Noodles or Crepes? Joys for Passover

Passover Crepes (aka Egg Noodles)
6 Large Eggs
1 cup Tapioca (or Potato) Starch
1.5 cups Water (or Milk) a bit more or less to consistency that works for your desired level of thickness
1 pinch of salt
Large Non-stick pan, spray or oil (if pan is hot, less necessary)
Ladle or Squeeze bottle (the latter makes this so easy)
Spatula (or really delicate tongs)
Your Favorite Crepe Fillings (chocolate spread, fruit, jam, silan, syrup, marshmallows etc)

Mix all ingredients together in a bowl. Whisk or stir with fork until blended. There may be a clump or two, but try to break it up as much as possible. Heat pan to a high temperature. If using a squeeze bottle, pour batter in. Ladle or squeeze batter into center of pan, then spread batter to coat pan. Cook for 1-2 minutes, until edges start to release from sides and crepe can easily flip. Continue to cook slightly less time on this opposite side. Stack onto plate to serve later, along with the side above, fresh fruit, chocolate spread (or chips).

As you make more, keep the batter well mixed, it separates easily (Shake inside of bottle or stir). Prepared crepes hold up well in the fridge, so make extra.

Optional other uses of this recipe:
Savory Crepes with roasted veggies
Make Egg Noodles: Roll up crepe tightly and slice into noodles for soup, tomato sauce, or bolognese, as pictured.

Passover Sweet Treats

Marshmallow Treats

Non-Stick Spray
Marshmallows
Berries (or your favorite fruit)
Chocolate Chips
Mint Leaves for garnish, optional
Pie Tin


Preheat oven to 425 degrees
Spray tin (you may want to line pan with aluminum foil)
Toss Marshmallows into pan and, after 5 minutes, add in small pieces of fruit and chocolate chips.

Cook for 6-8 minutes longer, until Marshmallows are your favorite shade of brown.

Apologies the picture doesn't have mint or chocolate... This version was made to go into a crepe as a filling.
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 Passover Crepes (aka Egg Noodles)

6 Large Eggs
1 cup Tapioca (or Potato) Starch
1.5 cups Water (or Milk) a bit more or less to consistency that works for your desired level of thickness
1 pinch of salt
Large Non-stick pan, spray or oil
Ladle or Squeeze bottle (the later makes this so easy)
Spatula (or really delicate tongs)
Your Favorite Crepe Fillings (chocolate spread, fruit, marshmallows etc)


Mix all ingredients together in a bowl, whisk or stir with fork until blended. There may be a clump or two, but try to break it up as much as possible.
Heat pan to a high temperature.
Spread batter to coat pan.
Cook for 1-2 minutes, until edges start to release from sides and crepe can easily flip.
Continue to cook slightly less time on this opposite side.
Place onto plate to serve later, along with the side above, fresh fruit, chocolate spread (or chips).
Keep the batter well mixed, it separates easily

Optional use of this recipe: Savory crepes with roasted veggies or to serve as Egg Noodes: Roll up crepe and slice into noodles for soup, tomato sauce, or bolognese.

Maple Spice Blondies

Sometimes you have amazing celebrations, sometimes you promise to bake for an event, and sometimes you have both in one week.  So I made a double batch and this experiment was definitely successful, but below is for 1 measurement. Since I didn't have an I had whole wheat flour around in case I'd added too much liquid, but, as it turned out, the batter was just fine.

Ingredients:
1 Betty Crocker chocolate chip cookie mix
1 egg
1 stick of butter
1/2 peel of large lemon, micro-planed (I use organi)
1/3 cup maple syrup (ideally grade B, but I only had A)
1/4 cup sabra chocolate-orange liqueur (or a tbsp of vanilla extract & tsp of orange extract, or tbsp of orange juice, or juice of the lemon)
1/2 tsp ginger
1/2 tsp all-spice
1 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp cardamom
2 tbsp brown sugar
1/2 cup Ghirardelli milk chocolate chips

**Preheat oven to 350 degrees

Place aluminum foil in 11x7 pan, overhanging on (at least) one side. Coat foil with butter or spray.

Soften/Melt butter (I used a pyrex mixing bowl and just got it soft enough to cream with the sugar by placing it in the oven, but I don't have a microwave). Add sugar and whisk together, along with maple syrup, sabra liqueur, egg, lemon peel, and spices. Typically, you'd stream the liquid ingredients into the solid, but I didn't want to dirty another bowl, so I stirred the cookie mix into the wet ingredients until they were thoroughly mixed. Pour and spread into pan, add extra chocolate chips on top.

Bake 30-35 minutes. I left it a bit mushy in the center... because cookie dough!

Beer and Sherry Braised Brisket

Yum. I upped the anti and the slow cooking on traditional brisket with this one.  The aroma was so strong, I tempted a long time vegetarian into considering taking the meaty plunge... Clearly a success by any measure!  I made two briskets simultaneously and froze one ... how can you resist red meat on sale, I wonder? Feel free to add root vegetables to the roasting pan - I didn't want to deprive the vegetarians, so I didn't... but I saved the sauce/gravy and added it to both chicken soup and roasted parsnips and carrots the following week.


Dry Rub:
1/3 brown sugar (I use  turbinado brownulated)
1/3 garlic powder
1/3 onion powder
(I didn't put measurements above, usually pour in about 1/3cup or less)
2 tbsp Emeril's essence
1 tbsp Mustard seed (ground)
1-2 tsp Allspice
2 tsp cumin

Mix all ingredients in a ziploc bag
Coat both sides, leave fatty side up.


