Homemade Tomato Sauce

Posted on December 20, 2018 by Emily Wasserman

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Last week, I was lucky enough to get a complimentary shipment of tomatoes from Tony’s Family Farms. I interviewed Tony, a local farmer and produce supplier, for a story I was writing and the next day he showed up with a giant crate of glasshouse tomatoes from MightyVine in Chicago.

MightyVine’s tomatoes are, in a word, delicious. I think they could make even a tomato nonbeliever into a believer. They’re ripe, bright red, juicy, and fresh. The cherry tomatoes pop in your mouth and are as addictive as candy. I will be very sad when this crate is empty.IMG_7859Still, there were so many tomatoes in the crate that I panicked a little. How would I use them all up? Would they go bad if I didn’t use them in the next few days? How should I store them?

The answer is, the tomatoes keep for a pretty long time on the counter at a cool room temperature. I have mine in the kitchen, uncovered, and they’ve lasted about a week so far. Tomatoes are fragile beings so you don’t want to crowd them or handle them roughly. As long as you keep that in mind, you should be good.

I decided to make homemade tomato sauce with my tomatoes. I came across a recipe from Marcella Hazan, a famous Italian cookbook author, as I was trying to find ways to use up the tomatoes.

HOWEVER, I only used Hazan’s recipe as a guide. If you look at it, you’ll see it calls for two cups of tomatoes with their juices. Hazan most likely was thinking of canned tomatoes so that’s where the two cups and juices comes into play. Obviously, I was not using canned tomatoes so I more or less eyeballed it and I added a little water to the pot when I combined the ingredients for the sauce.

Second, I had waaaay more tomatoes than Hazan did when she made this recipe, so I did rough arithmetic and tripled it. I say “rough” because I threw most of the middle-sized tomatoes into a pot and estimated that it was around six cups.

A few other notes about this recipe: It calls for a lot of butter. This might freak you out but don’t panic. The butter is very subtle and it gives the sauce a velvety, smooth texture. You will be happy that you went all out when you taste the finished product.

Second, this sauce takes a long time to cook. Hazan’s recipe says it will take 45 minutes but again, that’s if you’re going by the book and using two cups of tomatoes. Using 20 medium tomatoes or 10 big ones means that your sauce will take about two hours to cook. I know this commitment isn’t for everyone but trust me when I say, it’s worth it. You can put the sauce in one big jar or multiple jars to share with friends and family. You can even freeze it, if you’re so inclined.

An easy trick for peeling the tomatoes is to boil them first. Cut small x’s in the bottom of each tomato with a paring knife, submerge them in boiling water for a minute, and then carefully place them into a big bowl filled with cold water. The skins will practically remove themselves after that.

This recipe yields a sauce that’s so good, I’m having trouble finding the words to describe it. It’s better than the sauce I’ve tried at many Italian restaurants. I had my boyfriend over for dinner the night I made it and he was impressed. He’s still talking about it days later.

So yeah. Make this sauce as soon as possible. I made another batch last night with the large tomatoes and it turned out as well, if not better. Even though my recipe involves a lot of eyeballing ingredients and improvising as I go, I’ve provided a rough guide for you below.

Here’s a song to get you started on your tomato sauce journey.

Homemade Tomato Sauce

Ingredients

20 medium-sized ripe Roma-style tomatoes, or 10 large ripe cutting tomatoes, peeled
2 cups of warm water
2 sticks of butter (16 Tbsp)
1 onion, peeled and cut in half
salt to taste
sugar to taste

Directions

Combine the tomatoes, water, butter, onion, salt, and sugar in a large, heavy-bottomed pot. I’d start with more salt than sugar and taste and adjust later. Bring the mixture to a boil and then reduce to a simmer on medium heat.

Allow the mixture to cook down for about two hours, mashing down large bits of tomato with a spoon or even a potato masher. Stir the mixture every so often to make sure it’s not sticking to the bottom. Taste and adjust your salt and sugar. I usually end up adding a little more sugar.

Once the mixture coats the back of a spoon and has reduced to your liking, pour the sauce into a clean prepared jar or jars. Seal tightly and allow to come to room temperature. Place in the fridge to store it. Or, if you want to enjoy delicious pasta right away, mix some of the sauce into noodles.*

*A great way to make pasta is by saving a little of the pasta water from when you cook the noodles, putting it into a large pan, mixing some sauce in, and then tossing the noodles in the pan.

