Tag: Jewish Food

Matzo Balls (and Andi’s No-Fail Broth)

Matzo Balls (and Andi’s No-Fail Broth)

by Andi Cohen-Rabiner ♥ 0 Leave a Comment

A Recipe from Florence Jones’ Recipe Box (????)

About the Recipe

This year, I had the pleasure of hosting a family Passover Seder. And when I say host, I mean the whole darn thing, including the Festive Meal. For those not familiar, there’s some ceremony and storytelling that come before anyone can eat. Sometimes it’s a lot, and sometimes it’s short and sweet. But any way you do it, the highlight is always the Festive Meal. And the Festive Meal must have matzah ball soup.

I had planned on grabbing a matzah ball recipe from my cousin, or perhaps sourcing from the internet. But, by chance, I was going through Grandma’s recipe box and I stumbled on this recipe! It was no doubt cut from the back of the matzah meal box. There are layers of tape on it. Knowing my grandma, she probably taped it to her cabinets each year for easy reference during the holiday season.

A reverse image search on Google says that this is probably Manischewitz, likely from the late 20th century. That sounds about right. Let me tell you – they’re floaters, and they’re delicious.

Some tips on making a great matzah ball:

  • Seltzer instead of water or broth is said to make extra fluffy balls
  • Make the batter and then let it sit in the refrigerator. The recipe says 15 minutes, experience says at least a few hours.
  • Cook the balls in water the day before your Seder. Drop them in your broth and let the broth and balls sit in the refrigerator overnight.
  • A little extra salt never hurts
  • Use one of your balls as a tester for done-ness. Remove it from the pot and cut it in half. If it’s not done, pop the halves back in and cut one of them again to test again. It almost always requires at least 10-20 minutes more than the recipe to get them fully cooked and fluffy.

For more recipes from my family recipe box, check out my Recipes from Grandma page.

A vintage Seder

I love using my family heirlooms and vintage Pyrex to make a celebration dinner beautiful. I used my great-grandfather’s dining table, my great-aunt’s tablecloth, grandma and great-aunt’s china, grandpa Koppelman’s kiddush cup for Elijah… and so much more. Everything was topped off with a Pyrex Seder Plate and Matzah holder.

Andi’s No-Fail Chicken Broth

A great broth is an absolute must when cooking Matzah Ball Soup. Here’s how I do it:

  • I make turkey stock from my Thanksgiving turkey bones. If you can’t make your own stock, don’t stress. Penzeys has some great bases.
  • Line a big stock pot with cheese cloth. Put in the cheese cloth one roaster chicken, some onions, some carrots, some celery, and one big sweet potato (don’t sleep on the sweet potato). Cut your veggies into chunks before putting them into the cheese cloth. You’ll want to save them for when you serve the soup.
  • Gather the corners of the cheese cloth together and bind them at the top with a rubber band or some twine. The goal is to be able to lift the whole bundle out of the soup when it’s done.
  • Add your stock or soup base, a little salt, a little pepper.
  • Cover the bundle with water, just until you hit the twine. Cover and simmer for 4-5 hours.
  • Let it cool enough to handle the bundle. Take the bundle out and put it into a bowl. It’s going to drain some more delicious broth, so don’t put it into a colander or over the drain!
  • Open your bundle, but don’t get rid of the cheese cloth yet. Get rid of the sweet potatoes. Pick the meat off the chicken and put the meat along with your veggies in a container and into the fridge. You’ll want to put that back into your soup before you reheat it.
  • Re-bundle your cheese cloth and squeeze all of the broth out of what’s left. Throw out the bundle and put the additional broth back into the pot.
  • Matzah balls go into the broth and the whole pot goes into the fridge overnight. When you’re about an hour away from the Festive Meal, take the pot out of the fridge and skim the fat. Put the pot back on the stove and add back in the chicken and veggies. Simmer until it’s time to eat.

The Recipe!

Ingredients:

2 T vegetable oil
2 large eggs, slightly beaten
1/2 cup Manischewitz Matzo Meal
1 t salt, if desired (from Andi: yes, you’ll want to add this)
2 T soup stock or water

Directions:

Blend vegetable oil, eggs, matzo meal and salt together.

Add soup stock or water and mix until uniform. Cover and place in the refrigerator for 15 minutes

Bring 1 1/2 quarts of water to a brisk boil

Reduce flame and drop balls approximately 1-inch in diameter formed from refrigerated mixture

Cover pot and cook for 30-40 minutes

Makes about 8 matzo balls

Mama Koppelman’s Noodle Kugel

Mama Koppelman’s Noodle Kugel

by Andi Cohen-Rabiner ♥ 0 Leave a Comment

A Recipe from the Koppelman Family Recipe Box (????)

