With Easter ,Orthodox Easter and Passover coming soon, home bakers are probably gearing up for all sorts of baking. Make sure the kitchen is prepared, with the right ingredients and pans. It'll make holiday baking that much easier during these hectic days.
Passover start April 19th which is only a few days away. It''s time to sell or throw out all flour and use ground matzoh. It's also time to buy cocoa powder and honey. Potato starch is another must have because it's used as a thickener in cakes and brownies.Another ingredient in many savory and sweet Seder dishes is matzoh farfel. These are small pellets made from egg noodle dough and is frequently toasted before being used. Also have egg noodles on the ready too, for kugel Make sure there is also fresh fruit such as apples and bananas for baking. Easter follows on Sunday the 21st. This is the time for all those lamb and Easter egg cakes. These cakes can either be made with mixes or by scratch. If you use mixes then make sure you not only have eggs but also oil, either vegetable or canola. The lamb cakes come out perfectly if Dream Whip is added to the mix so have those boxes on hand. (there are two packs to a box).If you go the scratch cake route, there's the need for flour and the leaveners such as baking soda and baking powder. Vegan cakes require corn starch and in some recipe , apple cider vinegar. Make sure you have both. The vinegar can also be used in egg dying and , salads. The lamb cake requires mini skewers in the neck to hold the head on. Please have these. Without them your creation will look like a victim of the French Revolution.
Of course these, along with those Easter cupcakes and cookies have to be decorated. The lamb cake requires five to six cups of confectioners sugar. Here I recommend buying the two pound bags instead of boxes of it. There's also the need for butter or margarine sticks along with vegetable shortening. Country Crock also has butter flavored sticks that make for a rich tasting frosting. Remember to also have food coloring ad if you're planning on making an Easter egg cake , then add colored sugar and sprinkles to the list. These will be used to create the stripes and dots along with zigzags on the cake. If you're baking Easter egg cookies, then make sure you have gel icing tubes, the ones used for writing on cakes. These can create perfect lines and polka dots on cookies. You can also buy white and pastel chocolates for melting and then drizzling onto the cookie tops. If you're also thinking about making cake pops, then make sure you have sticks for them. Both the Greek and Russian Easters center around homemade sweet breads. Again, it's vital that you have yeast along with raisins and candied citrus for flavoring.
Spring holiday season is upon us. Make sure you have all your ingredients to create the perfect cakes and sweets. They will be as memorable as the holidays themselves.
Friday, April 12, 2019
Thursday, April 11, 2019
A Passover Classic Gold's Horseradish
Passover is a time when generations old recipes are used for Seder. One is Gold's Horseradish, beloved for decades. It is a condiment, full of meaning and importance.
Weekly contributor and cookbook author, Joan Nathan wrote about the holiday table classic in yesterday's New York Times Food section. Ironically the root was never used by ancient Jews and is not mentioned in the Old Testament. They ate their lamb and matzoh with maror, bitter herbs like endives and wild bitter lettuce. Horseradish may have joined the tradition in the 10th century when there was migration from the warmer Mediterranean to the colder areas of northern France and Germany. Horseradish grew in abundance there, a turnip like root whose leaves broke ground in April. It was easy to harvest and the root, an isothiocyanate (a cousin of wasabi) had the symbolic bitterness needed for the Seder. Jews of Sephardic and Middle Eastern descent aren't familiar with the root so they use romaine endives and chicory for their bitter herbs) . Horseradish was brought to the States where it became a staple , not only for Passover but in Polish Catholic Easter dinners where home chefs served the red variety.
Horseradish can be a pain to prepare. Slicing it can cause watery eyes and runny noses.Thankfully there is Gold's already prepared . It started with Hyman and Tilly Gold, grinding the root with vinegar and salt along with a fight and a jail term. According to the Gold's grandson, Jason, the couple had started out selling and repairing radios. They lost the shop during the Depression. At this time. Hyman's brother who was grinding horseradish on a Borough Park, New York street got into a fight which landed him in jail. Hyman bailed him out and got the grinder as a possible thank you gift. This prompted the Golds to continue the horseradish business. Tilly would grind it in their Coney Island Avenue apartment while her husband filled four ounce bottles one by one. He would later sell them in a pushcart, hitting local stores. Later their sons would deliver the bottle by bikes. The business grew. They relocated the business to a store below their apartment and later to a factory. The family sold it in 2015 to La Salle Capital. Gold's first used horseradish from Long Island farms and from Poland. Now the roots are grown and shipped from Oregon and Norther California along with Missouri and southern Illinois.
