Book Review- Charred: A Whipped and Sipped Mystery

Charred: A Whipped and Sipped Mystery by G.P. Gottlieb is a rather contemporary mystery. It takes place when COVID reigned, and people had to deal with lockdowns and more. Kids were being schooled by computer screens, and the Whipped and Sipped Café couldn't let customers inside to eat. Food and drinks had to be ordered online or by phone and delivered to their customers waiting outside the door.

Aline, the cafe's owner, manages a lot more socializing than most during the lockdown. Besides working with the café staff and customers, she has her children and father to take care of. In addition to that she's also in a serious relationship with Frank, a homicide detective and is also very involved in the lives of a few of her neighbors. There is one very Jewish character in Charred, Aline's best friend and Whipped and Sipped Café pastry chef Ruthie Blum Rosen, who is a Sabbath observer and vegan, too. All of the pastry she makes is vegan.

Charred is the third in a series of murder mysteries by G.P. Gottlieb featuring the same characters, and I'd love to read the others, too. An added bonus to the series is the inclusion of recipes prepared in the Whipped and Sipped Café.

As the story begins, Aline starts her day by doing her neighbors Kacey and Kofi a favor by driving them to the site of a burnt building, so Kofi could find interesting charred wood for his artwork. But instead of some wood, he brought back a mystery. He quickly returned panicked and empty-handed back to her car. It took awhile until Aline discovered what was bothering him; he saw a dead body. Then she was forced to promise that she wouldn't tell anyone, including Frank.

The police are suspicious of a possible connection between the body and Ruthie Blum Rosen, because the dead person is found wearing a jacket with the Rosen's nametag which has things from the café in its pocket. It has never occurred to Ruthie to remove the nametags of clothing before donating to charity.

G.P. Gottlieb has created a wonderful group of characters, each with a distinct personality. We quickly find ourselves involved in the community of the Whipped and Sipped Café, the staff, customers and local eccentrics who hang out by its door. We also discover that Aline's father has recently been hearing from his brother who had been jailed for many years and wants to see him. 

To be honest, when I was a good three quarters finished with the book, I began to think that there were too many threads and wondered if G.P. Gottlieb would tie them all together. And then suddenly, rather miraculously the author very neatly crocheted them all into a wonderful conclusion.

I highly recommend Charred: A Whipped and Sipped Mystery, and as I said earlier, I'd love to read the earlier books in the series. The book does stand well on its own; I'd like to read the others, because no doubt I'd enjoy them. 

Baked Onion Omelet and the Story Of Course

The other day in the middle of cooking I realized that the time had come to change gas canisters.  In Israel most of us  have individual arrangements with gas companies.  The gas company hooks up each home to a pair (or more if water and heating are done by gas) of canisters aka "balloons."  You're supposed to keep only one open at a time and then close it when it's empty, open the waiting full one and quickly call the gas company to order a new one. 

Of course there are periodic foul-ups, usually planned by "Murphy's Law," just when there's about to be a holiday and the gas can't be ordered.  It has happened to me that either we forgot to order or somehow both were open and then empty out simultaneously.  When that happens I have to get immediate help from neighbors.

Well this time when I went to change balloons, yes, the canisters, I noticed that the "full" one seemed a bit on the light or empty side.  I also smelled gas and discovered that the nob attaching it wasn't fully closed.  I closed it and then called the gas company to order more gas and complain.  I was told that I'd have to wait as few days, and he'd send an inspector to check that all the connections were good.

But in the meantime I was afraid that I'd run out of gas, so any cooking that could be done in the oven was done in the oven, including my morning eggs.

I placed a sheet of parchment paper for baking on our handleless frying pan.  As you can see above, I put the cut onion and eggs on it and dripped a bit of oil to mimic "frying."

I placed the frying pan in the oven on high with the fan going to speed things up.  It almost looks "fried."  Doesn't it?  And of course I added the usual seasonings.

My Baked Onion Omelet really tasted good!

PS the gas canister did arrive on the day promised, and so far the "almost empty canister" is still cooking...

