I love health food stores! I love to walk through the aisles, read the nutrition facts on totally random items and I especially love when I find something that I didn’t even know existed. On my most recent health food shopping excursion on the Upper West Side in Manhattan, I was shopping for healthy cookies and non-dairy cheese when I came across cold-pressed and unrefined organic oils that I had never seen before. Besides the usual olive oil, the flavors that really caught my eye were the almond oil and pumpkin oil. How cool does that sound?!? And boom, they are kosher! I snatched up both, trying to ignore the high price tag, and I knew I would be trying the pumpkin oil first. Yup, I like to pretend that Thanksgiving is year round. And with Shavuot, the Jewish holiday celebrating the receiving of the Ten Commandments, just around the corner, I just wanted to make something very very dairy! It’s a tradition on Shavuot to eat dairy food (check out some of the many reasons here), rather than the usual meat we eat on Shabbat, so I like to take full advantage of all the heavy cream and cheese I can get my hands on. Yeah, I am definitely going to gain a few pounds over the weekend! To liven things up a bit, I was lucky enough to make both the ice cream and brittle with three high school seniors whose work study program allowed them to actually cook and bake. How cool!!! I hope they weren’t too scared when they walked in the door and found out that they would be making pumpkin oil ice cream and pumpkin seed brittle. But my kitchen is not your average kitchen…so thanks to Daniella, Reva and Tess for helping me experiment with some new recipes, and for teaching me a few new things along the way!

Pumpkin Oil Ice Cream

2 cups low fat or fat free half-and-half
5 egg yolks
1/3 cup sugar
1/2  tsp cinnamon
1/2  tsp nutmeg
pinch of sea salt
1 cup heavy cream
1/3 cup pumpkin oil

Pumpkin Seed Brittle

1/4 cup salted butter
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/2 cup packed light brown sugar
1/4 cup honey
1 cup shelled toasted pumpkin seeds
pinch of sea salt

I started with the ice cream custard, which would need some time to cool before going in the ice cream maker. I warmed the half-and-half in a saucepan over medium heat until it bubbled around the edges. Separately, Reva whisked together the egg yolks, sugar, cinnamon, nutmeg and salt.

I tempered the yolks by slowly ladling about half the warm half-and-half into the egg yolks while Tess was constantly whisking, then I pour the warmed egg yolks into the saucepan. Tess stirred the mixture constantly over medium heat with a wooden spoon, scraping the bottom as she stir, until the mixture thickened and coated the back of the spoon.

I poured in the cream then poured the mixture through a mesh strainer into a clean bowl. Tess whisked the pumpkin oil into the custard until it was well blended. Check out the color of that pumpkin oil. Very green!

We cool the custard to room temperature over an ice bath. Originally, the ice bath contained just water and ice but Daniella suggested pouring out the water and adding tons of salt to the ice. Lots of chemistry involved there, but what we did figure out is that the salt keep the ice hard longer, which would make the custard cool down faster. Well, it worked! Daniella whisked the mixture every few minutes

If you have time, you can just chill the custard thoroughly in the refrigerator (overnight, if possible). But with the ice bath and constant whisking, we were able to cool down the custard quick enough to make the ice cream after only an hour or so. In the meantime, we worked on the brittle. Well, really, I worked on the brittle because I was afraid that one of the girls would get burned from the hot sugar and it would be all my fault! But you won’t believe how easy this brittle is! I melted the butter and cinnamon in a small saucepan over medium heat.

I stirred in the brown sugar and honey then I brought it to a boil, without stirring, until the mixture was a dark amber and the candy thermometer reached 280 degrees F.

I stirred in the pumpkin seeds and salt and cooked until 300 degrees F, around 2 minutes.

I carefully pour the mixture on to a parchment lined baking sheet, spreading in to a thin layer with an oiled spatula and let it cool completely. Please be so careful since the mixture is extremely hot! After around 10 minutes, the brittle was cool enough to handle and the girls jumped right in! They peel the brittle away from the parchment paper and broke it in to pieces. We couldn’t stop eating it! Sweet, salty, crunchy and just super yummy. Brought me back to my childhood crunching on my moms homemade peanut brittle.

When the ice cream custard was extremely cold, Daniella poured it in to my ice cream maker and we followed the manufacturer’s directions.

After around 25 minutes in the ice cream maker, I poured the frozen custard in to a plastic container and froze the mixture overnight for a harder ice cream. Okay, maybe we all tried the soft ice cream first! Very “pumpkiny”! Should it have shocked me that pumpkin oil would taste like pure pumpkin?? Silly Melinda. The next day, I took the ice cream out of the freezer and scooped some out to taste again.