Enjoy!

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French Yogurt Cake (Gâteau au yaourt)

Posted on December 19, 2018 by Emily Wasserman

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Yogurt cake, or “gâteau au yaourt,” is a recipe that every French person has in their back pocket. Talk to someone from France about the cake and they’ll probably tell you a story about how they watched one of their parents making in the kitchen, then they started helping, and now they can make it at the drop of a hat. It’s one of the country’s many fine culinary traditions.

I didn’t actually experience yogurt cake much when I lived in France because I was mostly around small children, and I did not cook much. I taught elementary school and nannied for some kids outside of school hours, and food was basically confined to whatever was lying around the house or whatever I could drum up in a hurry. Still, I do remember people talking about the cake and at least on one occasion, I ate some at holiday party.

Maybe it’s nostalgia, or maybe it’s just because I had a mostly full container of whole milk yogurt after making a marinade for chicken last week, but I decided to make French yogurt cake the other night for dessert. I actually started making it while I was cooking dinner because I’m impatient and I have trouble waiting for dessert.

This cake is one of the easiest things to bake. You essentially mix together some flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt, and then mix it with eggs, whole milk yogurt, and sugar. I also add some lemon zest because I’m a fan of citrus flavor in cake, but you could leave that out.

You’ll notice that the recipe doesn’t call for much sugar. This runs contrary to American cake, which is mostly full of sugar. French cake is light and delicate. When you bite into it, it springs back a bit but it also melts in your mouth. It is subtle but striking, which I think describes French culture well.

The measurements for the cake ingredients are mostly in milliliters and grams. I’ve been baking more by weight later and I’ve found that it makes a huge difference. Find a good but relatively cheap kitchen scale and you will be rewarded with superior baked goods. It’s worth the investment.

You can serve this cake on its own or with some berries on top. Or, if you’re feeling more American than French and you want to jazz things up, you can serve it with a scoop of ice cream. I’ve eaten it both ways and both are delicious.

Here’s a song to get you started on your yogurt cake journey. It was running through my head as I made this cake.

French Yogurt Cake (Gâteau au yaourt)

Ingredients

250 mL whole milk plain yogurt
2 large eggs
160 g granulated sugar
1 tsp vanilla extract
80 mL vegetable oil
250 g all-purpose, unbleached flour
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1 pinch salt
zest of one lemon

Directions

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Butter and line a 10-inch cake pan with parchment paper. Set aside.

Beat together the yogurt, eggs, sugar, vanilla extract, and vegetable oil in the bowl of a stand mixer. In a separate bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, and lemon zest. Add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients and mix until just combined and there are no traces of flour. DO NOT overmix.

Pour the batter into the prepared pan and cake in the oven on a middle rack for 30 to 35 minutes, or until the top is golden brown and a tester inserted in the middle comes out clean. Let the cake cool for 10 minutes on the stovetop and then let it cool the rest of the way on a wire rack. Make sure to bring the cake to room temperature before you store it or cover it. It will keep for a while in the fridge. Enjoy!

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A Very Merry Soup Roundup

Posted on December 17, 2018 by Emily Wasserman

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I realized earlier this month that I ate soup for two weeks straight, but it was SO necessary. I was fighting a bad cold and soup is one of the best antidotes. It’s warming, spicy, fragrant (even if you can’t really smell), and comforting.

I decided to roundup a few of my favorite soups below. It’s not an exhaustive list but it includes some of my favorite recipes including miso-tahini squash soup, French lentil soup, and classic chicken noodle soup. These soups will get you through the cold winter months and remind you that eventually, spring will come.

I enjoyed digging through my archives to find these. I’d forgotten about some of them including sunchoke soup with thyme, which sounds super intimidating but is actually pretty easy to make (as long as you can find sunchokes). I want to make that one again soon.

I did not include gazpacho on the list because I can’t/won’t think about cold soups during the winter. If you want some good recipes, though, just search my archives for “gazpacho.” I have a good recipe posted that calls for sungold tomatoes, which are popular during the summer at farmers’ markets.

I’m sick of writing “soup” so I’ll just cut to the chase. Here’s a roundup of the best soup recipes on Allez Le Food:

1.) French Lentil Stew with Mushrooms and Kale

This soup got me through a very cold winter in Washington, D.C. It’s full of hearty ingredients including lentils and garlic, and it has thyme and white wine, so your apartment/house/dwelling will smell amazing while you’re cooking it.

