Having a traditional, sweet dessert on Rosh Hashanah is almost a bit passé: you need a little something extra for it to be amazing. Maybe I’m just getting older, but I’ve come to realize that apple dipped in honey isn’t quite hitting the spot, and neither is your run-of-the-mill honey cake or apple pie. Life is a bit too complicated for things to just be “sweet,” and I think the finale of the Rosh Hashanah meal should reflect that.

Instead of creating a twist on an old-fashioned classic, I decided to do something a little more modern: a Salted-Caramel Apple Galette. With a light flaky crust, slices of baked apple, and a salty caramel drizzle, this is one delicious—and complex—dessert. A good amount of sweet and a tasteful amount of salt brings all the ingredients together and elevates the flavors to something better than just sweet.

Ingredients

The Crust

1¼ cups all purpose flour
½ tsp sea salt
Pinch of pepper
½ cup unsalted margarine (cut into cubes)
¼ cup non-dairy creamer
1 tsp lemon juice
1 tsp vinegar
¼ cup cold water

6 red apples (peeled, cored, and sliced thinly)

Salted Caramel Drizzle

⅓ cup sugar
2½ tbsp unsalted margarine (cut into small pieces)
½ tsp coarse sea salt
2½ tbsp non-dairy creamer

Directions

​Start by making the crust. Combine the flour, salt, and pepper in your food processor with the dough blade in it. Turn the food processor on, and gradually add the margarine, mixing between additions. In the end you should have crumbs of dough with a mealy consistency.

In a small bowl combine all the liquids for the crust. Turn the food processor on and gradually pour in the liquids until the dough is a very sticky  solid.

Oil the sides of a large bowl and place the dough inside. Cover the bowl with cling wrap and let the dough rise for 1 1/2 hours.

While you wait for the dough to rise, start making your salted caramel drizzle.

Place a medium pan over a medium high heat. Place the sugar in the pan, allowing it to melt and brown. After about 5 minutes the sugar should turn a deep copper color. Remove the pan from the heat and add the sea salt and margarine, stirring constantly until it is completely incorporated. Gradually add the non-dairy creamer to the pan, stirring consistently. Don’t be startled if the pan sizzles. You should end up with a solid, bronze-colored sauce. Pour the sauce in a glass bowl and set aside for later use.

When your dough is almost done rising, peel and cut your apples. Place them on a large plate or cutting board so that you will have easy access to them when laying out the dough.

Once the dough has risen, place it on a flat and floured surface and roll out until you have a circle about a foot in diameter. Place the apple slices in an overlapping circular pattern across the center of the galette, leaving about 4 inches of dough around the edges. Once the apples are in place, preheat the oven to 400 degrees and fold the “apple-less” edge over the apples, pleating the pastry together as you go.

Place the galette on a flat baking sheet and bake for about 40 minutes or until the dough is golden brown and flaky.

Take the galette out of the oven and set aside. Heat the salted caramel sauce again so that it will be easier to spread. Once warm, drizzle it in a pattern across the galette. Serve while hot.

Shana tova!

Related: Jewish Mothers Cooking: Healthy Rosh Hashanah Apple Cobbler

(Image by the author)

The post Not Your Bubbe’s Rosh Hashanah Dessert: Salted-Caramel Apple Galette appeared first on Jewcy.

Dulce de leche is a popular South American confection made from condensed milk, usually roasted in a water bath. It has a caramel-like taste and a custard-like texture. Put this rich and creamy syrup in a cheesecake and you definitely cover all your “eating dairy on Shavuot” bases—it literally means ‘candy of milk’.

This recipe consists of two parts, the dulce de leche, and the cheesecake. Both are nearly as simple as they are delicious. When combined they create a decadent and beautiful dessert that will leave you wondering how anyone would pass on a cheesecake on Shavuot.