The Chanukah (Tevet) Kosher Cooking Carnival!

Let's start with a better turn down the volume  latke making demonstration:



If you haven't yet seen this, here's your chance.

I've long ago lost track of what number Kosher Cooking Carnival this is, but I do know that we're in Chanukah so it's Tevet.  KCC comes out monthly, according to the Jewish Calendar.  If you'd like to host one, then please contact me.  To submit an article use blog carnival's form or via the instructions on our facebook page.  Next month, Shvat, will be hosted on Frugal and Kosher.  Who can host Adar?  Please let me know, thanks.

The Kosher Cooking Carnival includes all sorts of posts about kosher food and kosher cooking.   It's more than just a collection of recipes.  I include halachik issues about kashrut,  reviews of kosher cookbooks and restaurants, too.  Enough of an introduction, here it is:

special for Chanukah or any time

Yosef presents Onion Bhajis and Cilantro Chutney posted at This American Bite, saying, "A great alternative to potato latkes."

I posted about low-carb latkes, which are worth trying.

desserts

Jay3fer presents Pareve Sugar Cookie Mix for (not exactly) a Year posted at Adventures in BreadLand, saying, "Make ahead and store in your freezer for a quick homemade mix to have cookies in minutes!"

Yosef presents Easy Apple Pie posted at This American Bite.

Mrs. S. presents Ceasefire Pie posted at Our Shiputzim: A Work In Progress, saying, "A recipe for chocolate mousse pie. Thanks for all your hard work!"

any time dishes

I present Simply Delicious posted at me-ander.

Jay3fer presents Happy Easy Tomato Egg-Drop Soup posted at Adventures in Mama-Land, saying, "Mmm... with or without chili flakes/sauce, a great way to warm up a chilly fall evening!"

Here's a new version of my vegetable soup, which I managed to make when I could barely use my arm.

anything kosher!

Leora Wenger presents Bok Choy Red Cabbage Salad - Here in Highland Park posted at Here in HP.

Chaviva Karon presents Grilled Thai Chicken posted at Challah Maidel, saying, "Save yourself from the excess amount of MSG,sodium, and calories by making your own Thai sauce for this simple but delicious grilled Thai chicken recipe."

economical use of left-overs

Yosefa Huber presents Cooking Outside the Box: Southwest Chicken Salad posted at Cooking Outside the Box, saying, "With this technique you can make soup and Shabbat lunch at the same time, or use leftovers in a fun, low-fat way."

Jay3fer presents My Brilliant Friend Rachel’s Brilliant Freezer Burritos posted at Adventures in Mama-Land, saying, "Make from scratch or use leftovers - freeze these for quick delicious HEALTHY lunches!"

Restaurant or Cookbook Reviews

Yosefa Huber presents Cooking Outside the Box: A walk in Tel Aviv, lunch at Armando posted at Cooking Outside the Box, saying, "I review a kosher fish restaurant in Tel Aviv."

That concludes this edition. Submit your blog article to the next edition of kosher cooking carnival-kcc using our carnival submission form. Past posts and future hosts can be found on our blog carnival index page.

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More About "Persian Food from the Non-Persian Bride" by Reyna Simnegar

Just like a great meal that leaves flavor memories on your tongue and mind, I hope that you're hoping for more about the Persian food I wrote about in my cookbook review of  Persian Food from the Non-Persian Bride by Reyna Simnegar.

I've just received some pictures and recipes for you to sample, adapt in your kitchen.

Chicken with Eggplants
Joojeh Bodemjune
You should have seen how long it took to make this chicken the “authentic” Persian style. Momonbosorgue (my husband’s grandma) taught me this dish and it took us the whole afternoon! She is the sweetest little lady and she really knows her food. I closely watched her while tending to this dish and measured her every move while she sang basunak (wedding songs)…. However, there was no way I was going to spend all that time in my kitchen making just chicken! So, here is the non-Persian-bride-friendly version. It tastes the same!
Tricks of the trade
If you don’t want to fry the eggplants, feel free to broil them. Although it is optional, gureh gives this recipe a great tangy taste and a very exotic look. Gureh is available at Middle Eastern shops.

