Shavuot on My Mind
So with the holiday of Shavuot quickly approaching, the recipes for those meals will be my focus over the next two weeks. Shavuot is the holiday in the Jewish religion where we celebrate receiving the Torah from Hashem (Gd) on Har Sinai (Mt. Sinai). Traditionally dairy meals are served and the trick in many kosher homes is the balance of time between a meat meal & a dairy meal. In my home we solved this by serving meat meals in the evening and dairy meals during the day. This year with a great abundance of gratitude to Hashem we will be able to have some guests in our home again. I am beyond excited to be cooking for more than two. I love cooking for Shavuot. It’s a holiday I loved as a child and I often start planning my menus in my head before Passover ends. There are always more recipes that I want to try than there are meals to serve them. This year I knew I wanted to try my hand at making a pasta cake and a cheese babka so those were two things I didn’t even give myself the option of omitting. The cheese babka isn’t actually on the menu but I plan on making it to have with our morning coffee (it is our minhag (tradition) to have something that is Mizanot (made from wheat- cake, cracker) before we go to shul (synagogue) to pray. Here is the menu as it stands now, of course there is room for flexibility.
Sunday Evening: Just us
Challah Rolls
Assorted Dips & Salads
Mock Liver
Roasted Veggies
Baked Chicken
Carrot Cake Muffins w/ Parve Cream Cheese Frosting
Monday Lunch: guests
Challah
Pesto Hummus
Assorted Dips
Caprese Salad w/ Balsamic Dressing
Seared Tuna Niçoise Salad w/ Red Wine Vinaigrette
Baked Rigatoni Cake
Pizza Roll w/ Mushrooms & Marinara Dipping Sauce
Oven Baked Zucchini Fries & Marinara Dipping Sauce
Garlic Roasted Broccolini
Fresh Fruit Platter
Cheesecake
Monday Dinner: just us
Challah
Assorted Dips & Salads
Salmon / Gefilte Fish
Whatever Protein that’s left from Shabbos or Sunday Evening
Tuesday Day: guests
Challah
Nacho/ Burrito Bar: Various Salsas, Vegan Taco Meat, Refried Beans, Black Beans, Red Rice, Shredded Cheddar Cheese, Assorted Tortillas & Chips, Chopped Black Olives, Diced Tomatoes, Shredded Lettuce, Diced Onion, Jalapeno Slices, Pickled Red Onion, Sour Cream & any other toppings I think of
Flan
Fresh Fruit
If there is a recipe you are interested in that I don’t post, PLEASE email me and let me know – I am happy to share. (unless the recipe is still in development)
Vegan Mock Liver (Parve)
Ingredients:
6 tablespoons mild-flavored Oil, divided
2- 3 medium Yellow/ White Onions, chopped
16oz. Mushrooms
3 Hard Boiled Eggs
1/2 cup Walnuts, chopped
1/2 teaspoon Kosher Salt or to taste
freshly ground Black Pepper to taste
Directions:
Using the oil sauté the chopped onions and mushrooms until they start to brown slightly and the liquid from the mushrooms has cooked off. In the bowl of a food processor chop the hard boiled eggs, walnuts and sauteed onions and mushrooms using a pulse action. Taste and season with salt & pepper. If too dry add a little oil to the mix. Pulse to the consistency you like. Serve with additional chopped egg and diced raw onion.
Shoshana’s Baked Chicken w/ Sumac
Ingredients:
1 whole Chicken or Chicken cut into 8ths
Olive Oil
1 or 2 tablespoons Minced Garlic
1 large white or yellow Onion, chopped
Ground Sumac
Salt
Fresh Ground Pepper
(1 large Lemon / Orange / Onion if making a whole Chicken)
Directions:
Preheat the oven to 350F. Prepare a sheet pan by spraying it with olive oil spray (for easier cleanup line the pan with aluminum foil). If using chicken parts evenly space them on the sheet pan and drizzle with olive oil. Rub each piece of chicken with some of the minced garlic. Sprinkle the chopped onion about the sheet pan. Sprinkle the salt, pepper and ground sumac over the chicken parts. Bake in the preheated oven until juices run clear and largest piece of chicken has reached and internal temperature of at least 165F.
