Showing posts with label passover. Show all posts
Showing posts with label passover. Show all posts

Saturday, April 2, 2016

First Annual Brisket Cook-off

Ask me my favorite thing to cook and I always say brisket. You might think that sounds a little boring, but brisket lends itself to endless variations. Whether it is braised or smoked the flavor possibilities are numerous. But now the golden brisket award and bragging rights are at stake in the First Annual Brisket Cook-off at temple. My friend Jenni Logan and I teamed up to enter and decided her mom's recipe was our best shot at winning. For this type of event we thought traditional was the right way to go. We're not going for a trendy or 'out there' recipe, but rather something tried and true that will bring back great memories from the tasters.

Jenni and I "met" in the Boston University Masters in Gastronomy program a few years ago. I say "met" because it turns out that way back in high school our paths crossed in the Midwest. We even found pictures with us together at the same summer camp events! Since then we've shared a love of cheese, cooking, and plenty of homework! 
 
We bring you Jenni's family recipe for brisket and hope that you enjoy as much as they do! It is a sweet and sour style recipe that produces melt in your mouth slices. Stay tuned for the cook-off results! Want to see more pictures and know results sooner? Follow along on Instagram



Mom's Yummy Brisket
1 (3-4 pound) brisket (7 pounds for 10-12 people - double entire recipe)
14 ounces Heinz ketchup
2 large white onions (thinly sliced)
1 lemon (juiced)
1 teaspoon mustard
2 squirts Lea and Perrin's Worcestershire sauce
1 heaping teaspoon brown sugar
1/2 cup water (adjust to consistency of a medium sauce)
Lawry's salt, black pepper
Garlic powder

1 9"x13" roasting pan
Pam non-stick cooking spray
Aluminum foil to cover and seal meat

Take roasting pan and Pam it. In a large mixing bowl, mix ketchup, lemon juice, mustard, Worcestershire, brown sugar, and water (you want a medium thickness (not to thin or thick!)). Put a small amount of sauce in the bottom of the pan. 

The brisket should have some fat on the top but not too much. Put Lawry's salt, pepper, and garlic powder on the brisket, season well. Place brisket in the pan. Cover the brisket pretty well with the sauce (you may have to add a little additional water). Add the sliced onions on the top of the brisket. Cover and seal the pan with the foil. 



Bake for at least 3 hours at 350 degrees or until very tender (fork should twist easily in the meat). Cool and slice (I use an electric knife). Be SURE to slice the meat against the grain. Return the meat to the pan, re-cover with the onions and sauce and re-foil. You can either freeze it our keep it in the refrigerator until you reheat and serve. Reheat the sliced brisket in the sauce at 350 degrees.


*Notes*
We used an 8 pound brisket (weighed before trimming fat). We cut into two pieces for ease of cooking.
The type of ketchup is a consideration! Heinz ketchup does have a distinct flavor. If you use another brand (like an organic ketchup), you can adjust the sweetness level with the amount of brown sugar you add.
We found that after slicing the meat needed to be heated fully through and cooked for about 45 minutes - 1 hour to become as tender as we wanted.
You could cook this in a crockpot on low for 4-6 hours, checking at 4 hours on the tenderness.
If you make this for Passover, check your sauce ingredients to be sure they are kosher for Passover.

If you are looking for even more brisket ideas, try these:
New England Maple Coffee Brisket (about halfway down the post)
Smoked Brisket
Smoked Brisket, Version 2
Passover Brisket (with Manishevitz!)
Fun ways to use leftover brisket: Beef and Biscuit Pie
Slow Cooker Brisket

Here are a few shots of the competition! We had a lovely spring snowstorm to start our day - perfect brisket weather. While we didn't win we did have a blast (pretending we were in a Top Chef style competition!). We'll be back next year for another great time.
 





Wednesday, April 16, 2014

Maple...Chocolate...Matzo...Passover Deliciousness

Passover snuck up on me this year. Since early February, the Good Cook Doris house has been abuzz with the activity of a new baby in the house. We welcomed taste tester #2 and have been having a blast with big brother and little sister in the house. Thankfully she doesn't mind hanging out in the kitchen with mom, but she doesn't have the patience for long drawn out recipes. When the time came to prepare for our two Passover seders, I knew a few sacrifices would have to be made.