I sprinkled on some of the sweet and crunchy pumpkin seed brittle and enjoyed a bowl of creamy and even a little savory pumpkin oil ice cream. So unique and so delicious. You can make this ice cream with any flavor oil you have in your home. I can’t wait to experiment with new flavors.

Thanks again to Daniella, Reva and Tess for a fun day in my kitchen!

Macarons are my vice! I just can’t get them right. I don’t know what I am doing wrong and I think I need to bring in a macaron expert to show me how to make these delicate little treats (any takers?). Just look at those finished macarons above! No foot. No poof. And lots of cracks. I even tried a second time using a simple recipe from Martha Stewart but it just didn’t work out for me. I really wanted to make chocolate dipped strawberry macarons with a white cream filling so that’s what I was going for. Sounds good, right?? Maybe you have a recipe to share with me?

So here’s how it all went down…

First of all, I have to mention that I actually weighed my food for exact measurement. I really wanted to get it right and I thought weighing by grams would help me out. Guess not!

Since I couldn’t find any freeze-dried strawberries in my neighborhood, I decided to dry out my own. I sliced a 1/2 cup of strawberries, placed them on a cookie sheet (which should have been lined with parchment paper) and cooked them at 250 degrees F for 1 hour. They came out perfectly dry and tart, just the way I wanted them.

After the strawberries cooled, I scraped them off the pan and added them to a food processor with powdered sugar and ground almonds. I sifted the mixture to get out any large pieces.

Separately, I whisked egg whites with cream of tartar and a sprinkle or salt until foamy then slowly added the sugar. The whites were ready when they had a nice shine and stiff peaks. At that point, I added the powdered sugar mixture. I think THIS is where I went wrong. The directions for whipping the whites were just a bit too confusing for me. “Add the dry ingredients to the egg whites, and with a rubber spatula, deflate the whites while mixing. Combine the ingredients thoroughly and watch carefully, lifting the mixture with the spatula to see if it leaves ribbons.  Stop mixing before the mixture becomes runny. Test by seeing if the batter is lava-like.  It should not maintain its lines but sink slowly back into itself in about 10 seconds.” Whaaaat?

When I thought my batter was like lava (ha!), I poured it in to a plastic freezer bag to use as a piping bag. Here’s a tip that actually works: place the end of the bag in a tall glass to keep it steady.

I piped the batter on to a parchment lined baking sheet, allowing some space for spreading. At this point, I thought the batter looked great! I guess I was wrong. I rapped the cookie sheet on the counter a few times to remove any bubbles then I impatiently waited 30 minutes to allow the batter to dry out a little.

I baked the batter at 250 degrees F for 15 minutes and that’s when the sadness began. They didn’t grow at all and there was no perfect little foot on the bottom. So I tried a new recipe! My husband helped me quickly wash all of the dishes and I got back to work right away. This time, I figured I would try to just follow a simple recipe and I assumed I would have the perfect macaron. Wrong! It’s possible that I over-beat the egg whites this time. But hey, at least I can learn from my mistakes, right?!?

I thought maybe, just maybe, they would bake correctly! Martha said to bake at 350 degrees with the door slightly ajar and that’s exactly what I did.

Ummmm….nope! Please help me. I’m desperate for macaron help. I need to get these right. I’ll take all the help I can get.

I will say one thing about the second batch of failed macarons. They ended up being fluffy and soft so I sandwiched them with some raspberry filling and my in-laws at them all up!

Buttermilk. There’s something about it’s decedent creaminess that makes any recipe in to a masterpiece. I don’t bake with buttermilk often enough since I tend to focus on non-dairy items and make my own soy-buttermilk but in this case, the best choice was to use the real thing! To crank things up a notch, I added wild ramps, also called wild leeks, that I just purchased from Gilt Taste. Man, I love Gilt Taste. Since I don’t have any good farmer’s markets near my home, Gilt Taste has become my very own farmer’s market. Where else can I get fiddleheads, zucchini blossoms and heirloom tomatoes at the drop of a hat? So with my exciting new purchase, this beautiful ramp and buttermilk pepper biscuit was born. I did quite a bit of research online so I wouldn’t misuse the buttermilk and it turns out there are quite a few ramp and buttermilk biscuit recipes out there so I had to make mine special. I changed mine up a bit by adding agave nectar and lots of pepper. The incredible ramp pesto recipe was courtesy of the wonderful Confident Cook, Hesitant Baker and I’m so excited to share it with all of you. And the addition of the smoked salmon was just outrageously good. Would you believe I caught the salmon myself? Oh, and if your on a diet, these biscuits are fantastic! Only 3 points on Weight Watchers.