If making a whole chicken preheat the oven and prepare a baking dish with a rack (this will keep the chicken from stewing in its own juices). Rub the inside and outside of the chicken with olive oil and minced garlic. Season the cavity with the herbs and place a whole lemon, orange or large onion in the cavity of the chicken to help ensure moistness. Put the chicken on the rack and season the outside with the herbs and chopped onion. Bake in a 350F oven until the juices run clear and the chickens internal temperature at the breast (without touching bone) reaches at least 165F.
14 ‘Carrot’ Cake or Muffins (this is one of the recipes from my Bubbe)
Ingredients:
2 cups Flour
2 teaspoons Baking Powder
1 ½ teaspoons Baking Soda
1 teaspoon Salt
2 teaspoons Cinnamon
2 cups Sugar
1 ½ cups Oil
4 Eggs
2 cups Grated Carrots
An 8 ½ oz. can Crushed Pineapple, drained
½ cup Chopped Nuts
½ cup Golden Raisons
Directions:
Preheat oven to 350F. Prepare cupcake/muffin tins by lining them with paper liners. Mix all dry ingredients in a large bowl. Add the oil and eggs. Mix in the carrots, pineapple, nuts and raisins. Mix well. Scoop equal amounts into the prepared tins and bake for approximately 30 minutes. Until a toothpick comes out of the center of a muffin dry, and the muffin is firm to the touch. Remove from the oven and allow to cool on a rack completely before frosting.
This can also be made in three 8” round or square cake pans for creating a layer cake.
Cream Cheese Frosting (parve or dairy)
Ingredients:
½ cup Vegan Butter (Earth Balance) or ½ cup Butter
8 oz. softened Vegan Cream Cheese (Tofutti or Wayfare) or Cream Cheese
1 teaspoon Vanilla
2 cups Powdered Sugar
Nondairy Milk or Milk if too thick
Directions:
Blend all ingredients until thick and creamy. Use nondairy milk or milk to thin if needed.
Pizza Roll w/ Marinara Dipping Sauce
Ingredients:
1 package Puff pastry Dough, defrosted
1 can Pizza Sauce (Don Peppino’s)
1 to 2 cups shredded Mozzarella Cheese
1 to 2 tablespoons grated Parmesan Cheese
Sliced Mushrooms, Olives, Onion, Bell Pepper . . . any vegetable you like on pizza
Dried Oregano
Dried Basil
Dried Garlic Powder
Hot Pepper Flakes
1 egg
1 tablespoon water
Directions:
Preheat oven to 350F. Prepare a sheet pan by lining it with parchment paper. Remove the defrosted puff pastry from the package. Either use all the dough to make one large pizza roll or make two smaller rolls. On a lightly floured surface using a rolling pin roll the puff pastry out as thin and evenly as you can without tearing it. Leaving an edge of about ¼ inch around the whole rectangle spread the pizza sauce. Scatter the shredded and grated cheese over the sauce. Sprinkle the vegetables around the rectangle, evenly distributing them. Sprinkle with the dried herbs and seasonings to taste. Starting with the narrower end of the rectangle roll the dough and spreads up jelly roll style pinching off the ends and placing the seam on the bottom. Put the roll onto the prepared sheet pan. Whisk the egg and 1 tablespoon of water together to create an egg-wash. Using a very sharp knife slice the raw roll on the diagonal almost all of the way through to the bottom approximately 1 inch apart – so about 8 slices across the roll. Brush with the egg-wash and then sprinkle with the dried seasonings and bake. Bake until the puff pastry if golden brown and puffy. Remove from the oven and let sit for a few minutes and serve with prepared/ bottled marinara sauce.
Pizza Shop Dipping Sauce
This is a really simple easy sauce that comes together in minutes. It is great as a dipping sauce or as a ‘sub shop’ style sauce over pasta.
Ingredients:
28oz. Can Crushed Tomatoes
1 1/2 teaspoons dried Basil
1 1/2 teaspoons dried Oregano
1 teaspoon granulated Sugar
1/2 teaspoon Garlic Powder
1/2 teaspoon Kosher Salt
Directions:
Mix all of the ingredients in a pot on the stove over medium heat and heat through.
More recipes in the next blog post!