For recipes you can make at home, click here, here, and here.

In addition to making booze for Pesach, you can also buy it. Though many alcohols are distilled or fermented from grains, there’s plenty out there that’s not. Look for Kosher for Passover varieties of:

• Tequilla that is 100% agave
• Potato Vodka/Beet Sugar Vodka
• Absinthe
• Bulldog Gin
• Distillery No. 209 Gin
• Plum brandy (aka Slivovitz)
• Dupuy Cognac
• Apparently, Bacardi Superior Original Rum is officially kosher for Passover. Ask your Rabbi.
• Industry City Distilling vodka is made only from beet sugar; it is not hekhshered, but there is nothing in it that is not kosher or kosher for Passover.

Additionally, any locally made versions of the above products might be okay. Call up the distillery and ask them if the alcohol touches grains at all during the process. They’re usually honest.

Making your own alcoholic beverages can be lots of fun, and it can transform Passover from a somewhat annoying holiday into the best one.

Enjoy (responsibly), and share your photos with @JewcyMag if you make anything!

Have a great holiday!

Rachel Jacobs is a podcast and radio producer in food media. She is the most Brooklyn.

Photo credit: Wikimedia

The post Passover Alcohol Week! Part 5: Commercial Alcohols appeared first on Jewcy.

To read the other recipes, click here and here.

Sima is basically alcoholic lemonade. Like the mead and cider, you can add herbs, spices, and fruit juices to add extra flavors.

Ingredients

• Distilled water
• 3-4 lemons per gallon of water
• 1 ½ c white sugar per gallon of water

Thinly slice the lemons and put them in a bowl with the sugar. Add boiling water and stir until sugar is dissolved. Add this to the carboy, then add the distilled water to fill the carboy. Once again, let the water cool before adding the yeast.

When It’s Ready (The Same For All These Recipes)

After two weeks, put the entire carboy in the fridge to cold-crash for 24 hours. This will slow down the yeast and stop the fermentation. It will not, however, stop it completely.

Assemble your auto-siphon by carefully heating the flexible tubing so it creates an air-tight seal. Do the same thing on the other end of the tube attaching to the bottling wand.

Using the auto-siphon and a friend, bottle your drinks in a flexible plastic bottle, like a seltzer bottle, that has also been sanitized. This will allow some flex room for the leftover yeast to still carbonate, and it will not explode.

Auto-siphons can be tricky, but let gravity do the work: place your carboy on a higher surface and bottle on the floor. Pump the siphon and it should start to suck the liquid from the bottle. Press the spring-loaded tip of the bottling wand in the bottom of your bottle and lift it when the bottle is filled. Repeat until there is no more to bottle. There will be sediment at the bottom of your carboy, and you don’t really want this in your drink, so don’t empty the carboy completely; leave about an inch or so of liquid.

Put your home-made alcohols in the fridge, and enjoy (responsibly)! They’ll get slightly boozier as they sit, and they should all be good to drink for about 2-3 weeks— in time for the Seder.

Rachel Jacobs is a podcast and radio producer in food media. She is the most Brooklyn.

Editor’s Note: Stay tuned tomorrow for the finale in this series, and tips for buying alcohol for Passover as well!

Photo credit: Gabriela Geselowitz

The post Passover Alcohol Week! Part 4: Sima appeared first on Jewcy.

To read the other recipes, click here and here.

Mead is an old-fashioned honey wine. It’s strong and sweet. Real mead is aged like wine, for at least a year and sometimes in barrels. This is a lighter, faster version, but it’s plenty alcoholic.

I’m not 100% sure there are any officially kosher commercial meads. But it doesn’t matter because now you can make your own.

Ingredients

• 1 pound of honey per gallon
• distilled water
• flavoring agents – I like blackberry puree and lemon, ginger and lemon, orange peel, blueberry/mint. You can also add tea as a flavoring agent to turn this mead into alcoholic tea.