Ramp and Buttermilk Pepper Biscuit
makes 12 biscuits 

3/4 cup chilled buttermilk
3 Tbsp agave nectar
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp pepper
1/2 tsp salt
3 Tbsp chilled salted butter, cubed + 1 Tbsp melted to brush on biscuits
3 Tbsp shortening, cubed
fresh cracked black pepper

Ramp Pesto

1/2 cup roughly chopped ramps
1/4 cup pine nuts
1/2 lemon
1/3 cup Parmesan cheese
1/3 cup olive oil
salt and pepper to taste

I preheated the oven to 425 degrees F. I washed the ramps and chopped them finely and set aside. Be sure to use the entire ramp, including the bulbs and leaves.

I whisked together the chilled buttermilk and agave in a bowl and set aside.

I mixed together the flour, baking powder, pepper and salt. I added the cubes of butter and shortening and cut it in with a pastry cutter (or two knives) until it looked like sand. Make sure not to cut the mixture too finely since those little pieces of butter and shortening add a lightness to the biscuits while they bake.

I gently stirred in the chopped ramps then made a well in the center of the mixture and poured in the buttermilk.

I very gently mixed the buttermilk in to the flour mixture until a ball was formed, being sure not to over mix. I turned the dough on to a floured surface, floured my hands and very gently folded until no longer sticky and all ingredients were fully incorporated.

I rolled out the dough, using as little force as possible with the floured rolling-pin, to around 1/2 inch thick. You can go thicker if you want for a taller biscuit. Since I wanted mine for the sandwich, I went a little thinner. I cut out biscuits with a 3 inch round cookie cutter.

I placed the dough rounds on a  cookie sheet prepared with vegetable spray. I brushed the tops with melted butter and topped with freshly cracked pepper.

I baked the biscuits for 20 minutes, until a nice golden brown, then placed on a cooling rack.

While the biscuits were cooling, I made the easy pesto. I just combined the ramps, pine nuts, zest and juice of half a lemon, Parmesan, salt and pepper and chopped in my food processor. I slowly drizzled in the olive oil and that’s it! Done.

I also sliced up some beautiful smoked salmon and got it ready for my biscuit sandwich. Okay, so maybe I snacked on a few pieces as I sliced. Smoked wild salmon is just a cut above the rest. Just look at that color!

And then came the best part. Time to assemble and eat! By this point, the biscuits were still warm but much easier to handle. I sliced one in half, spooned some pesto on the bottom half, added some smoked salmon and topped it off with the top half of the biscuit. Oh man!  The biscuit was light and fluffy on the inside with a nice crunch on the surface. The boldness of the freshly cracked pepper was balanced perfectly by the mild onion flavor of the ramps. And the salty ramp pesto and smoked salmon complimented the brightness of the biscuits. Each bite was a little bit of heaven.

Fifty Shades of Grey. Nuff said. Okay, maybe I’ll elaborate a tiny bit, although Kitchen Tested is rated PG so I can’t say too much. Just this: Go read 50 Shades of Grey. Sure, you could read any old naughty romance novel but 50 Shades will blow your mind with its descriptive and very shocking story telling. This book will definitely keep you tied down (or up) and wanting more…so much more! I don’t want to give too much away but let’s just say that the tie in the above picture isn’t just inspired by the book cover.

Anastasia (Ana) Steele is an innocent college student in Vancouver, Washington (shout out to my home state) who is about to graduate. She seems to be a romantic at heart, looking for that guy who will sweep her off her feet…until she meets an incredibly handsome billionaire named Christian Grey. Christian is drawn to Ana and as much as he tries to stay away from her, he just can’t help but be near her. Sounds like Edward and Bella from the Twilight Series, right? Well, that’s because the characters of Ana and Christian are based on Edward and Bella. Brilliant! I won’t say too much more about the book except that Christian has a very good reason to keep innocent Ana away from him…but alas, the two literally “jump in to bed together” and the escapades begin. Let’s just say that there are contracts, handcuffs, ben wa balls (you’ll have to just look that one up yourself),  a very twitchy palm and lots of, um, foil packets. Okay, I’m done. Go buy the Fifty Shades Trilogy and then make these knotted pretzel inspired by all the knots tied in this series.

Grey Sea Salt Garlic Knotted Pretzels

1 1/2 cups warm water
2 Tbsp brown sugar
1 packet (1 1/4 tsp) active dry yeast
6 Tbsp unsalted butter, melted
2 1/2 tsp sea salt
1 Tbsp garlic powder
5 cups all-purpose flour
3 quarts water
2/3 cup baking soda
2 Tbsp roasted garlic butter (recipe below), melted
unrefined grey sea salt

Roasted Garlic Butter

2 heads of garlic
1 stick butter, room temperature
olive oil
salt and pepper

It’s all so very simple! I’ve been meaning to make my own soft pretzels for a while and this seemed like the perfect time. I haven’t even told you how to make them yet and I already can’t wait to make them again!!!