Not Your Bubbe’s Dulce de leche Cheesecake
Yields one large cheesecake or three small loaves

Ingredients

Dulche Deleche:
14 oz. can condensed milk
¼ tsp sea salt

Crust:
2¾ cups crushed cinnamon crackers
½ tsp cardamom
¼ tsp orange peel
Pinch of cinnamon
½ cup sugar
⅓ cup butter (melted)
2 tbsp orange juice

Filling:
40 oz. cream cheese
1½ cups sugar
¼ cup brown sugar
1 tbsp orange peel
1 tsp orange juice
¼ tsp cardamom
¼ tsp salt
1 tbsp flour
5 large eggs
2 large egg yolks
¼ cup coconut milk
½ cup of sour cream

Directions

1. Start by making the dulce de leche: pour the condensed milk into a small baking dish and preheat your oven to 450 degrees.

2. Sprinkle the sea salt on top of the condensed milk and tightly wrap the dish with aluminium foil. Then, fill a slightly larger baking dish with boiling water and place the wrapped dish inside it. The water should reach ¾ of the way up the outside of the smaller baking dish; be careful that none of the water spills inside the baking dish.

3. Bake the condensed milk for 60 to 90 minutes, until it turns a caramel-like brown. Be sure to whisk the condensed milk every twenty or so minutes to keep the consistency smooth. Keep your eye on the water level as well, add water occasionally so that the level remains steady.

4. Set dulce de leche aside, let cool. Store in the refrigerator while you prep the cake crust and filling.

5. Next, start the cheesecake by preheating the oven to 350 degrees and preparing the crust. Place the graham cracker crumbs in a medium sized bowl and stir in the spices, orange peel, and brown sugar.

6. Pour the melted butter and orange juice into the bowl and mix. The final result should have the consistency of wet sand.

7. Spray a large spring fold pan (or three small loaf pans) with oil, then press the wet graham cracker crust onto the bottom and sides of the pan. Bake the cheesecake crust for 15 minutes, then set aside.

8. In a large bowl, beat cream cheese, sugar, flour, spices, salt, and orange juice until just combined. (Too much beating will cause the cake to crack.)

9. Fold in eggs and yolks, one at a time, mixing well between each addition.

10. Beat in coconut milk and sour cream until just combined.

11. Pour cheesecake filling into the cooled crust.

12. Remove dulce de leche from fridge and and place single tablespoon circles, about half an inch apart, across the top of the cake. (You’ll probably have some dulce de leche leftover, which you can serve as an extra dessert.)

13. Take a knife and run it through the circles of dulce de leche, creating swirls like you would if you were making a marble cake.

14. Bake cake for about 50 minutes at 350 degrees, or until the middle of the cake no longer wobbles when you begin to pull it out of the oven.

15. But don’t pull it all way out of the oven! Turn off the oven and leave door ajar. Let the cheesecake reach room temperature in the oven, which will help prevent it from collapsing.

16. When cooled, refrigerate the dulce de leche cheesecake for at least six hours (preferably overnight) before serving.

Image: Shutterstock

The post Not Your Bubbe’s Recipe: Dulce de leche Cheesecake for Shavuot appeared first on Jewcy.

My grandmother is a Savta, not a Bubbe. When I was growing up, she would cook freshly defrosted cuisine and serve Entenmann’s for dessert. For her cooking is a punishment; let her live on coffee and chocolate and she’s happy. Growing up this never bothered me; partially because I didn’t know anything else, but mostly because less time in the kitchen meant more time for her to play with me.

But at the end of the day, Savtas and Bubbes are grandmothers, and even the most reluctant cooks have a repertoire of recipes that the whole family loves. Every Pesach, my house would go into complete panic mode as we prepared for the descent of the entire family. When the Seder table was set, there, center stage, was my grandmother’s charoset.

Something about the tart apples, sweet red wine, the right amount of dates, and the generous amount of cinnamon made us hungry long before the Seder started. By the time Shulchan Aruch (the main meal) rolled around, there was no charoset to be found.

This dessert is inspired by my grandmother’s charoset recipe and made with the secret ingredient that always made hers so great: love.

Chag Pesach Kasher V’Sameach!