Pour the honey into the carboy. For adding tea, ginger, or similar spices, boil about 2 cups of water/gallon and let the flavors steep for a few minutes. Add this to the carboy, along with whatever you were steeping. Fill the rest of the carboy with cold distilled water, cover the top with a clean hand, and shake until the mead is dissolved

Do not add the yeast until the water has cooled to room temperature. If you add the yeast to hot water, it will die.

Once the water has cooled, add the yeast, yeast nutrient, and place the airlock same as with the cider.

When It’s Ready (The Same For All These Recipes)

After two weeks, put the entire carboy in the fridge to cold-crash for 24 hours. This will slow down the yeast and stop the fermentation. It will not, however, stop it completely.

Assemble your auto-siphon by carefully heating the flexible tubing so it creates an air-tight seal. Do the same thing on the other end of the tube attaching to the bottling wand.

Using the auto-siphon and a friend, bottle your drinks in a flexible plastic bottle, like a seltzer bottle, that has also been sanitized. This will allow some flex room for the leftover yeast to still carbonate, and it will not explode.

Auto-siphons can be tricky, but let gravity do the work: place your carboy on a higher surface and bottle on the floor. Pump the siphon and it should start to suck the liquid from the bottle. Press the spring-loaded tip of the bottling wand in the bottom of your bottle and lift it when the bottle is filled. Repeat until there is no more to bottle. There will be sediment at the bottom of your carboy, and you don’t really want this in your drink, so don’t empty the carboy completely; leave about an inch or so of liquid.

Put your home-made alcohols in the fridge, and enjoy (responsibly)! They’ll get slightly boozier as they sit, and they should all be good to drink for about 2-3 weeks— in time for the Seder.

Rachel Jacobs is a podcast and radio producer in food media. She is the most Brooklyn.

Editor’s Note: Stay tuned tomorrow for one final kosher-for-Passover alcohol recipe!

Photo credits: Rachel Jacobs and Gabriela Geselowitz

The post Passover Alcohol Week! Part 3: Short Mead appeared first on Jewcy.

Good old-fashioned hard apple cider! I actually wonder why they don’t sell kosher for Passover cider, because basic hard cider only has one ingredient: apples.

Ingredients

• 100% apple juice
• Other fruit juices or fruits for flavor, if you so wish. Some good choices are pear juice, tart cherry juice, pomegranate juice, and pureed blackberries.

You can grind your own apples, but that usually takes an entire day. If you want to venture down that road, here’s instructions I’ve published.

Pour the juices into a carboy. Add the yeast, add yeast nutrient, then put the bung on.

Add a little bit of water to the airlock- about halfway – and place it in the hole. Leave for two weeks in a warm, dry place, like under the sink. You should notice change after a few days – there should be bubbles in the airlock. If not, the yeast might be dead, and you should get another one.

When It’s Ready

After two weeks, put the entire carboy in the fridge to cold-crash for 24 hours. This will slow down the yeast and stop the fermentation. It will not, however, stop it completely.

Assemble your auto-siphon by carefully heating the flexible tubing so it creates an air-tight seal. Do the same thing on the other end of the tube attaching to the bottling wand.

Using the auto-siphon and a friend, bottle your drinks in a flexible plastic bottle, like a seltzer bottle, that has also been sanitized. This will allow some flex room for the leftover yeast to still carbonate, and it will not explode.

Auto-siphons can be tricky, but let gravity do the work: place your carboy on a higher surface and bottle on the floor. Pump the siphon and it should start to suck the liquid from the bottle. Press the spring-loaded tip of the bottling wand in the bottom of your bottle and lift it when the bottle is filled. Repeat until there is no more to bottle. There will be sediment at the bottom of your carboy, and you don’t really want this in your drink, so don’t empty the carboy completely; leave about an inch or so of liquid.

Put your home-made alcohols in the fridge, and enjoy (responsibly)! They’ll get slightly boozier as they sit, and they should all be good to drink for about 2-3 weeks— in time for the Seder.

