A Whole World Of Passover Of Dishes

 Passover is a holiday that's celebrated all over the world.With it comes worldly influences that impact the dishes.THis make s the Passover Seder more interesting and flavorful. Variety is always welcome.

Both regular contributors Joan Nathan and Melissa Clark have given interesting recipes in today's New York Times Wednesday Food section. Ms. Nathan gives a miso matzoh ball soup. She writes of Jews in Japan celebrating but with an Asian twist.There are only about one thousand Jews in  Tokyo, a very small minority in a city of twenty-eight million. Substitutions are prevalent here. Wasabi  root stands in for the traditional horseradish while miso stands in for chicken broth. Ms Nathan's recipe for matzoh ball has shiso an herb only grown in Japan and has a minty basil taste. Ginger, is also added as well as ichini togarishi, a fiery chili powder, made solely fron chili powders. This gives the usually bland matzoh balls a zingy kick. As for the soup , tofu and a variety of mushrooms such as oyster, shiitake and enoki, torn into bite sized pieces. Daikin radish is also added as well as two kinds of seaweed.What really gives the soup it;s flavor is the addition of two to three tablespoons of white or red miso paste.

To balance out a dish like this is a calming dessert. Ms. Clark gives her take on crumble using a popular Spring root  - rhubarb. She is also mindful that many home chefs may not be able to afford eggs or there may be a shortage of them in certain areas. The recipe is then egg free. Other bonuses are is that it's gluten free and vegan for guest s who  can't have animal products. Home bakers can also tinker with the recipe subbing  in the rosy pink rhubarb for inky blueberries and also subbing in frozen for fresh.Almond meal and shredded coconut stand in for the usual flour and oats. As far as thickener, tapioca starch is kosher and it works beautifully in the recipe  - as does cornstarch if the other can't be found. almond butter is used instead of regular butter for a silkier mouth feel. Over all the texture is sandy  - almost like a cake. Crumbles are a snap to make.It's just cooking the fruit first usually with the tapioca starch and cornstarch, vanilla or rose water and lemon juice.The topping is a mix for the almond butter coconut and almond meal. The two mixes are layered and then baked thirty-five to forty minutes in a 350 degree oven.It should be cooled at least twenty minutes before serving.

Passover is a time of tradition yet it can also be a time of something new. These recipes are proof that a new spin makes for an interesting Seder. Try these for a different holiday flavor.

Pantry Ingredients Equal Good Eating

 It's important to have a well stocked pantry. It's amazing what those cans and tins can yield as far as ingredients. They can be tossed together to create  hot, delicious meals.It;s just knowing what to use and what.

Regular contributor Melissa Clark wrote about this as well as giving recipes in yesterday's New York Times Food section.She also offers several tips on different pantry Staples. Be creative . Chili crisp can be used in everything from scrambled eggs to ramen. Mustards such as Dijon cans also add color and flavor .Salsa is great for punching up stews and sauces >USe tapenades in veggie sautes for brightness and to liven up tomatoes and peppers. Make dips for dinner using curry paste and Greek yogurt. Serve with veggies as a nice appetizer . Miso just doesn't;t have to be for Oriental dishes. Try it mixed with honey in Ali Slagel's pasta Alfredo. Pasta can also get a lift from some tapanade or chili crisp. Mix it with olive oil and toos whatever pasta you have with it. The popular Colo Henry recipe for her bed white beans can be varied with just the addition of jarred pesto. An instant sauce is a blend of olive oil, flaky sea salt and whatever spice is there.Tru a mix of hot red pepper flakes with cumin for a different take.

Ms Clark has three interesting recipes that anyone can make. For a quick  meal try one pot spiced turkey and rice. This can be made on the weekend and also reheated for week night meals.It's a marriage of garam masala with tomato paste , chopped serrano chiles and ground turkey. Cinnamon added sweetness to this Indian inspired meal.A nother good dish is the cheesy chili crisp white beans. On their own white beans  can be bland but add chlili crisp, scallions and  white Cheddar cheese and they're elevated to something new and exciting.There is also pasta with spinach , yogurt and feta. The yogurt used is the Greek kind and that will add a creaminess similar to an Alfredo sauce. You can go into your freezer for the spinach along with adding freshly chopped mint, basli and cilantro.To make sure that the sauce clings , use a chunky kind of pasta like  rigatoni shells or camanelle. Red pepper flakes are also part of the recipe but if they're too spicy or hot for you they can be omitted.

