A great summer side dish: Cold zucchini salad and Surviving the Chagim!

I realize that I have not given you any really good, cold, summer side dishes, so here is my new favorite:  Cold Zucchini Salad! 

I had the pleasure of tasting and then learning how to prepare this dish at the hands of its ‘father’, the up and coming young chef: Shlomo Weinglass.  Shlomo is the chef at Morgens Café in Jerusalem.  We were fortunate enough to taste all of Shlomo’s yummy food when we recently spent a wonderful Shabbat at his parent’s home in Nokdim. Every dish was scrumptious and, well finger-licking, but as is many things in life, not always beneficial to a diet.  This cold salad, however, is both delicious and points-friendly!

Shlomo has kindly given me permission to include his recipe in my blog.

By the way, we also had a great meal at Morgens Café – a great milchicks restaurant in my favorite part of Jerusalem - Emek Refaim.  Wonderful!

Back to the salad: This a great summer salad and with Rosh Ha’Shana just around the corner (gulp!), this is an appealing salad to serve for Chag!  This cold salad is fast and easy to prepare – what more could you ask for?

Shlomo’s Cold Zucchini Salad

Ingredients:

·        Zucchini, sliced on the diagonal (for more information and explanations on how to cut vegetables, including the French names for each of these cutting techniques, see below *)

·        Onion

·        Fresh mushrooms

·        Balsamic vinegar/soy sauce

·        Lemon juice

·        2-3 cloves of garlic (or more)

·        Kosher salt

·        Parsley

·        Pepper

·        Olive oil (for taste only)

·        Grilling pan with grooves

·        PAM

What to do:

·        I use the greenest, longest and most firm zucchinis I can find.  Four large zucchinis made enough salad for about six two-tablespoon portions.

·        Slice the zucchini on a diagonal.  Slices should be thin, but not paper thin.  Do not peel the zucchini – first of all because there is never a need to do this and secondly, the peel helps keep the vegetable “together” during cooking.

·        During the cooking process, you cannot leave this dish unattended, it needs to be watched at all times!  I recommend you prepare this dish either before you cook other dishes or once you have finished cooking all your other dishes.  You can definitely prepare this dish a day in advance, it will only improve the taste!

·        Cut all the zucchini before you begin to cook.

·        Put your grilling pan with the grooves on the stove and turn the burner on high.  I use my middle, largest burner, so I get a good even heat throughout the pan.  Spritz with PAM.  I recommend you use the olive oil flavored PAM for this dish.

·        Once the pan is HOT, add a single layer of zucchini.  The zucchini should not overlap – each piece should be exposed to the groves of the pan. You should hear the sizzle!

·        Once the vegetable starts to turn a bit translucent/golden around the edges, turn over one piece to see if that side is browned by the groove marks.  If it is, turn over the entire batch. 

As the pan gets hotter, cooking time with quicken.  But be careful – you do not want to overcook these slices!  You can turn the slices over a third time if you need to.

If the pan gets too dry the slices will burn, so spritz the pan every so often.

A slice is considered done when it is golden brown, browned by the grooves and a bit translucent. Never soggy or overdone.

·        Once all the slices are done, remove them to a large metal bowl. 

·        Next begin to prepare all the rest of the ingredients to add to the bowl.

·        Thinly slice onions and mushrooms and add to the bowl. One medium to large onion and a half to three-quarters of a container of fresh mushrooms should be sufficient for this dish.  You can increase or decrease these amounts depending on how much you love/loathe onions and mushrooms.  Actually if you loathe mushrooms, this is not a dish for you, sorry dear!

·        Peel two to three cloves of garlic and either chop finely or put through a garlic press. I love garlic, so I add about five or six fat cloves.  I also like to see the garlic pieces in my salad.  Add the garlic to the bowl.

·        Finely chop parsley and add to the bowl.

·        Add about a cap and a half (about a tablespoon and a half) of lemon juice.  Yes, I used bottled lemon juice, but it was a great brand!