Rachel Jacobs is a podcast and radio producer in food media. She is the most Brooklyn.

Editor’s Note: Stay tuned tomorrow for another kosher-for-Passover alcohol recipe!

Photo credits: Rachel Jacobs and Gabriela Geselowitz

The post Passover Alcohol Week! Part 2: Cider or Fruit Wine appeared first on Jewcy.

Now that Purim has come and gone, it’s time to talk about Passover! Aren’t we all ready for 8 days of over-priced, over-processed food, and awkwardly explaining to co-workers why we can’t partake in Margie’s birthday cake? No? But come on, Passover brings us two of the best things in Jewish holidays:

(1) Matzoh Pizza and

(2) Ceremonial drinking

But there seems to be a stigma on kosher for Passover alcohol. The holiday is associated with overly sweet wines like Malaga, Manishevitz, and Barternura Moscato D’asti, with the strange perception that all good alcohol is grain-based and therefore forbidden.

But Jewish holidays should be merry-making, and I, for one, am going to make merry. In a carboy.

Making Your Own Kosher for Passover Booze

Many home-brewers have only delved into making beer, but, aside from requiring a lot of equipment, it’s also by-definition not Kosher for Passover. Passover law strictly prohibits almost all grains that would be used to make beer: wheat, barley, spelt, oats, and rye, as well as kitniyot like corn for Ashkenazim. But luckily, beer is not the only delicious alcoholic beverage you can make in your own home. And these are much, much easier. Any of these below recipes will take you maybe an hour, plus another 30 minutes for bottling a few weeks later.

The Basics

Alcoholic beverages are made when sugars meet yeast. The yeast eats the sugars and turns it into OH, or alcohol. This means that anything containing sugar or starch can be fermented into alcohol – or you can add sugar to a drink to ferment it.

The recipes in this series are starter suggestions, but you can really make booze from anything that has sugar, honey, syrup, or fruit. (This means real sugars –stevia, xylatol, sucralose and aspartame will not convert). A lot of this information comes from my friend and radio show co-host Mary Izett, whose book Speed Brewing is entirely about quick alcoholic beverages.

Fair warning, not everything that contains sugar should be fermented. While rum is distilled from fermented molasses, I would not suggest just fermenting molasses, because it tastes terrible. Do some research before trying something new.

The equipment

For everything below, you will need the following equipment that you can pick up from your local brew-shop or online:

1. A carboy, or 1-3 gallon container.
2. A bung
3. An airlock cap
4. An auto-siphon
5. Bottling wand
6. Tubing
7. Champagne yeast
8. Yeast nutrient

Really, that’s it. You can also pick up some star iodine, because cleanliness is key, but in a pinch, you can use some isopropyl alcohol, (very!) watered-down bleach, or potato vodka. The star iodine is like 3 bucks, just get it.

You’re going to clean all your equipment with an iodine solution or cleaner, washing out the inside and outside of the carboy, and then leave the airlock/bung to soak in the mixture.

While there are a hundred yeasts for beer and wine, for everything below, we’re going to be using champagne yeast. You can use probably a quarter of the packet per gallon of booze, then put the rest away for later or use it on a different recipe. Champagne yeast is crazy active and will ferment everything within two weeks.

That’s right, TWO WEEKS.

YOU: “But isn’t yeast forbidden on Passover?”

No. If yeast was forbidden on Passover, you wouldn’t be able to have wine at all. Yeast or leavening agent is forbidden when combined with the aforementioned grains. Without the grains, you are technically allowed to eat it straight (though I wouldn’t recommend it).

There is but one specifically kosher for passover yeast and you must buy it in bulk.

However, Red Star is the brand that I use. Their yeast is kosher, there is nothing in it that makes it not KFP, but most of the stuff in the stores does not have the KFP certification. Many Rabbis say that yeast that is used for wine production is kosher for Passover by nature, and I have confidence in yeast-strain labs to keep their equipment clean from cross-contamination. Obviously, it’s up to you.