Charoset Pie
Serves 8-10

Ingredients

Crust:
1½ cups matzo meal cake flour
2½ tbsp brown sugar
Pinch of salt
¼ cup salt free margarine (at room temperature and cut into cubes)
6 tbsp olive oil
1 large egg (separated)

Filling:
5 large Granny Smith apples (peeled, cored, and cut into quarters)
½ cup dates (chopped)
½ cup walnuts (chopped)
1/3 cup sweet red wine
2 Tbsp olive oil
5 Tbsp brown sugar
1 tsp cinnamon
Pinch of salt and pepper
2 large eggs

Directions

1. Preparting the crust by combining flour, brown sugar, and salt together in small bowl.

2. Beat your margarine into flour combination until it begins to feel crumbly. Then add olive oil and egg yolk until just combined.

3. In a separate small bowl, whisk egg whites until they form stiff white peaks, then beat into the crust mixture.

4. Form crust into a ball. It might feel a bit crumbly, but that’s ok, just force all the crumbs together to create a solid ball. Cover bowl of dough and refrigerate for at least 2 hours before continuing.

5. When dough is done resting: spray 10-inch round baking pan and roll dough with a rolling pin to cover the bottom and sides of the pan. If you don’t have a Pesach rolling pin, you can cut the dough into chunks and flatten them with your hand. The dough is very “giving,” so you can combine the patches of dough very easily with your fingers.

6. With a fork, prick the pie crust and refrigerate uncovered for another 15-20 minutes.

7. Preheat your oven to 350 degrees and bake your pie crust for 15 minutes.

8. Start making the filling by slicing your apples into thin slices. Cover the bottom of the pie crust with one layer of apples. Sprinkle half of the dates and walnuts over the apples.

9. In a small ball, combine the red wine, olive oil, brown sugar, cinnamon salt and pepper. Beat the eggs and add them to the bowl.

10. Pour about 1/3 of the red wine mixture over the fruit and nuts.

11. Fill the pie crust with the remaining apple slices, creating a circular pattern.

12. Sprinkle the remaining walnuts and dates over the apples before pouring the rest of the red wine mixture evenly over the pie.

13. Bake your Charoset Pie for about 30 minutes or until the apples seem baked through and there is no more visible liquid.

The post Not Your Bubbe’s Passover Dessert: Charoset Pie appeared first on Jewcy.

Is there anything more Jewish than a bagel with cream cheese and lox? Many a Sunday have started, right foot forward, with the help of this classic sandwich. In honor of Purim (which begins this Saturday night and continues through Sunday), I decided to give the lox bagel a “nahafoch hu” spin by flipping it into a lovely fresh flatbread.

My favorite type of bagel is an everything bagel, with its sharp blend of seasonings. As we all know, Bubbies get a lot of things right, such as the combination of an everything bagel’s spices with silky salmon and rich cream cheese. This recipe—made with naan bread and paneer cheese—definitely packs the flavorful punch of an everything bagel, while giving the fish a real chance to shine alongside the dairy.

You should be able to pick up paneer cheese from your local Indian grocery store—if you can’t find any, ricotta is a good substitute. The recipe has multiple steps, but you can cook the salmon separately in advance, and prepare the dough whenever convenient.

It’s a cinch to make this flavorful Indian bread filled with garlic and cilantro, and it’s a fun, original way to start off your Purim seuda (festive meal). Purim is all about celebrating the unexpected, whether it’s being saved from our enemies at the last minute, or re-working traditional Sunday brunch into a new culinary experience.

Naan Bread with Salmon and Paneer Cheese (serves 6)

Ingredients

Salmon:
2 garlic cloves (minced)
¾ tsp ginger
¼ tsp ground cloves
¼ tsp allspice
½ tsp nutmeg
1 Tbsp canola oil
1 Tbsp vinegar
1 lb salmon fillet

Naan Bread:
1 ¼ tsp active dry yeast
2 tsp sugar
¾ cup warm water
2 cups bread flour
1 tsp sea salt
4 garlic cloves (diced)
1 tsp cilantro
¼ cup olive oil
2 Tbsp butter (diced)
1/3 cup paneer cheese or ricotta cheese

Directions

1. Combine the garlic and spices in a small bowl. Add the oil and vinegar and combine, creating a paste-like texture. Rub the paste on top of the salmon and allow it to marinate for at least 3 hours.

