my house smells amazing.

Today is in the middle of Pesach, and we have having our seder tonight instead of on Wednesday, since all of us had to work. This is a variation of my chicken soup, it's really tasty, and very good for slight hangovers after a night of drinking. In my circle of friends, this is "the holiday with the wine and that soup with the balls" and people always ask to come over for dinner. I also make a vegan soup, which I give to close friends this holiday that are either vegetarian or Muslim. However, i put not vegan matzoh balls in them, but they are veg not vegan anyways.

This particular recipe is kind of strange. I make 2 pots of chicken soup, but i only return half of the chicken, dividing among the 2 soups. The other chicken is served as stewed chicken along with the seder meal (and is quite tasty!!). The matzoh balls can either be split amongst the 2 pots or just cooked in one and then divided.

Just a note - this takes about 5 hours to make, start to finish, but is well worth it!! It's doesn't need very much babysitting, thankfully.

Matzoh Ball Soup

the balls (this is really a quadruple batch)
2 c matzoh meal
8 tbsp veg oil
8 tbsp water or stock
a little salt and pepper
8 eggs


the broth (double this)
1 chicken (about 3-4 lbs)
1 pretty large stockpot
4 or 5 cloves garlic
sprig each of dill and parsley
1 yellow onion, peeled and quartered
3 carrots, peeled and broken in half
3 celery stalks washed and broken in half
a little salt
3 peppercorns (or a couple shakes of pepper)
a large pyrex dish and cutting board (for sorting)

first, make the balls. Mix the salt, pepper, eggs, and oil lightly. add matzoh meal and mix. add water and mix. This should be pretty soupy now, but it will thicken, promise. Cover with plastic wrap and stick in the fridge until the soup is ready for them.

Now make the soup. Put the chicken in the pot, cover with water till it's about an inch or two above the chicken. add the rest of the ingredients, cover, and bring to a boil. Once this boils, reduce the heat to med-low and simmer for at least an hour (i usually do about 1.5-2 hours). You will know when it's ready when you try to fish out the chicken and it falls apart. taste for salt content, add a little water if needed. Fish out the chicken (tongs and a fry skimmer really help) and put in the pyrex dish. Skim the half inch of fat off of the top of the soup and discard (EW!). Fish out the veggies, chop them up, and return them to the pot. Add about 4 c of water, recover, and continue to simmer.

Cook the balls. Give the bowl of matzoh mash a quick stir. Take a tablespoon and chunk out a nice hunk of mix. roll a 2" size ball in your hand, and return to the pot. When all the balls are rolled, cover tightly and cook for 30-40 min.

Sort the chicken. just do ONE of the chickens! Remove the skin and discard. Pull the meat off the bones and remove any cartilige; toss the bones and cartilige. This will probably be really hot, so work quickly and use tongs and a fork if you need to. Let cool for about 10 min, so you can actually touch the meat without burning the crap out of yourself. shred into spoon-friendly chunks, returning half to each pot of soup. Serve HOT as first course of Passover! YUM!

Vegetarian Matzoh ball soup
1 pretty large stockpot
5 cloves garlic
sprig each of dill and parsley
1 large yellow onion, peeled and quartered
2 green onions, cleaned (NOT chopped)
5 carrots, peeled and broken in half
5 celery stalks washed and broken in half
a little salt
5 peppercorns (or a couple shakes of pepper)
1 small piece of ginger
a couple shakes italian seasoning

put everything in a stockpot, fill with water to a couple inches above all the veggies. Cover and bring to a boil. Reduce to a low boil/simmer and cook for about 3-40 min (the celery should be REALLY really cooked and the onions almost mooshy). Add salt as needed. Fish everything out of the soup. Add a couple cups of water, cook balls as directed in first recipe. During this time, chop up all the veggies (toss the parsley, ginger, and dill). When the balls are done, return everything to the pot. Serve and share with your girlfriend this year, dangit!