With all of that said, shall we get started?

Rachel Jacobs is a podcast and radio producer in food media. She is the most Brooklyn.

Editor’s Note: Stay tuned this week for a piece each day about kosher-for-Passover drinking, including recipes that you can ferment in your own home. Enjoy responsibly!

Image Credit: Rachel Jacobs, Gabriela Geselowitz, and PunToad via Flickr

The post Passover Alcohol Week! Part 1: The Basics appeared first on Jewcy.

No. More. Matzah.

Right about now you’ve reached your limit.  The novelty has worn off.  The crunch doesn’t thrill like it did on that first seder night. Your tastebuds are dangerously close to slipping into a coma. And your TMJ is flaring up again, due in no small part to the matzah grinding motion your jaw is fixed on. Dayenu! No more matzah… But wait a minute, what’s this? A roasted tomato fried-cheese matzah pizza? Hmmm…

You know I wouldn’t waste your time, or insult your good taste, on a standard slap-on-some-canned-tomato-sauce-sprinkle-some-shredded-cheese kind of kiddie fare. No, this is a matzah pizza that you invite friends over for. A matzah pizza to uncork a good bottle of wine over. A matzah pizza with a zesty zetz of flavor. A matzah pizza that renews your faith in Jewish holiday food.

Instead of using one-note canned tomato sauce, in this recipe fresh plum tomatoes are sliced thick and doused with olive oil, chopped garlic, and an invigorating splash of balsamic or red wine vinegar. And then it’s roasted to a sweet-savory full-flavored juiciness and toothsome suppleness.

Halloumi is a white cheese that’s mild in flavor and firm in texture. One of its exemplary qualities is that it is available kosher-for-Passover, and the other is that you can grill or fry it without melting it into a puddle of goo. To add even more pizzalicious flavor, the halloumi cubes are dredged in garlic power and gently sautéed to a warm and tasty goldenness. A scattering of watercress, arugula, spinach, or basil adds extra color and a nice herbal undertone.

Sharp parmesan shavings, spicy dashes of red pepper flakes, a smattering of earthy oregano, a few strategically placed salty olives would all be tasty add-ons to this mouthwatering matzah pizza. A matzah pizza that makes the bread of our affliction into a platform for fun flavor, pleasing color, and a variety of textures.

Roasted Tomato and Fried Halloumi Matzah Pizza

Ingredients

4 pieces of matzah
1 tablespoon olive oil
A few handfuls of fresh spinach, arugula, watercress, or basil
Shaved parmesan cheese
Optional add ons: red pepper flakes, dried oregano, olives, capers

Oven Roasted Tomatoes:
10-12 plum tomatoes
3 tablespoons olive oil
2 tablespoons red wine vinegar or balsamic vinegar
3 garlic cloves, minced (1 tablespoon)
2 teaspoons sugar (if using balsamic vinegar scale sugar back to 1 tsp.)
1 teaspoon salt
½ teaspoon fresh ground pepper

Fried Halloumi Cheese:
7 oz. halloumi, cut into ½ “ cubes (approximately 1 ½ cups)
2 tablespoons garlic powder
2-3 tablespoons safflower or grapeseed oil

Directions

Oven Roasted Tomatoes:

1. Place oven rack in top third of oven and Preheat to 450F.

2. Cut tomatoes across width-wise. Scoop out the core and seeds with a melon baller or a spoon. Then cut each half in half (width-wise again).

3. Place tomatoes on a parchment lined baking sheet in a single layer. Drizzle evenly with olive oil, vinegar. Sprinkle with minced garlic, sugar, salt, and pepper. With a spatula give it a good stir.

4. Place in oven to roast for 30-35 mins. Remove 15 minutes into cook-time to stir tomatoes again. Once tomatoes are good ‘n roasted, remove from oven and allow to cool. Chop coarsely if you prefer a less chunky texture.

