Don't Pass Over These Passover Recipes -- A Round Up of Pesach Dishes from Column and Blog and Soup to Nuts

A variety of harosets celebrates the diversity of the Jewish food ways

It's that time of year again -- the time of year where families and friends gather around and ask the four questions -- what can I eat, why can't I eat that, when do we eat (said during the Seder) and how did I eat so much?

Seder Plate

Joking aside, it's a time of special meals and special ingredients and restrictions.  The recipes featured below follow general Ashkenazi traditions of no rice, beans, corn or other kitniyot, which are traditionally eaten by some Sephardic and Mizrachi Jews (and now by some Conservative Jews). If the recipes include processed foods such as tomato sauce they are available certified for Passover and are available on line if not locally.

Many of these recipes are from my j., The Jewish News of Northern California column, others are from Blog Appetit. Some are suitable for Seder, others for every day cooking, some work for both.  Enjoy.

Chicken Soup, Matzah Balls

Appetizers and Starters
Eggplant Garlic, Eggplant Almond and Roasted Vegetable Dips
Vegan Matzah Balls
Horseradish Stuffed Eggs
Baked Gefilte Fish with Beet-Horseradish Topping
Bitter Herbs Salad
Zucchini Fritters
Levana Kirschenbaum's Moroccan Fish Soup
Gluten Free Chicken Almond Dumplings for Soup
Matzah Balls with Fresh Herbs
Matzah Balls 101
Chicken Soup 101

Main Courses

Unstuffed Cabbage Casserole (with ground beef)
Caramelized Balsamic Chicken
Paula Shoyer's Brisket and Roast Salmon

Paula Shoyer's Roast Salmon

Vegan and Gluten Free Moussaka with Two Sauces
 Saucy Eggplant Bake
Zucchini-Matzah Meal Crust Pizza and Oven Frittata with Peppers and Greens
Salmon Steamed in Foil
Grilled Lamb (note: many Ashkenazi do not eat lamb for Seder while many other Jews regard it as an important component of the Seder table.)
Lamb Stew with Tomatoes, Peppers and Dill
Gluten Free Chicken Vegetable Tagine with Quinoa
Cauliflower Matzah Bake, Apple and Vegetable Cobbler

Strawberry Chocolate Pudding

Desserts
Lemon Ice and Strawberry Chocolate Pudding
Quinoa Chocolate Chip Cookies
Baked  Matzah Dessert
Tzimmes Cookies and Cake
Jeff Nathan's Poached Apricots with Lemon and Thyme
Almond Brittle
Lemon Pistachio Bars


Other

Custard Matzah Brei

Matzah Granola and Pesach Crepes
Haroset Matzah Fry
Quinoa Berry Muffins
Sweet Potatoes with Pineapple, Moroccan Carrot Salad
Custard Matzah Brei
Passover Potato Gnocchi
Four Haroset Recipes from Around the World
One More Haroset Recipe

Ice Cream for Breakfast -- Make Every Day a Sundae (Or at Least on February7)

Try an ice cream taco for breakfast

Ice Cream for Breakfast is this Saturday, February 7.

My friend Jan introduced me to this wonderful celebration a few years ago and I've since been determined to spread the word. (For more info on this celebration of the sweet and icy, click here.

I'm in Vietnam far from my home kitchen and not able to whip up new creations, so I thought I'd post links to some of my previously posted ice cream creations that might be adapted for breakfast.

Enjoy!

Here's some recipes to try from my j weekly column and Blog Appetit

Ice cream sandwiches and tacos
Chocolate (or other flavor) waffle ice cream sandwiches
Ice cream cake (add some chopped bananas)
Strawberry shake (made with ice cream)

You can also make a fruit, granola and ice cream parfait, or top some pancakes with ice cream and maple syrup, or ....

Let's be honest, you don't really need recipes for this!  If you want more ice cream or sorbet inspired, please search this blog, I have lots of frozen treat recipes for you!

Thanksgiving in Absentia

Once again I'm on the road for Thanksgiving, but thanks to having been blogging pretty much since the beginning of time I still have lots of tips, recipes and ideas for your holiday.

Looking for an ice breaker, try my trivia game.
Need cranberry sauce recipes or maybe want to try a pumpkin hummus, I've got you covered.
Pumpkin pie recipes, pumpkin cheesecake ice cream, yep, got those.
Looking for ways to make Thanksgiving more meaningful?  I've got the links for that as well.

For all this and more, click here and see all my Thanksgiving posts past.  I look forward to sharing Thanksgiving recipes with you next year.

Here's wishing you a happy, meaningful and delicious Thanksgiving.