1 chicken, cut in pieces
1 onion, finely chopped
½ teaspoon turmeric
1 tablespoon salt, plus extra for the eggplant
¼ teaspoon pepper
2 garlic cloves, pressed
½ cup water
1 eggplant, peeled and cut lengthwise into ½ inch slices
2 potatoes, peeled and sliced into ¼ inch rounds
¼ cup canola oil, for frying
1 (6-ounce) can tomato paste
¼ teaspoon saffron powder
½ cup gureh (unripe grapes) (optional)


1. Preheat oven to 350°F.
2. In a 9″x13″ roaster, place the chicken pieces skin side up and sprinkle with onions. Rub the chicken with turmeric, salt, pepper, and garlic. Add the water, cover with foil, and bake for 1 hour.
3. In the meantime, sprinkle eggplant with salt. When they have sweated (about 15 minutes), rinse and dry them. Fry the eggplant in a medium skillet until browned. Set aside.
4. Remove the chicken from the oven, uncover, and use food tongs to transfer the chicken pieces from the roaster to a bowl. Add the tomato paste and saffron to the chicken juices in the roasting pan and mix well. Add the potatoes, covering the bottom of the roaster. Return the chicken pieces, skin side up, and drape the fried eggplant slices on top. Drizzle with gureh, if using. Return to oven and bake, uncovered, for another hour.

Yield: 6-8 servings

This seems like a great salad, though in Israel I'd cook the beets myself. I don't think I've ever seen them canned:

Beet Salad
Salad’e Chogondar

An easy salad that can be put together in a blink! I also use this salad for the Persian Yehi Ratzons in the Seder for Rosh Hashana.

2 (14.5-ounce) cans sliced beets
1 bunch scallions, finely sliced
½ cup chopped fresh cilantro
1 teaspoon salt
½ teaspoon pepper
1 teaspoon cumin
1 tablespoon olive oil

Combine all ingredients and toss well.

Yield: Approximately 3 cups, depending on the size of the slices.

This "one pot meal" is very tempting:

Yellow Split Pea Stew
Choreshte Lape

Probably one of the most popular Persian stews, Choreshte Lape is a meal in itself! It has an extraordinary texture and a delicious tangy taste. It is sublime on a canvas of white rice and sprinkled with very thin French fries (which you can make from scratch if you have the time…but since I don’t, I use canned potato sticks instead).
Tricks of the trade
Remember how a Persian’s cook reputation can be ruined by overcooking basmati rice? Well, if a Persian cook’s yellow split peas are all mushy and shapeless, that reputation is down the drain as well! But there is nothing to worry about, since the trick of whole-yet-tender split peas is simply sautéing them in a bit of oil with a dash of cinnamon. I know what you are thinking…don’t try it with the rice…the trick doesn’t work there!

1 large onion, chopped
3 garlic cloves, pressed
¼ cup olive oil, plus 1 tablespoon extra to fry the split peas
2 pounds stew meat
2 teaspoons salt
1 teaspoon pepper
2 cups yellow split peas
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
4 cups water
1 (6-ounce) can tomato paste
1 large tomato, diced
5 whole dehydrated limes (lemon omani) (3 pierced and 2 crushed )
½ cup bottled lemon juice or the juice of 3 fresh limes

½ cup canned potato sticks or narrow French fries (optional)


1. In a 6-quart saucepan, sauté the onion and garlic in olive oil until the onion starts to become translucent (about 1 minute). Add the meat; cover and cook until meat no longer looks red, stirring occasionally. Add salt and pepper.
2. In the meantime, sauté split peas in 1 tablespoon of oil for 1 minute. Add the cinnamon and mix well. Set aside.
3. Uncover the browning meat and add the water, tomato paste, diced tomato, dehydrated limes, lime juice, and sautéed split peas. Cover and simmer for 1½ hours or until meat is tender and split peas are soft but still whole.
4. Serve hot in a casserole dish. Garnish with potato sticks or French fries, if desired.