·        Add about a tablespoon and a half of balsamic vinegar.  I also added about half a tablespoon of soy sauce.

·        Add in freshly ground pepper.  I omitted the salt, since I added soy sauce to the dish. 

·        Add about a tablespoon of olive oil.  Again, I omitted the olive oil and added a spritz or two of PAM olive oil.

·        Mix well, but gently.  Transfer to a plastic container with a lid and put in the fridge. 

·        Shake this dish in the plastic container before serving.  This dish tastes great right away and will taste even better the next day!

Portion size:

Two tablespoons is one serving.

How to store:

Always store in a closed plastic container in the fridge. 

Be’Tay a’Von!

* How to cut vegetables: Follow these links to learn how to cut vegetables:

 http://www.wikihow.com/Do-Formal-Vegetable-Cuts

http://www.lhj.com/recipes/easy/cut-vegetables/

Surviving the Chagim!

Well, they are finally here, almost here: the CHAGIM.  Big as life and lasting F-O-R-E-V-E-R!  I do not have to tell you that this year, Rosh Ha’Shana is THREE DAYS LONG!

 

As far as I am concerned it is four days long: lasting from Erev Chag on Wednesday all the way through to Motzei Shabbat.  Then we have Yom Kippur on a Shabbat – which is psychologically insane for me – it’s something about fasting on Shabbat that does me in.  Then Succot – oh, I don’t even want to think about that.  So let’s just start with one chag at a time.

How can we survive Rosh Ha’Shana?  Eating tuna sandwiches and carrot sticks for four days comes to mind.  But let’s get real. We have six meals to survive.  You can plan to eat just a “little” of each of the goodies during each of those meals.  If that works for you – more power to you.  I prefer to work on the “one on-one off” method – that is I will eat one traditional meal and enjoy it (almost to the fullest) and then at the next meal I will eat better, more points-friendly choices and in the correct proportions. 

I have to say that in the past, during Rosh Ha’Shana in our house, honey was considered a beverage.  I kid you not.  So this year, alongside the traditional favorites: gefilte fish, honey with apple, challah with honey, honey with honey, heavy meats and kugels; I will also make skinless chicken and light salads. One good old fashioned-heavy meal then one lighter meal.  And somehow we will get through this chag – just in time for the next one!

Shana Tova and Chag Sameach!

Rice noodles and vegetables – how to work with them and Treat yourself – it won’t kill you!

To my horror I realized that I did not publish an article last week.  It was a crazy week work-wise and I had a cold and I spent two wonderful days with my daughter and “the girls” , my two beautiful granddaughters (ok, also with my son-in-law).  So it was crazy.

I have a theory about colds, which contradicts my old theory about colds.  I used to believe that if you felt a cold “coming on”, you could nip it in the bud, as it were, early on with oranges, sleep, tea and cold medicine and it would simply sulk off into the sunset.  The cold would never really get going in your system and you would be fine.   Now I believe that if you “get it early”, it will just wait a week or so and then come back at you with a vengeance. That’s my new theory and I am sticking with it!

So let’s get back on topic.  RICE NOODLES.  I love these noodles.  They are lighter than noodles made of regular/whole wheat flour.  They are easy to make, once you know how and like most rice products they have a very subtle flavor that does not overpower your food.  These noodles are prepared without the benefit of cooking/boiling/baking, just left to their own devices in water, but more about that later.

Rice noodles come in various thickness, I prefer the thicker/wider rice noodle.  Try all the thicknesses to see which one(s) you and your family prefer.

Yochi’s Rice Noodles and Vegetables

Yup, you've see this picture before, but this time I am talking about the vegetable and rice noodle side dish only!

Portion size: A 250 gram package of rice noodles can make between six to eight portions or more. *

Preparation time for this dish is two and a half to three hours.  I know that sounds crazy, but the two and a half to three hours is spent soaking the rice noodles.  If this is a planned lunch meal, then soak these lovelies in the morning or if this is a planned dinner meal, then soak them in the afternoon.  If you haven’t planned this meal in advance, then this recipe not for you (not today, at least)!