I combined the warm water, sugar, yeast and butter in a bowl of my stand mixer and mixed with the dough hook until just combined. You don’t want to mess with the yeast too much. Just let it do its thing. I let the mixture sit for 5 minutes. Don’t worry if the mixture looks the same after your short wait. You don’t need to see any bubbles on the surface like you would when you just mix warm water with yeast. I added the salt, garlic and flour and mixed on low-speed until combined.

I then increased the speed to medium and continued mixing the dough until smooth, for around 2-3 minutes. If you dough is a little too wet, just add some flour to the mixture 1 Tbsp at a time. I kneaded the dough in to a ball with my hands, sprayed a large bowl with cooking spray and placed the beautiful dough in the bowl. I coated the dough in the cooking spray, placed a towel over the bowl and let it rise for 1 hour.

In the meantime, I made the roasted garlic butter. Are you drooling yet? I preheated the oven to 425 degrees F. I peeled the heads of garlic until down to the skins of the individual cloves then sliced the tips of the cloves, leaving the end of the bulb intact.

I drizzled the garlic with olive oil and sprinkled with salt and pepper then wrapped the whole thing in foil and cooked in the oven for 45 minutes.

When the garlic was cool enough to handle, I just squeezed out the soft cloves right in to the room temperature butter and stirred to combine. Done! There are so many ways to use this butter or even just the cloves on their own. I love to sprinkle roasted garlic cloves on homemade pizza and the butter is fantastic on rustic bread or on a fresh piece of white fish.

When the dough was double the size and beautifully risen, I set a large pot of water on the stove to boil. I placed the dough on a flat surface and evenly divided it in to 8 pieces. I used a ruler and scored the dough before slicing to make sure they were all similar in size.

Then I rolled the dough in to long ropes and shaped the pretzels using a double twist knot. Here’s how I got it done. Pictures speak louder than words, right?!

I made 8 large pretzels with the dough. You can make more or less, based on how big you want your pretzels. I slowly added the baking soda to the boiling water that had been eagerly waiting for me then boiled the pretzels in the water, 2 at a time for 30 seconds. I splashed the tops of the pretzels with the water to make sure both sides got covered. This part of the process is very important because the water mixture increases the pH in the pretzel so the crust is darker and the inside is fluffier. Trust me, your pretzel won’t be as tasty if you bake without boiling.

I removed the pretzels from the water with a large flat slotted spoon and placed on parchment lined baking sheets also sprayed with cooking spray. I brushed the tops with the melted roasted garlic butter then sprinkled liberally with the crunchy grey sea salt.

I baked the pretzels for 15 minutes, until golden brown. I placed the pretzels on a baking rack to cool enough to handle then jumped right in! I dipped right in to that garlic butter and went to town.

Look at that beautiful crust! The inside of the pretzel was soft and fluffy and the outside had a perfect dark crust with that amazing crunch from the unrefined grey sea salt. And you can’t forget about all of that fragrant garlic, filling the pretzel from the inside out! I have so many plans for this pretzel dough…just like all of those plans Christian Grey had for Anastasia Steele.

Happy 29th birthday to me! I decided last year that I would start making my own birthday cake and I’m so happy with that decision. Sure, someone could make a cake for me but where’s the fun and challenge in that? And my Rainbow Layer Birthday Cake for my 28th birthday is still my most popular post on Kitchen Tested. Can you believe it?!? So how could I top such a bright and exciting cake??? One word. Champagne! Need I say more? Okay, two more words. Jelly Belly. Now I’m done talking. Let’s get down to business.

Pink Champagne Cake
cake and frosting slightly adapted from Cake Fixation (why mess with perfection, right?)