Tradition is important in the Passover Seder. Gold's Horseradish carries on that tradition using classic ingredients. It has been around for generations and will be around for many many more.
Weekly contributor and cookbook author, Joan Nathan wrote about the holiday table classic in yesterday's New York Times Food section. Ironically the root was never used by ancient Jews and is not mentioned in the Old Testament. They ate their lamb and matzoh with maror, bitter herbs like endives and wild bitter lettuce. Horseradish may have joined the tradition in the 10th century when there was migration from the warmer Mediterranean to the colder areas of northern France and Germany. Horseradish grew in abundance there, a turnip like root whose leaves broke ground in April. It was easy to harvest and the root, an isothiocyanate (a cousin of wasabi) had the symbolic bitterness needed for the Seder. Jews of Sephardic and Middle Eastern descent aren't familiar with the root so they use romaine endives and chicory for their bitter herbs) . Horseradish was brought to the States where it became a staple , not only for Passover but in Polish Catholic Easter dinners where home chefs served the red variety.
Horseradish can be a pain to prepare. Slicing it can cause watery eyes and runny noses.Thankfully there is Gold's already prepared . It started with Hyman and Tilly Gold, grinding the root with vinegar and salt along with a fight and a jail term. According to the Gold's grandson, Jason, the couple had started out selling and repairing radios. They lost the shop during the Depression. At this time. Hyman's brother who was grinding horseradish on a Borough Park, New York street got into a fight which landed him in jail. Hyman bailed him out and got the grinder as a possible thank you gift. This prompted the Golds to continue the horseradish business. Tilly would grind it in their Coney Island Avenue apartment while her husband filled four ounce bottles one by one. He would later sell them in a pushcart, hitting local stores. Later their sons would deliver the bottle by bikes. The business grew. They relocated the business to a store below their apartment and later to a factory. The family sold it in 2015 to La Salle Capital. Gold's first used horseradish from Long Island farms and from Poland. Now the roots are grown and shipped from Oregon and Norther California along with Missouri and southern Illinois.
Tradition is important in the Passover Seder. Gold's Horseradish carries on that tradition using classic ingredients. It has been around for generations and will be around for many many more.
Wednesday, April 10, 2019
That Easter Tradition A Good Meaty Ham
Ham has always been the meat of choice on almost every Easter table. This centuries old tradition has given ham lovers and home chefs good memories of a delicate salty flavor and an easy cook. It is the perfect dish for the holiday , each slice bringing joy.
Kim Severson wrote about this classic in today's New York Times Food section. Ms. Severson, a southerner herself, is no stranger to this cut of pork. Ham is also served at Christmastime, usually as the main course at the holiday dinner , along with being at baptisms, graduations and funerals. Right now sales are up because of the Easter season. The ham that we're used to is the spiralized kind, one that is precooked and precut. It's different from fresh ham which is an uncooked part of a pig's rear leg.It's rubbed in salt and a little spice, then smoked over wood and hung for several months to age. A spiralized ham is is soaked or injected with brine, spice and sugar. There are also curing agents added and then it's smoked a little.It's a quick process that only take four days which makes a tad more popular than the country style.Sales of them have been going up since 2017, even though their prices have also gone up. The price increase is due to American companies sending a lot of hams to Canada and Mexico.