Use your pantry to create tasty , flavorful dishes. Be creative. Have fun.it;s a great way to use up what you have.

Easy Dinners For Busy Days

September is here and with it the start of busy days and weekends. Is there time to cook a tasty and nutritious dishes? Yes! There are many easy recipes out there that work for you and your family.

Regular contributor Emily Weinstein wrote this must keep article in today's  Wednesday New York Times Food section. She is no stranger to creating long lists of recipes. last year she created a list of one hundred (!) recipes. Some are in today's paper but they and the others can be found on line. This is not just for this month. The months ahead will be crazy busy with everything from holiday shopping to holiday cooking. The recipes are great for home chefs starting dinner at a later hour due to work or personal business. They're also great for leftovers too, lasting for two days instead of one.Families will love the skillet only chicken with mushrooms and caramelized onions.It's giving a French onion soup vibe but has much more, Vegans ans vegetarians will love the lentil cacciatore. It can be varied with white beans ot brown lentils.Its a flavorful dish thanks to the tomato paste, garlic and capers. Carrots are added to get rid of that sometimes overpowering tomato tang.Kids will love dumpling soup. Frozen dumplings are used along with very thin rice , dried wheat or egg noodles. Broccoli florets and baby bok choy give it that nutritional boost while miso supplies a flavor boost.

Kids will love any of the next recipes.There's a sticky miso salmon bowl, not unlike those takeout bowls many restaurants offer. Kids can add such toppings as nori, kimchi, chili crisp and slices of cucumber avocado and radishes. The salmons get a rich flavor thanks to it being  first marinated in a lime ,honey and oil marinade and then broiled on a sheet pan. Smash burgers are always a must on any menu rotation. Ms Weinstein gives sausage smash burgers. Loose pork , whether mild or spicy  is used for the burgers .They're topped with a sauteed mix of any color bell peppers onions and garlic. The burgers are fried after these and served on toasted brioche or buns. Oregano can be added to this. Of course everyone will love the peanut butter noodles.Two kids favorite spaghetti and peanut butter are combined along with butter,Parmesan cheese  and soy sauce to form an Asian influenced dish. Top with more Parmesan if you want. Another meat free dish is eggplant adobo, eggplant is cubed and sauteed in olive oil, salt and pepper first, This is placed in a bowl to make room for cooking the adobo.The sauce is coconut milk,soy sauce ,vinegar and sugar cooked in the same pan as the eggplant in the oil. The eggplant is added back in an d cooked for ten more minutes. Add rice to it for a heartier dish

These are easy dishes for busy nights ahead. Make them for a quick dinner that the family can enjoy. They're a simple cook - perfect for the non stop days ahead.

A Peppery Bite Of Flavor

 Red pepper adds spark and brightness to any dish.They can be from anywhere in the world but they' share a spiciness and excitement. This is what makes cooking great.

Regular contributor Eric Kim knows this and wrote about them in yesterday's New York Times Food section.Capiscums or peppers are grown all over the world. There are the Aleppos , fruity tasting ones from Syria which go into labneh and baba ganhouj along with soups. The Koreans have gochuguro, those sweet red pepper flakes while the Japanese have their togarashi - an interesting mix of yuzu, chili, ginger, black and white sesame and sansho - Japanese cardamon. The French use Espelette which is grown in the Pyranees and used to flavor many Basque dishes.The US has ground chipotle and jalapeno that flavor many Tex -Mex dishes. What makes chili powder unique? According to Ethan Frisch , founder and chief executive of Burlap and Barrel it's really the terroir or the ground that it's planted in. It's much like wine and coffee. The dirt determines the flavor.It doesn't;t take long  for the Chile to meet the demands of the local climate.Ut's also shaped by human interest as well.

