A Sweet End To Passover

One of the traditions of Passover ending is eating anything with leavening, .In the States it's pizza and brownies, but elsewhere it's an older tradition representing Mediterranean roots and recipes.It's called Mimounia the Moroccan way to end the holiday.

Ron Leiber, who usually write about finance for The New York Times has written this interesting and informative article for the paper's Wednesday Food section.Many American Jews don't know of this sweet  raucous feasting yet it's done in Israel thnaks to the influx of Moroccans arriving in the country  for the past sixty years. They do occur here , but not in many households.It began two hundred years ago but the reasons for how and why are hazy, There is a similar Hebrew word that means faith along with an Arabic word meaning good fortune or luck. There is also an etynological connection to the Jewish philosopher Maimonides and is also the name of a Berber goddess. (although there could be a connection to the Sicilian bread mouffleta) Foods such as milk, eggs wheat and fava beans are set out along with a live(!) fish  in a bowl to symbolize fertility and abundance. A typical table would have fancy marzipan, nuts  and even candied eggplants. Moroccan mint tea is served with it to offset all the  sweetness

One of the stars of the holiday is moufleta - a layered, fried flat bread similar to the Indian flatbread,chappatti. Guests cover it with butter and honey. Flour is brought over for it by non-Jewish friends and neighbors at the appointed hour,,It's kind of like pizza dough with a scant amount of
 sugar, salt and dry yeast. The dough is mixed and formed into twenty balls, slightly smaller than a tennis ball. After letting them rise, then flatten them to a seven or eight inch disc.fingers should be constantly oiled with either vegetable or canola oil. ( I would say try extra virgin olive oil, which is probably how it was first made). This keeps the dough from sticking to the hands along with the work surface.A non-stick or cast iron skillet is used to cook them,  Set it over a medium-low heat and place the dough, that now should be stretchy into the pan. Cook on one side for one to two minutes and then flip it over. Add the second moufleta and when it's bottom is golden add the third. Repeat until there are seven layers. You could also fry them up individually, as long as they're eaten hot so the butter and honey also get heated. up.

Mimounia is a neat way to welcome back leavened treats. The star of it all is moufleta, an easy to make  bread ,soaked with honey and butter. This is a true taste of the return of breads and cakes,

Easy Spring Desserts

Believe it or not , the blustery ,cold Spring weather will give way to warm days and high temps. That means easy desserts , perfect for barbecue and picnics. Good-bye to elaborate winter sweets, it's time to create effortless afters.

One of the easiest desserts is pudding pies and tarts. Jello has recently come out with a line of all natural puddings, made without any preservatives and dyes. They're call Simply Good and that's an apt description of them. They'd make perfect fillings for any pie or ice box cake,Pudding pies are a snap to make. Buy an already made crust (you can make them yourself if you're that ambitious) and fill with one of the Simply Good packets. These usually take two cups of milk but for a thicker , more set filling using only a cup and a half. Then it's just placing it in the fridge to set. One tasty combination is banana pudding in an Oreo crust .For a fancier take , decorate with puffs of Reddi-Whip and shaved chocolate. The last is an easy embellishment.Use a micro grater and dark chocolate  and grate a dusting over the pie's surface. You can do the same with a chocolate filling too. Another easy idea is individual tarts .Use the small sponge cakes , usually found in your grocery's fruit section. Fill first with an even layer of chocolate or vanilla pudding then add a second layer of sliced strawberries or peaches. If you;re using vanilla  pudding, lace it with brandy for a fun kick.

Another spring dessert idea is trifle. True , this treat is often associated with Christmas or New Year's but it can easily made for warmer days.Use fresh fruits such as strawberries and blueberries, layered with vanilla pudding or for a fruitier fix, use the banana flavor. An even cooler and tastier treat is an ice cream trifle, perfect after the first barbecue of the season. Take store bought cake, whether a sponge or pound cake tear into pieces and place in the bottom of a trifle bowl, Lberally sprinkle with brandy or sherry . Fill with French vanilla ice cream and cut seasonal fruit.,Top with berries and serve right away. Want something more decadent to chase those burgers and ribs? The try an ice cream version of Death By Chocolate.Use store bought chocolate pound cake, add a sprinkle of chocolate liqueur  such as Godiva and then a layer of chocolate ice cream. It can either be topped with more liqueur or syrup and Cool Whip. You can add either a layer of strawberries or cherries. For a simple and elegant English  dessert, think the inelegantly named Eton Mess. A favorite of William and Harry (and possibly Kate and Meghan). it's a simple mash up  of crumbled store bought meringues, any kind of whipped cream and fruit. It can be made as a trifle or as individual parfaits.

It's Spring. That means easy meals followed by easy desserts. They're a snap to make, and fun to eat.

A Spring Diet

Spring is the time for all things green - and that includes diets. It's time to shed those heavy winter dishes and think lighter and brighter. Embrace low calorie meals and a different way of eating during the warmer days.

