Kosher Everyday by Sharon Matten

Sunday, April 21, 2013

Garden Fresh Quinoa and the Return of the Optimistic Garden

Garden Fresh Quinoa...
or should we call it
"Optimistic" Quinoa??

It’s that time of year when the Optimistic Gardener in me takes over and starts to plan for our family’s Optimistic Garden – once again. This year we started even earlier than we have in the past!! My beautiful daughter (KIH) requested a greenhouse for her birthday gift…in March! The same daughter that is growing Etrog trees from the seeds of our 2011 Sukkot Etrogs. Sure enough, we found a greenhouse at our local hardware store for less than $20…and we now have a five foot tall green house in our kitchen! We transplanted the gorgeous etrog plants (and other citrus plants that she had planted last year) into larger pots and placed them in her brand spankin’ new greenhouse. While purchasing the greenhouse with my other beautiful daughter (KIH), of course we had to buy some seeds and little greenhouse flats to start them in. And of course we just had to buy some cute little strawberry plants with sweet little flowers on them and two huge pots to grow them in. The hardware store people must have thrown a party when we left! We purchased purple bean, watermelon, cantaloupe, spaghetti squash, yellow pear tomato, sweet cherry tomato, impatient flower, lavender, basil, and parsley seeds. We added water to the little peat pellets from the greenhouse flats, watched them expand into enough dirt to fill the seed growing containers, and planted our little seeds. Even the optimists in us didn’t anticipate the incredibly rapid growth of our plants!!! AHHHHHHH! Inside of a week we have huge seedlings growing – and it’s still too cold here to transplant them outside. Sigh. This is where I guess Optimism becomes Reality! It’s incredibly rewarding to see our plants growing a lot each day. When the weather starts to get a little warmer (a little more consistently) we’ll move the greenhouse outside to our patio and wage a silent war with the pesky squirrels that plague our neighborhood. The squirrels here are amazingly resourceful in their quest to eat every plant that we put in our Optimistic Garden – we’ll just have to out maneuver them with new and creative strategies.

She even put it together herself!!

In honor of the great excitement generated by our Optimistic Greenhouse I’m sharing with you a recipe for Garden Fresh Quinoa. Based upon the recipe that I published on aish.com for Passover for Walnut Quinoa Burgers, I developed this recipe when adding some additional vegetables to the burgers. While making them, I tasted the burger mix (before adding the eggs of course) and thought “Hey, this is really good just as it is!” Using the Walnut Quinoa mix with the vegetables is actually even better because you get all the benefits of super healthy quinoa, sautéd vegetables, and walnuts without the added fat and calories of frying the burgers in oil! And Garden Fresh Quinoa is great for the GFE (Gluten Free Eater) – bonus! When I made the Garden Fresh Quinoa as a Shabbat side dish it was a great success…nutty, flavorful, and extremely delicious. Yippee Skippee! Maybe in a few months I’ll even be able to make them using vegetables from our own Optimistic Garden….or is that a little too optimistic? We’ll see…here’s hoping!

Garden Fresh Quinoa

2 cups uncooked quinoa, rinsed

4 cups boiling water

1 large onion, finely diced

1 tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil

1 clove garlic, crushed (you can use a frozen cube)

1 large carrot, peeled

1 large zucchini, unpeeled

8-10 ounces mushrooms

12 ounces ground walnuts

½-1 teaspoon fine sea salt (or to taste)

¼- ½ teaspoon black pepper (or to taste)

In a large saucepan combine the quinoa and boiling water. Bring to a boil and reduce heat to low. Cover and cook for 15 minutes until all the water is absorbed. Turn off heat and allow the cooked quinoa to sit covered for an additional 5 minutes. Remove cover and allow quinoa to cool. (This step can be done in advance.)

In a food processor fitted with a medium shredder blade, shred the carrot, zucchini, and mushrooms. Set aside.

Heat oil in a medium skillet. Add diced onions and garlic then sauté until the onions are caramelized. Add the shredded vegetables and sauté until soft. Fold the cooled quinoa into the sautéd vegetables, then stir in the ground walnuts until completely combined.

All the ingredients...

Shred the vegetables in the food processor...

Sauté the onions until caramelized...

Add the colorful shredded vegetables....

Sauté...

Add the ground nuts...

Stir to combine...

So good it's NUTS!!

Day 1: April 8th

It begins...we're Optimistic!

Big potted strawberry plants...

Check out the flowers!

Don't you wish you could have a

GREENHOUSE

in your kitchen too?!!!

April 12th:

Plant the basil and parsley...

How crazy is this???

They're already growing!!!

April 18th:

Ok so I made this one...