About the Recipe

For many of us, there are recipes that live in our hands and brains and hearts. We recognize the ingredients when they’re set out on the counter. We recognize the smell as we come down the stairs. It’s the recipe made by our family over and over again, consistently on every family holiday table. It’s the recipe we share with friends and pass on to our children. This is that recipe in my family.

Just as every Italian family has a family tomato sauce recipe, every Ashkenazi Jewish family has a kugel recipe. This recipe came to me from my grandma on my mother’s side and my mother. That side of the family came to America through Ellis Island in a journey that began in Lithuania. I have no doubt that it’s been iterated on and changed over the years (I’m pretty sure that we didn’t have cans of crushed pineapple in the old country).

Here are a few variations and tips to consider that the family has gathered over the years:

  • Margarine can be substituted for the butter for a kosher parev version
  • My father loves the addition of golden raisins, about 3/4 to 1 cup
  • I always have measured the cinnamon sugar with my heart
  • Substitute a good pie spice for the cinnamon for a bit more depth of flavor
  • I use crushed pineapple in juice, my mother prefers the heavy syrup version, any variation is fine as long as it’s about a 15 oz. can
  • Great to make ahead and either refrigerate or freeze until your meal. If frozen, thaw in the refrigerator and then reheat in the oven. If just refrigerated, reheat in the oven.
  • My mother often divided this recipe into 2-8″x8″ smaller kugels and then froze them. She would freeze them and thaw them to give to friends or as a last minute bring-along to a potluck.

For more recipes from my family recipe box, check out my Recipes from Grandma page.

About the book

At this point, this recipe lives rent-free in my brain. I know I have a written down version somewhere, but I honestly don’t even know where at this point. Trust me when I say – this is the right one for today, and this is how it goes:

The Recipe!

Ingredients:

1 lb. wide or extra wide egg noodles
1/2 lb. unsalted butter or margarine, divided
large can (~15 oz.) crushed pineapple
6 eggs, beaten
1/2 cup cinnamon sugar, divided
pinch of salt

Directions:

Cook and drain egg noodles. Melt 1/4 lb. of the butter. Add the melted butter, pineapple, eggs, about half of the cinnamon sugar, and the salt to the noodles. Mix well and pour whole mixture into a 9″ x 13″ x 2″ baking dish.

Melt the remaining butter and sprinkle it over the whole top of the noodle mixture. Sprinkle the remaining cinnamon sugar over the butter. Bake at 350*F for 55-60 minutes, until the top is browned and the mixture is bubbly. 

Serve hot and enjoy leftovers hot or cold. 

Honey Cake

Honey Cake

by Andi Cohen-Rabiner ♥ 0 Leave a Comment

A Recipe from The Golden Jubilee Recipe Book (1959)

About the Recipe

Tonight (September 6, 2021) at sundown, is the start of Rosh Hashana, the Jewish holiday celebrating the new year. It’s one of my favorite holidays. It means time with family, getting a little bit of wine even when it wasn’t supposed to be allowed, and of course – delicious food. One of the traditional dishes to celebrate is honey cake, so of course I went looking for a good one!

This one is delicious! Light and fluffy, and just the right amount of sticky sweet for a sweet new year. It’s already bubbling and rising by the time the batter goes into the pan, which is exactly what one looks for in a great honey cake. It’s got a very traditional flavor to it, without all the density that sometimes comes along.

Two quick changes – throw this one in a 9×13 pan. Otherwise you’ll end up with batter everywhere! And I went a little bit lighter on the added sugar, maybe a 1/4 cup less. I find the balance is a bit better.

L’shana tovah! And happy 5782!

About the book

This book is the gift that keeps on giving. As it turns out, this little B’nai B’rith book has filtered down all over the New York metro area. A friend of mine found the noodle kugel recipe that I shared previously and noted that it was the same one she used in childhood. The dishes in it seem to be all of the regional favorites of Jewish New York, and I’m not even a little bit upset about it.

On a more personal note, one of the ladies who submitted a “Similar recipe” above is Rose Dubinsky. My paternal grandmother was a Dubinsky. Her family came over through Ellis Island and lived in New York for awhile before relocating to the Baltimore/DC area. I can’t help but wonder if an old family recipe has just come back around to find me this time around…

The Recipe!

Ingredients:

4 eggs
2 cups sugar
1 lb. honey
1 t baking soda
1 cup strong coffee
4 cups flour
2 t baking powder
Juice of 1/2 lemon
Juice of 1/2 orange
1/4 cup almonds

Directions:

Mix eggs and sugar together; add honey.

Dissolve soda with a little hot water and add.

Sift flour and baking powder; add alternately with coffee; add the juices; stir in almonds.

Line 8″ x 10″ (I used a 9×13 and barely had enough room) baking dish with foil; pour in batter and bake in 350*F oven one hour.

