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 West Side Market Goodness

I'm not much of a book reviewer, but I am in love with Cleveland’s West Side Market, 100 Years & Still Cooking: The Fascinating Life and Times of an American Public Market by Laura Taxel and Marilou Suszko. The book is physically gorgeous, but the content concerning the life and times of the Market is the true must-have for anyone who has ever enjoyed an expedition to the WSM.

It took a little while to read, because there is a lot in there! Bob read it next, and enjoyed it as much as I. I recommend this book on so many levels; it is loaded with skillfully presented history, stories and gossip, and photographs old and new. But it is more than that. The authors really succeed in bringing the WSM alive on the page. I feel like I now  have a whole new relationship with the WSM, even though I've been a fan since moving to Cleveland in the mid-1990s. 

When Bob and I first dated long distance, he introduced me to the WSM; Ohio City was a regular stop for us after the airport. We later married and lived in Maple Heights, then moved further out into the suburbs. As the years went by, and we started buying much of our meat from local farmers, the WSM dropped off of our radar completely. 

By April 2010, when I won a Facebook contest sponsored by Ohio City Pasta, it had been about two years since we'd ventured to the WSM. The catch to winning this contest was that I had to collect my prize (free pasta and sauce) once a month every month for a year - at the WSM. I wrote a series of blog posts chronicling that adventure, and how the monthly journeys to Ohio City re-awakened our passion for the place.  

We returned to the WSM for the first time after reading the West Side Market book on the Friday before Easter (March 29), and it was packed under the glistening, recently scrubbed ceiling tiles! We browsed the vendors with an entirely new perspective on who they were, where they came from, and what they offered, thanks to Laura and Marilou's book. It was still pretty cold outside when we sat to eat, so I didn't snap any photos of either of our Maha's falafels, but they were hot, crispy, succulent and delicious.

WSM Haul, 3/29/13

From left to right: Basketeria Green beans (in the paper bag), parsley, red bell peppers, grape tomatoes (not pictured - organic Spanish onions), Slovenian Sausage from Edward Badstuber & Son. Behind it, sashimi grade tuna from Kate's Fish (tilefish filets not pictured). Behind that, Hominy Grits from Narrin's Asian Spice. Next to the Grits, Nicoise Olives marinated in Olive Oil and Thyme from Rita's. The thick sausage to the right is Beef Kielbasa, accompanied by smokies, from J & J Czuchraj Meats. Finally, Urban Herbs's coriander sits under a bag of their black barley.

Sashimi Grade Tuna from Kate's Fish
Photo Courtesy Edsel Little  

This was the first time I ever worked with raw fish, as 99% of the fish sold at retail in Cleveland shouldn't be eaten raw. Kate is the only fishmonger I trust, and my trust was well placed here. Buttah.

Mediterranean Deviled Eggs
Photo Courtesy Edsel Little

We made this for a Supper Club on a Spanish theme. Brunty Farms eggs (from Solon Mustard Seed), olives from Rita's, red peppers, onions and grape tomatoes from Basketeria, and that exquisite tuna!

WSM Dinner!

Beef Kielbasa from  J & J Czuchraj Meats carmelized in a cast iron pan, Basketeria's green beans and peppers sauteed in the drippings - delicious!

Slovenian Sausage

The next day, some of the Badstuber Slovenians got the same treatment!

These potatoes were also fried in the sausage grease.

Homemade garden horseradish really enhanced the tender sausage.

 J & J Czuchraj Smokies!

I still have some Nyafat (Rokeach discontinued it years ago); it it used only for making Matzoh Brei. This version wasn't very kosher, with the bits of chopped smokies in it. But it was delicious!

I discovered that black barley isn't as ubiquitous as I'd expected, but we've enjoyed one meal using it in a pilaf-style dish with veggies (and duck fat - oh, yes). If you have any great recipes for it, please post in the comments!

Urban Herbs's Black Barley made Pilaf Style with Wild Rice, Med Grain Rice & Duck Fat

This morning, we dug into the hominy grits from Narrin's Spice.

This is a dish we've grown to love, from The Chew's Carla Hall:

Eggs in Heaven

The grits are prepared with Snowville Creamery Milk, Hartzler Butter and Beecher's Flagship Cheese, then placed in the cast iron skillet. Local eggs are then cracked in, the skillet goes in the oven. A sprinkling of Basketeria parsley completes a fun playing with food breakfast!

What a great haul of food and WSM goodness! Served up with a side of history, storytelling, photography and more.

Cleveland’s West Side Market, 100 Years & Still Cooking: The Fascinating Life and Times of an American Public Market by Laura Taxel and Marilou Suszko starts as a beautiful "coffee table" book. But beneath that pretty face is delicious content that will enhance your relationship with the WSM if you have one, and will otherwise start that relationship if you don't. If you order the book from The WSM Shop, you'll get free shipping of the book and a portion of the purchase price is donated to the Market Centennial Fund. However you acquire it, though, Cleveland’s West Side Market, 100 Years & Still Cooking is a must have for any Clevelander who cares about their food!

Note - my review copy of the book was complimentary, but my opinions remain my own.

Fun Breaking A Food Taboo

Most people who know me well know that I don't care for mushrooms. Though I'm not allergic to them, I've never liked them, and I'll usually pick them out if they are in something I'm eating. The only B Spot burger I haven't actually tasted is the Shroomage, which is topped with Portobello (though there are a couple of new burgers on the menu as of about 2 weeks ago that I haven't tried yet - more to come on that soon). 

Shroomage consumed by a dining companion at B Spot,  February 5, 2010.

