Kosher Everyday by Sharon Matten: December 2011

Sunday, December 25, 2011

Double Cheese Stuffed Shells

Double Cheese Stuffed Shells
(and you won't have to throw these
back into the ocean!)

Our family is very blessed to be “snow birds”. Every 52^nd week of the year (with the exception of the year that my third son was born) we leave the cold, snowy, blustery Midwest weather and head south to Sanibel Island, near Fort Myers, Florida. We meet my dear husband’s family at the Shell Island “resort”, and usually stay for the week. Sanibel Island is renowned for its outstanding shelling. You can see people up and down the Gulf shore doing the Sanibel “stoop”, searching for shells at low tide. We have dozens of large containers at home, filled with gorgeous shells we found in our previous stays. Some years the weather doesn’t cooperate (like last year) but most years the weather is sunny and warm. The beach has snow white sand, and the kids love to make elaborate sand castles and trenches. Taking a walk along the beach you can see intricate and creative sand creations left for admiring beach goers. There is a wide variety of sea birds on the shore, and yesterday we also saw a dolphin playing in the waves.

Doing the Sanibel "Stoop"

We are fortunate to be in an apartment that has an entire (but small) kitchen – so although it’s a family vacation I still find myself spending time in my “favorite” room! While on vacation I try to prepare foods that are delicious but especially fast to make. I have limited resources as I only bring a few utensils with me, one large pot, and one large frying pan. We purchase disposable aluminum pans at the local Publix, to add to our “fancy” cookware.

It's all about the shells on
Sanibel Island!

This year in honor of being in Sanibel and at Shell Island, I made easy Double Cheese Stuffed Shells. Before we left for Florida, I had tossed my frozen package of Dorot Frozen Pesto into an insulated bag and into my luggage. So to add to my "Shell Themed" dinner, I cooked a package of “sea-shell” pasta, tossed it with the pesto, and made Sea Shell Pasta with Pesto for my Kosherfest product of the week.

For the rest of our stay we’re making do with frozen pizza and other easy-to-make quick meals, although I’m looking forward to “fish night” - making the fish the extended family catches on their annual fishing expedition! As I said in last year’s Florida 2010 Blog - No matter where we are or where we go it seems that the kitchen is my home…and that’s fine with me…as long as the tips are good ;-)!

Don't be "crabby"! These recipes
are easy to make and yummy too!

Sea Shells by the Sea Shore!

KOSHERFEST PRODUCT OF THE WEEK: Dorot Frozen Pesto

I love the Dorot frozen products, particularly the frozen garlic cubes, which are a staple in my kitchen. When I saw that Dorot had come out with a frozen pesto I was extremely excited. Similar to the frozen garlic cubes, the frozen pesto comes in large frozen rectangles which you are supposed to defrost with a little bit of oil and add to pasta. This week I added it to some pasta “sea-shells” leaving out the oil. The pasta was fantastic. Extremely tasty with a little kick to it (just the way we like it!). I’m hoping to find it in local grocery stores when we get back.

Dorot Pesto and "Sea Shells"

It's all about the Shells!!

SHAMELSS PLUG ALERT!! I have had the privilege of being nominated for the Best Kosher Food Blog in the Joy of Kosher contest. Here’s my shameless plea: PLEASE VOTE!! Let’s show them what a girl from Chicago can do! It’s as easy as clicking on it (or the banner at the side of the page) scrolling to Kosher Everyday by Sharon Matten and clicking VOTE! Did I mention…PLEASE VOTE!! Thanks SO much!! Here’s the current link (For those using your iphones I made the link especially large!): http://www.joyofkosher.com/nomination-category/best-kosher-food-blog/

Double Cheese Stuffed Shells

1 teaspoon kosher or sea salt

2 tablespoons canola oil

16 ounces part skim ricotta cheese

8 ounces shredded mozzarella cheese

2 large eggs

½ teaspoon black pepper

20-28 ounces pasta sauce of your choice

non-stick vegetable spray

8 ounces shredded mozzarella cheese for topping (optional)

Spray a 9x13 inch pan with non-stick vegetable spray.