2.) Seven Spice Chickpea Stew with Spinach

As you can tell from the beginning of this post, 2016 was a very cold winter in D.C. and I relied on soup to get me through. This soup is skillet friendly so you can make it on the stove top, stirring occasionally for the best results.

3.) Classic Chicken Noodle Soup

There are few soups as comforting as classic chicken noodle. I rely on this soup to get me through sickness, cold weather, and any other obstacles that winter throws my way. The best part about this recipe? You don’t even need to cook a whole chicken.

4.) Miso-Tahini Squash Soup

If you like multi-layered flavors in soup, this one is for you. There’s a lot going on in this miso-tahini squash soup but it works in its favor. Ginger, turmeric, and squash all come together to create something spicy and warming. Pair it with brown rice for an even heartier meal.

5.) Slow Cooker French Onion Soup

I made this soup with my sister a couple years ago and it is so. good. You can make it in a slow cooker, which shaves off a lot of steps in the cooking process. Your house will smell so good as it cooks. Caramelized onions, baguette, thick, melted cheese…what more do you need in life?

6.) Tomato Bread Soup

I’m a big fan of bread in soup, which brings me to this tomato bread soup. It’s a playful take on classic tomato soup that calls for any day-old bread you have lying around. If you don’t have any bread, it’s a perfect excuse to buy some and then not close the bag all the way for a couple days.

7.) Slow Cooker Sweet Potato Lentil Soup

Winter calls for slow cooker recipes and this sweet potato lentil soup is one of my favorites. It requires minimal effort but yields maximum taste. If you want to spice things up, consider adding some hot sauce or harissa to the mix.

8.) Thai Red Curry Noodle Soup

A lot of times during the winter, I go out for Thai food just so I can have a spicy, warming soup. If you’re feeling ambitious and want to make one at home, this soup is for you. It’s full of noodles, red curry, garlic, and ginger. Just writing about it makes me hungry.

9.) Carrot Turmeric Coconut Soup

This soup gets a big lift from coconut milk, which gives it a thick, velvety texture. Double or triple the recipe for the maple-glazed nuts on top and use them in other dishes such as salad.

10.) Sunchoke Soup with Thyme

I made this soup a few years ago with a friend when I was living in D.C. I forgot about it until today, not because it’s forgettable but probably because it’s one of those once-in-a-lifetime soups. It requires a lot of ingredients including sunchokes, which can be hard to find in grocery stores. If you find them, though, this soup is worth making. I wouldn’t make it every week but now that I’ve found it again, I want to make it at least once or twice a year.

Enjoy these soups! Here’s a song that reminds me of this list.

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Dimanche (That Means Sunday)

Posted on December 16, 2018 by Emily Wasserman

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Welcome to this edition of Dimanche (That Means Sunday), a roundup of things that caught my eye this past week.

This week was a little hectic with holiday parties and plans. I had a great time getting tea and pastries with my colleagues and spending time with my family, but today, I was ready for some solitude. My boyfriend and I drove an hour out into the country and went on a long hike through Klondike Park, one of my favorites places to hike in rural Missouri.

I took the lead when we hiked since my boyfriend had never been there before. I noticed as I went a long the trail that it was easy. It’s not a particularly challenging trail but it was even easier than I remembered.

I realized that it was easier for two reasons: One, my body has almost completely recovered from all the injuries I incurred earlier this year. Two, I know the trail almost by heart. It was an exciting thing to realize. I used to come to the trail a couple years ago and tiptoe around parts, scared that I was going to fall or slide over some rocks. Now I can practically do the trail with my eyes closed.

The next week is full of more holiday parties, last minute projects, and work obligations. When things get particularly stressful, I’ll return to the peace of the trail. And as this year wraps up and a new one is around the corner, I’ll return to the realization that I had while hiking today. If you do challenging things enough times, eventually they get easier. And once you get through the obstacles, you’re rewarded with something resembling bliss.