P.S.  Need ideas for those leftovers?  Check out my j weekly post this Friday on some creative ways to re-purpose them

National Pie Day -- The Life of Pie on Blog Appetit -- A Round Up of Pies, Tarts and Other Pastry-Crusted Things

Today's National Pie Day so I thought I would list out a sample of pie and similar recipes available here on Blog Appetit.

While I  yield to no one on my love crust-enclosed goodness, I was a bit surprised to find out there is an American Pie Council with corporate members and sponsors ranging from ingredient producers, bakeries and equipment manufacturers to a pie plate maker. The fun continues with contests, festivals and a tie to the movie Labor Day (which apparently features lots of pie making and or eating going on).

No mention of band camp (American Pie movie reference), slapstick pies in the face, the number pi or other related things.  The council also did a survey of 1000 American pie eaters to find out their preferences.  Alas, they did not present this information in a pie chart -- perhaps I will feel ambitious later and cook one up.

From the overblown and relatively hard to read news release:

"The survey revealed that pie is a preferred dessert even on special occasions other than Thanksgiving, with 70% favoring it on Christmas and 67% considering it a staple of family gatherings. And, it’s not just an after-dinner treat. Pie is a great late-night snack, too, 58% of the respondents said."

No word on what percentage just prefer pie on non-special occasions.

The survey also asked about favorite pie flavors:

"Apple takes, ah, the cake, but perhaps surprisingly chocolate pie tied with pumpkin in the No. 2 spot, while cherry placed third, according to the survey."

I wish the APC provided more info (where for example are my favorites -- lemon meringue and strawberry rhubarb), but the rest of the new release touts the movie not the dessert.

For the record, pies also make a wonderful breakfast dish --- my mother was partial to apple pie with cheese as a way to start her day. (Honestly she would eat that pretty much any time of the day).  I've made oatmeal as well as white bean breakfast pies.  Savory dinner pies (think quiche among others) are also popular.  In addition to the usual slice, pies have gotten themselves tarted up lately with trendy pie pops and hand pies. 

Keep reading for a round up of appropriate recipes from Blog Appetit.

Obligatory July 4 Food Blog Post (With Menu Suggestions, Red White and Blue Food and a Spicy Burger Recipe)

Red, white and blue sorbet for Independence Day

It's July 4 and I believe food bloggers are contractually obligated to come up with a post that celebrates one or more of the following:

• Red, white and blue themed food, often but not limited to either gooey desserts and or strawberries and blueberries
• Food for the grill
• American classics - either retro or revisionist

Better yet, if the blogger can somehow combine all three in one post they have hit the Facebook share trifecta.

My take on the foods of America to celebrate Independence Day is a bit different -- I'd prefer to focus on the foods brought to our shores and adopted (adapted? distorted?) by the teeming masses already here looking for the next big flavor hit.  America's taste buds are not so much analogous to a melting pot as they are a fusion reactor.

Based on what I've written about before on Blog Appetit, here's some ideas for going forth and partying on the Fourth of July celebrating the glorious diversity of foods and ingredients immigrants (and savvy marketers) have made popular here.  Think of it as a United Nations for your mouth.

Appetizers:

Any Night Cerviche (Mexico and Central America)
Tomato-Mango Bruschetta (India, Italy and Berkeley - which many Californians consider a separate state of mind)
Tortilla de Espana (Spain)
Not Quite Spring Rolls (Vietnam)

Main Dishes:

Egyptian Grilled Lamb
Grilled Chicken Kabobs with Pomegranate Molasses BBQ sauce (Middle East) -- also the link has a recipe for a berry sorbet for dessert you can dress up in red, white and blue.
Cincinnati Chili (Greek-American) -- works great as a hot dog topping, too.  For more American regional hot dog ideas, click here.
Grilled Vegetable Kabobs with Miso Glaze (Japan)
Turkish Inspired Hamburgers (see recipe below)

Other:

Assorted North African vegetable salads
Cold Beet Borscht (Russia)  Nice and red, serve with some blue corn chips and sour cream for the obligatory red, white and blue dish.
Cold Asian Noodles with Veggies and Peanut-Tofu Sauce (China)
Pomegranate Coconut Pudding (Near East/Mid East)
Lychee Sorbet (China)

See the link for the bruschetta above for an Indian-inspired rice pudding and the link for the chicken kabobs for a the very berry sorbet recipe (French?).

And of course, cruise the different categories listed in the labels section in the right column for even more recipes that help you cook local and eat global.

Oh, and happy birthday to my beloved father-in-law.  Vic's enthusiasm for my cooking is just one of his many, many wonderful traits.  Happy 89, Dad.

Keep reading for the Turkish burger recipe.