Add salt and oil to a large pot of water. Bring to a boil. Add the jumbo pasta shells, making sure that none of the shells stick together. Boil for 5 minutes. Do not drain. Add cold water to the pot of shells, draining small amounts of water and adding additional cold water until the water is just warm to the touch. The shells should be covered with water and not be completely cooked through.

Preheat oven to 350° F.

In a large bowl, combine the ricotta cheese, mozzarella, eggs, and pepper. Stir until thoroughly blended. Remove a single shell from the water. Shake off the excess water. Place a heaping teaspoonful of cheese filling into the shell. Place into the prepared pan. Repeat with remaining shells. Cover shells with the pasta sauce. Cover with aluminum foil and bake for 45 minutes. Remove from oven and top with additional mozzarella cheese. Serve warm.

Note: If you have more time and more resources than during a family vacation, you can add any of the following to the cheese mixture: chopped spinach, basil, sautéd or grilled vegetables, chopped broccoli, parmesan cheese, or diced peppers.

All the ingredients

(except the pepper)

Cook the pasta,

then add cold water.

DO NOT COMPLETELY

DRAIN!

Keep the shells in the water...

Make the filling...

Stuff the shells...

Place them in the pan, cover

with sauce then bake...

Shells are done!

Perfect Shells...and you didn't even

have to get your feet wet to

make them!

BONUS REIPE: My famous vacation Potato Latke Recipe!

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

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

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!!

Congratulations!

KosherEveryday is one of the finalists for the

2011 CBS Most Valuable Blogger Awards!!

Sunday, December 11, 2011

Sufganiyot with: Caramel Filling & Caramelized Sugar Glaze and Ganache Filling & Chocolate Glaze

Homemade Sufganiyot...
it doesn't get better that this!!

This year I decided it was time to make sufganiyot for Chanukah. In the past my poor family has had to put up with the Dunkin Donuts and bakery ones. Don’t feel too bad for us – they were all good…just not homemade. I also decided that if I was going to go through the effort of making sufganiyot they were not going to be jelly ones...not nearly interesting enough (aside from the fact that dear husband strongly requested no jelly donuts please!). So I picked my favorite fillings and decided to make Sufganiyot with Caramel Filling & Caramelized Sugar Glaze and Ganache Filling & Chocolate Glaze. A while ago the thought of making any one of the three – sufganiyot, caramel, or ganache, would have had me running through the house terrified! Not anymore! This year is different because I learned some very simple tricks to simplify them all.

The Sufganiyot: The basic Sufganiyot recipe is based upon one that I found in the December 2011 edition of Bon Appetit. There is an article for Doughnuts with Grapefruit-Vanilla Jelly. Intriguing…but probably not making them this year! The picture of the donuts is incredibly appealing – so I decided to modify the recipe to make standard Sufganiyot dough. I really liked the fact that the recipe contained apple juice, similar to my pizza dough recipe. The Sufganiyot dough is not complicated to make, it just takes a while for the dough to rise – twice. The trick to frying the doughnuts is to maintain a constant oil temperature of around 350° F so they don’t burn or turn into hockey pucks! I keep a digital thermometer in the oil to make sure that the temperature doesn’t change too dramatically while frying. It seems to work pretty well, and the Sufganiyot actually turned out simply fabulous this year!

The Caramel Filling: Caramel can be tricky to make. Often the sugar crystallizes in the pan, leaving a big mess. The answer to that problem came from one of my favorite chefs – Alton Brown. I’m a big Alton Brown fan. I love the fact that he clearly explains the chemical process for everything he makes. You can check out his caramel making trick in the notes below, but suffice it to say - it’s amazing. It makes caramel making so simple that even my teenage son can do it!! (see notes #1 - #3)

The Caramelized Glaze: I have to admit I have a bit of a problem…every time I see granulated sugar on top of a pastry I feel the need to pull out my mini kitchen blow torch and caramelize the sugar. Considering that I filled the sufganiyot with caramel, caramelizing the sugar on top seemed to be the next logical step! (OK, I admit…most people don’t think that way. I just can’t seem to help myself!!). The result…YUM!!!!