Yield: 8-10 servings

Here's a basic recipe for Persian Rice. It's not like the rice my now-Tunisian daughter taught me to make:

Persian Steamed White Rice
Chelo

Many people become extremely intimidated when it comes to making Persian rice. You have to trust me when I tell you it is really not a big deal—just don’t tell anyone Persian I said that! All you need to do is to imagine that instead of making rice, you are making pasta. Most of us know how to make pasta; it is probably what you ate everyday when you went to college! You are going to cook this rice in boiling water with oil and salt, just like pasta. You are going to wait until the rice is “al dente” (when you bite a grain of rice it should still have a white dot in the middle), just like pasta. Do not overcook Persian rice or your reputation as a Persian cook will suffer! And last, you are going to drain it, just like pasta.
The difference comes next: Persian rice has one cooking step that pasta doesn’t have. Persian rice gets steamed. Think of it this way: since this rice is fancy it requires a “spa treatment.” What is the result when you pamper yourself at the sauna? A new you! What is the result when you treat your rice to a “spa treatment”? Each and every grain of rice becomes its own entity and a pearl from heaven! What is the best after-effect of a “spa treatment” for a woman? It makes her a better wife, a better mother—and a better cook! What is the best after-effect of a “spa treatment” for Persian rice? The most scrumptious, crunchy, golden crust: TADIG!
To make this rice you will need a colander—and the smaller the openings, the better. You don’t want your precious rice to slip out! Also, many Persian cooks wash and soak the rice as if it were dirty laundry…I am sorry, I keep my laundry in the basement and I don’t have time for all that soaking, so trust me when I tell you that you don’t need to do it!
The quantities in the recipe below might seem large, but considering that Persians breathe rice, it goes really fast. If you want to make a smaller quantity, try only 3 cups rice, 8 cups water, ¼ cup oil, and 1 tablespoon salt. Also, any basmati rice will do. I prefer using Deer brand but other brands, like Tilda, are also good. Basmati rice is also available in whole-grain brown; although it is a little stickier, it is absolutely delicious and healthful!
Tricks of the trade
Chelo cooks very quickly. Therefore, when I make Chelo, I always make sure to have a colander ready in the sink to drain the rice so I do not overcook it. Also, when you steam the rice by placing the paper towels between the lid and the pot, make sure these are safely away from the heat. After this rice is steamed, it is important to tilt the lid to allow any extra steam to escape so that the crunchy bottom does not become soggy.
I often cook this rice on Thursday and have it ready to steam on Friday a few hours before Shabbat.

Part 1: Cooking the rice
5 cups basmati rice, checked and rinsed
12 cups water
½ cup canola oil
3 tablespoons salt

Part 2: Steaming the rice and making tadig
¼-inch canola oil poured into the bottom of the saucepan
2 tablespoons water
¼ teaspoon turmeric or powdered saffron (optional, for a more authentic flavor)

To cook the rice
1. Fill a large nonstick saucepan (at least 6 quarts) with 12 cups water; add oil and salt. Cover and bring to a brisk boil over high heat.
2. Add the rice and continue cooking over medium to high heat, stirring occasionally.
3. After 3–5 minutes, use a slotted spoon to scoop some grains from the water. Break one grain in half to make sure it is “al dente” (see above). Turn off the heat and pour rice into the colander to drain; set aside.


To steam and make tadig
1. Place the empty 6-quart saucepan back onto the stovetop over medium heat. Add ¼-inch canola oil and 2 tablespoons water. Add turmeric and/or saffron powder. Stir together.
2. Add the drained rice and shape it into a pyramid. Cover the pot and cook for 5–7 minutes until rice begins to steam.
3. Uncover and place 2 paper towels (one on top of the other) over the rice. The ends will extend outside the pot. Replace the lid tightly.
4. Reduce heat to low and simmer, covered, for 45 minutes. Turn off the heat and tilt the lid until ready to serve.
5. With a wide spatula, scoop the rice from the pot, making sure not to disturb the crust (tadig) that formed on the bottom of the pot. Serve the rice on a flat serving platter, mounding it into the shape of a pyramid. Turn the tadig out onto a flat serving platter by inverting the pot, as you would invert a cake pan, or cut it into pieces and serve around the rice.