All you need to do is soak them, they do not need looking after, story time, prodding, coaching or lengthy therapy.  Just place them in water and go about your day.  If you have pesky curious animals (that also means pets) in your home (like I do) you may want to cover the bowl before you leave these poor defenseless noodles to their own devices.  Otherwise you may find dead noodle all over your floor and along with a lake the size of the Kinneret.  I know from whence I speak!

By the way, I do not recommend these noodles for a Shabbat meal, unless you prepared and cooked this dish on Thursday, as these noodles tend to get hard easily and quickly, unless they are surrounded by copious amounts of sauce.  This is a true during-the-week-dish!

Ingredients:

·        One package of long, thick rice noodles.  I work with a 250 gram package.

·        Large bowl (a really large bowl)

·        Large colander

·        Large wok

·        Vegetables: squash, zucchini, carrots, broccoli, cauliflower, onions, garlic, red peppers, red and/or white cabbage*, mushrooms**

* A note about red cabbage.  The red (really purple) cabbage tends to bleed and color the rice noodles.  There is nothing wrong with this and they still taste good.  I just wanted to warn you.

** A note about using mushrooms:  I've discussed mushrooms in previous articles, make sure to add them near the end of the cooking process as they tend to soak up all the liquid like a sponge.

·        water

·        PAM

·        Basic spices:

o   garlic powder

o   freshly ground pepper

o   paprika

o   chopped fresh parsley

·        Sauce additions: (you can add a little of each or just one or two choices on the list)

o   1-2 tablespoons of sweet chili sauce

o   1 tablespoon of soy sauce

o   1-2 teaspoons of Dijon mustard

o   1-2 tablespoons of teriyaki sauce

How to work:

1.   Preparing the rice noodles: No cooking necessary.  This stage is critical to the ENTIRE dish.  I have been experimenting with rice noodle preparation for quite some time.  Proper preparation is essential for this dish.  Ah, you can say that proper preparation is essential for every dish, true, but if you do not prepare these noodles correctly, you might as well eat the noodle’s plastic packaging, because that is how they will taste and FEEL.  Believe me, this not what you want!

Carefully remove the noodles from the packaging.  You do not want to break the noodles.  Prior to preparation, these noodles are fragile.  Which leads me to another point: when buying these noodle packages, look for a package that contains noodle “bundles” that are unbroken.  There should be no noodle chips at the bottom of the package. 

2.   Fill a very large bowl with warm tap water.  Now how large is a large bowl?  (How long is a piece of string? How many roads …? Sorry I got carried away!) I have found that the best, most suited-for-the-job bowl is one with a bottom that comfortably fits the width and length of the noodles.  Let me explain: you can find bowls with a wide center; this bowl can hold the noodles and the water in its wide center area.  But a very large bowl can easily allow the unprepared noodles to rest easily at its bottom, thus enabling the noodles to soften more quickly and evenly.

Once the noodles begin to soften, about an hour into the process, you can pour off the old water and refill with clean water (it should be a bit cloudy) and turn the noodles over.  I change the water and turn the noodles about three times during the process.  You do not HAVE to do this, but if you have the time and are visiting the kitchen anyway, why not do it?   

3.   When are the noodles done?  I could say, whenever they want to be.  But once they are pliant and you can bite into them and chew them they are basically done.  I usually allow the noodles to soak in the water for an additional half hour once they have reached the chewing stage.

An important caveat: do not be tempted into rinsing the noodles and cooking them, either in boiling water like “regular noodles” or cooking them in the sauce of the vegetable dish.  They will either become uneatable mush or end up a combination of a very hard and very soft mess.  Not appetizing!

4.   Keep in mind: you are not working with wheat pasta.  Rice noodles cannot get over-cooked or soggy, if you prepare them correctly.  Just keep them resting nicely in water until you need them.

5.   Now begin to cook your vegetable accompaniment.  As I always say, I believe you should match the length and cut of your vegetables to the size and shape of your pasta.  So with long thick noodles, you should prepare Julian sliced vegetables.