Not Just San Francisco Treats for the Super Bowl

Bowl of my Not-Juse-For-Tourists Cioppino for a Super Bowl feast

Today's the day for Super Bowl XLVII  and if you are still undecided about what to serve here are a few ideas on what to cook up for the big day.

For some tasty (and different dip ideas, check out my column at the j weekly for three different dip ideas -  a spicy pumpkin (or butternut squash) one,  a colorful hummus with the kick of horseradish, and a tangy and different tahini spread.   See those recipes here.

Having lived in both San Francisco and Baltimore, I can tell you Super Bowl food doesn't really vary that much, but both cities have regional specialties with crab being big in both locations.

Other regional treats are based on local ethnic specialties.

One of San Francisco's famed dishes combines both into cioppino, a seafood stew. 
You can see a recipe and discussion about that on Blog Appetit here.

Writing this post made me realize how little I've written about my time eating my way around Baltimore.  I will need to correct that!  Anyway, here's a wonderful oven-fried chicken recipe that always brings Baltimore back to mine and would work well for a Super Bowl party.  Try adapting it for chicken wings, drumsticks or tenders for more party friendly food.

One last thought -- the party is in New Orleans - why not make a King Cake.  The King Cake is a favorite of Mardi Gras and contains a small "prize" of a bean, nut or tiny plastic baby. (Be sure to warn eaters to watch out for it so they don't hand you a super dentist bill.)  They are decorated with purple, gold and green colored sugar or icing.  Now king cakes can be a lengthy process, so I suggest just subbing out a bundt cake (I won't tell if you use a mix) and add  a bean or plastic baby (or maybe even a plastic football???) and decorating it either Madri Gras or team colors.  To see the King Cake I made with links to the recipes I used, click here.

What I'm I making.

My husband and I are going to two separate parties. (Long story.)

Anyway - for his I'm making slow cooked pomegranate molasses pulled turkey with Asian slaw sliders.  For mine, which is more of a sit down meal, I'm bringing a green salad and butternut squash-greens baked vegan mac and cheese.  If the recipes come out, you can be sure they will eventually make there way to the blog.

Who am I rooting for having lived in both places?  The Niners.  When I lived in Baltimore it was the Colts, baby.  The city was bereft when they pulled out.  I'm glad for Baltimore area folks they have such a great team in the Ravens, but when it comes to the Super Bowl, it's nevermore.

Happy National Taco Day

Yes, today is really National Taco Day and Blog Appetit cedes to no one for its love of the Mexican antojito (street snack), particularly the taco-truck style we can get here on the streets of Oakland, CA.

These feature a flavorful filling (grilled, roasted or stewed beef, pork, chicken or offal) on top of 2 small corn tortillas with a spoonful of spicy salsa, a squeeze of lime and maybe a radish, and a pickled carrot slice or jalapeno on the side. My favorite before I began my current mostly vegan diet -- lengua (tongue).

Pictured above is my take on such street fare with turkey (rather than pork) - a turkey carnitas taco.
You can see the recipe here.  The post also includes the quick-pickled carrots and jalapeno recipes and directions for assembling your own.

Or try this smoked chipotle turkey filling for your tacos with roasted onions and cherry tomatoes.

I'm working on a chickpea-kale-potato taco filling but it's not ready for prime time yet.  In the meanwhile, take this virtual tour of Oakland's taco trucks.

What to drink with your taco?  There are lots of choices but maybe go with a vodka.  Nontraditional I know, but today is also National Vodka Day.

Suggestions for Delicious and Meaningful Rosh Hashanah Meals -- With Rabbi Frydman's Friend Neal's Brisket Recipe

Some of the symbolic foods of the Rosh Hashanah Seder

Rosh Hashanah (Jewish New Year, sometimes spelled Rosh Hashana) is almost upon us and I thought I would do a little round up of High Holiday tips and recipes.

The first is my most recent compilation of  holiday recipes from the j. weekly.  At the j's suggestion, I interviewed rabbis who cook for some of their recipes and for some of the ways food adds meaning to their teachings as well as dining tables. The recipes give directions for a salad full of foods symbolic of the holiday blessings, a vegetarian pumpkin and chickpea entree and frosted brownies plus a vegan cholent for the break fast.

I had so many good responses from rabbis in the Bay area, the j. did not have room for all, so I wanted to be sure I got a chance to share Rabbi Pam Frydman's recipe for an easy, tasty brisket recipe.  Frydman was a congregational rabbi and is now director of the Holocaust Education Project of the Academy of Jewish Religion. She is also an author, with several books in the works, including a Holiday prayer book revision. Frydman’s menu for her holiday dinner includes a brisket recipe she got from her friend, Neal.