Yield: 8 servings

Now, aren't you hungry? If you try out the recipes, please let me know!

What's Your Passover Diet Killer?

OK, yes, I'll admit it, al hachait, on the sins I sinned...

I gave in and ate too much of something which is too calorie-laden, not that I'm counting calories, but it definitely stretches the limits of fat and fruit...

The good news I can be proud of is that I didn't buy a single box of macaroons, those sticky sugary concoctions which I just can't stop eating, even if they make me nauseous. So far, and we've passed the half way mark for Pesach, I haven't had any.

But I have eaten too much of something else. It was my Passover staple when I was a vegetarian. And now it's my diet killer. OK, maybe it's not that awful.

I'm referring to charoset, the "fruit nut paste," which is supposed to resemble the mortar between the bricks our ancestors used when they were slaves in Egypt. Ours isn't all that mushy and gooey. There are neither dates nor bananas. My husband and the men of the family make it in a large wooden bowl, chopping away. It contains almonds, walnuts, apples, sweet red wine and cinnamon. That's it. I'm the taster, and I always say:

"Add more wine, and some cinnamon, too. Then some more wine."

I just finished off the last of this year's batch. Just before eating those last spoonfuls, I walked twice around the neighborhood, equalling about two kilometers, or a mile and a quarter. I'm afraid to weigh myself this week.

Pesach Food-- Lots More Than Potatoes And Matzah

You don't have to gain weight on Passover. There is no mitzvah to prepare fattening, starch-laden food. You can stick to your diet and even lose weight.

Unless you've scheduled some long hikes and lots of exercise, I wouldn't bother reading about how to cook low calorie potato recipes. Everything I've read about potatoes stress that it contains one of the worst types of carbohydrates for dieters and diabetics.

There are so many permitted on Passover vegetables, which aren't starchy. Most squash and zucchini are fine, and even the starchier winter squashes, like pumpkin can be eaten in moderation and twice the quantity of white potatoes, according to most diets.

Have a large salad with each meal, instead of kugel. Fill it with lettuce, peppers, tomatoes and cucumbers.

Make sure that your soup is full of more carrots than kneidelach.

And, of course, don't forget to take walks to keep your metabolism going. If there are young kids at the Holiday meals, get up and dance to the songs you sing at the table.

No Beating Passover Cookies

True, Passover is over, and you probably don't want to think about cooking with matzah meal, especially the baking. I must admit that I haven't baked kosher for Passover cakes for years and never baked cookies, even though I bought a special oven for Passover quite a few years ago.

I realized that the effort of beating those egg whites, gently folding all the ingredients and keeping the house calm--no banging!-- while waiting for the delicate mixtures to bake weren't worth it. That's because, even without help, I could eat one of those effort-filled cakes in minutes, if not seconds. Also, we can now buy a very large variety of Kosher for Passover cakes, loved by most of my family. I'm the holdout, and I'm the one who shouldn't eat them any way.

Nu, so why does this post advertise "No Beating Passover Cookies?" Simply, because you'll be getting a recipe. I visited my neighbor to return the insulated bag she lent us to schlepp the food to Jerusalem, and she gave us some delicious "Chocolate Chip Kosher for Passover Cookies." Of course, I could have said "no" and refused to sample them, but I was curious. She had them stored in the freezer, meaning they don't sit around on the counter, and they freeze well. You don't need a mixer, since they don't require beaten egg whites.

Chocolate Chip Cookies
Mix:
1+1/4 c. sugar
2/3 c. potato starch
½ tsp. bk. Powder
½ tsp. bk. Soda
1+1/2 c. matza meal
1 pkg vanilla sugar
Add:
2 eggs
2/3 c. oil
Juice of one orange
Stir in chocolate chips
Refrigerate a while
Bake until sides are golden for approximately 15 minutes at 350°F (a hotter oven will cause the cookies to spread too much)
Makes about 80 cookies

The original source of the recipe is unknown.
Enjoy, but in moderation! Why do all the good things have calories? Next, I have to get her recipe for those coconut-chocolate yummies....