The colder months leave us wanting heavy, gravy rich meals. This is fine. because we need more energy in shoveling snow and just dealing with frigid temps. However now that some areas are hitting sixty and  even seventy degrees , it's time to serve lower in calories foods. Luckily Spring ushers in asparagus season. One serving is only thirty calories. Asparagus is delicious when it's dressed with melted butter, sliced hard boiled eggs and Parmesan cheese. However these amp up the calories and fat. What you can do is try a low calorie cheese and margarine. As for the eggs you can scoop out the yolks if you want and just chop up the egg whites.Artichokes are also big right now. It's tempting to stuff them with oil soaked bread crumbs and mozzarella however think lighter. Imagine dipping the leaves in a refreshing lime vinaigrette where fresh squeezed limes sub in for lemons. Add some oregano or  dried cilantro for some zing. This makes a nice appetizer for early season barbecues. Dandelion greens are also in season. These can easily be picked from your yard and turned into zippy salad. Remember to wash them very well because every creature in the neighborhood could have sniffed them or worse.

Spring is the time of foraging. One of the biggest woodland  harvests right now is fiddlehead ferns. These are a dieter's dream with only ten(!) calories a stalk. Many will balk, wondering what the flavor will taste like. Not to worry. Fiddleheads have a flavor that's that some compare to asparagus, broccoli or green beans. Try them sauteed in margarine and chopped garlic. They're the perfect foil to grilled chicken or salmon. Ramps are also growing right now and they're ready for the picking. They have an onoin-y taste and again, think of them as a great side to chicken or fish. The Spring season is the start , not just of the growing season but also the grilling season. It's tempting to throw a steak on the coals and just feat. Yet the average eight ounce steak has close to a whopping five hundred calories, more if you brush it with any kind of butter.Opt for salmon instead which is only about two hundred and thirty calories. Even better are scallops with only eleven (!) calories for each one. You could even afford to brush them with butter.Serve them with morels , a wild mushroom that can be foraged. These tasty forest nuggets are only ten calories a mushroom. It's an elegant dinner , full of substance , but light and airy.

Warmer weather means a change of diet. Think chicken and fish, along with the greens of the season. It makes for a wonderful, and healthier change of pace.

My Big Easter Tofu Extravaganza

Easter dinners are always special and a challenge when you have vegetarians in the house.What happens to that heavenly baked ham? It becomes tofu - namely tofu baked in the style of ham.

I found this recipe during a search. I had scoured my local Stop & Shop for the Gardein Holiday Ham loaf. Nothing. Not even the turkey one. I guess those are made ar only Thanksgiving and Christmas. I bought a block of Nasoya Hard Tofu, hoping to find a recipe. Bingo! It was a Washington Post entry by Joe Yolan about a spin on a  recipe from Isa Chandra Moskowicz. It's part of The Superfun Times vegan Holiday Cookbook. I added some of my own spin on it.

First here is the tofu,

This is what you should have,  Then it's wrapping the tofu brick in paper towels 

Doing this soaks up the water (because tofu is basically a sponge).I double wrapped it in two paper towels. Then to squeeze more water out of it, I put a can of soup on a plate over it.

In the meantime, I made the marinade. It takes three tablespoons of grated ginger

You need a ginger grater for this, A hasp or a micrograter can work too.

This was probably the hardest part of it. Four cloves of finely chopped garlic are also added.

Now for the orange. Ms. Moskowicz recommends blood oranges which I could not find. I subbed in D'Angelo which have more or less the same tangy sweetness as the blood oranges. Both the juice and the zest had to be used. I started with a micro grater or hasp, Bad idea I used a regular grater. The orange looks like a shaved peach,

Use a heaping tablespoon of zest and  1/2 cup of juice. This is mixed with two tablespoons of maple syrup and four teaspoons of low sodium soy sauce. Also add two tablespoons of olive oil. Whisk everything together

The tofu was then cut into blocks. I was able to get five

Then covered in plastic and marinaded in the fridge for two hours.

 Cover with foil. Bake in a 375 degree Farenheit oven  for twenty minutes.

Take the foul off. Flip the bricks and bake for another fifteen minutes.

And this is the finished product served with mashed , soy buttered cauliflower.

It was very good but very labor intensive. Next time. I'll just use orange juice and marmalade along with ginger paste. Still it was pretty tasty - the perfect Easter meal for ham starved vegans.

Good Friday Thoughts

Good Friday is a day of reflection and thinking of others. It should be very apparent this year with the protesters and LGBTQ bans from certain chain restaurants. They need not just our support but  alimentary support too.

If you're a restaurant owner think about donating food to your local demonstrations. Sandwiches  and small salads will be fine along with cold bottles of water. If it's more organized, think about getting together with a few other restaurant owners to form a buffet.The hot dishes will be appreciated if there's rainy or cool Spring weather.Even chains such as McDonald's or Wendy 's can participate.