The Ganache Filling: Ganache seems scary because it’s a French word, and anything that’s name is in a foreign language often can be daunting. Here’s the secret. Ganache is just a fancy word for whipping cream and chocolate. That’s it. (see note #4)

Now if making the caramel and ganache from scratch is way too time consuming you can use store bought thick caramel and chocolate fudge ice cream toppings. Very good, but not quite as good as homemade.

So, one of my biggest culinary fears was overcome this year by understanding how the ingredients work together in each of these recipes. So cool…and now you understand too…and it didn’t take a Chanukah Miracle either!

For those of you that are looking for a fast, easy, and delicious latke recipe, you can check out my Hash Brown Latke recipe. The basic recipe can be found in my Chanukah blog from last year, and for more variations you can find them in my Chicago Tribune Newspaper Syndication article! (Yup, Chicago Tribune Syndication! If you live in Chicago IL, Baltimore MD, Ft. Lauderdale FL, Orlando FL, Hartford Conn. Allentown PA, or Newport VA please look for my Chanukah article!). It's currently out on a Chicago Tribune online version with no pictures under the title Hanukkah Miracle. I also have some recipes for Chanukah on aish.com in the cooking section – Easy Chanukah Recipes - And Miraculously Fun Too!.

Finally, I have had the privilege of being nominated for the Best Kosher Food Blog in the Joy of Kosher contest. Here’s my shameless plea: PLEASE VOTE!! Let’s show them what a girl from Chicago can do! It’s as easy as clicking on this link (or the banner at the top of the page), scrolling to Kosher Everyday by Sharon Matten and clicking VOTE! Did I mention…PLEASE VOTE!! Thanks SO much!! Here’s the current link again (in case you missed it before): http://www.joyofkosher.com/nomination-category/best-kosher-food-blog/

NOTES:

I use a special “bismark tip” made by Wilton to fill the cupcakes. You can find it at your local kitchen supply store…it’s currently part of their cupcake set. It makes filling donuts and cupcakes incredibly easy.
Our family doesn’t have Cable TV, but I own several Alton Brown DVD’s and they are a lot of fun to watch. In one of his shows, Alton Brown explains how to make caramel and why the crystallization occurs. He said that if you add a similar but different sugar (like corn syrup) to the granulated sugar, crystallization won’t occur. It really works, and it makes the process of making caramel incredibly simple.
When my teenage son’s chemistry teacher told him to bring in a project that shows a chemical process he actually made caramel in class – not only wowing his impressed teacher but his friends as well!
By heating the cream first, then adding the chocolate and waiting until the heat from the cream melts the chocolate, you don’t run the risk of burning the ganache. So simple. By adding a little butter or margarine, you end up with a beautifully soft ganache that is perfect for filling your cupcakes or sufganiyot.

Sufganiyot

½ cup apple juice, (110°-115° F or “baby bottle warm”)

2 ½ teaspoons active dry yeast, or one ¼ ounce packet

2 tablespoons canola oil

3 ½ cups all-purpose flour

2 tablespoons sugar

4 large eggs

1 teaspoon kosher salt

non-stick vegetable spray

vegetable oil (for deep frying)

1 cup granulated sugar (for rolling the donuts)

Dissolve yeast in apple juice. Allow to foam for 10 minutes.

In a large mixing bowl, combine the oil, flour, sugar, eggs, salt, and yeast mixture. If using an electric mixer, knead with a dough hook for approximately 5 minutes until a sticky dough forms. Remove dough from the bowl, spray the bowl with non-stick vegetable spray, then return the dough to the bowl. Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and allow the dough to rise for one hour.

When the dough has risen, roll it out to a ½ inch thickness. Using a 2” round cutter or a glass, cut out round donut shapes. Allow the dough to rise for an additional 30-40 minutes.

Heat the oil in a large pot – around 2”- 3” deep, to 350° F. You can use a digital or candy thermometer to keep track of the temperature, adjusting the flame to maintain a constant 350° F. Place the doughnuts in the oil without crowding. Fry until browned, between one and two minutes on each side. Remove from oil and place on a wire rack to cool around 2 minutes. Repeat for all the donuts.