6.   Clean and cut your vegetables into Julian slices (the kind you would see in a stir fry).

7.   Use a wok that is big and deep enough to comfortably cook the vegetables and later hold both the vegetables and the rice noodles.  Spray with PAM and put on the flame.

8.   Add the vegetables to the hot wok in the order they cook; harder vegetables that take longer to cook should be added first and then the softer vegetables.

As you saw, I did not list the quantities for the vegetables, as I truly believe that there is no such thing as too many vegetables in this dish!

9.   Always cook and toss the vegetables with a wooden spoon, to avoid cutting or ruining the vegetables' (and the pasta's) shape.

10.        As the vegetables cook they turn a deeper shade of their natural color, this is the time to begin to add your spices.  Stir continuously. 

11.        Begin to create a sauce for the vegetables.  Sauce making is a delicate art.  Work slowly. Add in any and all of your sauce additions.  Remember to go very gently on the soy sauce, as this is a salt mine and a sodium killer! 

Rice noodles need a greater volume of sauce than ordinary noodles. Wheat noodle can stand on their own and I believe, should not be drowned in sauce.  This is NOT the case for rice noodles.  The reason is twofold: firstly the rice noodles are nearly tasteless and need a full-bodied sauce to give them flavor and secondly, you want to ensure that your rice noodles always stay soft and chewy.  They can “re”harden very quickly.

12.        Once all your sauce ingredients are added, you should have a reasonably thick, nearly strong-tasting sauce that can hold up to the rice noodles.  Taste the sauce and re-spice if needed.

13.        Now pour the water out of your noodles and drain in a colander.

15.        At this point you can either mix the noodles with the vegetables OR keep the vegetable and rice noodles separate and plate the noodles and then pour the vegetable dish on top.

a.   Mix noodles and vegetables:  With tongs, add tong-fuls of rice noodles into the wok and mix.  Once all the rice noodles are mixed in the wok, ensure that you have enough sauce to neatly cover the noodles and vegetables.  If not, make more!

b.   Plate separately: Plate out the noodles on to each dish and then pour a vegetable portion over it.  You may be tempted to simply pour more prepared sauce on top of this.  Do not do this!  Measure out teaspoon/tablespoonfuls, do not go back to indiscriminate portion sizes.  ALWAYS MEASURE!

16.        Whatever method you choose, leftover noodles and vegetables should be combined and saved together in one covered dish, to ensure the noodles stay moist.

17.        This dish can be served hot or room temperature.

Be'teyavon!

* A note about portion size.  As we are dealing with large noodles – portion size is a difficult issue.  Again the vegetable to rice noodle ratio is high on vegetables and low on noodles, but a portion size is about a quarter of an average dinner plate.

Treating myself.  I mean really treating myself!

I was never big on “treating myself”, with food that is.  I do believe in listening to your body and giving it what it craves from time to time, but not, well, treating it.  Let me explain:  At times I have felt the need to eat something salty or something sweet or something a little starchy and the answer was – pickles for salty (don’t judge…), sweet was anything from carrots to pudding to even a glass of Cola or Sprite and starchy was – well I guess pretzels.

But actually treating myself with food was not what I was looking for.  A treat was always a pair of shoes (or jewelry, or a handbag or clothing).

 

But recently something happened:  I needed something sweet, truly sweet and it had to be (drum roll please) ice cream. I can hear the gasps of shock and horror.   I understand.  I was shocked and horrified myself!  But I allowed it.  

I asked Sid to (wait for it) buy us ice cream. What some husbands have to do for love.  Now, when I said ice cream, I meant an ice cream cone or maybe a small container of ice cream.  What he brought home (well, you know men from Venus and women from…) was two tubs of ice cream, in yummy flavors.  I love ice cream with stuff in it – preferably chewy, chunky stuff.  So there we were with two, TWO, TWO (!) tubs of great stuff.