What should a home chef look for in a ham? Check the amount of water listed on the can.Brine,a salty water mix is injected into the meat and can affect its' taste and texture. Top of the line ones are simply labelled "ham" and have to be 20.5 per cent protein by weight. Another classification is one with "natural juices" listed. It's a good bet that around seven to nine percent of the cut is water. Most supermarket hams are labelled "hams with water added" which means that it has up to ten percent more water. Keep in mind that hams like this can turn spongy and don't do well on a spiralizing machine. Another point is that all spiralized hams have some kind of sweet glaze. The marriage of the meat and sugar is over a century old. Early recipes such as the one from the 1898 Delmonico Cookbook features a scored ham with powdered sugar. Another recipe from around 1940, found in The Boston Cooking - School Cookbook has a ham recipe that calls for frosting it with royal icing! Then there's the classic pineapple and cherry held by cloves stuck in the ham. This first started in 1931 with Irma Rombauer's first edition of "The Joy Of Cooking". The best bet is a rub with ginger ale and brown sugar. You can use pineapple too which breaks down the meat's collagen, making it easier to digest.
A good Easter dinner starts with a good ham. There's is nothing quite like a slice of silky pink meat, perfectly seasoned with spices and sweet. What a wonderful way to celebrate a Spring holiday.
Kim Severson wrote about this classic in today's New York Times Food section. Ms. Severson, a southerner herself, is no stranger to this cut of pork. Ham is also served at Christmastime, usually as the main course at the holiday dinner , along with being at baptisms, graduations and funerals. Right now sales are up because of the Easter season. The ham that we're used to is the spiralized kind, one that is precooked and precut. It's different from fresh ham which is an uncooked part of a pig's rear leg.It's rubbed in salt and a little spice, then smoked over wood and hung for several months to age. A spiralized ham is is soaked or injected with brine, spice and sugar. There are also curing agents added and then it's smoked a little.It's a quick process that only take four days which makes a tad more popular than the country style.Sales of them have been going up since 2017, even though their prices have also gone up. The price increase is due to American companies sending a lot of hams to Canada and Mexico.
What should a home chef look for in a ham? Check the amount of water listed on the can.Brine,a salty water mix is injected into the meat and can affect its' taste and texture. Top of the line ones are simply labelled "ham" and have to be 20.5 per cent protein by weight. Another classification is one with "natural juices" listed. It's a good bet that around seven to nine percent of the cut is water. Most supermarket hams are labelled "hams with water added" which means that it has up to ten percent more water. Keep in mind that hams like this can turn spongy and don't do well on a spiralizing machine. Another point is that all spiralized hams have some kind of sweet glaze. The marriage of the meat and sugar is over a century old. Early recipes such as the one from the 1898 Delmonico Cookbook features a scored ham with powdered sugar. Another recipe from around 1940, found in The Boston Cooking - School Cookbook has a ham recipe that calls for frosting it with royal icing! Then there's the classic pineapple and cherry held by cloves stuck in the ham. This first started in 1931 with Irma Rombauer's first edition of "The Joy Of Cooking". The best bet is a rub with ginger ale and brown sugar. You can use pineapple too which breaks down the meat's collagen, making it easier to digest.
A good Easter dinner starts with a good ham. There's is nothing quite like a slice of silky pink meat, perfectly seasoned with spices and sweet. What a wonderful way to celebrate a Spring holiday.
Tuesday, April 9, 2019
Be Good To The Earth And Yourself
April is Earth month, four weeks where we not only celebrate Spring, Easter and Passover but the Earth herself. It's a time when beaches are cleaned and, carbon foot prints are reduced as we all become a bit more eco-conscious. What can you contribute? Change the way you eat. Make it good for you and our planet.
That's what New York Times Science section contributor, Jane Brody urged today in her Personal Health column. She writes that for more than a century Americans have been living high off the hog -literally. In 1900 most of the American diet was plant based. Eighty -five years later two thirds of the country were eating more protein, namely in the form of beef. The cattle that gives us the steaks and filets we crave is also contributing to the destruction of the planet we live on. It takes eight pounds of grain to produce one pound of meat. Then there's the problem of cows releasing tons of greenhouses gases a year. An editorial in Britain's top medical periodical, The Lancet proclaimed "that intensive meat production is on an unstoppable trajectory comprising the single greatest contributor to climate change." This is scary. Not only are we going to suffer the consequences of our greedy eating habits but our planet is suffering too. The Lancet suggests that we don't go vegan or vegetarian, just cut down on our bad eating habits.