2. After the salmon is done marinating, preheat your oven to 450 degrees.

3. Roast your salmon for 10 minutes on the top rack. The salmon should be browned but not entirely cooked through. (You’ll continue cooking it later.)

4. With a fork, create small flakes of salmon before setting aside for later use.

5. Start making the paneer bread by combining the yeast, 1 tsp sugar, and warm water together in a medium bowl. Let it sit for a few minutes until the yeast starts to foam.

6. Combine the flour, salt, remaining sugar, garlic, and cilantro in a large bowl.

7. Once the yeast has foamed, add the olive oil to the yeast mixture.

8. Add the yeast mixture to the large bowl with the flour mixture. Knead it together by hand until it creates a soft and sticky dough. Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and let the dough rise for 4 hours.

9. When the dough is ready, divide it into six equal balls and heat a large frying pan over a medium high heat. In addition, preheat your oven to 450 degrees and cover two cookie sheets with wax paper.

10. Place one ball on a lightly floured surface. Flatten your dough ball with a rolling pin until it’s about ¼ an inch thick. Traditionally, paneer bread is shaped like tear drop, but it’s delicious no matter what way you roll it.

11. Melt a few pieces of margarine in the pan and then place one of your flattened pieces of dough in the pan.

12. While the bottom half of your dough cooks, place flecks of salmon and small mounds of paneer or ricotta cheese over the top of the dough. Cook the dough in the pan until the sides begin to brown.

13. Place the half cooked dough on top of your cookie sheet and spray the top of the dough with oil.

14. Repeat the last four steps with the remaining 5 balls of dough.

15. Bake the paneer bread on the top shelf of the oven for about 7 minutes, or until the dough seems entirely firm.

16. Serve immediately.

The post Not Your Bubbe’s Brunch: Naan Bread with Salmon and Paneer Cheese appeared first on Jewcy.

I’ve got a long time until I’m a Bubbe, but I can still share a few pearls of wisdom before this cold winter Shabbat begins: on a Shabbat like this one, any spare time should be spent with whoever warms your heart, not with the dirty dishes. This meal takes little effort.

Mushroom barley soup is a kosher deli and Bubbe staple. Bubbes brought it over to the new country from the old one, keeping their kinderlach warm on every continent. It was popular amongst Jews in Eastern Europe because both barley and mushrooms could be locally harvested to make a healthy and hearty soup. The key to a mushroom barley soup back then, and even today, is to balance both the mushroom and barley’s earthy flavors.

Much like the classic version of this dish, this remake uses simple ingredients in order to complement the mushrooms and barley’s natural flavors. The sweetness of the coconut milk and the acidity of the tomatoes help to bring out the mushrooms’ beautiful flavor and create a light but filling soup. One bowl, and it’s one meal. It was that simple then, and it’s that simple now.

Not Your Bubbe’s Mushroom Barley Soup
Serves 8

Ingredients:

3\4 cup barley
1\4 cup olive oil
1 large leek (sliced thinly)
1 lb. Champagne mushrooms (sliced thinly)
1\2 lb. shitake mushrooms (sliced thinly)
5 garlic cloves (chopped)
1 teaspoon dry basil
5 oz. dry mushrooms
5 oz. sundried tomatoes (cut into slices)
2 1\2 cups boiling water
4 cups mushroom stock
2\3 cup coconut milk
1\3 cup apple cider vinegar
Salt and pepper to taste

Directions:

1. Set your barley in a bowl of water over night before making your soup.

2. Heat your oil in a large pot over a medium heat.

3. Add your leeks, fresh mushrooms, garlic, and basil.

4. Place your lid on top of your pot, and let the vegetables cook for half an hour.

5. Your vegetables should caramelize by the end of the half hour. You’ll know they are ready when the mushrooms have shrunk considerably and your leeks have browned slightly.

