I'm bored of Shabbos food

peppermint

Sun, Apr 14 2013, 12:22 am

Isramom8 wrote:

Davka this week, after all the traditional Pesach cooking, I was in a creative mood. I looked up new recipes so that I could do something different with my regular ingredients. I made a layered white and sweet potato casserole with beaten eggs and maple syrup among other spices, and eggplant boats stuffed with eggplant chunks, red peppers, bread crumbs and more.

Then I found out that my in-laws are coming. I should have stuck with my traditional fare. As it is, MIL has already told DH how exactly how I should cook the broccoli... (yes, it's bug-free).

Please post recipe for the potato casserole.

Mrs Bissli

Mon, Apr 15 2013, 6:53 am

I'm pleased to read all the brainstorming ideas.
Here are our "typical" shabbat menu (obviously not all of them at the same time...)

Appetisers: hot/dough-ey
- mini round pizza with anchovy, onion, tomato sauce (more like pissaladiera)/lahmajun (if I'm not doing fish)
- jachnoon (frozen premade) with brown eggs, chopped tomato (zchug and hilbe optional)
- brekas (I use fillo dough and wrap them up either triangles or rectangles)

Appetisers: fishey
- taramasalata
- smoked salmon (on its own, or layered with avocado slices)
- poached salmon
- fried fish
- baked fish omlettes (seasoned with tomato sauce/matbucha)
- moroccan fish
- moroccan fish balls

Appetiser: salads/dips
- hummous, tehina, guacamole,
- barzigan (bulgher based), mouhammra (walnuts, bread, roasted peppers)
- baba ganoush (with tehina), grilled aubergine salad (lemon, olive oil, chopped parsley & red peppers)
- mushroom salad, roasted beetroot salad, cucumber salad, carrot salad (grated or cooked),
shaved fennel salad, grated mooli/daikon salad, artichoke salad, israeli salad
- pickles, olives, pickled or raw radishes

Appetiser: cold soup
- vichicoise
- gazpacho
- cold fruit soup

Main course: meaty
- hamin (I normally use sweet potato and chickpeas)
- cold poached chicken breast (I usually serve with pesto mayo)
- coronation chicken
- meatballs
- lamb hotpot/braised lamb (cooks overnight, very tender meat)
- cold roasted beef/lamb (though more for special occasions)
- brisket

* If you want chicken that can be heated piping hot on plata and doesn't taste dry,
then tebeet is your thing. Its' baked chicken pieces covered with rice (which keeps moisture,
while chicken makes rice yummy), crusty bit on the bottom as a bonus.

* I'm a big fan of poached chicken, esp in warm weather and for lunch. Added bonus you can
use the poaching liquid as a base for chicken soup.

Sides:
- crustless courgette or broccoli quiche
- sweetpotato kugel (I just grate raw sweetpotato, add eggs, matza meal, cinnamon, maybe a bit of honey, OJ and bake covered)
- rice (safran rice, rice with browned vermicelli, carrot rice, rice with crust on the bottom, mushroom rice,
rice with green herbs and peas)

sheindl

Mon, Apr 15 2013, 10:45 am

Mrs Bissli wrote:

WOW these are awesome ideas! Can you provide the recipes for the following:

- Taramasalata
- cold poached chicken breast (I usually serve with pesto mayo)
- coronation chicken
- lamb hotpot/braised lamb (cooks overnight, very tender meat)
- tebeet

Mrs Bissli

Tue, Apr 16 2013, 11:56 am

Taramasalata
½ container smoked cod roe (we get frozen Fjord King brand from France)
1 slice white bread (leftover challah would do), crusts removed and torn into several pieces
1 small clove garlic, peeled (optional)
A few dash of paprika
Juice from 1/2 lemon (we like it quite lemony, feel free to reduce)
2 tbsp olive oil
3 tbsp mayonnaise
Ground pepper

Soak bread in lukewarm water for a minute or two to soften. Add all ingredients except for mayo in a blender and whizz till smooth. Add mayo and ground pepper. This comes out much paler than commercial version—if you want it more pink-ish, you can add a very small amount of cooked beetroot.