One example of this is a school friend of Mr. Kim;s James dong grew Korean peppers in their Georgia hometown. While Mr. dong bought the seeds on Etsy , the peppers took on the fragrance of Mexican chipotle while they were being smoked and crushed to make gochugaru. The blazing perfume was so intense it felt like Mr. Kin was carrying around a flame. He used it in a variety of different dishes but the one recipe it clearly shone in was a pizza sauce. HOme chefs can use this type in the sauce but they can also use Aleppo, Espelette and red pepper flakes. Also add a teaspoon of smoked paprika to give it smokiness and depth. He recommends using a mix for a unique tasting sauce.It's an homage to the great chef and cookbook  author Marcella Hazan. You do have to switch the order of ingredient though if you are familiar with Hazan's recipe.Five tablespoons of butter has to be melted first so it can bloom, then the chiles are added.There's also a teaspoon of sugar added to eliminate the tomatoes tang.It would be also good warmed as a dipping sauce for garlic knot.

Peppers can make any dish sing. Use any combination for a kick.They'll turn anything into an exciting bite.

Easy Winter Dishes

 The best thing about January is that it's a time to relax. Gone are the hectic holiday meals and harried work days leading itno parties. It's simply a month to just take it easy. That also applies to cooking.  A simple and easy meal and dessert is all you need.

Regular contributor David Tanis wrote about this in yesterday's New York Times Food section. He believes on easing up on cooking and baking yet retaining flavor.It also doesn;t have to feel restrictive either and if you want to keep it festive then do so. he offers three dishes - carrot -leek soup with miso followed by baked fish with mushrooms and ginger. Dessert is  triple sesame tea cakes. Mr. Tabis uses Asian pantry staples like miso and ginger for the savory dn toasted sesame oil for the cookies.The influence gives all three recipes oomph and elevates them from just plain winter dishes to something special despite their easiness. The soup starts with a homemade vegetable broth made from the leeks and carrots. They're  first sauteed in butter  and then simmered in salted water to create a fragrant broth.Both sare preed to gether for a creamy mouth feel and then the miso is added,It can be yellow or white however the yellow is saltier . If you want to taste te veggies then use the white instead.

As for the dush Mr. Tanis recommends eihter halibut, bass or grouper. They;'re baked in just salt and pepper. while they're baking make the mushrooms. These are shiitake ones, without the stems cooked in soy sauce and ginger. This sauce is then spooned over the fishn and put back into the oven to be baked fo twenty minutes at or an  additional twenty to twenty-five minutes. You could sprinkle on scallions and cilantro springs for color and more flavor. Make sure to pou any gingery pan juicings over the fish. End the meal with simple triple sesame tea cookies.This is an easy cookie dough enhanced with the toasted seasame seed oil along with tahini or sesame paste.Te liquids are blended first with  a mix of  flour  and baking powder slowly added in later. It's then rolling the dough into walnut sized  balls followed by rolling them in sesame seeds. Bake them for twenty minutes at 350 degree Farenheit. A nice drink for this meal would be a hot  ginger or green tea ,

Janiary should be a simple time with easy meals. Make these recipes for that simplicity  but with flavor. They're a great meal that can be easy to make and delicious to eat.

Edward & Sons Animal & People Friendly

Vegans and vegetarians have it hard during the holidays .It's difficult to find festive foods that are free of any animal products. Now add the problem of gluten allergy and it  becomes darned difficult. Luckily, there's a company, Edward & Sons that can help them navigate through the season.

This California  company is a godsend to vegans everywhere. It started in 1978 long before vegetarianism and anything organic became hip. Their first product was a miso cup, a nourishing instant soup, again made long before any of the more popular cup of soups. The ingredients were freeze dried yet wholesome, packaged in a simple packet. Their products have now evolved into ones that have no artificial colors or flavorings. Moms will  be grateful for the fact that none of the products have been made with chemical preservatives and hydrogenated fats. The company is divided in sections. There's Premier Japan which has Hoisin and teriyako sauces. Their Native Forest line is perfect for vegan bakers. It has coconut milk, both liquid and powdered that work well in baking and creating a dairy free whipped cream. This is a company with a conscious and it promotes and supports fair trade with by buying its' artichokes and coconuts from fair trade farmers. Edward & Son not only caters to vegans and animal rights activists, but is also to those with ADHD, gluten allergies along with soy and lactose allergies.