6. Set your sundried tomatoes and dry mushrooms in the boil water, and let them soak for 10 minutes.

7. After your vegetables are done caramelizing, add your dried vegetables and their liquid into the pot.

8. Now add the rest of your ingredients including the barley.

9. Cook your soup for another half an hour with the lid on top.

Previous: Not Your Bubbe’s Potato Latke Galette

(Photos by Derris Lund/Shutterstock and Aviv Harkov)

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When it comes to the latke, the thought “if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it” comes to mind. From the first crunch until the rewarding warm soft gooey inside hits your taste buds, you become that much more thankful for the miracles which took place during these times generations ago.

Handed the task to reinvent the latke for Thanksgivukkah, I found myself scratching my head, and stumped by the latke’s sheer beauty. How does one reinvent one of their favorite traditional dishes?

I’ll tell you my secret, you don’t.

Instead of trying to create a new deep-fried patty that fixes the original latke’s nonexistent flaw; I decided to pay homage to the dish we all love: the latke, with a new French twist.

The galette is a traditional French potato dish nearly as old as the Ashkenazi classic, the latke. Both dishes are rich in heritage and flavor. Thin, crisp, fatty, and starcharific, these two are classics for a reason.

When recreating the standard latke, I came up with only one major flaw: it’s way too small. The latke/galette fusion solves that. The potato galette is almost like one large latke, but even better considering the first ever Thanksgivukkah, it’s a fancy gigantic latke.

Follow this recipe, and you’ll have one tasty and large latke that can be sliced and served to your family while looking as elegant as your holiday table.

Not Your Bubbe’s Potato Latke Galette
Serves 8

Ingredients:

1/4 cup of olive oil
6 garlic cloves (minced)
1 tablespoon fresh rosemary (diced)
2 medium leeks (sliced into thin circles)
3 tablespoons dry white wine
1/2 teaspoon coarse sea salt
1/4 teaspoon freshly crushed black pepper
3 lbs. of Idaho potatoes (sliced into thin circles)

Directions:

1. Heat 1 1/2 tablespoons of olive oil in a medium pan over a medium low heat

2. Add your garlic, rosemary, leeks, white wine, sea salt, and pepper to the pan.

3. Let them cook for about 12 minutes or until the contents of the pan have softened considerably. By then most of the liquid in your pan should have evaporated.

4. Slice your potatoes with either a food processor or a mandolin.

5. Preheat your oven to 400 degrees.

6. Generously spray a 10-inch spring fold pan.

7. Fill the bottom of your spring fold pan with overlapping layers of potatoes. Try to use approximately 1/3 of your potatoes.

8. Sprinkle 1/3 of your cooked leek mixture on top of your potatoes.

9. Now spread an additional 1/3 of your potatoes on top of your leek mixture, creating an overlapping pattern.

10. Sprinkle another 1/3 of your leek mixture on top.

11. Now spread the final layer of potato slices on top of your galette before sprinkling the final 1/3 of the leek mixture.

12. Bake your galette in the oven for about 40 minutes, or until the top layer of potatoes slices begin to turn dark brown and wilt slightly.

13. Now cover the spring fold pan for 10 minutes with aluminum foil and cook for an additional 10 minutes before serving.

14. Serve immediately, with or without apple sauce!

Previous: Not Your Bubbe’s Stuffed Challah French Toast

(Photo by Aviv Harkov)

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Shabbat just ended, you ate a big lunch, but that was so long ago that your stomach has completely forgotten about it. Now you’re faced with the struggle between how hungry you are and how motivated you are to actively do something about it.

I won’t lie. Many of my own Saturday night cravings have been met by bowls of cereal. By the time Shabbat is nearly done, all I want to do is hibernate. Luckily, there are simple and sweet things, like challah French toast that make climbing out of the covers worth it.

Challah French toast, like its white bread cousin, can easily be turned from a delicious dinner into a sugar-coated trip to the dentist. I think we’ve all bit into a piece of French toast with more sugar than bread, and enough cinnamon for it to feel like the cinnamon challenge with every bite.