No "forked tongue" here

The truth is that I made tongue, for the very first time. Honestly, I can't remember how many decades ago was the last time I had even eaten tongue. It was a rare "treat" when I was growing up, so I guess you can list it in the "magic mystique" dishes, the kind which phobic cooks avoid.

No "forked tongue" here, when I tell you that it's really easy to make. Yes that's the truth!





A couple of months ago, my husband bought a frozen tongue at our local grocer. Then he printed off a few recipes from the internet to nudge me on. I read them plus the recipes in my old cookbooks and bravely let the tongue thaw.

At that point, I didn't know if we'd be having Shabbat guests, and since the tongue wasn't all that big, I also thawed ground chicken, so I could cook "meatballs with the tongue."

• The tongue went into the pot, plus water, peppercorns, garlic, onion, bay leaves and mustard seeds. I think that I also added some coarse salt, which is the only salt I use at all. Table salt generally has all sorts of additives, which I can taste.
• After over an hour of cooking, and the instructions suggested two, the water was almost gone, so I added some red wine, which had been relegated to the fridge for cooking.
• When the two hours were up I turned it off and left the house. The food had to cool before the next step.
• This is the hardest thing: Take off the tongue's skin. I'm proud to say that I succeeded, with the help of a sharp knife here and there and didn't lose any skin of my own.
• Slice the tongue to make it easier to serve.
• At that point, after a long day I was exhausted and left it all in the fridge, so I could sleep.
• The next morning I added some crushed tomatoes, heated it up and made the "meatballs,"
• which I dropped into the recooking tongue.
• This resulted in a very tasty dish, lots easier to make than I ever would have expected.

So, as you can see, it's really easy to make tongue. Enjoy!

A couple of recipes

I'm just trying to catch up on things, and one of the things concerns food. I photographed food I cooked and planned on posting the recipes. Luckily I found them. Now I'm pretty sure I didn't post this yet, though I may have alluded to them.

First of all, before Passover, I had a lot of food to finish, and I didn't want to deal with pots and pans. There's some sort of saying about "desperation" being the seed for inventions or something like that.

1- Well, the situation was that I had kasha, buckwheat, and I wanted to finish the package. I cut up some mushrooms and onions, put them with the dry, hard kasha in an aluminum pan. Then I added some water and a bit of oil. I wrapped it all very well with foil and baked. How long? Exact proportions? Sorry, but I don't measure, but I must tell you that it was the best kasha I had ever eaten!

2- Vegetable Kugel (cake/casserole)

I did this in the blender for Passover. Like all good holiday food, it tastes great all year long.

As you can see, I made a quantity and froze what we didn't need immediately.

Basically, it's done by blending a carrot, squash, onion and potato with an egg or two. (Double, triple, etc the quantity and play with proportions.) Mix the mush, add some salt, pepper (and chopped or dehydrated greens, like parsley or dill if you want.) Add a couple of spoons of oil, then matzah meal (or bread crumbs or flour) to soak up the liquid a bit.

Pour into baking pans, dribble some more oil on top, and bake! They're yummy!

I'm Honored!

My ‘Too Easy Chocolate Icing” was given top spot in the latest Carnival of the Recipes! Thank you, Jami Leigh!

So far it has been a great Purim, but that honor is really icing on the cake..... ooohh!

ט"ו "TU" XV The 15th Kosher Cooking Carnival

Get Ready for Purim, and
Use up all that Chametz Before Pesach!
The 15th Kosher Cooking Carnival is here to help you!

The Kosher Cooking Carnival comes out monthly and guest-hosts are welcome. Here's the list of the previous KCC's: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13 and 14! You can check out what's new and old on Blog Carnival, and you can also add the automatically updated KCC "widget" and/or listing to your own blog.