I was curious about the company and wanted to try their products.The miso soup is interesting  and easy to make. It's combining the miso with water and then adding a mix of dried soy and greens. The soy bits were very silky and creamy and they were  a nice foil to the briny saltiness of the miso. I think I will try the seaweed variety made with wakame seaweed next. I also have the Golden Gravy mix which will go well with seitan slices and mashed potatoes. Edward & Sons has a good variety of macaroni and cheese mixes and they're definitely on my radar.The Alfredo Mac made with brown rice elbow macaroni will be the one to try. They also make gluten free cake cones - my favorite  - and I decided to give these, too, a try.I used the richly decadent Talenti brand of ice cream - coffee chocolate chip to fill it. I like their gluten free cones better than the regular ones. They are crisper than the gluten ones and best of all the bottoms don't become soggy once the ice cream drips down,

This holiday season  - look to Edward & Sons for all your holiday cooking and baking needs. You can create a delicious and healthy meal and dessert with these good for you products. There's no need to scrimp on flavor,

The Best Aquafaba Cookbook!

Aquafaba is one of the hottest and trendiest ingredients in the food world today. This miracle ingredient  is nothing more than bean water, coming from the humble bean. Yet it can create anything from elegant French macarons to homey scrambled eggs.

This magical elixir is the subject of vegan food blogger. Rebecca Coleman's new all vegan cookbook Aquafabulous (Robert Rose Publishers 2017). This cookbook is completely devoted to aquafaba, or bean water that comes not only chickpeas but also from navy beans and cannellini beans, The  recipe book is perfect for hard core , serious vegans, who have eschewed all meat, eggs and dairy products.What is great about the book is that it has recipes covering everything from breakfast to dessert. Mostly aquafaba is used for meringues and macarons, but there are all sorts of easy to create dishes and treats.A plus of the book is that Ms Coleman answers the many questions about the liquid. She  assures home chefs that their sweet desserts won't have an overpowering bean flavor.There is also an explanation of the different beans used in making a light or dark meringue along with the surprise of using tofu water to also create aquafaba.She also has a list of the important ingredients that are musts in any vegan pantry.There's also three different recipes for making homemade aquafaba, using  stovetop, slow cooker and pressure cooker methods.The last two methods do require an extra step of boiling, but this is minor.

I absolutely love this cookbook!! I had no idea that bean water could be so versatile. I have been wanting to make homemade macarons with it  - and the book has the recipe - but thought it was only used for this. How wrong! It can be used to make a sub in for real scrambled eggs in such tasty recipes as Breakfast Burritos and a potato -kale frittata. It makes waffles airy and light and pancakes puffy. Aquafaba is also a main ingredient in homemade pasta, creating a feather light dough along with being in a healthy baked mac and cheese.Of course there are meringue and macaron recipes. Ms. Coleman has an excellent one for French macarons filled with a chocolate ganache that I would love to try. There is the other famed meringue recipe, Pavlova that is a combination of heavenly meringue covered in macerated berries. Vegan bakers will love making the lemon meringue pie, sans the usual egg whites. Chickpeas themselves shine in some of the savory recipes too. Anybody, even fervent meat lovers would gobble up chickpea curry, chock full of sweet potatoes, chickpeas and green peas.There is a vegan chicken salad made with mashed chickpeas that's on my radar. It will be perfect for picnics . A meatless loaf with miso gravy is another must make, perfect as a the main course at any holiday dinner. An aquafaba  based ice cream will be the perfect ending to these dishes,.

Aquafabulous is the definitive cookbook for this amazing ingredient. Buy it and create not just out of this world macarons and meringues but a wide variety of tasty and healthy savory dishes.It's amazing what this humble and simple ingredient can create.

Know Your Probiotics

Probiotics are important to a healthy body  and keeping well. Yet many have no clue as to hat they are or hat they can do for us. Most think that yogurt is the only food that has these "little bugs". They're sort of right but not quite.There are other foods too, tasty ones that can be easily incorporated in any diet.