RIP food processor

FYI, after my last lemongrass attempt, my food processor bit the dust. ...And by bit-the-dust i mean broke in the middle of making lemongrass tofu. If you use not all the way chopped up lemongrass, it doesn't work very well and yo uhave very... er.... woody food.

I am looking for recommendations for not-humongous food processors so that I can continue to make hummus and lemongrass things. Budget limited.
*SIGH*

mmmm, jew cookies

fresh bakes goodness.
Hamentashen
Yes, I know I'm late. I bought all the goodies to make these, but ran out of time. It was a busy couple of weeks! These are some of my absolute favorite cookies on the planet that do not necessarily involve chocolate. I don't know mom's recipe, but this is based off of a couple I've found over the years. Favorite fillings are: poppyseed (pie filling), almond (pie filling), chocolate chips (the mini ones work best), and all-fruit jams (my sister loves the raspberry one the best).

Since I have a tile countertop, i just unrolled a big big sheet of aluminum foil, floured it, and it worked fine. easy clean up too!

5 oz unsalted butter or margarine (a stick and a 1/4)
1 3/4 c flour (i use unbleached)
1 egg yolk
2 tsp almond milk
pinch salt
1 tsp vanilla extract
3 tbsp sugar
whatever canned filling

combine dry ingredients in a bowl. warm butter in the microwave (not TOTALLY melted, just nice and soft). combine by form with dry ingredients. add egg, milk, and vanilla, and mix with fork. Cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate for an hour.

Preheat oven to 375. Roll out sections of dough on a floured surface. Cut round shaped out with a coffee tin or something (my pint glasses worked nicely). arrange on cookie sheet and drop a tsp of filling into each. Pinch of sections of 3rds to form the circles into funny pyramids, to make them kinda look like little jelly filled hats. BAKE at 375 for 15-20 min, until golden.

tips

• you can also be lazy and cut out squares and fold those over, but they aren't as neat.
• don't overfill! There is nothing grosser than burned jelly on the bottom of your cookies! Jellies tend to leak through any tiny cookie hole and bubble up.
  
• If you want the "I spent entirely too much time on these" look, brush each cookie while baking with a smear of beaten egg. it makes them golden and pretty.

ASSEMBLY INSTRUCTIONS
cookie rounds
1 small blop

fold up 2 corners, pinching the ends
pinch up the 3rd, and voila! a semi-cool looking little cookie.

leftover veggies sandwich

Earlier in the week, D, the sis, and I went to Star Pizza. The place is good for pizza, and the rest of the food is pretty good too. I got a veggie sandwich that was tasty, although a bit on the skimpy side. I ate half of the sandwich (which was onion, avocado, pesto, sprouts, tomato) and accompanied (underseasoned) potatoes, and doggie bagged the rest.

Today I was hungry (obviously), and decided to revisit my sandwich. The sprouts, tomato, and avocado were a little gross looking so i scraped the sandwich down to the pesto. I had cut veggies and avocado in the fridge from yesterday's bbq, so i decided to restart this sandwich. I put the bread and potatoes coated with a lil "Slap Ya Mama" seasoning in the broiler for 4 min. In the meantime, i sauteed some sliced red onion, garlic, mushrooms, and diced dried onion for alittle flavor variation until the onions were soft. I tossed in an egg white to give it a little more substance (as I was baking and just happened to have one laying around) and some italian seasoning. Pulled out my potatoes and crusty bread, layered the sandwich with my sauteed mix, mayo, and topped with a layer of chopped avocado.