The banana and cream cheese stuffing in this recipe helps balance the complete dish and prevents something sweet from turning into something sour. They provide your challah French toast a delicious and creamy element that leaves the original in its dust.

I don’t know whose Bubbe gets credit for inventing challah French toast, but I know we all love her for it. Being that challah French toast can be found on the menu of greasy diners all across America, I don’t think we’re the only ones grateful for her experiment.

Not Your Bubbe’s Stuffed Challah French Toast
Serves 3

Ingredients:

1/3 cup of cream cheese
1 banana
1 1/2 tablespoon brown sugar
2 large eggs
1/2 cup whole milk
1/4 teaspoon nutmeg
2 tablespoon cinnamon
1 teaspoon cardamom
1/2 a loaf of challah

Directions:

1. Heat a medium non- stick pan over a medium heat.

2. Mash your banana in a small bowl and mix it thoroughly with your cream cheese.

3. Beat in your brown sugar and set aside.

4. In a medium bowl thoroughly beat together the rest of the ingredients, excluding the bread.

5. Place your bowls in a row to make putting together your challah French toast easier. Start with your filling, then egg coating and then the pan.

6. Cut 1 1/2 inch slices of challah.

7. Now you want to create a “pocket” in the center of your slices of bread in order to fill them. You do so by cutting across the top of your slices of challah while leaving about 1/2 an inch of every side and the bottom in order to make sure your challah slices don’t fall apart. Here’s an idea of what your “pocket” should look like:

8. Spread about 2-3 tablespoons of your filling evenly across the insides of your “pocket.”

9. Dip your pieces of challah French toast into your egg mixture so that each side is heavily coated in it.

10. Cook your challah French toast for about 4 minutes on each side or until it is ready according to your personal preference.

11. Serve immediately.

Previous: Not Your Bubbe’s Thanksgivingukkah Meal

(Photos by Aviv Harkov)

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There it is, in the center of every kiddush table, under the counter of every self-respecting kosher deli, and tucked between two pieces of white bread: tuna salad. It’s gray, it’s bland, and occasionally it’s neither a solid nor a liquid, but it’s always there. It might sound like I am describing a ghost, but tuna salad, is a Bubbe classic.

Like most people, I love my grandmother, but personally, I can’t get on the tuna salad bandwagon.

Tuna salad’s taste tends to be about as flat as the bread it’s spread on. Not all tuna salads are created equal; some have bits of chopped onions, other herbs, but they usual consist mostly of tuna and mayo. The tuna’s silver coloring with the white mayo creates this unpleasant gray dish that is anything but appetizing.

Some things are classics for a reason; but when it comes to tuna salad, I think a big reason it’s so popular is because it’s so easy to make. I knew that if I had to remake this dish, it would still have to be made out of pantry staples in under 15 minutes. Here it is, a tuna salad, without mayo, filled with colors and bursting with flavors.

The fresh peppers give this salad a fun crunch you won’t find in your Bubbe’s recipe. The dressing is light and offers a sweet contrast to the fish’s strong taste. Together, the salad’s different elements make it a nice enough appetizer for your Shabbat table and make you forget that one of its main ingredients comes out of a can.

Cheetahs might not be able to change their spots, but in this recipe, a tuna changes its scales.

Not Your Bubbe’s Tuna Salad
Serves 4

Ingredients:

1/4 cup of soy sauce
1/4 cup of sesame oil
2 tablespoons lemon juice
3 tablespoons balsamic vinegar
White pepper and salt to taste
3 1/2 cups of fresh spinach, chopped
1/4 cup of fresh mint, diced
1/2 cup of fennel, diced
1 large carrot, peeled and diced
1 red pepper, diced
1/4 cup of craisins
1 small hot pepper, diced (optional)
2 cans of white tuna in water, drained

Directions:

1. Mix your soy sauce, sesame oil, lemon juice, and balsamic vinegar together vigorously in a small container.

2. Season your dressing to taste with salt and white pepper.

3. Chop your vegetables and place them in a large bowl.

4. Toss the vegetables with your dressing.

5. Add your tuna and toss your salad again before serving immediately.

Previous: Not Your Bubbe’s Rosh Hashanah Chicken

(Photo by Aviv Harkov)

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Gefilte fish is one of those dishes that makes everyone smile. It doesn’t matter if you’re a jelly person, put a carrot on your fish like a yarmulke, or open your sinuses with a big dose of horseradish covered fish because we, as a nation, stand united around gefilte fish.