What are probiotics exactly? They can b e defined as microorganisms that provide health benefits when consumed. The term itself came into existence around 1980 however  the study of it reaches back to the early 1900's thanks to Nobel Prize recipient,Elie Metchnikoff. Dr. Metchnikoff was a Russian zoologist who suggested that the dependence of intestinal microbes on food makes it possible to adopt measures to modify the flora in our bodies  and to replace the harmful microbes with useful ones. The idea has been around since Roman and ancient Greek times when early healers noticed the benefits of such fermented foods as cheese and pickled vegetables. Centuries later
scientists analyzed the eating habits of  the  long living Bulgarians and inhabitants of the Russian steppes . They ate  yogurt daily, filling their guts with fermented lactose. Modern day eaters can benefit from probiotics as well.It's instrumental in calming down IBS  - irritable bowel disease along with treating diarrhea in adults and children.They can also stave off the flu and cold as well as being beneficial to oral health. Do these clusters of microorganisms have any risks? They will cause bloating and gas in some people along with causing some discomfort  for those with bowel problems.

Probiotics are an easy add in to any diet. You may want to start with Activia Yogurt, long known for their probiotics.The company offers regular and Greek along with fiber filled yogurts and yogurt drinks in fruit flavors like strawberry , cherry and blueberry. There are other like Fage that also help. Yogurt can be subbed in for sour cream as well so even dips and tacos can be made a tad more healthier. It's not just yogurt that's beneficial. Fermented foods such as sauerkraut and kimchi are loaded with it. Both can easily be made at home too.You can not only eat healthier but also more vegan thanks to another probiotic  food, tempeh, This meat substitute was originally from southeast Asia has a nutty  taste when cooked.It can be made as a burger or diced and mixed with brown rice.Of of the most famous probiotic foods is the Japanese miso.It's basically fermented soy along with barley and brown rice. Other grains can be used too.It's fermented down into  a red,  dark brown  or white  paste with a buttery texture Like other probiotic foods miso should be added to the broth right before taking it off the range otherwise the microbes get cooked and killed.You could wash all this down with kefir,a microbe rich drink made from milk and kefir grains.It's just mixing the two which leaves you with a rich creamy drink with a slightly alcoholic taste. A water kefir can also be made using sugar, water, coconut milk and grains.

Probiotics are important to good gut and body health. You can go the yogurt route and get these important microbes that way.You can also discover the rich world of other probiotic foods by cooking miso soup or by making a nice glass of milk kefir.It'll expand your palate as well as helping your body.

Simply Ramen, Simply Good

Ramen soup sometimes get a bad rap. After all most people associate it with those brittle bricks of noodles with the flavor packet nestled inside.Yet it's so much more than that. Imagine fresh noodles in homemade broth along with the addition of meats and vegetables. Home chefs can, thanks to a new cookbook.

Simply Ramen (Race Point Publishers ) was written by Amy Kimoto-Kahn , a Yonsei or fourth generation of Japanese American (her great grandparents emigrated from Japan to the US). She gives us an entire cookbook dedicated to the soup which can be made not just for lunch and dinner but for breakfast too.Another plus comes at the end when she lists the best ramen houses in Tokyo too. Yet it's the recipes that bring good Japanese cooking into the home. There are other recipes too such as tamogoyaki, Japanese omelets,basic rice and a tasty cucumber salad with a seafood topping.. There's the surprise of a Korean potato salad  recipe along with pickled vegetables and beef and chicken croquettes topped with a funky ketchup- soy sauce mash up. What I like about the cookbook is the way that Ms. Kimoto-Kahn breaks the recipes down into sections, They're devoted to chicken, beef, pork and seafood as well as to veggies and spicy versions. there is also a section dedicated to the broths that make up the soup .It's shared with toppings (yes, ramen soup can have toppings) such as braised  pork, and marinated half cooked egg.

The book is a great how to for all those novice ramen makers.It is a labor intensive project that does require a pasta maker. however it's no difficult than making homemade spaghetti or linguine.The plus is that the noodles can be made in large batches and stored for future use. The dough is a mix of cake , bread and wheat flour along with a baked baking powder that can be easily made.Then there are the bases, Home chefs can choose from miso,  tonkotsu base,a blend of two soups, the soy rich shoyu base and the shio base. Chicken lovers can try the chicken meatball ramen made with nod to Ms. Kimoto- Kahn's husband's Jewish heritage of matzoh balls.There are lush recipes that involve Kobe beef and lobster along with new creations that feature crawfish and cheese. Vegetarians will love the all vegetables ones,from the nasubi  or simmered Japanese eggplant to the kabocha, Japanese winter squash served with tempura battered arugula.Pork and fish are also represented in such dishes as spicy pork tantanmen and furikake salmon. Home chefs can try the chilled ramen and cold broth for those hot summer days.

