Oh! You Cook!

Another non-recipe.  But don't go away ... watch Martha Stewart in a 2003 video visit to Streit's matzoh factory in Brooklyn, NYC.  Still relatively small and family-owned since 1925.  Informative video. According to Martha, "Matzoh comes from the Hebrew word 'matzoh.' "



A zissen Pesach everyone!

No recipe today, sorry.  Having a backsplash put into (onto) my kitchen:















The grout gets put in tomorrow morning.
















A year it took to have this done.  The entire kitchen was gutted and redone last year, erev Pesach as well.

I collect recipes like some people collect stamps.  Recipes that I can't wait until mealtime to make.  Recipes to file away for another time.  Recipes that are traditionally served only during specific holidays.  Such as Passover (See?  I was going somewhere with this).

Passover recipes can be classified into 3 groups:  1) those that use pasadik ingredients to mimic "the real thing" but don't succeed, 2) those that manage to almost succeed but "not quite,"  and 3)  those that didn't start out life as Passover recipes but have no flour or other chometz ingredients in them so they are legal to eat and the kids don't whine about how deprived they are.  Today's recipe is in the third group.  It's a regular o' recipe that happens to be Passover "legal."  IMHO it's a little heavy for an early morning breakfast, unless you plan to immediately afterwards go out hiking, but it is fine for a dairy lunch, brunch or dinner.

I like it i…

You may have seen this recipe all over the internet.  However, I want to tell you that this recipe originated from  Marcy Goldman's book A Treasury of Jewish Holiday Baking (1998, there's a new version but I'm not sure if this recipe is in it).  She invented it.  She should get the credit.

Forget about Crack Pie!  This recipe leaves it in the dust.  Easy to make, hard to stop eating.  Once you try some caramel crack crunch, you won't stop eating until the entire batch is gently nestled at the bottom of your stomach.  Even Gentiles love it!  Ms. Goldman should get a Nobel Prize.  Thank you, Marcy!  Thank you, thank you!

It's a very healthy recipe. ;-) It's got butter (calcium).  It's got chocolate (heart-healthy).  It's got wheat!  What's not to love?

Foil and parchment together are important to this recipe.  Unless you want to chip out the crunch with a hammer and chisel, line the cookie sheets with both foil and parchment.

Sit, eat and just try no…

This recipe is brought to you by my hubby's aunt Carol.  But since I wasn't sure from where she got it, I went tooling around the intertubes and found recipes with similar ingredients but different quantities.  If anyone knows the origin, please send me the link or citation so I can credit the author.

My old son loves this recipe.  He called from Israel the other day, not-to-subtly hinting that I make it when he flies in for the first Seder.  Like I wasn't going to.  It's set in stone in my official passover meal rotation.  It's that good!

Aunt Carol swears that Uncle Paul will eat this recipe.  It's even typed on the recipe: "The most amazing thing is that Paul eats it and it has cheese in it.  He doesn't eat cheese, has never eaten cheese, or will he ever eat cheese even if he were starving."  A vegetarian he ain't.  So if he will eat this, anyone will.  Even people who think they hate cheese.

Aunt Carol's Matzoh Cheese Kugel
Yield:  4-6 …

Don't start the jokes about Jewish Penicillin, please.  They are old, hackneyed and boring.  Especially since my recipe is the definitive one. ;)  My darling children complain that cooked turnips resembles potatoes so I should use the "real" thing.

You can use a quartered chicken, but the smaller pieces fit in my pot better.  You can remove all the skin if you prefer, but the soup tastes better if you leave some of the skin on since the skin gives it some flavor.  If the little bit of fat still offends you, chill overnight (the soup, not you.  Well, maybe you as well if you are so easily offended), then lift off and discard the hardened congealed fat floating on top.

Use fresh dill and parsley if you can get it.  Rinse and paper-towel dry the herbs then freeze the remaining bunches for another time.  If you have to use dried, use a lot to get the same flavor.  It does seem as if there are a lot of herbs in this recipe, but just sing Scarborough Fair while assembling the in…