What do we do? Limit our amount of red meat such as beef and lamb. Have it every two weeks. Eat more chicken , pork and fish. Ms. Brody , who has written several books on nutrition suggests going one step further. Have a diet that is mostly , if not all plant based, It's easy to do these days. She gives us her recipe of roasting two cups of butternut squash and one cup of coarsely chopped onion with a tablespoon of olive oil. It's then popped into a 450 degree F oven for twenty minutes.This is an easy cook and can be altered to include other veggies such as peppers and yams. Ms. Brody suggests adding a can of drained chickpeas. also roasted covered with curry powder and salt. The limit also applies to dairy too. This is then the time to explore dairy alternatives. Think about switching to either soy, rice, oat or almond milks and their byproducts. Soy Delicious has so many different products such as ice cream and coffee creamer. The trade off is a good one. You get to still have tasty treats such a soy cheese pizza or a fudgy soy ice cream bar while saving the planet. Also baking and cooking with soy or almond milk is no different than cooking with milk or cream. I have made vegan cakes with almond milk and have used it in icings. The last turns out perfectly creamy frostings that hold up and don't run off the cake.
Be good to your planet and self by changing your diet. Eat more plant based foods. It's a plus for your health and our planet Earth.
That's what New York Times Science section contributor, Jane Brody urged today in her Personal Health column. She writes that for more than a century Americans have been living high off the hog -literally. In 1900 most of the American diet was plant based. Eighty -five years later two thirds of the country were eating more protein, namely in the form of beef. The cattle that gives us the steaks and filets we crave is also contributing to the destruction of the planet we live on. It takes eight pounds of grain to produce one pound of meat. Then there's the problem of cows releasing tons of greenhouses gases a year. An editorial in Britain's top medical periodical, The Lancet proclaimed "that intensive meat production is on an unstoppable trajectory comprising the single greatest contributor to climate change." This is scary. Not only are we going to suffer the consequences of our greedy eating habits but our planet is suffering too. The Lancet suggests that we don't go vegan or vegetarian, just cut down on our bad eating habits.
What do we do? Limit our amount of red meat such as beef and lamb. Have it every two weeks. Eat more chicken , pork and fish. Ms. Brody , who has written several books on nutrition suggests going one step further. Have a diet that is mostly , if not all plant based, It's easy to do these days. She gives us her recipe of roasting two cups of butternut squash and one cup of coarsely chopped onion with a tablespoon of olive oil. It's then popped into a 450 degree F oven for twenty minutes.This is an easy cook and can be altered to include other veggies such as peppers and yams. Ms. Brody suggests adding a can of drained chickpeas. also roasted covered with curry powder and salt. The limit also applies to dairy too. This is then the time to explore dairy alternatives. Think about switching to either soy, rice, oat or almond milks and their byproducts. Soy Delicious has so many different products such as ice cream and coffee creamer. The trade off is a good one. You get to still have tasty treats such a soy cheese pizza or a fudgy soy ice cream bar while saving the planet. Also baking and cooking with soy or almond milk is no different than cooking with milk or cream. I have made vegan cakes with almond milk and have used it in icings. The last turns out perfectly creamy frostings that hold up and don't run off the cake.
Be good to your planet and self by changing your diet. Eat more plant based foods. It's a plus for your health and our planet Earth.
Monday, April 8, 2019
Marie Kondo Your Fridge
By now every one has heard of Marie Kondo, the cute perky queen of organizing. Due to her Netflix show, hundreds of Americans are reorganizing their closets and thanking the items of apparel for sparking joy. Any home chef can do this with their fridge as well. This one did.
.
To be honest nothing I threw out sparked joy, especially the ones with thick layers of mold. (I know, I know) I had more science experiments in my refrigerator than a biology lab and enough penicillin to cure half the East Coast. Not good. As anyone will know , it's so easy to buy stuff and then forget about it , thanks to the busy lives we all lead. To prevent this buy small. If you need sour cream for a recipe and you don't normally eat it, buy the smallest cup. All of it will usually get eaten. Even a medium sized tub can wind up be forgotten.You can buy bigger sizes of ketchup and mustard. One, these are used , and two an opened bottle of ketchup can last up to two years while an opened jar of mustard can still be eaten after two to three years. Honey is another foodstuff that tends to get put at the back of the shelf. It can last six to eight months after its' jar is opened. Remember that it's not just for sweetening drinks, but can also be used to neutralize the acidity in tomato sauce and chili.