In recent years, as I try to eliminate or minimize food taboos as much as possible, I've embraced the fabulous umami and deep flavor that mushrooms can give to food. Tree ear mushroom slivers, when included in Chinese dishes, actually go down pretty well now, and I've cleaned the plate of silky mushroom soup served by AMP 150's Ellis Cooley and Jeff Jarrett a couple of times. But there is still something about mushrooms that just doesn't work for me. They absolutely disgust me raw - I can't handle them at all, not even to wash or chop them. Likewise, pieces of mushroom do not make me hungry, even when fully cooked.

So it must have been the Leprechauns at work on St. Patrick's day at the North Union Farmers' Market. Bob and I had already discussed a fish and Kasha Varnishkes dinner. We were chatting with Charlie at the Ohio Honey Co. booth when inspiration struck. Killbuck Valley Mushrooms has always had the stand next to Ohio Honey at the Winter Market, but we never stop there for obvious reasons. 

Kasha Varnishkes is often made with mushrooms, but my mother never made it that way and neither do I. As we stood a few short feet from the mushroom stand, it hit me that adding some mushroom to the pan would seriously up the umami factor in the final dish. We've heard so many wonderful things about Killbuck Valley's product, so, as long as Bob was willing to wash and cut them (and eat them, since I'd pick my pieces out), I was game to try it!

Shittakes from Killbuck Valley Mushrooms

I'm pretty sure these were the first raw mushrooms to enter our house in the 15+ years we've lived here. I asked Bob to cut them in large enough pieces that they'd be easy to pick out.

While I prepped the Kasha Varnkishes, Bob treated these lovely Blue Marlin steaks from BayLobsters Fish Market to salt, pepper and EVOO, and started the grill.

Kasha Varnishkes begins with caramelizing onions in your choice of fat. For meat meals, schmaltz is traditional; my mom used cooking oil or onion flavored Nyafat (which no longer exists). For a dairy meal (or parve protein, meaning neither meat nor dairy, such as fish), butter is the winning choice. So, onions luxuriated in  a mixture of ghee (clarified butter) and Hartzler roll butter (with some Kosher salt) for about 20 minutes, then came out of the pan. Next, the kasha groats, which had been soaking up a beaten egg, went into the pan to seal the egg onto the groats. After emptying the pan and applying more butter (and a bit of peanut oil), I pushed the mushrooms in. Two minutes later, I flipped them around, then gave them another two minutes, salt and fresh ground black pepper. I marveled at the intensely mushroomy aroma, then added a little more oil, and returned the kasha and onions to the pan.   

The next step is to add hot water or stock. My mother tended towards plain water, but I wanted to infuse some additional flavor, so I made a quick vegetable stock of water, salt and pepper, a large oven-dried garden tomato, and broccoli (which I blanched, then removed to use as our vegetable side dish). Once the tomato rehydrated and broke down, I dumped the liquid into the pan, stirred, lowered the heat and put a lid on it. Fifteen minutes later, the pan received 8 ounces of small bowtie pasta that had been cooked al dente and drained. After some additional stirring to combine all of the ingredients, dinner was served:

The Blue Marlin steaks were pristine and grilled up fabulously. We also had fun playing with Hake filet  from BayLobsters with our left-over Kasha Varnishkes for Sunday dinner. 

Bob reports that the actual mushroom meat tasted wonderful, with a woodiness he loved. While I still can't get myself to want to eat the mushrooms themselves, I definitely appreciated what they added to the dish. This is a perfect example of not letting your food taboos get in the way of experimenting and enjoying twists on your usual flavors. Mushrooms, anyone?

Fun Playing with Jewish Soul Food Again: Kasha Varnishkes

Last weekend, I had a hankering for some Jewish Soul Food. We had most of the ingredients in the pantry - I decided to add broccoli because I wasn't sharing this with Bob (who hates broccoli) and darn if I just didn't feel like adding some. Kasha Varnishkes is a relatively simple, straightforward, yet addictive-when-made-well dish of comfort food. Mushroom would be the normal vegetable of choice, but you all know how I feel about mushrooms, don't you?

The dish begins, of course, with kasha, also known as  buckwheat groats:

I prefer Medium or Coarse Granulations, but it is really your choice. 

Raw Kasha

Since this was just for me, I made a half-recipe. So, a half cup of kasha would be mated with one cup of boiling water. But first, a bath in beaten egg. It turned out to be a mistake to use the whole egg for a half recipe; the final product was a little too eggy and clumpy. Oh well.

As the kasha soaked up the egg, and the pasta water boiled, I sweated some onion in butter and ghee, then added my cleaned and cut up broccoli to the saute. If one was using mushrooms, they would go in here.

I actually cooked the broccoli a bit longer than optimal before emptying the contents of the saute pan into the now-empty pasta cooking pot. The next step, which I neglected to photograph, is the sealing of the kasha in a hot pan with hot fat (onion Nyafat would be ideal for a meat meal if it still existed and if one cared about not mixing dairy and meat; I used more butter/ghee). This can take two to five minutes, as the soaked kasha mates with the egg to create a new texture and flavor. Once the sealing is done, boiling water (or broth) is added to the pan, together with salt and pepper. Covered tightly, the kasha then steams for 7-10 minutes.

Small Bowtie Pasta Cooked Al Dente Awaits the Kasha Pan

Not farfalle, not shells, not noodles - small bowties are the proper pasta for kasha varnishkes. At least in my house.

The cooked pasta is combined with the hot kasha and the set-aside vegetables and tossed with more butter, salt and pepper, and minced parsley.

 

Dinner is served, perhaps with a cold glass of Snowville Creamery Milk or, as tonight, an Egg Cream (Snowville Creamery milk, Fox's U-Bet Chocolate Syrup, Seltzer). Yum. Fun Playing With Jewish Soul Food, milchiks (dairy)!