceptionally hectic - as a result, I was too exhausted to take any Seder photos. However, you can see a wonderful narrative of our first Seder on my friend Tom's Blog, Breads My Way. Seder: Part 1, Part 2. Also, if you have a Facebook account, you can see the gorgeous photography of my friend Chris here.

So this year, I can offer you some photos of prep steps from some different perspectives than in my previous posts (I hope), and photos of some items in "leftover" mode.

We begin with the creation of one of the best pots of chicken soup I've ever made. I was lucky to have a Breychak Farms pullet in the freezer. This young lady still had her feet and neck intact:



In these two photos (above and below) - she has one food manicured - I realized after I snipped off the first set of toenails that I should take a picture before continuing!





By this point, I've finished the manicure, removed the feet, and removed the neck. Unfortunately, the neck was the only giblet - no poopick (gizzard), liver or heart. I did have an extra supply of feet and the back and bones from a recently cooked Breychak chicken, so I wasn't worried.


My secret weapon for skimming.




Soup Greens

Carrots, Onion, Celery, Parsnip. Flat and curly parsley will be added later.









I start with just the chicken and parts - remembering how long the feet take to give their all, I decide to leave the pullet whole.



That amazing alchemy happens - and after skimming and simmering (NEVER allow it to come to a boil) - the soup clears.




Everything is in the Pot!

While the soup simmers, I prepare the matzoh ball mixture. Since Kathy is no longer in the egg business, I needed to locate a new source for farm fresh eggs. I am very fond of Aaron Miller's eggs, but I was advised that they were in short supply.

None other than Hank Kornblutt at Mister Brisket supplied my answer! He pointed me to Hensbury Farm, where I hooked up with the owner, Jennifer. She agreed to meet me and provided me with all of the many dozen fresh eggs I needed - and these are truly wonderful eggs!



These eggs dated 3/15/09 were deliberately a little older, for making hard-cooked eggs. They peeled like a dream!






Yolks for Matzoh Balls

Some of these eggs are not Kosher, because of the bloody specks. Jews who keep Kosher are not permitted to consume any blood from any animal. I, however, have never let a blood speck get in the way of enjoying a farm fresh egg, so into the Matzoh Balls they went.


Whipped Yolks




Whites - Beaten to a Stiff Peak

The soup, meanwhile, simmers for many hours, until the feet have given up all of their collagen. Once chilled, the soup shimmers and shimmys like Jello.






The Final Product - Matzoh Ball Soup

Next up was the Gefilte Fish. As usual, I sourced my fish from Mister Brisket. Hank made sure I got some heads this time!

Bag 1 contains the stock making parts:



These are rinsed, put in a pot with onion, covered with water and brought to a simmer. As with the chicken soup, the fumet begins cloudy:



But through the magic that comes from the stove - it clears.



Skimming helps!

In the meantime, I beat several Hensbury Farm eggs in the bottom of a pot, then add my fish mixture. Hank has ground 1 part Pike, 1 part Whitefish and .5 part Carp fillets with onion, which looks like this:





My seasonings are simple - salt, white pepper and sugar. And a little matzoh meal to hold it together.

I form the mixture into quinelles (ovals) and poach them in the fish stock. After the first hour, I add carrot sections. I then poach for another 1.5-2 hours. I scoop the cooked fish out into one pan, and the carrots into a dish. Everything else, I'm sad to say, becomes compost - we never have the energy to save the fish fumet.

Bob makes horseradish from a root dug up from our garden, a little salt and vinegar:



The fish is eaten with carrots and horseradish - and, after the Seders - accompanied by buttered matzoh. Yum!









Another Seder delight is the Charosis - a mixture of walnuts, apples, Passover sweet wine and seasonings. Although I am always tempted by descriptions of exotic Sephardic preparations including dried fruits, dates, other kinds of nuts and seasonings - I can't bring myself to change this - because I LIKE it so much. We eat the leftovers as matzoh spread (since we don't eat peanut butter during Passover).

I have started adding a little cardamom and tumeric in recent years - but it's still mostly seasoned with cinnamon and Ohio Honey.





Looks like mortar, but tastes delicious!


Another Seder item that is just as yummy cold is the Sweet Farfel Pudding with Apricots; the Hensbury Farm eggs really kicked this up:





Finally, the "Day After" plate:


Brisket with Gravy & Onions, Potato Kugel, Sauteed Asparagus with Lemon-Grapeseed Oil Spritz



I hope that you are also playing with the Holiday foods of your choice - or if you do not celebrate a Spring holiday, that you playing with the bounty of the burgeoning Spring!

Fun Playing (One-Handed) With Holiday Food and Good Friends

Sorry I haven't been blogging much lately - lots of time devoted to PT and rehabbing my shoulder. I've got a backlog of photos to share!

When last we left our intrepid food lover, she had just survived catering a weekend party for 65 people one-handed, with the help of some very special people. As the calendar would have it, Rosh Hashonah was scheduled to begin the next day, Monday September 29, at sundown. What to do?

As it happened, my good friend Linda, who has recently been through some tsorres (troubles) of her own, had neither the energy nor the desire to deal with her usual family holiday celebration. Together, we concocted the perfect plan - she'd bring some ingredients to my house on Monday morning, and we'd prepare our holiday meal together in my more spacious kitchen, then we'd enjoy a quiet New Year celebration with just our two couples the first night, and another friend in addition the second night.

I wasn't very camera-able at this point, so most of the photos are courtesy of our dear friend Edsel, who was the "other friend" the second night!

I did take photos of our beautiful soup pot - filled with lovely vegetables, and one pullet from Linda's freezer (which had started life at the Breychak Blue Egg Farm) and one pullet from the one and only Mister Brisket. Together with a few Blue Egg chicken feet, it was going to be something special:



Linda made the Maztoh Balls, using the recipe from her book, Onions, Onions, Onions. This is not the way I make them - she adds onion, schmaltz (chicken fat) and seltzer to the basic egg and matzoh meal batter - and she doesn't separate her eggs. I was game to try something different!


Linda's Matzoh Balls Cooking


The Festive Holiday Table

Sliced apples and Ohio Honey honey are first, together with Challah from On the Rise Bakery. Also, sliced hot peppers from the garden.


Gefilte Fish and Garden Horseradish

Thanks to Mister Brisket for providing the delicious raw fish mixture!


Garden Tomato Salad

This was surprisingly tasty with the addition of Thai Basil (I thought Bob was nuts when he told me that was how he was making it).


Chicken Soup, Matzoh Ball, Carrots, Noodles


Linda's Citrus-Braised Brisket



Linda did the brisket at her place over the weekend - a gorgeous hunk of grass-fed meat from Miller Livestock. She used a combination of North African spices and citrus for an interesting and tasty spin on the traditional holiday brisket.


Bob's Potato Kugel

Delicious, as always.

We were too stuffed both nights to cut up the garden melons we'd been gifted with, so no dessert (well - we did kinda dig into the leftover Chocolate Covered Bacon with Almonds the second night - but don't tell, since that wouldn't be kosher).



Since there was lots of soup left, we froze some, and I made another batch of Matzoh Balls for Yom Kippur the following weekend. It was sublime!