2 1/2 cups cake flour
1 1/4 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp baking soda
3/4 tsp salt
2 1/4 cups sugar
10 Tbsp unsalted butter/margarine, melted and cooled slightly
1 cup pink champagne, flattened (stir to release bubbles)
3 Tbsp vegetable oil
2 tsp vanilla extract
6 egg yolks, room temperature
3 egg whites, room temperature
pink food coloring

Champagne Buttercream

1/2 cup margarine/butter, room temperature
1/2 cup shortening
1 lb powdered sugar
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
1/4 tsp salt
1/4 cup pink champagne, flattened

Raspberry filling or preserves

And don’t forget to buy lots and lots of Jelly Belly jelly beans! Around 600 (45 per row + the top), to be exact. It could be a little less, but better to have extra on hand to snacking. Just chose your color. I obviously went with pink and decided, based on recommendations from fans on Facebook, to go with a ombre design. Ombre is a graduation of color from light to dark and I thought it would look really beautiful on my special birthday cake. So here we go…

I preheated the oven to 340 degrees F. I greased three 8″ round cake pans, lined with parchment paper and set aside. I sifted together (I never ever sift but I really wanted to make sure this cake was perfect) the flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt and 2 cups of sugar. Separately, I stirred 1 cup of pink champagne in a measuring cup to get rid of the bubbles. I had to stir a few times before all of the bubbles were gone. In a medium bowl, I whisked together the margarine (I wanted to make a non dairy cake), champagne, oil, vanilla and egg yolks.

In my stand mixer, I whisked the egg whites on medium speed until foamy, around 30 seconds. With the machine running, I slowly added 1/4 cup sugar and continued beating the whites until stiff peaks formed. I set the bowl aside.

Since I forgot to take my own picture of the whites at stiff peak, check out this fantastic picture.
Original image here.

In another bowl in my stand mixer,  I added the flour mixture and with the mixer running on low-speed, I gradually poured in the margarine mixture and whisked until mostly incorporated, around 15 seconds. If you only have one bowl for your stand mixer, just move the egg whites to a separate bowl so you can reuse it. I scraped down the sides of the bowl then returned the speed to medium and beat until smooth. I added 1/8 tsp of pink gel food coloring and stirred to combine. Use as much or as little food coloring as you want to reach your desired shade. I carefully folded in the egg whites so they wouldn’t lose their fluff then I poured the batter in to the pans.

I baked the cakes for 35 minutes then gave time to cool before stacking the cakes. While the cake was cooling, I made the delicious and easy buttercream. I creamed together the margarine and shortening with a paddle attachment then slowly added the powdered sugar while the mixer was running on low. Once incorporated, I added the vanilla, salt and flat pink champagne then mixed on medium until the buttercream was smooth and fluffy.

I sliced off the very top of each cake to even them out, which made it easier to stack. On top of the first layer of cake, I spread on pre-made raspberry filling, placed the next layer on top and spread on more filling. For the top layer, I turned over the cake so the flat bottom was now the top. This made for a more even cake. I spread on a thin layer of the buttercream, called a crumb coat, to smooth out the cakes and cover any loose crumbs. I refrigerated the cake for 30 minutes then added another layer of the buttercream all around the cake. It doesn’t have to be perfect because it will all get covered soon enough with the jelly beans. 

I refrigerated the cake again for 30 minutes so the buttercream could set again and harden up just a bit then I began layering on the Jelly Bellies! I started with a small sample of jelly beans to decided if I liked the way it looked. Once I was happy with the design of the layers, I followed the pattern all around the cake. This part of the process took a while but it was totally worth it!

When I got to the top of the cake, I turned the pattern around and started with white around the edges and graduated to the darkest Jelly belly in the center.

So much fun, right?!?!

Next came the first slice! This cake has the perfect light and fluffy texture from the cake flour and beaten egg whites. I don’t think I can go back to all-purpose flour for cakes! The flavor of the pink champagne is perfectly subtle and the raspberry filling is a sweet and delicious compliment. And what can I say about the Jelly Bellies? Yum! Does that cover it?

Check out my Mock Crab Stuffed Jalapeno Poppers on My Imperfect Kitchen! And just in time for Cinco de Mayo!

Here’s a taste of what you’ll see…

I’m really excited to share this recipe with all of you on My Imperfect Kitchen. I am a huge fan of Sara and her blog and I love to read about all of her “imperfect” kitchen adventures. And now I want to welcome all of you to my own imperfect kitchen. For all who don’t know me, my name is Melinda and my blog, Kitchen Tested, is all about adventurous and unique cooking. I love to try new recipes and when I say I’ll try anything, I really mean it. Okay, so maybe I won’t eat olives and capers, but every girl has her limits, right?!?

So when I was deciding what dish to share with all of you for “Main Dish Monday,” I was torn between an old family favorite or a new recipe that I hope will one day become an old family favorite. Obviously, I went with the second option and put together something new and extremely delicious! Who would I be if I chose the ordinary option?!?   read more…

In honor of Yom Ha’azmaut (Israel Independence Day) today, I decided to make a traditional Israeli dish that I’ve always wanted to try – Shakshuka – eggs poached in a spicy tomato sauce. Sometimes keeping it simple is so important to the flavors and integrity of the dish and I think that’s the case with this recipe. As you all know, I love to add surprising and unique ingredients to my dishes (Gushers Meatballs anyone?) but I kept this one nice and clean. Since I’ve never made Shakshuka before, the adventure of trying a new dish was adventure enough for me.

