The Shabbat Table is the latest CJN column from noted chef and food blogger Norene Gilletz. Click here for last week’s recipes.
Good Shabbos, Shabbat Shalom, and Happy Passover to you and your family! If you’re racking your brain trying to choose Passover recipes that can be served at room temperature or reheat easily for the seders, these suggestions may be helpful.
I love matzah balls and no one made them better than my Mom, Belle Rykiss z’l. Light and fluffy (my Mom hated ‘sinkers), these are still a family favourite. If you’re looking for a different twist, then try Judy Kancigor’s Shiitake Mushroom Matzah Balls. Judy writes: “Neither of my daughters-in-law ever liked matzah balls until I came up with this recipe. I doctored up plain old matzah ball mix — and a fine product it is! – with shiitake mushrooms and scallions for a shtetl favorite with an Asian twist.”
My Mom also made scrumptious Passover kigelach, which would expand and puff up in her bekelach (muffin pans). I can still taste those plump, portable puddings in my mind’s eye, savouring food memories of Passovers past when I was growing up in Winnipeg. I will be making kigelach for Passover once again this year, knowing that my mom will be watching over me from up above, making sure that I’m doing it just right. My son, Doug Gilletz, who is a chef and cooking instructor in Montreal, will be at my side, making them together with me, carrying on our family’s Passover tradition. Delicious Passover wishes to all – enjoy the taste of tradition!
MY MOM’S PASSOVER KIGELACH
My late mom. Belle Rykiss, always made these scrumptious matzah farfel kigelach when I was growing up in Winnipeg. When I moved to Montreal, my Aunt, Clara Tobin z’l, always served them at room temperature at the seders and they were always quickly devoured. These are delicious in chicken soup, or as a side dish with meat. The texture is like that of noodle kugel. Now that’s using your noodle without using any noodles!
2 1/2 cups matzah farfel
2 cups boiling water
3 eggs, beaten
1 1/2 tsp salt
2 Tbsp oil or chicken fat
1. Pour boiling water over farfel. Let stand for 10 minutes. Pour off excess water.
2. Combine farfel, eggs, salt and oil and mix well. Place a little oil in the bottom of muffin tins, and heat in oven. Divide mixture evenly into 12 compartments.
3. Bake at 350 F for 30 minutes, until nicely browned.
Yield: 6 to 12 servings.
Glazed Pickled Brisket is an excellent dish to serve for Passover on Shabbat – or any time. This version is boiled in advance, then topped with a glaze that contains Passover-friendly ingredients.
GLAZED PICKLED BRISKET
4 lb (1.8 kg) pickled brisket (or 2 smaller pickled briskets)
2 tsp paprika
1/4 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup apricot jam
2 Tbsp ketchup
2Tbsp lemon juice
1 Tbsp bottled horseradish (white or red)
1. Wash spices off brisket. Place in a large pot and add cold water to cover completely. Bring to a boil; reduce heat and simmer, covered, for 2 1/2 to 3 hours, until fork tender but not falling apart. Drain well. (Can be done in advance and refrigerated.)
2. Line a roasting pan with a double thickness of aluminum foil (or use a disposable heavy-duty aluminum foil roasting pan). Place brisket onto foil and sprinkle paprika over the top.
3. In a food processor fitted with the steel blade (or in a mini prep, or even in a mixing bowl), mix brown sugar, jam, ketchup, lemon juice, and horseradish together until well blended. Brush mixture evenly over top of brisket.
4. Bake uncovered in a preheated 350 F oven for about 30 minutes, until glazed and golden, basting occasionally.
5. Let cool, then slice across the grain. Transfer slices to a large serving platter. Delicious hot or cold!
Norene’s Notes:
- Pickled meats are often very salty. To reduce the sodium, place pickled brisket in a large pot of unsalted water and bring to a boil. Reduce heat and let simmer, uncovered, for 30 minutes. Drain well; then add fresh water to cover and continue as directed above.
- Another option is to soak the meat in cold water for several hours or overnight before cooking it, changing the water once or twice.