But the amount of labor that goes into the dish makes it hard for most home cooks to serve it to their families even if they’d like to. I’ve only made homemade gefilte fish a couple of times, and let me tell you, I had to dedicate the better part of my day, and soul, to doing it. Often, people settle for frozen or jarred gefilte fish, which is nothing like the real thing. That’s where this recipe comes in; it’s somewhere in the middle. It’s not as easy as screwing off the top of a jar, but not quite as difficult as grinding fish yourself.

The dish’s name gefilte hints at its Eastern European roots, and means stuffed in Yiddish. Originally gefilte fish was used to “restuff” the fish with its ground meat, and cooked in its skin. Later on, after realizing that the “fish burger” stood on its own, bubbes served the fish skin to the dogs and kept delicious gefilte fish for their loved ones.

For me, gefilte fish is a part of our modern history too. I grew up on my grandfather’s stories of floating paper boats in his bathtub and playing with a gigantic fish that always disappeared right before the seder. It takes a certain something to be able to look your dinner in the eye, and then grind it up. It’s that certain something that makes many of us settle for defrosting our gefilte fish instead of looking at our bubbe’s old recipe.

That’s why this recipe comes in handy. I won’t say that it’s a very simple recipe but there are enough breaks along the way to allow you to prepare the rest of the meal without a hassle. With your seder menu still in flux, this could be an exciting alternative to really liven it up. Its strong blend of flavors displays the modern era of Jewish cuisine and how far we’ve come from sailing paper ships in our bathtub as dinner swims by.

Not Your Bubbe’s Gefilte Fish Fillet (Dairy, but can be prepared pareve)
Serves about 6

Ingredients:
For the Marinade:
1 1\2 cups whole milk (for a pareve alternative use coconut milk)
4 garlic cloves
1\2 cup orange juice
Salt and pepper to taste
2 tbsp lime juice

8 fillets white fish

For the Crust:
3\4 cup roasted walnuts
1\3 cup loosely packed chopped mint
1\2 tsp salt
1\4 tsp white pepper
1\2 cup matzo meal

For the Spicy Beet Salad:
2 medium beets roasted and cut into thin slices
1 small red onion, sliced into thin strips
1\2 cup of Greek yogurt or thick plain yogurt (for a pareve alternative use soy yogurt)
1\2 tsp salt
3\4 tsp white pepper
1 tsp turmeric
3 tbsp fresh ginger crushed in a garlic press or through a zester
1 tbsp lime juice
3 tbsp of fresh coriander chopped and packed

Directions:

1. Before you do anything, roast your beets.

2. In a large baking dish combine your marinade ingredients and mix. Add the fish filets and cover. Place in the in fridge for at least 45 minutes so the filets can properly marinate. Flip the fillets and marinate for another 45 minutes.

3. When your fish is almost done marinating, start preparing your fish’s crust by combining the ingredients into a blender and blend until it has the consistency of breadcrumbs.

4. Take your fish out of the refrigerator and remove the marinade, reserving 1 ½ tablespoons for the crust. Combine the bit of marinade with your crust ingredients, creating a paste-like texture.

5. Preheat your oven to 350 degrees.

6. Coat the top of each fillet with the crust coating and cook your fish, uncovered, for 12-18 minutes depending on the thickness.

7. While the fish cooks, prepare your salad by mixing the salad dressing ingredients, except coriander, together in a small container. But be sure not to dress your salad or mix your salad ingredients together until the last minute in order to prevent the beets from turning everything pink.