MMMMMM

quite tasty, and quite nice to look at.

sunday dinners

On sunday nights, i try to cook lunches for both me and D for a few days. That way, if i come home late late, he will still have dinner. Here are the recipes for the food i made for the week.

stir fried tofu and green beans

1/2 block firm tofu, squeezed and cubed
1 c frozen green beans
1/2 can shredded bamboo shoots
1/2 large yellow onion, chopped
memmi
a big handful of shittake mushrooms, cleaned and sliced
1 tsp chopped garlic
olive oil
crushed red pepper

put cubes of tofu in a pan with garlic and a swirl of olive oil. Fry for about 5 min on medium high, until one side is beginning to turn golden. Add memmi (2 or 3 good swirls), bamboo, shittakes, and onion, and stir, cook for another 4 minutes. Add green beans, another swirl of memmi, and red pepper. Cook for another 5 min, stir frying until green beans are tender.




Tofu Green Curry (not so traditional)

1/2 block firm tofu, squeezed, cubed
1 can coconut milk
1/2 yellow onion, chopped
1 tsp crushed garlic
1 handful snow peas
1/2 green pepper, chopped
1/2 can shredded bamboo shoots
1 tsp fish sauce
green curry paste
turbinado sugar

stir fry onion in a swirl of olive oil in a wok for about 4 minutes. add garlic, and stir fry for another 3. add tofu, coconut milk, bamboo, fish sauce, about 3 tbsp of curry paste, and 3 tbsp sugar. Reduce to simmer, cover for about 5 minutes. taste for heat and sweetness balance, add more as needed. add everything else and simmer for another 5 min. serve hot with jasmine rice. MMMMMM



toasty tempeh
Ok, so i've never made tempeh before. mom has, and it's been good, but i never really had the urge to buy it. well, i bought it, and attempted to cook it this way. Other than the onions getting a little more charred than carmelized, it's really very tasty, nutty, and totally snackable.

4 tbsp olive oil
1 tbsp chopped garlic
1/8 c chopped onion
1/8 tsp cardamon
3 tbsp shoyu (or whatever soy sauce you got)
1 pack original tempeh

cube up tempeh, add to a pan with oil. fry for about 5 minutes, tossing occasionally. Add garlic, cardamon, and onion, and fry for another 5 minutes. Add soy sauce and fry until the tempeh is toasty. Drain on napkins.




^^mustard greens ^kale

seasoned asian greens
Now, i LOVE the kind I get from Frenchy's in the ward, but a) that is the TINIEST cup ever of greens for $3, and b) that stuff is horrible for you. This kinds are still tasty, but cheap, filling, and really good for you.

1 bunch greens, washed, washed again, and chopped
memmi
1/4 sweet yellow onion, chopped
a clove of garlic, crushed
ginger powder

boil 4 c water in a saucepan. add stems and simmer for 5 minutes, add onion and garlic, and simmer for another 5. The water should be mostly gone by now. add everything else (about 3 tbsp memmi), and cook for another 5 min, stirring constantly. Once all the greens are steamed, add a swirl more of memmi and serve hot.


OH, and I did make some meat for the week for my carnivore.

poor gurl lunches

I see folks all the time eat the cup-o-soup lunches. Now I LOVE ramens (or any instant pho noodles either for that matter), but eating them with freeze dried peas and corn is no way to go.

Invest in some better noodles! Instant pho or rice stick noodles are 30-50 cents a piece (instead of 20), about 20% less sodium, and usually under 200 calories for the entire pack (under half of normal ramens), and come will all sorts of goodies to adjust the flavor... some get HOT. Or, get some exotic ramens or udons with many flavoring packets!

Toss in some sliced and destemmed shittakes (about 4 will do ya), 1 sliced green onion, some sprouts (if you have em), some shredded carrot, a couple pieces of surimi/tofu/or krabstick, and some snow or snap peas (i prefer snap, they keep better), and VOILA! In 5 minutes, you have a lunch your coworkers are truly envious of! Not to mention, it all costs about $1.

+ ++ +

= ENVY

pictures

ALRIGHT already!
At your suggestion, I'm going to put pics of what i've got from now on. I will try try to get things up soon, so there will be a backlog of pictures. Might as well put those lenses to use, yea?