Shakshuka/Matbucha Ingredients

1 Tbsp olive oil
1 small onion, chopped
3 cloves garlic, minced
1 Tbsp tomato paste
1 Tbsp smoked paprika
1 tsp cumin
1/2 tsp red pepper flakes
1/2 roasted red pepper
1/2 roasted green pepper
1 (28 oz) can diced tomatoes
salt to taste
3 eggs
parsley for garnish
crusty bread for garnish

I began by roasting the peppers in the oven. You can use jarred roasted peppers but there’s nothing better than fresh roasted peppers right out of the oven! I rubbed the peppers with a little bit of olive oil and broiled in the oven for around 10 minutes, turning the peppers every few minutes to make sure all sides blackened nicely without burning. I then placed the peppers in a paper bag and set them aside for at least 5 minutes to steam. This process causes the skin of the peppers to loosen so they are easier to peel.

I took the hot peppers out of the paper bag, peeled the blackened skin right off and chopped the peppers in to bite size pieces. It’s as easy as that!

In a large pan, I cooked the onion in olive oil on medium heat for 5-7 minutes, until the onion looked almost clear. I stirred in the garlic, tomato paste, paprika, cumin and red pepper flakes and cooked for 30 seconds. I then added the roasted peppers and stirred to combine.

I added the crushed tomatoes and a sprinkling of salt then simmered the mixture, stirring occasionally, for 30 minutes.

Since I was eating this shakshuka for lunch and there was a lot of the tomato mixture in the pan, I separated out a few ladles of the mixture in to a bowl then continued to prepare my meal. I cracked 3 eggs on top of the tomato mixture in the pan, covered and continued to cook for another 5-7 minutes, until the eggs were set.

I scooped the shakshuka in to a bowl and garnished with parsley and some crusty bread. Yum! The runny egg was so creamy and the tomato mixture was so flavorful and just a little bit spicy. If you want some added spice, you can throw in a bit of hot sauce or zhug at the end.

Now what to do with that extra tomato mixture that I set aside??? I put it right back in to the pan and simmered for another hour, stirring occasionally. The mixture thickened up considerably and became a beautiful and flavorful tomato chutney, also called matbucha in Hebrew. So if you want to just make a matbucha without the eggs, just follow all of the directions above, ignoring the eggs, and cook the mixture for 1-2 hours, until very thick. Just don’t forget to stir every once in a while so nothing burns.

The perfect dip with crusty bread or an exciting new lunch for my 20-month-old, Nora. I’m such a proud mommy!

]]> http://www.kitchen-tested.com/2012/04/26/from-shakshuka-to-matbucha/feed/ 2 http://www.kitchen-tested.com/2012/04/23/cookbook-review-giveaway-the-whole-foods-kosher-kitchen/ http://www.kitchen-tested.com/2012/04/23/cookbook-review-giveaway-the-whole-foods-kosher-kitchen/#comments Tue, 24 Apr 2012 00:09:43 +0000 Melinda Strauss http://www.kitchen-tested.com/?p=4774 Read More »]]>
Where do I start with master chef, restauranteur, teacher and cookbook author Levana Kirchenbaum’s new cookbook, The Whole Foods Kosher Kitchen?!? Let’s just start with the incredible size and weight of Levana’s latest cookbook, which is all about a healthy, whole foods approach to home cooking and eating. The cookbook is like a novel you can’t wait to dig right in to! Levana explains that “this book is my baby and the culmination of my life work” and you can truly feel the heart and soul of every recipe as you turn the pages.

In her newest and most extensive cookbook to date, Levana introduces us to a healthy world where food doesn’t have to be bland and boring. Each recipe has its own special introduction and you’ll learn so many incredible tips along the way. My favorite is definitely the hammer tip! Are you ready for this? I’m just going to quote Levana directly because I couldn’t say it any better myself:

“If I had a hammer…I would eat my veggies more often. You may find the use of a hammer in the kitchen somewhat odd and unbecoming, but you will quickly change your mind when  you see how many thankless tasks it performs in a jiffy. A hammer makes short work of cutting all those monolithic items that usually cause us so much grief in the kitchen: butternut squash, pumpkin, chocolate blocks, big turnips, and more. No force and no pressure whatsoever. Simply place a cleaver with the blade poised on the spots where you want to cut. Hit the cleaver with a hammer, with one clean stroke to the brute, and voila!”

Amazing, right? I can’t wait to buy my next block of chocolate so I can try this technique. Brilliant!