Arthur Schwartz is the author of Jewish Home Cooking: Yiddish Recipes Revisited (Ten Speed Press). The Passover chapter of “Jewish Home Cooking” includes many of his childhood memories, including removing the regular dishes and pots down to the basement and carrying all the Passover dishes and pots back upstairs. This was his job – and he hated it!
Arthur recalls: “We didn’t have carp swimming in the bathtub. My grandmother went to an old, reliable fish market where she could pick out the live fish from a big cement tank. I can still see her climbing the step up to the tank in her spiked heels, and with her long, well-manicured index finger, pointing to the specimen she wanted, then having the fish scaled and filleted on the spot. Of course, she kept the fish’s head, tail, and bones to make the broth that would later jell around her fish patties.”
Click here for the recipe for his grandmother’s gefilte fish: with some contemporary touches, including the use of the food processor and a stand mixer. Arthur also includes a recipe for Horseradish (Chrain). And for dessert, serve his delicious Pareve Apple Cake!
ARTHUR SCHWARTZ’S PASSOVER PAREVE APPLE CAKE
Jewish Home Cooking: Yiddish Recipes Revisited by Arthur Schwartz (Ten Speed Press)
Arthur writes: “When it was given to me, this recipe originally specified flour, not matzah cake meal. I didn’t think it was very good, but I made it a few times anyway, as my family and friends liked it. Obsessing over how to improve the recipe to make it more to my own liking, it dawned on me that someone had converted a perfectly good Passover cake into an everyday cake and that if I converted it back it would be much better. I love it now, and everyone I have served it to raves about it. One day I didn’t have quite enough ground cinnamon, however, and I blended together a substitute with the teaspoon of cinnamon I had, plus ground nutmeg, mace, and ginger to fill out the tablespoon measure. That was yet another improvement.”
Makes one 8-inch-square cake
Topping:
1/2 cup coarsely chopped walnuts or pecans
3/4 cup sugar
1 Tbsp ground cinnamon or a combination of ground cinnamon, nutmeg, mace, and ginger
Cake:
3 eggs
3/4 cup sugar
1/3 cup vegetable oil
3/4 cup matzo cake meal
5 medium apples, peeled, cored, halved, and cut into 1/4-inch-thick slices (about 5 cups), preferably Golden Delicious, Crispin (Mutzu), or other apples that keep their shape when cooked
1/3 cup raisins (optional)
1. Position an oven rack in the centre of the oven. Preheat the oven to 350F. Lightly oil an 8-inch-square glass baking dish.
2. To prepare the topping, mix together the walnuts, sugar, and cinnamon in a small bowl; set aside.
3. To prepare the cake batter, in a bowl, with a hand-held electric mixer, beat the eggs on medium speed until well mixed. Beat in the sugar, about 2 tablespoons at a time, beating until the mixture is thick and foamy. Beat in the oil, adding it in a steady stream. Scrape down the bowl with a rubber spatula. With the spatula, stir in the matzo cake meal, blending well.
4. Pour half of the batter mixture into the prepared pan. Sprinkle about half the topping mixture evenly over the batter. Top with half the apples and all of the raisins. Scrape the remaining half of the batter over the apples, spreading it out to cover the apples. Arrange the remaining apples on top of the batter. Sprinkle evenly with the remaining topping mixture.
5. Bake for 1 hour and 15 minutes, or until the sides of the cake pull away very slightly from the baking dish and the topping has begun to caramelize. (A cake tester is not reliable. It will not come out clean due to the moist richness of this cake.)
6. Let sit in the baking dish for several hours until completely cool before cutting into serving portions. This cake is yet another Yiddish food that improves with age. Keep the cake in its dish, covered tightly with plastic, and the next day the topping will have become a moist, candy-like coating.
Norene Gilletz is the leading author of kosher cookbooks in Canada. She is the author of eleven cookbooks and divides her time between work as a food writer, food manufacturer, consultant, spokesperson, cooking instructor, lecturer, and cookbook editor.
Norene lives in Toronto, Canada and her motto is “Food that’s good for you should taste good!” For more information, visit her website or email her at [email protected].