Add
3/4 c Harpoon (I used summer ale.... but any beer will do the job)
1/2-1c Gonzales Byass Tio Pepe kosher Sherry

Seal really tightly w/aluminum foil

Cook at 225 for 3 hours
Flip (If serving for shabbat/holiday lunch, this is where I put it in the fridge)
Then 200 for 4-5 hours
Let cool for 10-15 min before you slice it to serve.
Cut against the grain!!!It's the slow and low that makes it fork tender. It can stand to be in the oven tightly sealed a bit longer ... But 8 hrs is my gauge. Enjoy!

Newlywed Meatloaf

Honey Love Layered Meatloaf

This layered dish ups the anti on meatloaf but just takes one extra step to turn traditional into fancy pants in a simple way. I was ready to kick up my cooking a notch because it felt like I had a rare opportunity to make a celebratory meal. Even though shabbat comes every week, and I managed the holidays with quite a bit of fanfare, this particular celebration was layered on top of Shabbat, so held more significance than a traditional meal around the table. I made this dish for a newlywed couple's first shabbat dinner after their wedding, this meal served as a night of their "Sheva Brachot." I wanted the ingredients to reflect some Jewish and general wedding customs, so I played around a bit there. Reviews say that the results were delicious. (Note the bold ingredients which will be explained below.)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees
Ingredients:
For Meatloaf
1/3 of a cup honey
1/2 cup of teriyaki sauce
1lb ground beef
1lb ground turkey (not white meat)
2 eggs, whisked
1/2 cup corn flakes, crushed
Spices:
Nutmeg (fresh ground)
3 tbs Grill seasoning (Jaime Gwen's Chicken & Turkey spice rub - rosemary, sage, thyme)
1tbs Emeril's Essence seasoning blend
2 tbs Garlic Powder
Chili Flakes (to taste)
White Pepper (a guest was allergic to black, use tricolor if you have it on hand)
(I don't add salt because it's kosher meat, which is already salted. Add to taste if the meat isn't kosher)

For Veggie filling/topping:
1/2 cup Tio Pepe Sherry (or dry white wine), + 1tbs sherry for egg mixture
1/3 cup chicken broth
1/2 sweet onion, large
3 large celery stalks (leafy parts too)
10 oz mushrooms (1/2 cup)
2 cups spinach

• Add the honey, teriyaki sauce, and spices to a big bowl then folded both meats together with spices and honey, and let sit.
• Chop the veggies really small and added them to a pot to cook along with the sherry, adding the spinach last. You may want to use a bit extra of the same seasoning when you saute the veggies, I only added the garlic. Feel free to use fresh garlic if you have it.
• While the veggies saute, take a small bowl and crack two eggs, whisking them with a tbs of sherry.
• Add crushed cornflakes into the egg mixture to soften.
• When the veggies are done sauteing, create a well in the seasoned meat and added in the egg mixture, combining thoroughly.
• The next steps depend on whether you're folding the veggies into the meatloaf (particularly great if you're hiding them from picky eaters) or layering them (if you want to give permission to your picky eaters to just avoid them). I filled the large meatloaf pan half way, added 3/4 of the veggies, and spread out, then added the second half, decorating the top with a design of the remaining vegetables.
• Place in the 350 degree oven for 1 hour or until sides crisp.
• Strain the excess gravy into a bowl and discard or save to serve later.
  

Enjoy! (this version had a little difficulty staying together - so if you have recommendations for how to improve that, feel free to share. Also, typically I *always* add mustard or mustard powder to my meatloaves, but somehow forgot this go around. Feel free to experiment.)

Other tips and tricks: More veggies will make the meatloaf go further if you're on a budget. Also, you can use more turkey which is less expensive. For nearly the same rich flavor you can go as far as a 2:1 ratio. Also, save the gravy if you're making noodles or rice and serve it on the side. Saute extra vegetables for the side too. (Using chicken or vegetable broth and sherry keeps the extra fat away from that step of the dish.)

Wondering how the ingredients I used relate to marriage?
Two kinds of meat, for the blending into one family.
Honey, traditional on shabbat throughout the first year of marriage to set up a future filled with sweetness.
Teriyaki for all the future Christmases that will be filled with Chinese food.
Eggs, as a symbol of fertility, the life cycle and wholeness.
Spices are, indeed, emblematic of the spice of life, and the flavorful life that the couple will have.
Also, I shaped the extra veggies into the shape of a heart a top the meatloaf.

Best Brisket

This recipe is inspired by my childhood best friend's mom. I've turned into my own special recipe, but her slow cooking technique is what I recommend!

Either Preheat oven to 350 degrees and lower to 300 after 2 hours for an additional hour
or 250 if you plan to slow cook for 6-8 hours.

2.5 lbs Brisket, 2nd cut
1/4 c. sugar (brown, turbinado or in the raw)
1/3 c. onion soup mix or if you need low sodium, onion powder
1/2 c. garlic powder
2/3 c. sherry (tio pepe makes a kosher blend every passover and it's usually available year round)
1/3 c. water or broth
Veggetables to add: Root vegetables, celery, carrots, potatoes, parsnips, mushrooms (whatever is on hand)
Optional dry ingredients: Paprika, zatar, mustard powder, rosemary or emeril's spice blend. Clove of garlic - place slices into little slits you cut in the meat

If using fresh garlic, insert first. Then mix dry ingredients and use as a dry rub on both sides of meat. Chop vegetables into big pieces, celery, parsnips and carrots on the bias. Toss into bottom of pan. Add meat and liquid. Cover with aluminum foil and place in oven. See above for temperature and cooking time options. Turn over half way through cooking. (If you want to nestle the meat directly into the liquid, you won't regret it.) You may want to add more liquid half way through, or take off the aluminum foil to let the gravy thicken depending on how your oven does and how much liquid the meat gives off.