“Like all Jewish mothers, I make sure there is something appealing for every guest at my table,” she said. Like the other rabbis, she sees serving foods guests of all ages love as “a wonderful way to sweeten their relationship” with the holidays and a perfect recipe for the New Year.

The recipe is below.

Other Rosh Hashanah resources include:

My guide to the Rosh Hashanah Seder -- with a list of symbolic foods and their meanings

Recipes using some of the foods mentioned as having symbolic meaning at the holiday, including leek fritters, chicken tzimmes, chicken with chard, black-eyed peas, a pumpkin-date filo tart and more.

Everyone needs a chopped liver recipe:  here's my original version.  And here is one that is somewhat enlightened with a bit less cholesterol. 

Instead of gefilte fish, maybe try this gravlax recipe for home-cured salmon. Or perhaps this chopped herring salad from my husband's Aunt Lee.  It was so good it had grown men begging for more.

These Greek-Jewish inspired recipes include a fuss-free oregano baked chicken.

Here's a recipe for a one-pot dish -- Chicken with Barley

While I usually make a brisket for the holidays, the technique I use to cook it is in Pot Roast 101 with a recipe for tamarind pot roast.  (Plus a pot roast, which is very much like a brisket without the Yiddish accent, would be just fine for a holiday table.  I like to use a bone-in chuck roast.)

For another pot roast recipe that can be adapted for brisket, check out my zippy pot roast with cranberry sauce.

This grilled lamb would make a nice holiday entree.  It is based on some of the food traditions of the Karaite Egyptian Jewish community.

For an excellent vegetarian "Not Chicken Soup" and some beautiful vegan matzah balls (I call them matzofu balls), check out my recent j. weekly column here.

I'm a big fan of these red peppers stuffed with lentils with two sauces.  I've used it as a main course and as a side dish. (And the garlic sauce you make for it is killer!)

If you are looking for something to plop in the soup that gluten-free guests can slurp up, I recommend these chicken-almond dumplings.

Sweet and sour butternut squash is another side dish that works well for the holiday, plus it is really quick to make since it is based on a convenience food -- those cut-up cubes of butternut squash that are found in bags and plastic cartons in the refrigerated produce sections of most supermarkets now.

There are plenty more ideas throughout Blog Appetit, including lots of posts in the Jewish category.  Take a look around.  Find something you like, try it.  Let me know how it comes out.

Oh, and Happy New Year.

As promised Rabbi Frydman's brisket recipe:

Rabbi Frydman’s Friend Neal’s Brisket
Serves 8-10

3 1/2 to 4 lbs. beef brisket
About 5 peeled garlic cloves
1 oz. packet of onion soup mix
1/8 tsp. ground black pepper
Ketchup
Soy sauce

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Cut off any large chunks of fat from the brisket, rinse meat under running water and place in baking pan with a well-fitting lid. Slice garlic cloves in half lengthwise. Using a paring knife, cut a series of small slits in the meat, spacing them every four inches. Slit should be deep enough to enclose the entire garlic clove half.  Insert garlic clove halves into slits, turn meat over and repeat on the other side. Rub onion soup mix all over top side of the meat. If brisket is large, fold it and slather some of the mix on the top of the folded portion as well. Sprinkle with pepper. Squirt a few thick lines of ketchup on top of the meat from one end of the brisket to the other. Drizzle soy sauce from one end of brisket to the other parallel to the ketchup lines.

Pour water along the sides of the pan until there is a half inch of water along the bottom, being careful not to wash off the seasoning on the meat. Cover pan and place on a rack in the middle of the oven and bake for 30 minutes. Remove, gently baste meat and add additional water if needed. Repeat every 30 minutes until the brisket is tender and a fork goes in easily. Depending on your pan and brisket, that can vary greatly and take about 2-3 1/2 hours or more.

Remove from oven, let cook, slice against the grain of the meat. Serve or store meat in the cooking liquid. Refrigerate if not using immediately. Warm brisket in reserved cooking liquid in 350 degree oven.

A Tisket, A Tasket - I Like Vegetables Grilled in a Basket

 



I like to grill cut  up vegetables in my grill basket. Shaped like a saute pan or flat-bottomed wok, it is quicker than threading all the veggies on skewers and gives me all the char and taste.

This batch combines goodies my husband, Gary, scored from the farm stand -- baby eggplants and small, colorful hot peppers -- with onions and whole garlic cloves. You do need to stir and toss the veggies as they grill to prevent them from burning and to get them to cook evenly.

 Once the eggplant was tender and charred, I mixed the vegetables above with a batch of cherry tomatoes (also from the farm stand) I had previously cooked on the barbecue until they were soft and smoky in the grill basket.  I drizzled olive oil to taste, added salt, pepper, minced lemon zest and chopped basil and served as a side dish to my red-wine marinated grilled tofu and the guys' red-wine marinated flank steak.