Potato Pancakes No. 2

Potato Pancakes No. 2

by Andi Cohen-Rabiner ♥ 0 Leave a Comment

A Recipe from Tempting Kosher Dishes from the B. Manichewitz Co. (1930)

About the Recipe

It’s wintertime holiday season, which means it’s time for some latkes! And who better to give Becky and I a perfect latke recipe, than the Manichewitz Company? This is a basic, excellent recipe and hit the latke craving spot just right. Since it’s not Passover, we subbed in flour for the matzoh meal which worked just fine. We also splurged a little bit and fried it up in schmaltz, and I’m not going to lie – it’s divine!

Pro tip: To keep your oil / fat from going wonky and getting brown and burnt, stick a mini carrot or part of a full carrot in your pan. It sounds odd, but it really does keep everything tasting great.

For more recipes from my Weekend at Becky’s click here!

About the book

This book is cool for a number of reasons. We’ll start with the book itself. This is the third edition of the 1930 book and comes with one half in English, and the other half in Yiddish. We can imagine that at that time Yiddish may have still been spoken in the home. As the unifying language of the Jewish people, it was guaranteed that whether you were a recent immigrant or first generation American, you were able to enjoy all of the recipes. (Author’s Note: an earlier version of this blog incorrectly described the language as Hebrew.)

Now the history of this particular book. It belonged originally to Becky’s namesake – the original Rebecca, and her great-grandmother on her mother’s side. She was born in 1891 in Poland, and lived in Brooklyn according to her naturalization record, dated April 18th, 1939 on Ancestry. It’s just so cool that this book has made it 2 generations down the line.

About the glassware

It’s only fitting that a family book should have its recipe plated on a family plate. This plain, lovely white dish came from Becky’s Dassie (grandma), and was passed down to enjoy in her kitchen. We don’t know much about it, but it’s pretty and it does an outstanding job as a latke platter.

The Recipe!

Ingredients:

5 or 6 grated raw potatoes (about 3 cups)
1 grated onion
2 eggs
3/4 cup Manischewitz’s Matzo Meal
1 T salt
1/2 t pepper

Directions:

Drain off most of the liquid from the grated potatoes, then mix them with the other ingredients. Drop by tablespoonfuls into deep fat heated to 375*. Fry until golden brown. Makes 10-12 pancakes.

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Molly Goldberg’s Noodle Cheese Casserole

Molly Goldberg’s Noodle Cheese Casserole

by Andi Cohen-Rabiner ♥ 2 Comments

A Recipe from The Golden Jubilee Recipe Book (1959)

About the Recipe

Growing up, my mother always brought the kugel to family gatherings. And it was always the same (delicious, let’s be real) kugel – noodles, eggs, cinnamon, sugar, pineapple. As I got older, I discovered that there were other kugels in the world, and that a Jewish family’s kugel is just like an Italian family’s red sauce – personal, treasured, and shared over and over again.

This kugel is light and fluffy, unlike its heavier cousins. Separating and whipping up the eggs results in a light soufflé around the noodles. You’re left with this lovely, savory kugel with the snaps of sweetness from the raisins. A definite winner in the grand scheme of kugels. Molly Goldberg should be proud!

For more recipes from my Weekend at Becky’s click here!

About the book

This book came from my favorite cookbook shop in the East Village in Manhattan. When my husband and I bought a house out on Long Island and started to say “goodbye for now” to our East Village apartment, this was one of the places we stopped by. I asked the proprietor specifically for a vintage, Jewish book and pulled this one out of a stack of them.

The book celebrates the 50th anniversary of the B’nai B’rith. It’s a compilation of recipes from earlier fundraising books and is just delightful. It’s sectioned out into traditional Jewish holiday menus, treats, and even has a special section for Passover. I feel so lucky to have given it another Jewish home and can’t wait to dive into it again.

About the glassware

This is the second time I’ve co-opted Becky’s Spice of Life dish for a kugel. It belonged to her grandmother and has been lovingly passed down. She’s got the whole set and I can’t resist using it whenever I can. This dish is a little bit larger than the average square pan (it’s 9 3/4 x 9 3/4) which usually results in a little more crispy top to go around, and who can get mad about that?

The Recipe!

Ingredients:

1 T butter, creamed
1/2 cup sugar
1 tsp. salt
3/4 cup cottage cheese
1/4 cup sour cream
1/4 cup raisins
Grated rind of 1/2 lemon
Juice of 1/2 lemon
1/2 lb. of broad noodles, cooked and drained
4 eggs, separated

Directions:

Blend butter, sugar and salt together well. Add the cottage cheese, sour cream, raisins, lemon rind and juice. Blend. Add the noodles. Beat egg yolks until very thick and lemon-colored. Fold into cheese and noodle mixture. Beat egg whites stiff and fold into all. Put into buttered casserole. Put casserole into a pan of hot water, and bake in a moderate oven 350F about an hour. Should serve 6 generously.

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