I am proud to say we ate our fill that night and it took us several days to finish off the tubs.  We only ate the ice cream together; no sneaking a bowl in the middle of the night; no sneaking a lick, leck or tablespoon when the other wasn’t looking.  I got the need out of my system.

 

No, we did not start to buy ice cream on regular basis or a just-Shabbat treat regular basis.  We’ve been down that road before and I prefer to send the sales girl back to get me a smaller size dress than start with treats, if you know what I mean.  And IT WAS A GREAT TREAT. 

So go ahead.  Do something nice for yourself and treat yourself.  I know, Jimmy Choo is also a treat, but I am talking about the little treats that do not require the sale of a kidney. 

Shabbat Shalom y’all!  

Surviving Shavuot: To Cheese or Not to Cheese – that is the question! And a Great Lasagna recipe that is points-friendly!!!!

Shavuot is just around the corner.  Everywhere we look there is a conspiracy to have us eat as much cheese as possible.  I am sure that if it were in the hands of the cheese and pasta industries, Shavuot would be extended to a full week!  As it is every company from Tnuva and Tara to boutique cheese companies, pasta manufacturers and even the fashion industry is clamoring to get into the act of selling us anything that is white and cheesy. 

The question has to be – how do we deal with all that cheese?  There are two schools of thought (aren't there always??).

1)   Shavuot is only one day (two days abroad and I have to say that I think a two-day holiday would be nice) so eat a little bit of everything and enjoy!

or

2)   Shavuot is a cholesterol nightmare and you should make your "own" food and eat correctly without disturbing your diet.

Both schools of thought have their merit.  If you can truly, really and honestly have just a small portion of each dish, then go forth my child and have fun.  I also feel that if you are going to eat something points-heavy – then it should be WORTH it.  Eat a really good piece of cheese cake!  Eat a really worthwhile portion of Fettuccini Alfredo!  Don't waste your points on foods that are not "too die for" (that's a professional term!).

I, for one, cannot live according to this school of thought!  I need to have my own food items or I will not survive!

So how will I deal with the Shavuot meals?  Simple!  For the "swarm" I will make: WARNING IF YOU HAVE HIGH CHOLESTOROL, HEART PROBLEMS OR HAVE WILLPOWER ISSUES YOU MAY WANY TO SKIP THIS: lasagna with five cheeses, a cheese and mushroom soup, Fettuccini Alfredo, focaccia, salad with feta and cranberries and a cheese cake that is so decadent and dense it takes two and half hours of oven-time.  There usually is another dish or two, but I won't bore you or tempt you.

For myself and Sidney, I will make fish, a wonderful cheese-less/noodle-less lasagna (see recipe below) and a big salad.  A piece of the real cheese cake is optional!

What I want you to take away from this week's second blog article is shop carefully and thoughtfully for Shavuot, as this is only a one-day "performance".  While learning all night, just remember to take a few good walks around the neighborhood!

And now for that Lasagna (sorry no picture this week – hopefully I will have one up just before chag!)  

Yochi's Cheese-less Noodle-less Lasagna

Hints and Tips:

·        I buy small cherry tomatoes whenever I can, which seems to be nearly all year long.  I have nearly zero-waste, as these good, firm, small tomatoes last longer than the larger ones and the crushed, not-so-nice ones are GREAT for sauces and soups.  This is a great time to put all the not-so-nice ones into your lasagna sauce.

·        I don't use disposal baking dishes, unless I am bringing a dish over to a friend for Shabbat.  The disposable ones are not made for baking heavy dishes such as lasagnas and meats (sorry about that juxtaposition); they are easily punctured and are just not nice looking on the table.

I prefer the good sturdy glass baking dishes in a variety of sizes and depths. 

·        To make a "super points-friendly version of the lasagna", I make the lasagna with long slices of skinned eggplant instead of lasagna noodles.  Make sure to always soak the eggplant once it is sliced to prevent bitterness in your dish.  Eggplants also tend to blacken or darken the dish as well if they are not pre-soaked.