 I used the marinade from this post.

To cook the tofu, I cut the block of tofu in half lengthwise and then in half crosswise, scored it deeply and marinated, turning often for about an hour before grilling on a greased rack.  I recommend cooking down the marinade and serving as a sauce otherwise it would be a bit dry.

To cook the flank steak, I did as directed in the post.  Be sure to let the steak rest 10 minutes or so before slicing it very thinly against the grain.

For an alternate version of the eggplant dish (made up more like a salsa with a slightly different flavor profile, plus ideas for other variations), please see my post here.

Super Treats for the Super Bowl

Inspired by About.com's Eastern European Food Guide featuring one of my recipes (for stuffed cabbage meat loaf ),* as Super Bowl fare, I thought I would create a wrap up of recipes I think would be good choices for Super Bowl or similar get-togethers.

Here are some of my picks from past posts:

For a different dip try my Pumpkin Hummus
For a little something healthy offer up some Broccoli Slaw
Try these hot dog toppings, including a lentil chili (which would make a great stand-alone dish as well. The other toppings are tomato-onions and homemade relish. Try with my oven-roasted fries.
No one will ask where's the beef when they try these three lighter sandwiches - egg salad, smoked salmon and goat cheese with olives.
Try my version of street tacos with turkey carnitas
Potato knishes make great hand held food
Go for a  Spanish tortilla (a kind of sturdy omelet easy to cut into appetizer pieces) with a secret ingredient - potato chips
Try a five-way Cincinnati Chili
Think about having a soup bar - check out my soup listings for some ideas
My choice are Vietnamese Spring Rolls wrapped in rice paper or even lettuce - pre made or do it yourself - with shrimp or vegetarian
----------------
*Note: that meat loaf recipe has not appeared in Blog Appetit yet, though. In addition to about.com, you can find it on line j. weekly. Update: 2/21/12 - that recipe is now posted on Blog Appetit.

Chanukah (or Hanukah or Hanukkah) Recipes and Background on Blog Appetit

Just one of the many good things to eat at Chanukah -- Jelly Doughnuts

Lots of good food and details about this festival of lights and fried foods here on Blog Appetit.

Here's a run down of offerings from Chanukahs past. Watch for another post with this year's offerings.

Food

Israeli Jelly Doughnuts -- Called sufganiyot, these delicious filled pastries are not that hard to make, but they are exacting.  I give you all the details on how to make them. 

Traditional Latkes -- Potato pancakes are the gold standard holiday food, at least for Jews from an Eastern European background.  This recipe is the one I've been using as long as I've been making latkes and it is tried and true.  Latkes is the Yiddish term. Levivot the Hebrew one.

Shortcut Latkes -- Hey sometimes you just need to not shred five pounds of potatoes, I get it. On those nights, try this recipe. 

While many Jews can live on latkes alone, others of us like to gild the lily by serving it with something more than sour cream and or apple sauce. (A sizable portion of Jews also grew up sprinkling sugar on their latke, but my people are not from that tribe.)

This post has a wonderful cranberry pot roast recipe and lots of suggestions on what to serve with latkes from spiced applesauce to some siracha sauce.  I also like to serve the latkes with my homemade gravlax (cured salmon). Or try my recipe for roasted applesauce with warm spices.

Eating dairy foods is another Chanukah tradition.  This California Kugel with lots of crunchy granola and dried fruits makes a nice light supper, brunch or dessert offering. Or try this cinnamon bun kugel recipe.

For something very different, I combine two cultural traditions into one very special Chanukah dish - spicy tzimmes (beef and dried fruit stew) tamales.

For information on Chanukah foods and traditions from around the world, click here.

History and Observance
Did you know there are 16 ways to spell Chanukah in English?  Check out the info near the end of this post from last year.

For some of the history and background about this holiday, click here.

For tips on how to play the spinning top game known as dreidel (including directions on how to make one of your own), this post is the tops.

Learn how to light the menorah (or more accurately the hanukkiah) here

Feel free to post links to other Chanukah offerings by you or other bloggers in the comments section.

UPDATE: 2011 Chanukah offerings from Blog Appetit
4 New Latke Toppings to Make Your Potato Pancakes Zing
Everything You Wanted to Know about Making a Pot Roast and a Pot Roast with Tamarind Recipe
Make Mine Vegan -- Vegan Latkes

Rosh Hashanah 5772 - Jewish New Year's Guide for 2011

I've developed a number of resources for celebrating the Jewish New Year in the home.
These include some history and background for a Rosh Hashanah seder or service before the first night meal and a variety of recipes.