8. Arrange the beets flat on a large plate, and when you are prepared to serve, sprinkle the onions across them.Dollop spoonfuls of dressing on to your salad and sprinkle the fresh coriander on top.

9. Serve your fish warm with the beet salad on the side.

Also try:

Not Your Bubbe’s Kosher for Passover Flourless Cake

Not Your Bubbe’s Egg Salad Frittata

Not Your Bubbe’s Purim Poppy Seed Scones

The post Not Your Bubbe’s Modern Gefilte Fish Fillet appeared first on Jewcy.

I’ve said it in the past, and I will say it again; mayonnaise is the bane of my existence. It’s this mushy, gooey, blubbery, mass of disgusting. I know that there is something incredibly un-American about despising mayo, but what can I do—I honestly cannot tolerate it.

My grudge against mayonnaise convinced me that I hated tuna fish for most of my life and has created a love/hate relationship with egg salad. You see, I love eggs, I love salad, but I really, really, hate mayonnaise. There’s even something slightly redundant about mixing mayonnaise with eggs being that mayonnaise is actually made out of egg yolks. What this really means is an egg salad sandwich is a cholesterol monster framed in bread.

I can’t be certain, but I’d wager that the first person to combine hard-boiled eggs with mayonnaise was most likely French. Yet, the first prepared mayonnaise was sold at a deli in New York: “Hellman’s Blue Ribbon Mayonnaise.” Most likely, just around the time they started putting mayonnaise in jars, they started mixing it with hard boiled eggs and serving it at that very deli, just like they’re serving it at kosher delis to this very day. Egg salad has been made by bubbes, synagogue spread committees, smorgasbord enthusiasts and kosher delis for generations; each one with their own perfect recipe for it.

I respect the classics, and I can understand that even if I don’t like them there’s most likely a reason that they’re considered classic. Crisp onions and dense egg flavors have always been a winning combination, and that’s why I didn’t forget them in this revamped version of traditional egg salad, but I wanted to give it a light and simple flavor. In order to do this, I replaced the fatty mayonnaise with some low fat ricotta cheese and a splash of refreshing lemon juice.

Keeping in mind the ease of creating a crowd-pleasing egg salad, this recipe is a simple but elegant frittata. This version is perfect for brunch too, and like the standard egg salad can be made ahead of time for convenience. As we all know, the best egg salads have bits of onion and perhaps a hint of some fresh herbs and seasoning. That’s why in this recipe you’ll see some fennel to give it a kick, and some fresh rosemary to deepen the flavor.

Not Your Bubbe’s Egg Salad Frittata
Serves 4

Ingredients:
1 Tbsp fresh rosemary (packed)
8 large eggs
1\4 cup of milk
Salt and pepper by taste
3 Tbsp lemon juice
2 Tbsp olive oil
1 large fennel, thinly sliced thinly
1\3 cup ricotta cheese

Directions:
1. Preheat the oven to 400 degrees.

2. In a large bowl, whisk together eggs, milk, salt and pepper, and half the lemon juice.

3. Heat your olive oil in a medium sized oven-safe skillet over a medium high heat. Add your fennel slices and the rest of your lemon juice and sauté until they begin to become translucent. This should take less than 10 minutes. Then lower the heat under your skillet to medium low.

4. Slowly pour your egg mixture into the skillet while mixing them gently with the fennel slices. Let the eggs cook for 2 minutes.

5. Now add your ricotta cheese to your skillet by spreading it around evenly in teaspoon sized heaps.

6. Cook your eggs for another 2 minutes.

7. Place your frittata in the oven and cook for 11-15 minutes. The frittata is done when it looks as cooked as you like your omelets.

8. Slice your frittata into wedges and serve warm or at room temperature.

(Photo by the author)

Also try:

Not Your Bubbe’s Purim Poppy Seed Scones

Not Your Bubbe’s Caribbean Matzoh Ball Soup

Not Your Bubbe’s Tu B’Shevat Seder

The post Not Your Bubbe’s Recipe: Egg Salad Frittata appeared first on Jewcy.