Another part of fridge clutter is leftover something. Too many times, we're guilty of even putting a mouthful of soup in the fridge, not wanting to waste a drop. Yet days pass, there are better leftovers to eat, that container gets forgotten. Next thing you know it's a month later and there's a layer of green gook on top of it. If you know you're not going to eat it after two or three days, then toss. Certain leftovers can be repurposed. Leftover chili can be slathered on hot dogs and burgers. Leftover rice can be refried with veggies for a main or side dish. If you've made egg noodles or spaetzle, then have what's left with just butter the next day. It makes for a filling yet light lunch or dinner. The remainder of that Sunday roast can easily be refigured into not just sandwiches but also salads.Nothing beats a tomato and roast beef salad or a roast chicken laced Caesar one.Leftover ham and its' bones can be easily added to homemade pea soup.Any uneaten mashed potatoes lying around? If there's enough , then dip in beaten egg, dredge in breadcrumbs and fry for a tasty snack or meal.Just keep reminding yourself that leftovers need to be thrown out after a few days. Don't leave a bowl of something in the fridge for weeks. You'll never eat it.
Konmari your fridge. Getting rid of all those uneaten or never eaten foods will make you feel better. They may not spark joy, but dumping them will give you some satisfaction.
.
To be honest nothing I threw out sparked joy, especially the ones with thick layers of mold. (I know, I know) I had more science experiments in my refrigerator than a biology lab and enough penicillin to cure half the East Coast. Not good. As anyone will know , it's so easy to buy stuff and then forget about it , thanks to the busy lives we all lead. To prevent this buy small. If you need sour cream for a recipe and you don't normally eat it, buy the smallest cup. All of it will usually get eaten. Even a medium sized tub can wind up be forgotten.You can buy bigger sizes of ketchup and mustard. One, these are used , and two an opened bottle of ketchup can last up to two years while an opened jar of mustard can still be eaten after two to three years. Honey is another foodstuff that tends to get put at the back of the shelf. It can last six to eight months after its' jar is opened. Remember that it's not just for sweetening drinks, but can also be used to neutralize the acidity in tomato sauce and chili.
Another part of fridge clutter is leftover something. Too many times, we're guilty of even putting a mouthful of soup in the fridge, not wanting to waste a drop. Yet days pass, there are better leftovers to eat, that container gets forgotten. Next thing you know it's a month later and there's a layer of green gook on top of it. If you know you're not going to eat it after two or three days, then toss. Certain leftovers can be repurposed. Leftover chili can be slathered on hot dogs and burgers. Leftover rice can be refried with veggies for a main or side dish. If you've made egg noodles or spaetzle, then have what's left with just butter the next day. It makes for a filling yet light lunch or dinner. The remainder of that Sunday roast can easily be refigured into not just sandwiches but also salads.Nothing beats a tomato and roast beef salad or a roast chicken laced Caesar one.Leftover ham and its' bones can be easily added to homemade pea soup.Any uneaten mashed potatoes lying around? If there's enough , then dip in beaten egg, dredge in breadcrumbs and fry for a tasty snack or meal.Just keep reminding yourself that leftovers need to be thrown out after a few days. Don't leave a bowl of something in the fridge for weeks. You'll never eat it.
Konmari your fridge. Getting rid of all those uneaten or never eaten foods will make you feel better. They may not spark joy, but dumping them will give you some satisfaction.
Saturday, April 6, 2019
The Vegan Lamb Part Two Iced
After baking the vegan lamb and letting it sit for a day, it was time to ice it. I used the same Wilton recipe as before however I used Stop & Shop's confectioner's sugar instead of Domino's
It' starts out with vegetable shortening and a stick of Country Crock spread. This was whipped for a few minutes with an electric beater. Vanilla, sea salt and almond milk were added along with five cups of sugar.
There was a heart shape in the middle of the bowl.