Without further ado, here is Dimanche:

I finally tried the pizza at Louie and it was un. real. I’d highly recommend heading over the restaurant in DeMun and trying it soon. I got the butternut squash and fontina combo and it was so delicious. I’m still thinking about it a day later.IMG_7883

I always hear about new restaurants opening in Chicago and I want to make a trip up as soon as possible to check them out. This new one from Stephanie Izard, chef and owner of Girl and the Goat, sounds like a place I need to visit soon. “Tiny Goat” is opening above Little Goat, an upscale diner close to Izard’s other restaurants. If you’re in Chicago and you’re looking for a place to celebrate New Year’s, this could be your spot.

Every year around this time, the CDC puts out its warning against eating raw cookie dough. Every year, I ignore the warning and eat dough, and I’m still alive. “Say No to Raw Dough!” is probably my least favorite public healthy announcement. Read opposing sides of the argument in this Washington Post story.

I had the pleasure of meeting Tony White from Tony’s Family Farms this week. Tony’s business supplies St. Louis area restaurants with fresh produce year-round including glasshouse and greenhouse tomatoes. He brought me a shipment from a farm he works with in Chicago called Mighty Vine and the tomatoes are so good. I used a bunch to make homemade tomato sauce on Friday. Look out for the recipe on the blog later this week!IMG_7859IMG_7876

I’m a big fan of Sylvia Plath so it was fun to read this comic about her earlier this week. You might be thinking, “Sylvia Plath and comics? What?” The comic is just another way of telling a story about a book of Plath’s letters, which was recently published by Harper Collins. I learned a lot about Plath from reading the story, which is basically just drawings with short captions. Check out the comic in The New Yorker.

I just discovered Basically and I’m obsessed. It’s a website from Bon Appétit that answers common cooking questions. This story about powdered sugar might come in handy during holiday cookie baking. Also there’s a recipe from brown butter wedding cookies at the end.

I love hearing about what people in the local food industry are doing. This interview in Sauce Magazine features Suman Shekar, who oversees process improvements and quality assurance at Companion, a popular bakery in St. Louis. I liked what Shekar had to say about working in the food industry and the dedication it requires. Check out the full interview on Sauce‘s website.

Last but certainly not least, Epicurious found a bunch of Gourmet‘s old holiday recipes and everyone freaked out. Gourmet, a once thriving food magazine, went out of business a while ago to the disappointment to pretty much everyone. So it’s a big deal that Epicurious, a now thriving food website that makes recipes available to the masses, has some of Gourmet’s holiday secrets. Read this blog post for more information.

Enjoy your week! Here’s a song to get you started.

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Chicken Noodle Soup

Posted on December 13, 2018 by Emily Wasserman

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Chicken noodle soup is the ultimate fixer. It comes in when you’re feeling your worst and warms you up, clears your very clogged sinuses, and makes you believe that maybe, one day, you’ll feel better again.

My mom used to make chicken soup for me and my siblings a lot when we were little. I remember it as a holiday dish because we often ate it for the Jewish holidays, but also, I remember it as a remedy to any cold or flu that I acquired. I was in awe of my mom’s ability to make something so medicinal and healing. I thought for a long time that she was making it the hard way, with a whole chicken in the pot.

Then about a year ago I got sick and I asked her for chicken noodle soup. She brought me some so quickly, it didn’t seem possible. “Did you use a whole chicken?” I said. She laughed. “No, I used rotisserie.”

This was a big shock to me, who believed for more than 30 years that my mom was using an ancient medicinal recipe for the soup that involved chopping up a whole chicken and soaking it in broth. After my initial disbelief, I felt empowered. “Yes,” I said to myself. “I can do this.” Plus, who has time to deal with a whole chicken when they’re sick anyway? I thought to myself.

Armed with this newfound confidence, I went to the grocery store when I got sick last week and bought a rotisserie chicken. I got a few stalks of celery, carrots, onion, wide egg noodles, and chicken broth. When I got home, I essentially threw everything into a pot and let it cook for a while, and then added chopped rotisserie chicken once the vegetables were soft enough and the egg noodles were cooked through.

I don’t want to say that this soup cured me, because it didn’t. However, it did play an instrumental role in helping me feel better. It helped me turn a corner at just the right time. I was starting to think that I’d be sick the rest of December.

I guess the moral of this story is, if you’re scared of making chicken noodle soup, know that there are shortcuts. You will still have delicious, healing soup at the end of the process and you’ll be no more sick or stressed for it. My boyfriend likes to make the soup completely from scratch when he’s sick, which I applaud, but I think he has an iron constitution. I become weak and needy when I have a lingering cold, so I need fast and easy relief.