For information on how observance of the Jewish "head" of the year can be included at your Rosh Hashanah dinner celebration, please click here.

For dishes that use many of the holiday's symbolic food, click here for recipes for leek-potato fritters, sweet and savory chicken tzimmes, chicken saute with chard and string beans, pumpkin and date filo dough tart and vegan (and parve) cinammon-almond chocolate truffles.

I've written many other recipes that might be suitable for the holiday table from chopped liver to baklava, please check my Jewish recipe category.

Summer Fun with Recipes for Hot Dog Toppings, Grill Treats, Cold Soups and More

The skies have gone from overcast to blue, the air is soft and warm and my kid is home from college, it must be summer here in Blog Appetit-ville (Oakland CA).  So here is a wrap up of some of the recipes and posts from Blog Appetit that help celebrate the summer here or anywhere. 

Get Your Red Hots! -- What's summer without hot dogs (or sausages) with all the trimmings.  So grab your weiner (except you Rep. Andrew) and try some one or all of these toppings:  Vegetarian Chili, Tomato Onions and Homemade Relish.   Use a tofu dog and the vegetarian chili and you have a vegan treat.

From The Grill  -- Everyone needs a good barbecue chicken recipe, here's mine. No extra charge for the recipe using the leftovers in a hearty bbq chicken and greens salad. Or try these chicken kabobs with pomengranate molasses barbecue sauce (the best thing I've ever smeared on chicken.). Here's my son's red wine marinade for flank steak (a family favorite).  Try these grilled vegetable kabobs with miso marinade as a main course or side dish. Grilled limincello tuna is served atop a couscous salad.

It's Still Strawberry Season -- Try my roasted strawberry strudel, cold strawberry soup or (vegan) strawberry coconut ice cream.  All are berry, berry good. Or try  my berry sorbet with or without the "berried treasure" and sauce.  Pack leftover sorbet into ice pop molds for the best popsicles or fruit paletas you've ever had.

The Soup that Went into the Cold -- Soup is good for you but not so hot when it's hot. So try a cold soup.  Here's recipes for my beet borscht which is delicious served cold, and my raw, cold mint soup which requires no cooking at all but a bit of the wait for the garlic infused stock to come together.

Make Mine a Cold One -- Try making your own ginger ale or sip an egg cream (did you know there is no egg and no cream in an egg cream) to help combat your own personal heat wave. Or try this simple strawberry licuado-style shake. Or maybe a frozen sweet tea.

Other Summer Food Ideas -- My Cold Peanut Noodle Salad works well as an appetizer or main course. My husband and I serve Vietnamese Spring Rolls (aka Salad Rolls or Summer Rolls) with a variety of filling options at parties, where he custom rolls each diner's selection of goodies in rice paper or lettuce.  Looking for something more formal?  This sliced zucchini appetizer from Chocolate and Zucchini makes a nice summer starter. A friend's mother introduced me to this grilled salad, which is easy and delicious.

Do you have a summer recipe on your blog/website you'd like to share?  Please leave a link in the comments section.

The Year in Food -- My Favorite Posts of 2010

It's been a busy year at Blog Appetit.  My backlog of recipes and posts grew longer as my commitments to other projects grew.  A lot of my recipes reflected my interest in international Jewish cuisine (although you don't have to be Jewish to enjoy them).  Surprisingly for someone who doesn't bake all that much, a lot of my posts had to do with something sweet from the oven.

Here's some of what I thought was the best of 2010 from recipes and photos that did make it to the blog.  I look forward to 2011 and getting to publish some of the wonderful recipes I haven't had time to post yet as well as creating or discovering new ones. 

January

The winner for January was the wonderful chocolate tart I made for New Year's.  You can read the post and find the link to the recipe for Bittersweet Chocolate Citrus Tart with Jasmine Tea Scented Whipped Cream here.

From the post: "I rang the New Year in with friends and this bittersweet citrus chocolate tart from Alice Medrich's book Pure Desserts. The book should be called 'Perfect Desserts' because that's what this tart was -- the dark bittersweet chocolate offset by the grapefruit and orange zest and the wonderful jasmine-scented whipped cream just adding to the wild party in my mouth."

Other recipes from the month featured a sweet and sour baked fish and a slow-cooked chick pea and lentil soup.

February

Baby, it was cold outside and my blog featured recipes to warm you up, including some energy efficient baked apples. My favorite for February was a toss up between two noodle dishes -- a sweet noodle pudding and a savory pasta dish.  Far and away though, folks loved the sweet Cinnamon Bun Kugel from this post. 