For Caramel Donuts with Caramelized Sugar Glaze:

Place the granulated sugar on a plate. After cooling the donuts for 2 minutes roll them in the sugar. Fill with the prepared caramel. Optional: Using a kitchen blow torch, caramelize the sugar on top of the donuts. Serve fresh!

For Ganache Filled Donuts with Chocolate Glaze:

After cooling fill the donuts with the prepared Chocolate Ganache. Spread the chocolate glaze on the donuts with a spatula or just dip them directly into the glaze. Serve fresh!

Caramel

1 cup sugar

1 tablespoon corn syrup

¼ cup warm water

½ cup whipping cream (pareve)

4 tablespoons butter or margarine

1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

additional water and a pastry brush (preferably silicone)

In a 1 or 2 quart saucepan combine sugar, corn syrup, and warm water. Stir to combine. Cook over medium-high heat, stirring continuously, until sugar is completely dissolved. Continue to cook over medium-high heat without stirring, occasionally washing the sides of the pan with the pastry brush with water to avoid any possible crystallization on the sides of the pot. Cook until the sugar mixture turns a rich amber color. Carefully add the cream, stirring until completely smooth. Add the butter or margarine and vanilla extract. Allow to cool, stirring occasionally until thickened.

Ganache

12 ounces semisweet chocolate chips

1 cup whipping cream

2 tablespoons butter or margarine

In a 2 quart saucepan, bring cream to a boil over medium heat. Add chocolate chips. Swirl pot to coat chips with the cream. Do not stir. Allow the chips to sit for 1 minute, then stir until smooth. Add the margarine, and stir until smooth. Allow the ganache to cool and thicken before filling sufganiyot.

Chocolate Glaze

2 cups confectioners sugar

½ cup cocoa

5 tablespoons warm water

1 teaspoon corn syrup

Combine all the ingredients and whisk until smooth.

For the Sufganiyot:

Let the ball of dough rise...

After the dough rises

roll it on a pastry board...

Roll it to 1/2 inch thick...

Cut out the dough and let it

rise again for 30-40 minutes.

After the dough has risen,

heat the oil to 350° F...

Into the oil!

(just a minute or two on each side)

Cool them on a wire rack...

If making Caramel Sufganiyot,

roll them in sugar!

To Make The Caramel....

Place the ingredients in the pot...

Bring the dissolved sugar to a boil...

Not ready yet...

Check out the beautiful

amber color! It's ready...

hurry, take it off the heat

before it burns!

Add the cream...

Stir until smooth...

then add

the vanilla & margarine....

Now it's caramel!!

(Let it cool and thicken before

filling the Sufganiyot)

For the Ganache:

Bring the cream to a boil....

Add the chocolate chips,

then cover with the hot cream...

Whisk until smooth...

then add the margarine....

Whisk some more...

and it's Ganache!!!

(Let it cool and thicken before

filling the Sufganiyot)

To finish the Sufganiyot:

Use a bismark tip to fill

the Sufganiyot!

For the Chocolate filled

Sufganityot, dip in

the glaze or use a spatula...

For the Caramel Sufganiyot,

use a blow torch to

caramelize the sugar on top!

(How fun is that?!!)

Check it out!!

It's Filled Sufganiyot!!

YUM!!

(and Shalhevet's hand...thanks

for modelling Shalhevet!)

The Sufganiyot are ready

for your hungry guests!!

Happy Chanukah!!

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.

Congratulations!

KosherEveryday is one of the finalists for the

2011 CBS Most Valuable Blogger Awards!!

Sunday, December 4, 2011

Ratatouille

Healthy...and delicious!!
An A+ in my book!