I couldn't wait for the flowers we

planted so I created my own ;-)

April 21st:

Little strawberries on the plants!!

HOLY COW!!

Our plants are growing

LIKE CRAZY!!

Our greenhouse is really

green!!!

Even the basil and parsley are growing!

I guess we're not too optimistic after all!

Kosher Everyday is dedicated to the memory of my father

Dr. Theodore Saltzberg - Tuvia Ben Nachum Z”L

May his memory be for a blessing - Yihi zichro baruch.

Look for additional information about Edible Experience Kosher Everyday at www.koshereveryday.com,

aish.com, Mishpacha Magazine’s Kosher Inspired Magazine,

The Chicago Tribune Syndication,

or on Facebook at Edible Experience by Sharon Matten.

These recipes are for sole, personal use of visitors to Sharon Matten -Edible Experience Kosher Everyday. Edible Experience Kosher Everyday recipes are for your enjoyment but are not to be posted or reprinted without express permission from Sharon Matten. Thank you!!

Sunday, March 24, 2013

Zaide's Special Chrayn

One year ago, on Vav Sivan, my world turned upside down. While cleaning for Pesach, my seemingly healthy and vibrant father, Tuvia Ben Nachum – Dr. Theodore Saltzberg (z”l) suddenly passed away. It was incomprehensible to us. My father was a visionary and energetic leader of our family and community. It wasn’t possible that he was gone.

Here I am, one year later reflecting on the time that has passed. It has been a difficult year. My father did so much, it’s incredible how much he accomplished. His shoes were so big, and he is missed so much – not just by me and my family but the entire community. It’s not uncommon for someone to come up to me, even a year later, and tell me how much they miss my Dad.

With Pesach right around the corner his presence is even more strongly missed. My father was world renown for his killer chrayn (horseradish). It was so hot that once the kids dared one of my sons to take a big sniff of the chrayn. He did, turned red, and literally couldn’t breathe for a minute or two! Wanting to be completely prepared to make his famous chrayn, six weeks before Pesach Dad would put up his russel, beets to ferment for the fermented beet juice he would add to the ground horseradish. The engineer in him came up with the process improvement to use a “Sun Tea” pitcher with a spigot on the bottom so he didn’t have to remember to foam off the moldy part on the top of the beets. Then he would be on a mission to find the dirtiest horseradish roots he could possibly find. He always said that the dirtier ones were the strongest. When he found them he would call up with such excitement “I found the best dirty horseradish today!” If he found it too far in advance to have the horseradish roots be fresh, he would fill a vase with water and stick the bottom of the horseradish in it. Eventually it would grow roots and a green top which we would use at the seder. My father was an early riser, and every time I wanted to help him prepare the chrayn (otherwise how would I learn?), he told me he had already gotten up at 4 AM and finished it! My father never put off doing a mitzvah, especially one that gave him so much joy – we really enjoyed that super hot chrayn on Pesach! Last year while we were sitting shiva, my husband found the russel and horseradish that my father had prepared for Pesach. One of the hardest things I have ever done was finishing the chrayn that my father had started last year. I couldn’t conceive of letting the mitzvah that my father had started remain uncompleted. Baruch Hashem my mother (KIH) helped with the recipe (it had been her mothers original recipe). During Chol Hamoed I pulled out the blender, and with the support of my dear husband and kids we finished what my father had started with tears rolling down all our faces the entire time. We savored every bite of that horseradish last year – it was my father’s legacy and tradition passed down to us.

This year I went out and bought my own “Sun Tea” pitcher and put up russel before Purim. I too went in search of “dirty” horseradish and ended up with nine roots – I kept finding ones that were dirtier than the ones I had already bought! I bought a few glass vases at the dollar store and lined up the horseradish roots just like Dad did. This past week I once again pulled out my blender, my gorgeous russel, and my son’s safety goggles, and proceeded to make Zaide’s Chrayn. Let me tell you, nine horseradish roots make a lot of chrayn!!! Wanting to give hakoras hatov to some of our very special friends who have been incredibly kind, supportive, and loving this past year, I bought some Mason canning jars to fill with some of the chrayn that I was making to give as Pesach gifts to these special friends. In the end I had nineteen jars!!! Dear Husband and Dear Niece (who is vising from NY – HOORAY!) helped to add a finishing touch of some special labels and Zaide’s Special Chrayn was complete. The labels even had a “Caution HOT” emblem on them – no one can say they weren’t warned.

I have written in past articles about the impact that my father had on my cooking style. “My Dad is the “by the book” cook and baker in the family. He will follow a recipe exactly and the engineer in him always comes through in the “whys and how’s” when he is in the kitchen.” I really miss his guidance in the kitchen and out. There is a hole in my heart, and I am so sad that he’s not here physically with me now. I know that this Pesach will be especially hard without him here, but I also know that we will try to continue to teach our children about his legacy and all that he stood for. He will always be here with us in spirit, and in the traditions he taught us.