This kugel is better as a brunch dish or dessert than a regular entree.  Both it and my Baked Fidellos Tostadas with Sephardic Flavors are in the same post, so if you want to try the savory as well as the sweet, the recipe is there, too.  My friend Karen Bloom also shared some of her never fail kugel-making tips, so check it out.

The sweet kugel recipe was based on one developed by Nina Yellin, Karen's cousin, who has written a series of self-published cookbooks on kugels and similar dishes.

March

My New Orleans Bread Pudding wins by a nose over the baked chicken and bread casserole I featured in the same post.  Also included is a tasty recipe for a soup with winter squash, greens and bread. Perfect for the cold rainy weather we are having right now.

I end up creating recipes to use up bread all the time. It seems like I always have some extra crusts, slices and frozen hot dog rolls around. My favorite breads to use are challah or other rich egg breads for desserts and french toast or sturdy artisan breads for main courses or soups.

March also brought posts on a gluten-free Passover menu (including pistachio lemon bars) and two other Passover recipes, one for  Italian potato gnocchi, the other for a custard fried matzoh.

April

April is the month where I seemed to go for monochromatic baking -- black and white cookies AND whoopie pies. I also remember not being able to stop eating my honey butter caramel sauce and my Moroccan eggplant conserves (not together, though), but I think my favorite recipe of the month was my oven-fried chicken.

The chicken, which is oven fried without its skin, is juicy with a crunchy outside and is nicely seasoned with Middle Eastern spices.  I served it with a honey-mustard slaw (that recipe is also posted). The chicken also has one heck of a back story involving suspicions of drug dealing. For more on that and the recipe, click here.

Boo Appetit -- Pumpkin and Other Goodies for the Season

We like our fright with a bit of delight over here at Blog Appetit, so here's a round up of pumpkin and other Halloween appropriate food. From pumpkin pies to pumpkin-based main courses to caramel and candied apples, we have lots of options for a spooktacular holiday.

This tamale-stuffed pumpkin would work well for Day of the Dead parties as well as for Halloween repasts.   I used some of Primavera's wonderful gourmet tamales, but you could use any kind of cheese or, better yet, cheese and chile, tamale.

Blog Appetit offers up several kinds of pumpkin pies for your eating pleasure.  Try this low-fat pumpkin pie variation for all the traditional treat with a bit less of the tricks.  For something a bit different, try this pumpkin and date filo tart.  It's super easy to make, is non-dairy and is deliciously different than the traditional pumpkin pie.  That tart is shown at left.  These pumpkin mini-tarts use individual ginger snaps for their crusts and a petite and neat to eat.

I used butternut squash when I made this sweet-and-sour cabbage soup, but pumpkin would work just as well.  In fact you can use pumpkin pretty much interchangeably with butternut squash in most recipes.  Want to learn more about how to select and prepare pumpkins, go to pumpkin boot camp and learn the basics.

I've made a lot of sautes using pumpkin or butternut squash.  One saute was inspired by what I could find in the farmer's market one winter day.  This Moroccan inspired chicken, chickpeas and pumpkin dish (pictured) is great served over couscous.  I also have a killer chipotle, pumpkin and turkey chili you should try.

My husband and kids think a caramel apple rules, while an old-fashioned candied apple makes me drool.  Unfortunately, most of you agree caramel apples are best.  In an informal poll I hosted on Blog Appetit, caramel apples were the clear winner.  The caramel apple at left was made according to the directions on the back of a package of Kraft's caramels.   My devilishly good candied apples feature the a bit of cinnamon heat from the candies used to give the coating its color and taste.

Happy Cinco de Mayo 2010

No new posts for this Mexican holiday -- but click here to see my past posts on tamale making, posole, tortilla lasagna and more.

---------------------------

About the photo: Street food in Tijuana circa December 2005. Those are catcus paddles on the griddle on the left. The oval-shaped corn tortillas in the back are known as huraches and are served open faced and topped with stews and other good things.

More on Passover

Here are hints from Passovers present and past. Look for recipes such as a Green Chile Quiche and Zucchini Crust Pizza as well as recommendations for other websites to check out.

2009 in Review -- With Lots of Recipes and No Angst

This round up is all about the flavor, honey. No explanations or analysis here. You want to read about Blog Appetit's growth and development? We've got that here. Scroll to the bottom to see my favorite of 2009.

These recipes are the ones that stand out in my mind and make my mouth water just thinking about them.

January: These Spanish Stuffed Peppers with Smoked Paprika Tomato Sauce were the first recipe I tweeted. I was all atwitter about the combination of tastes and textures. I couldn't wait to have the leftovers the next day for lunch. While this recipe was made with turkey, I also gave vegetarian options.