As for tolerance, everybody should be allowed to eat where they want to eat or order a wedding cake.  Think about tolerance and how the New Testament emphasizes that. Protest eateries and shops that promote exclusion. A big enough backlash can close down one place.

Be thoughtful for this Good Friday and practice tolerance and acceptance all year round.

The New Kitchen Must Have The Egg Spoon

Every year , or more like every few months there's some kitchen gadget or device that capture the cooking community's eye. This time around it's the egg spoon.. This simple fusing of metal is causing quite a stir , both with professional and home chefs. Is this new addition worth it?

That's the question regular contributor, Kim, Severson, wrote yesterday in The New York Times Food section. What is it exactly? Imagine a mini frying pan with a long handle that allows  you to hold  it over a campfire or hearth fire,It has a primitive  look, like what our ancestors cooked with two hundred years ago, The egg spoon is sort of reminiscent of  the scoop Mel Gibson's character in  2000 movie  "The Patriot" used when melting his son's tin soldiers into musket balls. Alice Waters,the famed chef, and Slow Food innovator had the first one,specifically made for her by Angelo Garro., after she saw one in  William Rubels' The Magic Of Fire: Hearth Cooking :One Hundred Recipes For The Fireplace or Campfire. A female blacksmith. Ms. Lovell now forges them for Ms. Waters" daughter, Fanny Singer for her website Permanent Collection. The price is a whopping $250 which is part of the backlash against it.Yet it is selling out, probably due to the fact that Ms. Singer is the only one selling it.Not even Etsy, the purveyor of all things unique has it . Neither does Amazon which sells all sorts of kitchen gadgets.

This rare culinary bird has caused quite a lot of controversy. Many see it as the height of indulgence and privilege., especially with the price. However those against should take into consideration that it is hand wrought and made of a sturdy iron.The price could drop if other companies such as Williams-Sonoma, make one of their own. Samin Nosrat, who contributes regularly to the  food section of New York Times Sunday magazine , says that a $300 sous vide is more elite than cooking an egg over an open fire. Also five percent of the profits go to Waters' own charity, The Edible Schoolyard Project, which provides schools with gardens and the know how of caring for them. Despite all this, the egg spoon still can rile . Ms. Waters used six cords of wood to cook one egg for Leslie Stahl in a 2009 Sixty Minutes piece. People saw that as a waste of wood. It also has sparked a feminist debate, fueled by the current MeToo movement. Some feel that if a man had promoted it , it would have been received better, but because a woman introduced it, received criticism. Even Anthony Bourdain, who first fueled the egg spoon war concedes that there is a bit of sexism, but make chefs have created much sillier and worse.

What is the fate of the egg spoon.? A good one, if the price goes down. If not, then it' will just be another expensive cooking gewgaw only chefs can afford.

The Artisanal Food Magazine

It should come as no surprise that food magazines are now indie and artisanal. After all,most foods are, Why not the magazines that feature them? It's a new food trend that may just be a permanent one.

Tejal Rao, the famed chef and, cookbook writer wrote about them in today's New York Times Food section  It's a movement that arose from frustration. Many of the people, creating these  are stymied  by what they see in the long established cookery magazines. There are ones that recipes cater more to novices than seasoned chefs or the ones that are so corny and homey that it hurts to read them, despite the fact that some actually do print pretty  good recipes. Many of these indies combine lifestyle with cooking as Jarry, one created by Lukas Volger and Steve Viksjo.It celebrates the meeting of food and queer culture.It gave an L.G.B.T.Q. spin on food. Unlike other food magazines, there's an article on designer , Zac Posen who also has a cookbook out as well as a culinary tour of Milan. Dill magazine, created by only (!) twenty year old Shayne Chammavanijakul on South Asian noodles along with flavors and dishes . There are some interesting recipes you wouldn't see in standard lifestyle or cooking magazines.The wittily named Toothache was created by pastry chef , Nick Muncy, for chefs. It may be the first of its' kind because it offers recipes in technical terms not ones for foodies or home chefs .

Is it easy to create a artisanal magazine? Like food blogging it does require a large chunk of time to come up with ideas and format. , It is also costly unlike food blogging, which just requires signing onto a free  blog.A print magazine needs ink and paper along with contributors to create an issue. This requires money, easy to get from a publisher , not so from an independent one. Dill's creator, Ms. Chammavanijakul had to work nights at Chipotle just to pay her contributors.Family and friends also chipped in with financial and editorial support. Staffs on these artisanal issues tend to be small. Sometimes it's just a staff of one or possibly two doing everything, from layout to promotion. The circulation also is very small. Readership could only be around one hundred and fifty subscribers.Pricing is also high.Dill is nine dollars an issue. Toothache is a whopping twenty dollars for two biannual issues.Yet, unlike, the mass produced food magazines, these come with saturated ink drawings along with original articles that would appeal to a more experienced crowd.


These new artisanal magazines may last as long as their more established counterparts. They show a side of cooking and food not always seen. This may be more than a trend. It may be the start of an entirely new publishing phenomenon.