The first time I saw the movie Ratatouille a few years ago, I was completely taken aback when they described ratatouille as “a peasant dish”. My mom made ratatouille all the time and we certainly weren’t peasants!! Our ratatouille wasn’t beautifully sliced and arranged on a plate for a food critic like in the movie (unless you counted us as food critics! In retrospect…). My mom cut up onions, peppers, eggplant, zucchini, and mushrooms, sautéed them, added some sauce, and we had a delicious and healthy dish. When I’m trying to eat healthier (which is all the time!) - especially when peppers, eggplant, and squash are in season, it’s a great, flavorful, healthy dish. I can eat it on top of whole grain pasta or plain, with a little low fat cheese sprinkled on top. When I was at the Mega Fruit Store all the produce I needed was on sale - the last of the season fresh local vegetables. Perfect for a hearty dish for dinner! I also found a really cool website - http://caloriecount.about.com where you can find out the nutrition information about your recipes, your favorite foods, and if they really are good for you. I’ve had a lot of fun this week checking out some of my favorite foods (and was extremely excited when they got an “A” rating…we’re not talking about those that got the ”D+” rating). I found it very gratifying when the Ratatouille recipe got an “A” (ok…so I’m a little bit of a high achiever-LOL), was very low in cholesterol, high in dietary fiber, very high in niacin, high in potassium, high in vitamin B6, and very high in vitamin C! Cool…I love it when that happens!!! It can also be made gluten-free for the GFE (Gluten Free Eater) so it’s great for everyone in the family!!

Hmmm….I wonder if they could make a movie about my Ratatouille???

As promised, here is my weekly Kosherfest 2011 awesome product installment. Enjoy!!

Shabtai Gourmet by Cinderella Sweets Bakery (GFE)

Last year when I went to Kosherfest I was blown away by the quality of the products from Shabtai Gourmet – and especially considering that they are gluten free (Hooray!!! They’re great for the GFE!!). The products are all gluten-free, dairy-free, soy-free, lactose-free, casein-free, corn-free, and 100% Kosher – but you’d never know it from their taste!! When I went to the Gluten Free Expo here in Chicago last May, I specifically looked for the Shabtai table to see what new products they had. This year at Kosherfest I wasn’t sure that they would let me near their booth because I had eaten so many samples last year!! (Oh no! She’s back…hide the YODELS!!). This year at Kosherfest, I spent some time talking to Cindy the owner of the company. She was incredibly nice and incredibly busy – her booth was extremely popular (no shock there!). I was so surprised, when a few weeks after Kosherfest I actually got a call from Cindy herself to discuss her products with me. Now that’s customer service. Cindy is charming and a pleasure to talk to. She is understandably passionate about her terrific products – and it didn’t hurt that I’m such a big fan!

My favorite product that Shabtai Gourmet makes is the Yodels. You can’t tell that they are gluten-free. They are that good. The cake is moist, the cream is perfect, and the chocolate…well it’s chocolate (all good)! They make wonderful bon bon’s, rainbow cakes, layer cakes, black and white cookies, awesome lace cookies (I had those at the Gluten-Free Expo), seven layer cakes, and Swiss cake rolls –YUM!!!! The most interesting product they had this year was gluten-free pie crusts. Pie crusts are notoriously hard to make even with gluten…without, it’s a “don’t attempt this at home” kind of thing. These were beautiful! While they are currently unavailable until Pesach, I was told by Cindy they may become available on their website after Pesach at a cost of around $14 for two.

Cindy and I are definitely going to be in touch (I hinted for a few samples…) and I’ll keep you posted. Shabtai Gourmet products can be found at some local grocery stores and online at www.shabtai-gourmet.com .

Ratatouille

I like to use a pasta sauce that has complimentary ingredients to the recipe. For this recipe try to find a pepper, garlic, or mushroom variety sauce.

2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil

2 cloves garlic, crushed – or 2 frozen cubes minced garlic

1 large onion, large dice

2 medium eggplant, cut into ½ - ¾ inch cubes

3 large peppers, cut into ½ - ¾ inch pieces

2 large yellow squash (optional), cut into ¼ths lengthwise

then cut into ½ - ¾ inch pieces

2 large zucchini, cut into ¼ths lengthwise then cut into ½ - ¾ inch pieces

½ - ¾ pounds mushrooms, thinly sliced

2 32 ounce jars pasta sauce

Heat the oil in a large stockpot over medium heat. Add the onion and garlic and sauté until onion is soft and clear. Add the remaining ingredients, stirring to combine. Simmer covered for 30 minutes. Remove lid and simmer for an additional 30 minutes. Serve warm sprinkled with your favorite cheese over pasta or plain. This can also be served as a cold appetizer, and can be frozen for later use.

All the healthy ingredients!

SO colorful!!