Have a Chag Kasher V’sameach!!

For more of my Pesach articles check out:

Passover Meat Thing
Sharon Matten’s Famous Matzoh Ball Recipe
Nutty Passover Recipes on aish.com 2013 (because I’m such a nut!)
Mainly Meringues on aish.com 2012

Starting early...February 10th...

Cut up beets in my pitcher

Add the water...and wait...

Two days later...

Check out the foam on top!

This foam is so gorgeous it needed a close-up!

March 18th...

The horseradishes are waiting...

The beets are fermenting!

March 21st...

It is time.

Beets are done.

Amazingly dirty horseradish!!

Dad would have loved these!!

Peeled, cut up, and into the blender...

Prettiest Russel I've ever seen!

I kind of made a mess...

Yes...it took me a while to clean up...

All 19 jars!!

But it was all worth it in the end!!

Ready to go...

We love our friends and

want to give you hakoras hatov for

all your love and support!!

Kosher Everyday is dedicated to the memory of my father

Dr. Theodore Saltzberg - Tuvia Ben Nachum Z”L

May his memory be for a blessing - Yihi zichro baruch.

Look for additional information about Edible Experience Kosher Everyday at www.koshereveryday.com,

aish.com, Mishpacha Magazine’s Kosher Inspired Magazine,

The Chicago Tribune Syndication,

or on Facebook at Edible Experience by Sharon Matten.

Sunday, March 10, 2013

Cajun Carrot Fries & a review of The No-Potato Passover Cookbook

It’s wonderful to open a brand-spankin’ new cookbook and be greeted by an explosion of color! The “No-Potato Passover Cookbook” by Aviva Kanoff takes the “no potato” concept to a whole new level. Not only are there no potatoes in this book, but there isn’t even potato color! It makes the “No-Potato Passover Cookbook” inviting and appealing! Each recipe is accompanied with a gorgeous full color photo. Some of the recipes even have beautiful regional photos associated with them. Aviva is a visual artist – “I am drawn to vibrant colors, so you will find many colorful recipes in this book....Generally, the more naturally colorful the food, the more nutrients and vitamins it contains.” With this book Aviva wants to “change the way we think about Passover food, and to put an end to the cooking rut”. This book is packed with colorful salads, soups, sides and more. I especially loved the recipes for Mushroom Spinach Quinoa (we love mushrooms!), Rosemary Butternut Squash, Strawberry Glazed Chicken, Lavender Mint Roasted Chicken, Country Rustic Apple Pie, and Blueberry Crumble, just to name a few.

Watch out...these are yummy with
an added kick!! Make sure you have
enough - they go fast!!!

I decided to try the Cajun Carrot Fries for this review, and bought a 5 pound bag of large carrots (these fries looked really good)! The recipe was simple and it gave me an opportunity to use my cool Jumbo Potato Cutter tool, which I only get to use when making fries. After peeling all five pounds of carrots (which turned out to only double the recipe) and trimming the edges, I cut the carrots into thirds (or halves if they were smaller) and used my cutter tool to make perfectly shaped Carrot Fries. I followed the directions and into the oven the Cajun Carrot Fries went. SO exciting! After the allotted time, I pulled the fries out, but they still weren’t crispy so I put them in for a while longer. In the end, they ended up a little crispy, but never ended up “French-fry crispy”, which was fine – they were still awesomely delicious and super spicy!! I suppose if I really wanted them to be super crispy I could have actually fried them, but then I wouldn’t have been able to eat (nearly all of) them guilt free.

The Jumbo Potato Cutter

It occurred to me that you could really make this recipe with other vegetables with a similar result – parsnips, turnips, or sweet potatoes for example. I’m looking forward to trying out some of the other No-Potato Passover Cookbook recipes for Pesach…now I just have to get the kitchen and house ready!

AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!!!!

For more information about The No-Potato Cookbook go to http://nopotatopassover.com/.

Cajun Carrot Fries

8-10 large carrots, peeled and cut into thin slices, like “fries”

1 tablespoon olive oil

¼ teaspoon cayenne pepper

Salt and black pepper to taste

Preheat your oven to 450° F.

Grease and/or line a large cookie sheet.

Toss the sliced carrots with olive oil, cayenne pepper, salt and black pepper.

Arrange the fries in a single layer on your baking sheet and bake for 15 minutes, then flip the fries over and bake for another 10-15 minutes, until crisp. Serve warm.

You'd think 5 pounds of carrots would be more....

wouldn't you???