 Simply Ramen shows that ramen soup is not those bricks of tasteless noodles jazzed up with flavor packets. It's homemade noodles simmered in a homemade broth with toppings. Buy the book and start making your own tasty and fresh creations!

Nikkei Cuisine A Marriage of East and South American

What is the marriage of Japanese and Brazilian/Peruvian cooking ?Nikkei. It's an interesting mix of centuries old Japanese cooking with cultivated for centuries South American ingredients. Now there's a new cookbook celebrating this happy pairing.

Luiz Hara is the author of Nikkei Cuisine,Japanese Food The South American Way(Jacqui Small publishing) and its based in his own mixed heritage. He is 3/4 Japanese and 1/4 Spanish , raised by his father's Japanese Brazilian side. The book is an interesting mix of recipes, his family's story and the story of the over 100 years of immigration from Japan to South America.It's one of the few cookbooks that have an interesting history lesson attached to it.In a way the two cuisines blend perfectly such as sushi and ceviche. Both  cultures use white rice religiously and it figures prominently in their cuisines. Of course there were some adaptations on the Japanese side, especially when they came from a fish eating culture to the Brazilian beef one. However the Japanese embraced the many vegetables South America had to offer and these were quickly incorporated in their recipes.

The recipes themselves are interesting. Chef Hara's is a definite marriage of the two worlds. He uses his own as well as ones from famed South American Nikkei chefs There is kouji fried chicken with fried lotus or renkon chips which would be fun for a Saturday night party or tail gating get together. Miso soup stars here as does arroz con pollo but both have tinges of the other's culture.There.s even a recipe for five different types of popcorn that have different spices from macha or powdered green tea to hot wasabi. He has a Japanese influenced chestnut rice side that would go well with any South American pork dish.The dessert recipes are also soaked in the two cultures. with green tea or coconut ice cream, along with South American super fruit flavors.

Nikkei  Cuisine :Japanese Food The South American Way is the perfect cookbook for those who love Japanese and Brazilian cooking.It's a salute to a rich and varied heritage as well. Buy it today and start making these interesting and flavorful cuisine.

San-J Marinades Spicing Up Your Barbecues

Barbecue season is here and with it comes grilling favorites beef, pork and chicken.Unfortunately these  classics can get boring if they're just thrown over the hot coals. There's a solution - San - J sauces for marinades and stir fries. These will liven up those ho hum chops and wings. giving them a much needed lift.

San-J  or San Jirushi is one of Japan's oldest companies, having been founded in 1804 by the Sato family. They started with miso and Tamari, a thick sauce . The company is still family owned by Takashi Sato , the eighth generation of owner . San J came to Richmond, Virginia,  in 1978  and have a variety of different products from instant soups to even rice crackers. All are gluten free because Tamari, unlike regular soy sauce is made from 100 percent soybeans. It is an ancient recipe, first being created in China in the Seventth Century AD. Tamari means "that which accumulates".because it was the protein rich drippings that was collected during the creation of miso, the fermented soybean paste and the main ingredient in miso soup.San-J' sauces are made in a similar, updated fashion.with  only soy beans, salt and water. One of the best aspects about Tamari is that it is gluten free. Regular soy sauce is watered down with wheat and often has a bitter taste. It flashes off or dissipates when cooked at high temperature, something Tamari does not.

I like San-J's sauces and recommend them for marinating different types of meat. Their orange sauce has a bright , citrusy flvor that would work well with anything chicken. Marinate cut up breasts in in along with peppers and onions for a yummy kabob. It It also would highlight wings and legs as well as a great dipping sauce for them too. The smoky Mongolian sauce would be good as a marinade for pork as well as for lamb and beef kabobs.This would also be an excellent soak for skirt steaks as well. I love the Asian  barbecue sauce. I plan on using this on everything, from being slathered on pork and beef ribs to burgers and dogs. It is thick and flavorful with a marriage of a sweet and smoky flavors.Being a chopped salad lover, I am looking forward to trying their different salad dressings too as well as their Tamari regular sauces.


The barbecue season is underway. Liven it up with the variety of Tamari sauces from San-J. They will enhance ribs and chicken, steaks and chops,  making for a memorable cook out.