More of a heart shape in the beater blades.Maybe my Mom is looking out for me and this is her way of letting me know she's around , watching.
I used the bags of confectioners sugar which weighs two pounds. I recommend buying this amount for any big baking project, especially if there's a lot of icing to do. Also the bag is easier to handle than the box.
I don't know if it was that or adding a little too much almonds milk (half a cup instead of a quarter) but the icing was runny, looser than what it was the last time around.
I also mixed cocoa powder into a small blob of icing for the mouth, nose and eyes,
There were also candy eyes from Betty Crocker that I picked up in Stop &Shop's bake aisle.They
kind of gives the lamb a Raggedy Ann kind of look. I think I'll stick with the blue icing for the eyes
instead.
It' starts out with vegetable shortening and a stick of Country Crock spread. This was whipped for a few minutes with an electric beater. Vanilla, sea salt and almond milk were added along with five cups of sugar.
There were also candy eyes from Betty Crocker that I picked up in Stop &Shop's bake aisle.They
kind of gives the lamb a Raggedy Ann kind of look. I think I'll stick with the blue icing for the eyes
instead.
Unfortunately a vegan scratch cake is not as strong as a Dream Whip/cake mix cake The
head fell off thanks to the frosting's heaviness. The next time the vegan lamb will just have a dusting of powdered sugar with buttercream features. I realize it's just too fragile for
a butter and shortening rich icing. The cake was good on it's own, very delicate tasting
thanks to the almond extract.
Now I know what to do when Easter comes around and I have to bake a flock of lambs. It's a lot of trial and error but worth the work. It's always good to bake and ice a tester cake. There won't be any bad surprises or tears.
Friday, April 5, 2019
The Vegan Lamb Part One
Today I tried the vegan lamb cake recipe taken from the blog ,Vegan Cooking In Colorado (which was taken from Issa Chandra Moskowicz's great book,Vegan Cupcakes Take Over The World). It was kind of scary because I kept thinking the cake wouldn't bake or rise. Yet, this animal friendly pound cake did.
Baking a scratch cake is always a leap of faith.It could go wrong even though leavening has been added. Of course it starts with a greased and floured pan.
This is the batter thoroughly mixed. You can see why I was nervous. It looks really thin, doesn't it?
Baking a scratch cake is always a leap of faith.It could go wrong even though leavening has been added. Of course it starts with a greased and floured pan.
It's the same as with the regular (non-vegan?) cake, generously grease with I Can't Believe It's Not Butter and then a generous coating of flour.
These are the liquid ingredients. The 1/2 cup vanilla soy yogurt and 2/3rd cups canola oil make up for the lack of eggs.The recipe calls for soy milk but I've had good luck with the almond kind so I went with Almond Breeze's.It just takes 1 and 1/3 cup.
I also had to add vanilla and almond extracts too. It's 2 tsps vanilla and 4 tsps almond . It'll give the cake a lovely almond aroma and flavor.
These are the wet ingredients mixed with 1 and 1/2 cups of sugar
This is the almond meal. It looks like polenta and taste like what else - ground almonds. Use 2/3 cup of it. The dry ingredients are the meal, two cups plus 4 tablespoons of flour, 3 tsps baking powder, 1 tsp salt (I used the coarser, grittier Celine's gray sea salt) and 2 tblspns cornstarch which lends more cohesion to the batter.
It was easily poured into the mold and all the batter went into it so no extra cupcakes like the other recipe. The mold was tied together with twine. I was so ansty about the recipe that I forgot to put the five toothpicks in the neck area. (the recipe didn't stress adding the toothpicks so maybe it'll be all right and the lamb's head won't fall off 😲😲)
Bake in a 350 degree F oven for 50 to 60 minutes. I took it out at 55 minutes and let cool. You can see it's a pound cake because of the splits in the surface.
It's paler than the first box mix one , probably because there's no artificial colors used. I plan on checking out the cupcake recipes and other ones in Ms. Moskowicz's recipe book. This is definitely the recipe for vegan birthdays and for inclusive holiday sweets.
Tomorrow is the icing - with some interesting twists. Stay tuned.
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