Fried Halloumi Cheese:

1. Dredge halloumi cheese cubes in garlic powder until completely coated.

2. Heat oil in frying pan until it shimmers. Place halloumi cubes in hot oil, making sure not to over-crowd the pan. Stir and saute until crispy golden brown. Drain cubes on paper towel.

To assemble Matzah Pizzas:

1. Preheat oven to 375F. Brush olive oil over each piece of matzah. Scatter roasted tomatoes evenly over matzah. Then intersperse matzah with fried cheese cubes. Place a layer of greens over the tomatoes and cheese. Sprinkle with shaved parmesan and your add-ons of choice. Drizzle each matzah pizza with some of the seasoned oil from the roasted tomatoes.

2. Place matzah pizzas on a baking sheet and cook for approximately 8-10 minutes or until parmesan is melted, greens are wilted, and the matzah itself is deep golden brown.

For year-round eating, the roasted tomatoes and fried cheese would be excellent tossed with pasta, in a Panini sandwich, or as flatbread pizza toppings. Heck! They’re delicious even on their own.

The post Not Your Bubbe’s Passover: Roasted Tomato and Fried Halloumi Matzah Pizza 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.

The topic has long been a point of contention, but the Orthodox Union—one of the world’s foremost kashrut authorities—recently declared quinoa kosher for Passover. (Cue collective Jewish hipster sigh of relief.) Of course, Jews have been eating quinoa on Passover for a while now, regardless of rabbinic rulings—in 2008, Gourmet lauded the protein-rich super-food as “the belle of the Passover ball.” But this recent development is big news for those who strictly adhere to Passover dietary restrictions: although quinoa isn’t one of the five originally prohibited grains, many rabbis have vetoed it because of its grain-like appearance and consistency. (But some have approved it! Because rabbis, amirite?) Classification aside, the production process is also potentially problematic: if quinoa comes into contact with wheat or corn on factory equipment, it becomes chametz (leaven).

Anyway, the Orthodox Union has allayed these fears by sending a representative to inspect quinoa fields and production facilities in South America. NPR reports:

So… OK for Passover? Or not? Last winter, says Rabbi Moshe Elefant, chief operating officer of Orthodox Union Kosher, he sent a rabbi to check it out.

“This rabbi went all the way to Bolivia and Peru,” Elefant reports. “He saw that quinoa grows near the top of the mountain and grain grows near the bottom of the mountain.” Thus, there was no chance for the intermingling that might happen with crops planted near wheat. Another plus for quinoa, says Elefant: “Many rabbis are of the opinion that anything that wasn’t part of the original custom is not included in the custom.”

All that was left for the rabbis was inspection of factories that package quinoa to see if forbidden grains are processed on the same equipment that processes it. And some passed. Those factories that got the all-clear now produce quinoa that will bear the OU-P symbol, meaning they’re kosher for Passover.

Alright, then. With the kosher technicalities settled, let’s get down to business. Here are some of our favorite Passover quinoa recipes for you to read, share, cook, and enjoy:

1. Rachel Harkham‘s delicious, ridiculously easy Marmalade-Garlic Glazed Roasted Chicken With Cranberry-Almond Quinoa Stuffing.

2. Paula Shoyer has this Sweet and Crunchy Quinoa Salad recipe that I am O-to-the-B obsessed with and make year round. It’s pareve/vegan, but sometimes I throw in a bit of crumbled feta cheese, because cheese makes everything better.

3. Roasted Mushroom Quinoa Risotto — worth the repetitive stirring, I promise.

4. Leah Koenig has a lovely modern seder menu up at Saveur, which includes this simple recipe for Herbed Lemon Quinoa.

5. Cinnamon-Scented Breakfast Quinoa — better than granola!

6. Quinoa Tabbouleh — so pretty.

7. Tilapia and Quinoa with Feta and Cucumber, because what sort of the holiday recipe round-up would this be if I didn’t link to Martha Stewart?

p.s. FYI, here’s a great post explaining how to make perfect, fluffy quinoa every time.