Here’s a song to get you started on your chicken noodle soup journey. I found it last week after forgetting about it for years. I’d highly recommend playing it while cooking.

Stay tuned for a soup roundup post next week!

Chicken Noodle Soup

Ingredients

1 Tbsp canola oil
2 celery ribs, chopped
2 medium carrots, chopped
1 medium onion, peeled and chopped
8 cups chicken broth
1/4 tsp pepper
3 cups uncooked whole wheat egg noodles (about 4 ounces)
3 cups coarsely chopped rotisserie chicken

Directions

Heat oil in a heavy-bottomed stockpot over medium high heat. Add the celery, carrots, and onion. Cook, stirring occasionally, until the vegetables and onions are tender, about five minutes.

Add the chicken broth and pepper to the pot and bring the mixture to a boil. Stir in the noodles. Cook for about 13 minutes or until the noodles are soft. Stir in the chopped chicken and heat through. Enjoy!

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Pomegranate-Glazed Chicken

Posted on December 12, 2018 by Emily Wasserman

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I’ve wanted to make roasted chicken for a long, long time. It all started a year ago when I watched Season 5 of “The Mind of a Chef,” a brilliant PBS documentary narrated by the late, great Anthony Bourdain.

Season 5 of the series highlights the work of Ludo Lefebvre, a French chef who put down roots in LA and now owns and operates several successful restaurants in the city. I started to watch an episode about roasted chicken on my laptop last year and I stared at my screen, transfixed, as Ludo prepared the bird for the oven. When you’re roasting a chicken, you don’t go off and read a magazine or watch TV, Ludo said in his French accent. “You stay with your bird.”

I was charmed and humbled. A lot of my cooking involves putting something in the oven or on the stove and going off and doing myriad things such as lying on the couch, folding clothes, or staring out the window. If I’m scared something is going to burn, there’s a good chance that I will watch it cook. If not, I leave it alone.

I kept Ludo’s advice in mind when I started my first roasted chicken project yesterday night. I found a great recipe for pomegranate-glazed chicken from Bon Appétit. I’ll just link to it instead of reprinting it below, as web decorum dictates. It seemed to suggest the same thing that Ludo did, which is, pay attention to your bird.

I started by marinating a whole chicken overnight in a zipped bag with whole yogurt, pomegranate molasses, garlic, salt, and honey. I’m not going to lie: Looking at the mixture in a plastic bag and then dunking a chicken into it is a little nausea-inducing. I’d urge you to carry on, though, because you will be rewarded at the end of the process.

The Bon Appétit recipe tells you to rotate the bag with the chicken inside periodically so the marinade is well-distributed. If you’re at work during the day you might not have time to do this, but I’d recommend giving your bird some TLC if you’re around and you can rotate the bag. It will ensure that the marinade is absorbed by most of the chicken. Just make sure that the bag is well sealed so you don’t get the marinade all over your kitchen.

When it comes time to cook the chicken, you spread the bird skin-side up on a baking sheet lined with foil and drizzled with olive oil. Then you rub a pomegranate honey mixture onto the skin. This is way more gratifying and less nausea-inducing than making the marinade. At this point, you should get excited about roasting the chicken.

Make sure you have a shelf at the top rung in your oven. Place the baking sheet on the shelf and leave the chicken to roast for about 30 minutes. DO NOT leave the kitchen. I took Ludo’s advice and stayed with my bird, and it paid off. I was rewarded with pomegranate chicken that was sweet, tender, and succulent. The skin was crispy and the insides practically melted in my mouth. I was overwhelmed by my nascent success.

Some people might think that the bird I cooked is burnt. This is where America’s food sensibility differs from the rest of the world. The chicken I cooked was supposed to be charred on the outside. The blackness makes the skin taste better and gives the chicken an extra level of flavor. Whatever you do, don’t take your bird out of the oven before it reaches this stage. You will regret it.

So yeah. That’s the story of my first roasted chicken experience. It was so enjoyable that I want to make another one soon.

In the meantime, I’ll leave you with this song. I’ll also leave you with Ludo Lefebvre’s advice to me before I started cooking last night. I think it’s good advice all around.