Even more important than the tips are the recipes themselves. Healthy, natural, sensible and beautiful to look at, Levana’s food makes you want to throw away the frozen fish sticks and boxed mac n’ cheese. With more than 350 simple and delectable recipes, a gluten-free index of more than 250 recipes and a Passover index with more than 250 recipes, there is something in this cookbook for everyone! Whether or not you keep Kosher, you will WANT this cookbook!

I marked almost every page of the cookbook with a recipe I can’t wait to try, but a few really stuck out in my mind and Levana has given me the opportunity to share those recipes with you. Enjoy!

Chinese Meat Loaf
Millet Fritters
Cranberry Peach Crumb Pie

Now on to the giveaway! Enter for a chance to win The Whole Foods Kosher Kitchen by Levana Kirschenbaum. You will also win a bonus DVD featuring 2 full-length cooking demos by Levana. The more times you enter, the more chances you have to win! One winner will be picked at random. The contest ends on Monday April 30th at midnight and the winner will be announced on Tuesday May 1st in the morning. Open to U.S. Residents only. You can also buy the cookbook online now if you want these healthful and beautiful recipes are in your hands before the giveaway is over.

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It all happened so fast! I was on Facebook stalking my friends and fellow food bloggers when I started to see an unfamiliar trend all over my friends pages. Challah shaped like keys popping up everywhere! I asked around and found out that my Jewish friends were making something called ‘Shlissel Challah.’ After a bit of research and a lot of Google searches, I learned this ‘key bread’ is a custom of many Ashkenazi women (Jews with family roots in countries of Europe and Asia) to place a key inside the dough of a loaf of challah or shape the dough like a key the weekend after Passover. The key challah is supposed to bring “segulah for parnassah” or a blessing to their home. Why right after Passover? On the high-holidays, we ask G-d to open the gates of heaven for our prayers and on Passover, we ask G-d to recall how He opened the gates for the entire nation of Israel in the days after the Jews left Egypt and were welcomed in to the “promised land.” When the challah is made to represent a key, we are asking for the key to unlock the gates for us as well. I think this tradition is so beautiful and as an Ashkenazi Jew myself, I decided it was time to take on this tradition for my family. Using my own delicious and simple challah recipe, which I make in a stand mixer, I played around with different key shapes and came up with something quite beautiful! I think I’m going to start making challah in different shapes more often. So much fun!

Click here and here for more information on the history of Shlissel Challah (two great sites with tons of wonderful history and I couldn’t decide which one to share with you, so you get both).

My Challah Recipe

1 cup warm water
1 1/2 Tbsp yeast
1/2 cup sugar
1/4 cup oil
2 eggs
1 tsp vanilla
4 cups bread flour
1/2 Tbsp salt

I placed the warm water in a measuring cup and added the yeast. I lightly stirred just to combine, left the yeast for 1 minute then added 1/4 cup of sugar. A few tips to make sure your yeast rises correctly: 1. Make sure the water isn’t too hot or too cold. Warm means warm! 2. After you lightly stir the yeast in to the water, don’t touch it. Yeast is actually alive and very sensitive so you want to just let it do its thing. 3. When the yeast has risen, it will look like foam on top of a cup of coffee or a beer.

While the yeast had a chance to rise for 5 minutes, I whisked together 1/4 cup sugar, oil, eggs and vanilla in a stand mixer.

When the yeast had a nice thick foam, I poured it in to the egg mixture and whisked together. I then added the flour and salt and kneaded with a dough hook for 5 minutes.

I placed the dough in bowl prepared with cooking spray so it wouldn’t stick and covered with a towel. I placed the bowl in a warm spot (usually my microwave) and let it rise for 1 1/2 hours.

After the long wait, I checked on the dough, which had risen beautifully and then I punched it down! I love that part. Just a few punches in the center and around the sides then back in the warm spot to rise for another hour. You’ll see by lighting in my pictures that it was dark outside by the time the dough was ready for baking. That’s what I get for starting my challah dough so late in the day but I didn’t even know I was going to bake anything until maybe 10 minutes before! I love spontaneous baking moments.

I took the dough out of the bowl and placed it on a surface prepared with cooking spray. I find that it’s easier to work with challah dough on a lightly oiled surface. And then experimenting began! I  started slicing the dough with a sharp knife to see how many keys I could make. If you are planning to add anything extra to your challah, like chocolate chips, raisins or sprinkles, now is the time. I kept mine plain but I love adding chocolate chips! Messy but delicious. You would just sprinkle the dough with your topping and lightly knead it. Then the shapes can begin!