February: I love gremolata, that raw garlic, parsley and lemon zest topping traditional for osso bucco. Here I use it on top of an earthy root vegetable stew with gremolata. The meal stands out in my mind not just for its taste but because my husband and I shopped the farmer's market for its ingredients and it was our Valentine's Day dinner.

March: A new pot inspired a new soup: Sweet and Sour Onion Soup, which combined two of my favorite soup concepts into one. The story behind the pot and the soup began begins with my husband snagging a well-loved, used five-quart red enameled cast iron French (i.e. Dutch) oven at a local estate sale for just $18.

April: I wrote a lot about my trip to Buenos Aires. The submarino was a drink I had there. Unbelievably easy, unbelievably good. Take a glass of warm, frothy milk. Submerge a few ounces of good quality chocolate in it. Stir. Drink.


May: Thy of Wandering Spoon taught a class at the Oakland Asian Cultural Center in the famed Vietnamese sizzling crepes called Banh Xeo with loads of fresh seasonal greens and dipping sauce. The results were delicious. I post her recipe here. You can see a slide show of the class here.

June: I'm torn between the wonderful Not Your Grandmother's Beet Borscht and Gary's Granola, but I'm going with my husband's granola recipe, it is truly the best. His recipe is constantly evolving. Don't tell him, but I sometimes swipe a handful for a snack.


July: I began writing my Jewish food column and kicked it off with some recipes for Israeli-styled grilled food. While the chicken and lamb kabob recipes were great, it was the pomegranate molasses bbq sauce that made me, and several others, swoon. So easy, so delicious, so versatile.

August: August was a lazy month. I really didn't write a recipe for this but gave more of a how to, but BBQ Chicken Salad with BBQ vinaigrette was finger licking good, anyway. I also didn't take a photo. Bad Blog Appetit.

September: I probably got more positive feedback from my Cranberried Chicken recipe than any other I've written for the blog or for my Jewish cooking column. It's easy, tasty and very festive. Unfortunately, I don't have the recipe on my blog, you'll have to click the link to it's home on the j. Jewish newsweekly. Luckily, another recipe I wrote that month also pushes my flavor buttons. My Hunger Challenge Cassoulet (which costs about $1-$1.50 a serving) was part of my week's worth of menus for eating on $4 a day or less in support of San Francisco Food Bank's Hunger Challenge.

October: This pumpkin pie with dates in filo crust was all treat and no trick this Halloween.



November: The hands down favorite from this month is my Balkan-inspired Lemon and Egg Sauce Moussaka. The zing of the citrus, the richness of the lamb, the creaminess of the egg sauce and the earthiness of the eggplant combine to make an unforgettable dish.

December: No contest -- from the moment I thought of the concept of a Jewish-Mexican tamale all I wanted to eat was tzimmes tamales. And once you've tried them, I think you'll be similarly obsessed. It's a rich beef and dried fruit stew with a chipolte kick wrapped in a schmaltz (chicken-fat) -based tamale dough. Bring on Christmukkah.

My personal favorite best recipe for 2009, that's a tough one, since I only post recipes I really like. The finalists are the moussaka, the tamales and the pomegranate molasses bbq sauce. The bbq sauce also wins Miss Congeniality for its simplicity. If I had to pick I guess it would be the tamales, but I could change my mind, that moussaka was awfully good ...

One More Night to Light the Lights

Chanukah Curious -- Read all about how to play dreidel, make latkes and some history on my annual (C)Hanuk(k)ah wrapup here.

Halloween Countdown -- H Minus 4 -- Low Fat Pumpkin Pie

There are so many scrumptious things going on in a pumpkin pie that if you can trim the fat a bit no one will notice.

Last year I did just that, adapting my mini-pumpkin tart recipe to make a larger pie. One recipe of the pie filling here should fill one pie crust. Use your own unbaked crust or buy a store bought one for convenience. (Or do what I sometimes do, buy a premade crust from your local bakery.)

Fill the unbaked crust with the pumpkin mixture and put into a preheated 425 degree oven for about 15 minutes and then lower the heat to 350 degrees . Bake for about 40-50 minutes until a knife inserted in the filling comes out clean.

Another variation is to make a graham cracker crust, perhaps subbing out ginger snaps for the graham crackers. To make a cookie crust, please check the directions here. (Do not bake.) Only follow the directions for the crust otherwise you might surprise your guests with a S'More Pie instead of pumpkin.

If you really want to keep calories down, try making the pie without a crust as a custard. Directions for individual pumpkin pie custards are here.

To see what other pumpkin tricks and treats Blog Appetit has to offer, please go here.
-------------------------------------------------------
About the photo: One of last year's pies all wrapped up for the freezer. The pies freeze well, so I often make a double batch and freeze one for later.