(Image: Shutterstock.)

The post Big News: Quinoa Officially Kosher For Passover, According To The OU appeared first on Jewcy.

The respective flavors of my parents’ mixed marriage were never more apparent than during Passover. Usually the holiday dishes of my mother’s Ashkenazi upbringing dominated the dining room table, but during Passover, my father’s Iraqi heritage reigned full-flavor.

Every Passover my parents, brothers, cousins, uncles, aunts would gather around my grandparents’ table and feast on platters of rice flavored with aromatic herbs and spices. Rice was the ideal foil to my grandmother’s saucy kibbeh meatballs, piquant vegetable turshi, and juicy tabeet chicken. For me, Passover food was synonymous with rice. (My mother’s plate was always conspicuously grain-free—old habits die hard, I guess).

And then I met a Nice Jewish Guy of Ashkenazi heritage, with the deeply ingrained (no pun intended) Passover culinary customs to match. Read: no more rice! But I refused to fall into the cliché of bland, starchy Eastern European food. I was determined to work the aromas and flavors of the Sephardi dishes I grew up celebrating into my new, Ashkenazi-friendly repertoire.

When I learned that quinoa was permitted for Passover—even by the stringent standards of OU—I realized I’d found my miracle ingredient. This super-grain has a rice-like texture, is lighter in flavor and consistency than potatoes, and is a perfect accompaniment to meat mains, like my Marmalade-Garlic Glazed Roasted Chicken. I add sweet, tart, plump-when-you-cook-’em dried cranberries and toasted almond slivers for crunch. A colorful dash of cumin and a bright scattering of paprika, along with sautéed onions, enhances the citrus-scented chicken. It’s a gorgeous combination of tastes and textures, and best of all, the vibrant flavor of my childhood Passover remains.

Marmalade-Garlic Glazed Roasted Chicken With Cranberry-Almond Quinoa Stuffing

Ingredients

Cranberry-Almond Quinoa Stuffing:
2 tablespoons olive oil
2 onions, well-chopped
2 cups rinsed and cooked quinoa (substitute rice for Sephardi tradition or year-round eating)
1 cup dried cranberries (or cherries)
¾ cup slivered almonds
2 teaspoons cumin
2 teaspoons paprika
Salt & Pepper, to taste

Marmalade-Garlic Glazed Roasted Chicken:
2 tablespoons olive oil
3-4 tablespoons orange marmalade
2 tablespoons garlic powder
1 tablespoon chicken stock
Salt and Pepper, 1 teaspoon each
1 4-5 lb. broiler chicken, rinsed and patted dry

Directions

1. In a large skillet over medium-heat, sauté chopped onions in two tablespoons of olive oil until golden brown around the edges, 3-4 minutes.
2. Add the slivered almonds and toast lightly (2 minutes). Fold in the prepared quinoa to the mixture, cook through. Add dried cranberries or dried cherries. Mix in cumin and paprika, salt and pepper to taste. Set aside.
3. Heat oven to 375F. In a small bowl mix together marmalade, garlic powder, and chicken stock. Place prepared chicken breast side up in roasting pan. Season with salt and pepper, rub with remaining olive oil. Smear marmalade concoction over chicken and inside cavities. When done with marmalade, spoon the quinoa stuffing into the chicken. Tie drumsticks, and if you cannot tuck the wings underneath the bird, truss the wings. Place any left over quinoa stuffing around the chicken.
4. Place cooking rack in center of oven. Tent aluminum foil over chicken, place in oven and cook for 45 minutes. Remove foil and cook for an additional 40-45 minutes, or until skin is golden brown and the meat is cooked through when pierced.

The post Not Your Bubbe’s Passover Chicken appeared first on Jewcy.

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)

The post Not Your Bubbe’s Potato Latke Galette appeared first on Jewcy.