Your new favorite cooking show might draw its name from the mamaloshen. And it’s streaming on a device near you.

Nosh with Tash is the multi-platform project of Los Angeles chef Natasha Feldman. Incorporating a sleek website offering enticing recipes, weekly YouTube videos, and a swoon-worthy Instagram feed (think flat lays of LA’s finest cuisine and charming candids), Nosh delivers a variety of appealing culinary content.

“I use the term ‘nosh’ all the time. When I was trying to think of a name for this new cooking video, I learned that a lot of the dictionary definitions of ‘nosh’ had to do with eating enthusiastically,” said Feldman, 30. “Instead of eating small amounts, you’re talking about being enthusiastic about little bites here and there.”

A departure from her previous endeavor, Cinema & Spice―a Webby-nominated cooking show inspired by movies and TV shows like the Harry Potter series and Breaking Bad―Feldman’s new project focuses on easy-to-follow recipes aimed at the kitchen novice. For every Nosh episode, she uploads three different cuts to her channel: a long-form video (which runs between 3-6 minutes) to illustrate process and technique, a quick-cut of the recipe, and a bonus video with extra tips. For example, in episode 1, “Brown Rice That Doesn’t Suck,” Feldman teaches the viewer how to make tasty herbed brown rice from start to finish and offers bonus tips about how to use up leftovers. Whether she’s addressing her Vitamix in a British accent or talking about her baller storage containers, she balances clarity and quirk

“I was so tired of cooking shows giving people a false idea of what it’s like to cook,” said Feldman, noting the behind-the-scenes prep work that occurs on scripted shows. A fan of Yotam Ottolenghi, she also recognizes that the average person’s pantry is not likely stocked with specialty items such as harissa and za’atar. “I wanted to break down all those barriers,” she said.

For Feldman, who grew up in a town outside Portland, Oregon, with a small Jewish population (her bat mitzvah was held in a church because there were no nearby synagogues), her connection to Judaism has always come from food. She recalls eating her grandma’s matzo ball soup during visits to Long Island and cites Passover as her favorite Jewish holiday thanks to the unique dishes and ritualistic elements specific to the seder.

Culinary prowess also runs in the mishpachah. Feldman says that her great-great-grandmother, Clara, was apparently a caterer in her village in Poland. When she immigrated to New York, she would bake numerous cakes and cookies for family members.

“My mom has some of her very old recipes that are insanely delicious, like a sour cream coffee cake,” she said.

While the cleverly-named recipes presented on Nosh aren’t strictly Jewish―think zesty New California flavor with a pinch of schmaltzy Old World comfort―they’re all as vibrant as Feldman herself, who was audibly enthused about the project during our phone conversation. From “Serial Kaler Salad” and “Kabocha Squash (the Patriarchy) with Sticky Maple Syrup” (see below!) to “Everything Bagel-Style Pumpkin Seeds” and “Wine-Drunk Short Ribs,” her recipes are equally suitable for your next girls’ night and Shabbat potluck.

“They’re designed to be broad enough so you can extrapolate what you learned to other recipes,” Feldman said. “The idea is that the recipes are malleable and fluid. Once you have the skillset, you can go off and have more fun.”

To get you started, go forth and (kabocha) squash the patriarchy yourself!

Serves four:

Ingredients:

• 1 kabocha squash (or delicata if you can’t find kabocha)
• 1 tablespoon maple syrup
• A few sprigs of sage (roughly chopped)
• 2 tablespoons safflower oil
• A few pinches of salt

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees
2. Line a baking sheet with tinfoil or a silpat
3. Place squash on the sheet and coat with olive oil , sprinkle with salt, and drizzle ½ of the maple syrup
4. Roast for 20 minutes until the underside is golden brown and flip em over
5. Add the rest of the syrup and sage
6. Cook until both sides are golden…. now that there is syrup all over that squash careful you don’t burn it!

Serve hot with a touch more sage and salt or chop it up once it’s cold and add it to your fav grain salad.

Enjoy!

Photo courtesy Natasha Feldman

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I explored using new fillings, some of which worked better than others. My favorites were applesauce and banana-Nutella. I used homemade applesauce, which I make without sugar, and the result was like a bite of apple pie. You might want to refrigerate these if you want them to keep. The Nutella and banana hamantashen were heaven when they first came out of the oven, so I suggest making only as many as you plan to eat immediately (which, let’s be honest, could be a few). By the next day, the banana was a little rubbery.