I first braided some dough and made my first key with three different braids. One was a straight traditional braid for the key neck. Next came a long braid connected at both ends to create the key handle. Last was a little braid for the teeth. I then decided to make a pull-apart key using rolls of challah. For that, I rolled out long snakes of dough and make cute little knots.

I stuck them together to create the key shape. And last came the traditional braided challah with a key-shaped dough cut out on top.

I brushed the tops of the challah with egg, sprinkled some vanilla sugar over the tops and baked for 25-30 minutes at 350 degrees. The tops and bottoms were lightly golden brown when done. I let the baked challah sit on the baking sheet for 10 minutes to set before moving to a cooling rack, ensuring that the keys would not fall apart.

Here’s hoping I’ve brought segulah for parnassah to my home with this beautiful key challah. Either way, it was fun to make.

I’ve been eating beef tongue my entire life. My grandmother used to boil whole tongues right on her stove and I always found it so fascinating. A cow tongue is not a pretty thing, especially when it’s on your plate instead of inside the cows mouth. Sorry to be so brutal and honest about it but a cows tongue is a cows tongue, no matter how you slice it. No pun intended. But one thing I’ve never tried is veal tongue and when I finally got my hands on one, I couldn’t wait to get that bad boy in to a pot on the stove of my own kitchen. Normally I make tongue by pickling it in a pressure cooker than continuing the cooking process with a sweet and sour sauce in the oven. You can check out my Savtah’s famous beef tongue recipe here. For this special veal tongue, I wanted to try something new and different. I’ve had tongue in sauce, sandwiches and just plain pickled but I’ve never had tongue in a soup or stew. I built my veal tongue stew with inspiration from both Japanese and German-style recipes and I think what I came up with is really something special.

Veal Tongue Stew

3-4 pounds veal tongue
1 Tbsp margarine
2 leeks, chopped
2 small onions, chopped
4 cups beef stock
1 bottle red wine
14 oz. can diced tomatoes
1 large carrot, chopped
1 large celery stalk, chopped
1 cup shitake mushrooms
1 cup sliced cabbage
1 Tbsp ground thyme
2 bay leaves
1/2 Tbsp honey
-Rue-
3 Tbsp margarine
3 Tbsp flour
2 Tbsp tomato paste
1 1/2 Tbsp Worcestershire sauce
1/2 tsp Sriracha hot sauce
Peel of 2 pears, chopped

Seems like a lot of ingredients but most of them just go in the pot at the same time so don’t fret! I began by boiling the raw tongue for 10 minutes. I placed the tongue in a pot with enough cold water to cover, brought to a simmer and cooked for 10 minutes. I drained the water, washed off the tongue and set it aside.

In my beautiful Dutch oven, I browned the onions and leeks in the margarine.

I poured in the beef stock and red wine then placed the tongue in the pot. The liquids should mostly cover the tongue.

I then added the diced tomatoes, carrots, celery, mushrooms, cabbage, thyme and bay leaves. I brought the mixture to a simmer, covered the pot and cooked the tongue for 2 1/2 to 3 hours.

I removed the tongue from the pot and set it aside to cool enough to handle. I left the soup on the stove to continue cooking and in a separate pan, I created a rue to thicken the dish. I melted the margarine then added the flour and stirred until thick. I added a few ladles of the soup broth to the mixture, stirred and added the tomato paste,  Worcestershire sauce, Sriracha hot sauce and pear peels. If you’re wondering about the pear peels, I read online that in Japan, they used to peel all fruits before eating them and they ended up with a lot of leftover peels. In order to avoid wasting them, the women would use the peels in their cooking to enhance flavors. I love that idea and I think I’m going to use it more often.

I added the rue in to the soup and stirred well to avoid any lumps. At this point, I peeled the tongue and chopped it up in to bite size pieces.

I added the tongue back in to the pot and stirred to combine. I poured in the honey for a little added sweetness.

At this point, you can serve the stew on its own or you can serve with a garnish of mashed potatoes or white rice. I chose simple and buttery mashed potatoes. I chopped Yukon Gold potatoes with 2 sliced leeks, olive oil, salt and pepper and roasted covered in the oven at 375 degrees for 1 hour. I then mashed them with a potato masher with a little extra margarine and freshly cracked sea salt and that was it. So delicious.

So there you have it. Hearty and super-flavorful stew with a surprise of veal tongue. I couldn’t believe the subtlety of the veal tongue! If you didn’t know what type of meat was in the stew, you might not even know you were eating tongue. But if you are a serious tongue lover, you will KNOW what you are eating so don’t worry. Oh man, and that broth. What can I say about the broth. So beyond rich with flavor, I could probably just separate the veggies and tongue and just drink that broth on its own.