Poached chicken with pesto mayo
3-4 pieces skinless boneless chicken breast
1 large onion, skinned and halved
2-3 carrots, peeled, cut in half
2 celery ribs, cleaned, cut in half or thirds
1 cup dry white wine
Salt & pepper, 1/2 chicken stock cube

Rince chicken and place in a pot large enough to place all vegetables. Pour white wine and top up with water to cover chicken/veggies. Add salt & pepper, crumbled chicken stock cube. Poach gently for about 20-30min (depends on the size of chicken, if necessary cut the thickest part to make sure it’s not pink), turn off flame and let cool. Once cool to handle, slice or cube chicken. You can use the remaining broth and vegetable as chicken soup. Either mix in pesto mayo (use 2 parts mayo and 1 part pesto as pesto has strong flavour, loosen texture with a tablespoon or so of chicken broth) or serve separately.

Pesto:
3tbsp olive oil (preferably extra virgin)
4-5 cloves of garlic, peeled and sliced thickly
1/2-1 teasp salt
1 large bunch fresh basil leaves, washed, checked, stalks removed (about 30g)
¼ cup pinenuts (alternatively, a few tablespoon of ground walnuts/hazelnuts will do)

Place basil leaves and nuts in a blender/food processor (chopping component of a hand blender will do). Place the first three ingredients in a small frying pan. Heat gently for a few minutes to fry garlic (make sure it doesn’t turn brown). Pour oil/garlic/salt mixture on basil leaves, whizz/pulse several times till you get thick, bright green paste. This freezes very well (before adding mayo), goes nicely with potato salad or with pasta.

Mrs Bissli

Tue, Apr 16 2013, 12:35 pm

Coronation chicken
Follow the recipe above for the poached chicken. Cut poached chicken breast into 1"/bite size cubes. (I also cut cooked celeries and onions as well). Chop a handful of dried apricots into tiny bits (or substitute with 1/2 large manto cut in 1" cubes). Mix 1/3 cup mayonnaise, 3 tbsp mango chutney or apricot jam, 1 tbsp mild curry powder, 1-2 tbsp lime chutney (optional), thin a bit with about 1tbsp or so broth from poached chicken. Coat chicken and apricot with curry mayo, serve chilled, topped with toasted sliced almonds.

Braised lamb
Lamb cutlets (I think it’s the same as shoulder blades in the US?), 1 per person
Flour, salt, pepper, paprika, cinnamon or allspice
2 large or 3 medium onions, peeled, trimmed, chopped coarsely
3 carrots, peeled, trimmed, cut into thick slices/chunks
1 parsnip, peeled, trimmed cut into thick slices/chunks
A handful of prunes, stones removed, chopped coarsely (optional, dried apricots will do)
1-2 teasp onion soup mix
1 cup dry red wine

Trim as much visible fat as possible from lamb cutlets. Mix flour, salt and spices, coat both sides of cutlets. Heat a frying pan, sear cutlets on both sides. Layer bottom of the clock pot with some of the vegetables, then layer lamb, prunes, some more vegetables. Sprinkle onion soup mix on top, pour 1 cup dry red wine. Cook overnight on low setting.

Tebeet

http://www.imamother.com/forum.....ebeet

This is a slightly easier version without stuffing the chicken. Also you can use chicken pieces.
Though it omits hard boiled eggs, they’re usually everyone’s favourite bits (together with crunchy rice on the bottom).
http://www.imamother.com/forum.....ebeet

The amount of water may seem less than usual. This is because the rice is pre-soaked.

masalapeanuts

Tue, Apr 16 2013, 1:58 pm

Do you like Indian food? It's easy enough to cook if you have the right spices and most of them don't need a hechsher. You can also get whole spices and grind them in a coffee grinder. They are very cheap at Indian stores. I get almost all of my recipes from manjulaskitchen.com. They never turn out bad and my favorite part is that the amount of salt is always perfect. She does exclusively vegetarian food, but I have a cookbook that includes meat that is also pretty good. I can give you the name and author of it if you are interested. Let me know if you want me to send you the links to my favorite recipes. The plus-side of Indian food is that it is very easy to cook and very quick if you use canned beans. You can also adjust the spiciness if you have people who like mild foods. It's also a lot healthier than traditional Ashkenazi foods unless, of course, you are like me and make a bunch of ghee, clarified butter, and paneer, Indian cheese to cook with Smile