·        The best way to prepare the vegetable layers is to work in the "oriental cooking manner": cook all the hard, slow-to-cook vegetables first and then add the softer, quicker-to-cook vegetables.  This way the vegetables will cook well and thoroughly and you will not end up with a half undercooked-half overcooked mess.

 Ingredients:

·        Eggplants or lasagna noodles

·        Mushrooms – sliced for garnish

·        Vegetable layer:

o   Chopped red peppers

o   Chopped carrots

o   Chopped celery

o   Chopped onions

o   Chopped garlic

o   Chopped squash (optional)

o   Chopped Eggplants (optional)

o   Chopped mushrooms (optional)

·        Sauce layer:

o   Fresh not-so-nice crushed tomatoes or cans of crushed tomatoes

·        Spices for both layers: garlic powder, freshly ground pepper, paprika, chopped fresh parsley, fresh or dried basil, fresh or dried oregano, fresh or dried thyme

·        water

·        PAM

How to work:

1.   First prepare the eggplants. Peel the outer skin and slice lengthwise.  Make sure the slices are about the thickness of a pinky or less. Soak in water for about an hour.  Rinse and then press out all the liquid before using them.

2.   Now prepare the vegetable layer(s).  Prepare and chop all the vegetables. Spray a wok or deep frying pan with PAM and then, as described above, cook the hard, slow-cooking vegetables first.  Watch the vegetables carefully so you do not burn them. 

3.   Once these vegetables become a bit soft and change to a deeper color you can either add small amounts of water and then the softer vegetables or just add the vegetables alone.  In either case, once the vegetables are cooking "nicely" you will need to add water and the spices.

4.   Here is the tricky part: you will now add enough water and spices to create a semi-thick sauce that covers about half way up the vegetables.  This sauce is very important to the softness and texture of the final dish.

5.   I love oregano and other, what I call, Italian spices.  I add very generous amounts to my lasagna. 

6.   Once the vegetables are cooked.  Take the pan off the flame and leave the vegetables in the pan to cool.

7.   Now prepare your sauce.  I have long since stopped making a cooked tomato sauce.  It is simply too much work and, in my opinion, does not add anything to the overall dish.  In a very large bowl I mix the crushed tomatoes, canned or fresh with all the spices mentioned above. You need to make a good amount of sauce for this dish.  Any leftover sauce can be froozen!

8.   Once again, you need to add enough water to make a sauce that is the consistency of a slightly watery soup.

9.   Slice the mushrooms for garnish.

10.                Now it is time to assemble the dish.  I like to have all my ingredients in an "assembly line" – so I place my baking dish, next to the sliced eggplants, pan of cooked vegetables and bowl of sauce.  I also make a plate of sliced mushrooms and extra oregano to either add on the top of each layer or just sprinkle on the very top layer.

11.                The number of layers you place in your dish depends on the depth of your baking dish and how thick you like your lasagna.  I like a thick lasagna and will usually have about four to five layers.

12.                Start with a layer of eggplant slices placed side-by-side on the dish.  Try to make one flat, even layer.

13.                Next add a ladle or two (depending on the size of your dish and your ladle) of cooked vegetables.

14.                Next pour over this layer a ladle or two (or even three) of tomato sauce.

15.                Add mushrooms and oregano for garnish, if desired and then start a new layer.

16.                Continue layering till the very top of the pan. The final "layer" should be a thin layer of sauce, sliced mushrooms and oregano.

17.                I warmly recommend that you line the rack in the oven underneath the lasagna with parchment paper, since the lasagna's sauce has a nasty habit of bubbling over.

18.                Bake in a preheated oven to 180°C for about  30-35 minutes.  Cooking time may vary according to oven, baking pan material (glass or metal) and number of layers of the dish.  The dish is ready once the sauce begins to bubble and the mushrooms are browned.  Remember, the ingredients in this dish are already cooked!

Have a wonderful Shavuos!!!!  If anyone wants my decadent cheese cake recipe please send request on my FB page or email me at yochi.eisner@gmail.com

Do you have any questions? Any comments?  Write me or facebook me!  B'TeyAvon!