Since it's now Adar, the month of Purim, it seems only right to start with a post about "hot wine" on laz a fare. And here are some Assorted Baltimore Kosher Tidbits. Both of those were submitted by Soccer Dad, thanks!

No exaggeration, this is the most controversial "cooking" post I've ever done. Maybe the problem is with the picture?

For those traveling to New Zealand, they'll find this guide handy. Thanks again to SD and Not Quite Perfect, who's perfectly fine as far as I can see.

Try Harry and Ziva's Strawberry Ice Cream, illustrated with the most irresistible and delicious pictures!!

Here's a Kashrut alert from Elisheva, a former KCC host. Try her Shabbos Salmon; it looks great! And here's the link to an interesting free online book about keeping kosher in a non-kosher world.

The Rimon Restaurant is a Jerusalem landmark. Part of its success is how it has changed with the times.

This sounds delicious; Presence: Lunch at Cocoaccino's.

Try this yummy chocolate cake from Gillian.

After decades of cooking, I've finally learned how to make perfect rice! It's actually easier than I had thought.

Many people complain that it's hard to find a good kosher restaurant in the Tel Aviv area, but in actuality there are many, and there is a special offer going on right now!

A good friend of ours, Catriel, is more known for his Beit HaMikdash expertise, but he's also an inventive cook:

One of the favourites in our house is "Catriel's Kugelburger".

Ingredients: One kilo of ground turkey meat
One large onion, or two medium (Don't skimp! Onions add taste!)
About one third of a cauliflower.
Two potatoes,
Three carrots,
Four eggs
Matza meal
Salt

I begin by boiling water and defrosting the ground turkey meat. In the meantime, I chop up the onion into very small pieces. (That's right. I use my mother's old resharpened chopper and her old chopping bowl. A food processor is simply not as good). Then I chop up the cauliflower into tiny pieces and put the pieces into a container with boiling water to soak for ten minutes. I grate the potatoes and carrots and chop the up meat. Then I mix the meat, the chopped onions, the chopped cauliflower (after draining the water), the grated potatoes, carrots and add four eggs, matza meal and salt to taste. That done, I mix everything again. Then I put the mixture in a baking pan. Don't forget to use Niyar Afiyah!)

Then I rub oil into the top so the Kugelburger will develop a golden brown crisp crust. Roughly 3 and a quarter hours and a 180 degree oven will finish the job. It's an excellent Erev Shabbat meal and great for company. Try to coordinate your labours so the Kugelburger is completely finished a few minutes before Hadlakat Neirot. Serve with vegetables and apple sauce.

Enjoy! It's very good and I highly recommend it.

Catriel

Not all Jewish Holiday eating is unhealthy. Read what Reb Chaim HaQoton says about TU B'Shvat.

Mordechai packs one great lunch! Read all about it!

Soup is good all year long; try A Bisele Babka's Butternut Squash Soup.

Trust Bookworm to find a way to make a chicken soup everyone will like, those who like it clear, those who like some of the cooked food and those who like it all.

Here's a way to add extra flavor without salt.

If you're looking for a great dairy dessert try Baleboosteh's Mouth-watering Mousse.

But if beef is your desire, try Elisson's recipe.

The Kosher Blog tells of a pizza like no other.

Marallyn tells us how to make marmalade.

Here's a bissel on coffee from Modern Uberdox.

Yes, that's it for this month. If I left anyone out, please write to me and I'll include you in next month's edition. If you'd like to host the KCC, please let me know. And of course, send your kosher food links and any you find to shilohmuse at yahoo dot com or via blog carnival, since this carnival is based primarily on submitted contributions, not searches. And please don't forget to remind your readers to visit and try out the recipes.
Pass and publicize the link!
Enjoy!

Everyone's cooking

There's some really nice stuff on Carnival of the Recipes.

Plenty of people no longer buy cookbooks, since all you have to do is google in the ingredients or basic food, and presto, you have a choice of recipes. It's easier than taking a stack of books off the shelf, going through the indexes (spelling?), making lists and sticking pieces of paper and comparing...

Now I'm off to my exercise class, and when I return, G-d willing KCC...........