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Ginger Molasses Cookies

Posted on December 10, 2018 by Emily Wasserman

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Every year around the beginning of December, I start craving ginger molasses cookies. Honestly, I crave them year-round but it gets worse when the temperatures drop and I want something sweet, warm, and reassuring.

I made the cookies last year but I was not completely satisfied with the results. They were gingery and molassesy (yeah, that’s not a word) enough, but they weren’t as soft and chewy as I’d like.

This year, I came up with a great recipe and it delivered the ginger molasses cookies of my dreams. They are sweet, spicy, chewy, and soft in the middle. I’m tearing up just writing about them.

I brought the cookies into work today and my coworkers immediately started raving about them. I’d like to be modest but I have to say, yeah, they are pretty amazing. You should probably make them as soon as possible. They’re good for the holidays but honestly they’re delicious year-round.

One word to the wise: The dough in this recipe requires some time in the fridge. Don’t rush the process because you will end up with cookies that are super flat and not as chewy. Chill the dough for at least a couple hours or even overnight for the best results.

Here’s a song to get you started on your ginger molasses cookies journey.

Ginger Molasses Cookies

Ingredients

1 1/2 cups unsalted butter, softened
1 cup granulated sugar
1 cup packed brown sugar
1/2 cup unsulphured molasses
2 eggs at room temperature
528 grams all-purpose, unbleached flour (about 4 1/2 cups)
4 tsp baking soda
1 Tbsp ground ginger
2 tsp ground cinnamon
1 tsp ground cloves
1/8 tsp ground cardamom
1 tsp salt

Directions

Whisk together the flour, baking soda, ground spices, and salt in a large bowl. Set aside.

Cream the softened butter and sugars in the bowl of a stand mixer by mixing on medium speed, scraping down the sides with a spatula as needed. You’re done mixing with the butter and sugar mixture has turned a light yellow color.

Mix in the eggs one at a time until combined. Mix in the molasses. Turn the mixing speed to low and add the dry ingredients gradually until they are incorporated. Cover the mixing bowl with saran wrap and place the dough in the fridge for at least two hours or overnight.

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Line five baking sheets with parchment paper. Fill a small bowl with granulated sugar. Scoop a little dough from the bowl and roll into a ball that’s about one inch in diameter. Roll the ball in the sugar until every side is covered. Place the ball on the prepared baking sheet. Repeat this process until all the dough is used up. Make sure that cookies are spaced about two inches apart on the baking sheet. They will spread.

Bake the cookies for about eight to 10 minutes, or until they’ve started to crack on top and they’re set in the middle. Remove them from the oven and let them cool for five minutes on the baking sheet, and then let them cool the rest of the way on a wire rack. Store in an airtight container. Enjoy!

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Hearty Greens and Garlic Soup

Posted on December 6, 2018 by Emily Wasserman

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I have this cold that I can’t seem to beat. It’s really frustrating, not only because being sick is the worst but because I’m extremely impatient. I just want to feel better, already.

That’s where this greens and garlic soup comes into play. I made it a few nights ago for dinner when I felt my symptoms getting worse. It’s full of things that are good for you in general but also good for you when you have a cold: hearty greens, eggs, lemon, and loads of garlic.

I’m not a garlic person but this soup made me a garlic believer. Maybe it’s because I couldn’t taste most of the garlic but it was actually pretty subtle. It paired well with the greens, eggs, and citrus.

The weirdest part about this soup is that it doesn’t call for broth. I’m used to making soups where I pour in a box or two of chicken broth but that’s not the case here. You make the broth by infusing water with greens, garlic, and lemons. You might not think that the resulting mixture would be good but it is.

You also might be tempted to skip the garlic croutons on top but DO NOT skip this step. The croutons make the soup. They’re crunchy, garlicky, fragrant, and perfectly browned. Sprinkle a little shredded Parm on top and it will melt over the croutons, creating something akin to French onion soup.

So yeah. If you’re feeling like all you want to do is curl up in the fetal position in bed with bottomless cups of tea and tissues, make this soup. Even if you’re feeling great but it’s getting cold outside, make this soup. It’s hearty and warming. It can handle your cold even if you can’t.

Here’s a song to get you started.