However, the Nutella and walnut hamantashen I made were delish, even a few days later. In keeping with some level of tradition, I made a dried fruit one with a fig filling which kept well. While I’m not a major fig advocate, they were tastier than expected.

Have fun, and mix it up this Purim! Experiment with new fillings, and let me know what you discover.

Ingredients
Cookie:
1 cup sugar
1 1/3 cups shortening
2 eggs
6 tbsp water
½ tsp vanilla
3 cups sifted flour
1 cup sifted wheat or wheat pastry flour

Filling
Fruit: Chop almonds, figs and white raisins. Mix together.
Banana-Nutella: Place one tbsp Nutella in the center of the dough, and place one round slice of banana on top.

Nutella-walnut: Place the Nutella on the dough first, and sprinkle chopped walnut on top.
Applesauce: Either use store-bought applesauce, or make your own. Place tbsp sauce on dough, and once folded into a triangle, sprinkle cinnamon on top.

Part 1

Cream the sugar and shortening.
Add the eggs and continue to cream until smooth.
Stir in water and vanilla.
Add sifted flour, and mix until you can mold it into balls.
Roll into 1-1 ½ inch balls and cover layers with wax paper in a bowl. Place bowl in the fridge overnight.

Part 2

Preheat oven to 375°F
Press balls into 1/2 inch thick rounds on floured surface. Add lots of flour if dough gets greasy.
Place approximately 1 tbsp of desired toppings in the center of the dough and fold up three sides, forming a triangle. Press each corner firmly, so it stays put while baking.
Place hamantashen on a greased baking sheet and bake for 15-20 minutes or until cookies begin to brown.

The post A Klutz’ Guide to Cooking: Hamantashen appeared first on Jewcy.

Growing up as the son of a rabbi meant we constantly entertained guests on the weekends.  Holidays meals were considered small if there were less than 25 guests.  I wouldn’t say I was shy per se, but by an early age I found that I preferred shuttling between table and kitchen to schmoozing with congregants, and sometimes, even with family.

I also really enjoyed learning from my mom in the kitchen. I spent more time with her there than anywhere else.  Cooking was not a chore in our house.  It was both a creative outlet and an expression of love, but not in the stereotypical “eat because you never know when the Nazis will come back” kind of way.  There were no Holocaust survivors in our immediate family; in fact, both of my mom’s parents were born in Minneapolis (Go Vikings!).  For years, my bubbe and her sisters were the primary family bakers, and we waited eagerly each year for holiday packages to arrive.  Bubbe taught me to cook and carve the Thanksgiving turkey, and with my mom, taught me the art of baking not one, but two types of hamantashen.   Anybody can make a cookie dough, but are you ready for yeast dough hamantashen?  Imagine a stuffed sweet challah.  There’s really nothing better.

Ten years ago, right around this time of year, my grandfather died unexpectedly.  My grandmother, already in the final stages of a prolonged battle with breast cancer, would die less than 10 days later.  I’m not entirely sure what drove me to do it, but in the week of shiva for my grandfather, as we waited for the inevitable, I baked a lot of these hamantashen.  The moment was bitter, but the taste retained its sweetness.

In this edition of Jewish Mothers Cooking, we’re going to share the Bisman (but first Rubenstein, and before that, Widetsky) family recipes for each, one of which goes back at least 100 years.  Filling flavors are up to you, but you should know that if you don’t eat one with poppyseed filling, you’re not really eating hamantashen.  Take a risk, and don’t worry about what gets stuck in your teeth.  Just buy some floss.

COOKIE DOUGH HAMENTASHEN RECIPE (from a Beth El Minneapolis cookbook, year unknown)

4 ¼ c. flour
1 ½ c. sugar
½ lb. unsalted butter or margarine, cold and firm
4 t. baking powder
¼ t. salt
2 large eggs
3 T. orange juice
Finely grated zest of two oranges (optional)

Mix dry ingredients in food processor for 2 seconds.  Add butter in 1 T. sections and pulse in short bursts until it resembles coarse meal.  Mix in liquid until dough is smooth and moist.  Wrap in waxed paper (or saran wrap) and refrigerate at least two hours or, ideally, overnight.

Roll out to 1/8 inch thickness.  Cut into circles, form hamentashen and bake at 400 for 12 to 15 minutes until golden brown.