Hearty Greens and Garlic Soup

Ingredients

for the soup:
2 Tbsp extra-virgin olive oil
2 leeks, cut in half lengthwise, rinsed, drained on paper towels, and then sliced into 1/4 inch pieces
4 garlic cloves, sliced
kosher salt
6 cups chopped Swiss or rainbow chard leaves
black pepper, to taste
2 large eggs, beaten in a small bowl
juice of half a lemon
grated Parmesan, for serving

for the croutons:
4 thick slices country bread, cut into small cubes
extra-virgin olive oil
salt
1 clove of garlic in its shell

Directions

First, make the croutons. Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper. Toss the bread cubes with a drizzle of olive oil and a generous sprinkle of salt. Spread the cubes into an even layer. Place the clove of garlic in its shell in a corner on the baking sheet. Toast in the oven for about 10 minutes or until they’re golden brown. Let the cubes cool on the baking sheet on a wire rack. Rub with the roasted garlic. Sprinkle with a little more salt.

To make the soup, heat one tablespoon of olive oil in a heavy-bottomed stockpot over medium heat. Add the leeks and stir until they’re tender, about three to five minutes. Add the garlic and half a teaspoon of salt. Stir for a minute until the garlic is fragrant. Stir in the greens until the leaves start to wilt. Add the water and salt to taste, and then bring the mixture to a simmer. Partially cover with a lid and allow the mixture to simmer for about 15 to 20 minutes, or until the greens are very tender and the broth is slightly sweet. When it’s done, taste and add ground pepper and more salt if needed.

Remove the pot from heat. Take a ladle of soup and mix it into the beaten eggs. Then pour the eggs into the soup and stir. Squeeze in the juice of half a lemon.

Serve the soup with the croutons and a sprinkle of shredded Parm. Enjoy!

 

 

 

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Rugelach

Posted on December 5, 2018 by Emily Wasserman

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Rugelach is by far the most popular Hanukkah cookie. The last time I had one was in June in Montréal, but that was more because I passed a Jewish bakery and I couldn’t *not* get one. Fast forward six months to Saturday night, when I decided to make my own rugleach from scratch.

Honestly, it’s an easy process. You make some dough, refrigerate it, and then roll it out into circles. The rolling is the most difficult part because you want the dough to be more or less an even circle. I would do this by rotating your rolling pin 45 degrees between each roll. It will ensure that the dough rolls out evenly.

Then you slather on some apricot preserves, throw some chopped walnuts, sugar, and raisins on top, and cut the circle into 12 triangles. My favorite part is rolling up each triangle, starting with the wide side, until the rugelach look like little fruit rollups. Brush each cookie with egg wash, pop them in the oven, and bake them until they’re golden brown.

Rugelach are good Hanukkah cookies because they’re sweet and rich but not cloyingly so. They actually have a lot of good stuff in them (see: raisins and walnuts), so you don’t feel like you’re eating pure sugar. Plus, they’re little so you can eat a bunch at once and not feel like you’re going to puke.

You could get creative with rugelach fillings. I’ve seen recipes that call for figs, chocolate, and even raspberry. Those all sound delicious but I’ve included a more basic recipe below. It’s the kind of rugelach that you’d find on traditional holiday tables. It reminds me of my ancestors, even though I’m not even 100 percent sure they made rugelach. If they did, I bet it looked something like this.

Here’s a song to get you started on your rugelach journey.

Rugelach

Ingredients

8 oz cream cheese, at room temp
2 sticks unsalted butter, at room temp
1/4 cup granulated sugar plus 6 Tbsp
1/4 tsp kosher salt
1 tsp pure vanilla extract
2 cups all-purpose, unbleached flour
1/4 cup light brown sugar, packed
1 1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
3/4 cup raisins (I used regular and golden raisins)
1 cup walnuts, finely chopped
1/2 cup apricot preserves
1 egg beaten with 1 Tbsp milk, for egg wash

Directions

Cream the cream cheese and butter in the bowl of a stand mixer with the paddle attachment on medium speed. Add 1/4 cup granulated sugar, salt, and vanilla. Reduce the speed to low and add the flour and mix until just combined.

Turn out the dough onto a well-floured work surface and form it into a ball. Divide the dough into four pieces and roll each into a ball. Wrap each piece of dough in plastic wrap and refrigerate them for at least an hour.

Make the filling by combining the brown sugar, ground cinnamon, raisins, 6 Tbsp of granulated sugar, and walnuts. Line rimmed baking sheets with parchment paper.