BUBBE FANNY’S YEAST DOUGH FOR HAMENTASCHEN RECIPE (Passed down through 4 generations, brought to America from Europe by Bubbe’s mother)

Dissolve:
2 cakes or envelopes yeast in
2 c. warm milk (or water)
1 T. sugar

Let sit for a few minutes until it starts to foam

Add:
¼ lb. butter (or margarine), melted or very soft
3 eggs
¾ c. sugar
3 eggs
½ t. salt
6 c. flour

Mix well
Refrigerate overnight (or let rise until doubled)
Roll out, cut in large circles and fill

Bake at 350 degrees until golden brown – about 20 minutes

The post Jewcy Mothers Cooking: Hundred Year Old Hamantaschen appeared first on Jewcy.

The glamorization of the food world by reality TV has gotten a bit out of control, so much so that South Park took it upon themselves to point out just how porn-like the whole fetish-ization of cooking has become.  In reality, if you want to become a cook, you need to prepare for years of sweating and bleeding; getting cut and burned day in and day out, and spending the first half of your career being paid nothing, or  at best, next to it.  The way it’s portrayed on television these days, people have come to think that becoming a chef is the new quickest road to celebrity, and learning to cook and omelet is all one needs to become the next Johnny Iuzzini or David Chang.  In reality, the overall effect of all this food glamour is nothing but a bunch of dirty kitchens across America.  The good news is that a backlash has begun, a rallying cry amongst people who truly have passion for cooking.  In Brooklyn there’s a scene forming around the world of Amateur Competitive cooking and Nick Suarez and Theo Peck have become the maestros of it all with their Food Experiments: amateur cook offs in which experimentation and creativity is a must, each with a different theme and a laidback vibe.  Past experiments have included, The Chocolate Experiment, The Taco Experiment and The Bacon Experiment.  This past Sunday, The Holliday Food Experiment kicked off at The Bell House in Park Slope.

The back room of the Bell House was more packed than I’d ever seen it, showing that media buzz surrounding what Nick and Theo are doing has really started to have an effect.  On the stage stood Nick and Theo along with the judges: Garret Oliver, brew master at the Brooklyn Brewery, Andrew Knowlton of Bon Appetit Magazine and Peter Hoffman, owner of Savoy and Back Forty in Manhattan.  Each guest was presented with a plate and two beer tickets upon entry and after a short wait, got a chance to sample each of the 27 contestant’s dishes.  The Holiday theme, it seemed, was taken loosely by the cooks but many decided it meant that sweets were the best way to go, and as a result, some of the evenings best tastes were sweet.  Dianna Whittles “Gingerbread Blondie Bites,” Roopa Marcello’s (Food Experiments winner many times over) “Frosty Flipped Fruitcake” and especially, “Richard Crider’s” super most, fluffy and gooey “4 Layer Sweet Potato Pie Cake,” were evening’s most notable sweet bites.

On the savory side, Team Philomena’s “Wobbly Gobbler,” a fried turkey dish stood out, as did Erin Evenson’s goat meatball dish.  Hoping for Chanukah-centric morsels, I was a tad let down by lack of latkes.  Fortunately, right off the bat I was able to get a bite of Genny Weiss’s “Jewish New Yorker’s Holiday Treat,” which featured liver, with mayo, dill, apples, onions and potatoes on a homemade potato chip, kind of like chopped liver meets charoset.

I asked Theo Peck what Jewish holiday food meant to him.

“It certainly does not mean light!  In fact it means quit the opposite.”  He then went on to express his disbelief that there were no latkes entered into the competition and told me to stick around to the end for their big announcement.

With a full stomach, I ended up feeling just like I would after a holiday meal, fat and sleepy.  Nick and Theo announced the winners, awarding the judges’ prize to Alyssa Lee’s “Gingerbread Empanada’s which came with an eggnog flavored ice cream and candied nuts.  Each member of the audience had a chance to vote for their favorite meal as well, and in the end, it was Team Righteous Burn’s Righteous Sau, a pork on potato chip concoction that got the big prize.  Nick and Theo made the announcement that The Food Experiments was hitting the road, taking the cook offs across the nation to have people compete in major cities across America.  They also promised that once they rallied up the best amateur in cooks they could find, they’d be bringing them to Brooklyn to compete against “The Brooklyn All Stars” of The Food Experiments.

The best part of it all is that even though people entered the competitions to win, their motivations had nothing to do with money or fame, but something else, something best described by contestant Tony Santoro’s response when I asked him why he entered the competition.

“When you hand someone your dish and they put it in their mouth and their eyes roll back in their head, so happy, and you know that you gave them that feeling, it’s the best thing in the world, nothing can beat it.”

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