Roll out the refrigerated dough on a well-floured surface, making each ball into a circle about 9-inches in diameter. Spread 2 Tbsp of apricot preserves on each circle and sprinkle 1/2 cup of filling on top. Divide the dough into 12 triangles with a pizza cutter. Roll each triangle starting with the wide side until they’re all rolled up. Place the cookies on the baking sheets with the points tucked under. The cookies should not be touching-leave a little space between each one. Chill the sheets with the dough for at least 30 minutes.

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Before you bake the cookies, brush the egg wash on top. Bake for about 20 minutes or until lightly browned. Place the cookies on a wire rack to cool. Enjoy!

 

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Latkes

Posted on December 3, 2018 by Emily Wasserman

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Every time I make latkes for Hanukkah, I have a Proustian experience. It starts when I grate the potatoes and onions but it really gets going once I drop lumps of batter into the hot canola oil. The smell of frying is so deeply embedded in my memory that all the Hanukkahs before come rushing back to me. It’s baffling and reassuring at the same time.

I’ve made latkes so many times but each time is a little different. The basics are the same: I grate potatoes and onions, mix them with egg and flour, and fry lumps of the batter in batches. But the technique varies depending on who I’m with and what recipe I’m using. When I’m at home with my mom, it’s more of a touch-and-go process with pre-shredded potatoes and a huge fryer.

My first quarter of grad school, I decided to host a Hanukkah party at my apartment. I didn’t own a big food processor and I didn’t want to buy one, so I bought a hand grater to grate the potatoes and onions. I spent hours grating everything by hand.

The end result was great. When I posted the picture at the top of this post to social media, one of my friends from grad school messaged me and said that she still remembers how good the ones I made years ago were. I appreciated the compliment but I also had some PTSD flashbacks of hand grating everything. I wouldn’t recommend it.

If you have a good food processor, you don’t need to put yourself through the hand grating process. I used one on Saturday night and it worked well.

The key to getting perfectly crisp latkes is getting out as much liquid as you can beforehand. You do this by taking the grated potatoes and onions and putting them in a thin dishtowel or cloth, wrapping it up, and squeezing out as much liquid as you can. You’d be surprised how much liquid potatoes and onions have.

Once the potatoes and onions are done, you combine them with eggs and flour and then fry lumps of batter in oil. I’d recommend lining a plate with a couple paper towels beforehand so you can place the finished latkes on top. I like to place my latkes in single layers with paper towels in between so they absorb some of the grease. Also, I’d recommend sprinkling each latke with a pinch or two or salt as it comes out of the frying pan. It will make the end result even more delicious.

So yeah. The moral of this latke story is, avoid a hand grater at all costs and make sure you get a lot of liquid out of the grated potatoes and onions before you cook them.

People are usually divided on how to serve latkes. Some like sour cream; others like applesauce. Personally I’m in the applesauce camp but you can do either or both if you feel like it. If you need a good applesauce recipe, I’ve got you covered.

Here’s a song to get you started on your latke journey. Happy Hanukkah if you’re celebrating! I hope your holiday is filled with light, peace, and good food.

Latkes

Ingredients

2 large Russet potatoes, scrubbed and cut lengthwise into quarters
1 large white onion, peeled and cut into quarters
2 large eggs
1/2 cup all-purpose, unbleached flour
1 1/2 tsp fine sea salt, plus more for sprinkling
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp freshly ground black pepper
canola oil, for frying

Directions

Fit a food processor with a coarse grating/shredding disc. Grate the potatoes and onions. Remove them from the food processor bowl and wrap them tightly in a dishtowel. Squeeze out as much liquid as you can. Place the dried potatoes and onions in a large bowl.

Mix the potatoes and onions with the eggs, flour, salt, baking powder, and black pepper until the flour has disappeared.

Place about 1/4 inch of canola oil in a frying pan over medium high heat. Once the pan is hot (you can check by flecking a little water on and seeing if it sizzles), place heaping tablespoons of batter into the oil. Space them out so you have enough room to flip them. Flatten each pancake slightly with a spatula.

Cook each side until golden brown. It usually takes about five minutes. Place the finished latkes on a paper towel-lined plate and sprinkle salt on top. Repeat the process until you’ve used up all the batter.

Refrigerate leftover latkes (if there are any). Enjoy!

Posted in Dinner, Uncategorized, Vegetarian | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , | 2 Comments