Instead of peeling the hard-boiled eggs, a sign of spring and new life, for our gefilte fish platter I decided to spend my few minutes in the kitchen making this:


Maple Matzo Crunch! I think that it was a wise decision to forgo the stress of peeling eggs for this crunchy, sweet, addictive matzo treat. If you have about 15-20 minutes you too can be enjoying this! Perfect for Passover and honestly anytime of the year. 

The maple flavor gives it a unique New England twist. Top with nuts or leave it plain - either way it won't last long. Note, use Kosher for Passover products according your level of observance.

Maple Matzo Crunch
Serves ?? (not too many people if you are home alone with this!)
5 matzos (you may need more) 
1 cup of butter
1 cup granulated maple sugar
1 tablespoon maple syrup (Grade A Dark Amber or Grade B)
2-4 oz. chocolate chips (semi-sweet or milk chocolate)
1/4 cup toasted pecans (or your favorite nut), chopped (optional)

Preheat oven to 450 degrees
Line a baking sheet with foil and arrange matzo pieces in a single layer
In a medium saucepan, combine butter, maple sugar, and maple syrup
Bring to a boil over medium heat and boil for 3 minutes, stirring occasionally with a heatproof spatula
Remove from heat and pour evenly over matzo
Bake maple covered matzo for 4 minutes
Remove from oven and sprinkle chocolate chips evenly over the matzo pieces
Return to oven for 1-2 minutes, until chocolate is melted (the chips will still hold their shape)
Using a spatula, spread the chocolate on the matzo, creating a smooth layer
Sprinkle toasted nuts on top of the chocolate, if using
Allow to cool completely and break into smaller pieces
Store in an airtight container in the refrigerator

Chag Sameach!

Sunday, May 1, 2011

Great for Passover, or Year Round!

For our second night Passover dinner, we enjoyed dinner with the hubby's sister, her husband, and our three nephews. I cooked up a mix of old and new recipes for us to enjoy. Everything we had for dinner is great for Passover, but would be wonderful any time of the year!

I love to make roasted turkey breast. It is easy and it lends itself well to being creative with flavorings. Using some of the herbs leftover from the lamb recipe and my favorite ingredient for flavoring turkey (oranges) I roasted a flavorful main dish! I used a boneless turkey breast, because it was on sale at the grocery store. My preference is a bone-in breast as it stays more moist, but with a little extra juicing liquid the boneless breast comes out just as well. I followed the cooking instructions in my trusty Joy of Cooking book, so I won't repeat them here. Here's a link to a past turkey breast recipe that I've made - and my best advice is to use an instant read thermometer to check for the appropriate internal temperature.

Roasted Turkey with Sage and Orange


1 orange, sliced into rounds
1 orange, rind removed and juiced
4-6 fresh sage leaves
1-2 sprigs of fresh thyme
Salt and pepper to taste
Olive oil

In a shallow roasting pan, spread a thin layer of olive oil on the bottom
Arrange the orange slices in a row and place the turkey breast directly on top
Pour the juice from the second orange on top of the turkey breast
Place the orange rind, sage, and thyme on top of the turkey
Season with salt and pepper
Roast until done
Let turkey sit for 15 minutes before slicing

I served the turkey with leftover roasted potatoes from the night before and a delicious mix of roasted white and green asparagus.



For dessert, I found a delicious recipe for Passover Almond Macaroons in Joan Nathan's Quiches, Kugels, and Couscous. I have a few issues with Passover desserts. They can be heavy - and chocolate! We're not huge chocolate lovers here in the Good Cook Doris kitchen which means the standard flourless chocolate cakes won't do it for us. Canned macaroons and boxed Passover cakes aren't bad, but they aren't great either. This recipe was simple and delicious. I consulted my KitchenAid Mixer book for assistance on whipping the egg whites to the correct almost-stiff temperature and channeled my inner pastry chef to try to fold in the almond flour without totally ruining the perfectly whipped egg whites. I'm happy to say that these were a success! With only 4 ingredients these macaroons are the perfect light treat to whip up anytime!




Passover Almond Macaroons
Adapted from Joan Nathan in Quiches, Kugels, and Couscous

4 large egg whites
1 1/4 cups sugar
2 cups almond flour
1/4 teaspoon almond extract

Preheat the oven to 300 degrees
Line a baking sheet with parchment paper (I had 2 baking sheets)
In a small bowl, mix sugar and almond flour together well
Add egg whites to the bowl of an electric mixer
Whip until almost-stiff peaks (stands up straight when whisk is lifted, but not too stiff)
Fold sugar and almond flour mixture into the egg whites in three batches
Drop teaspoons of batter onto the baking sheet and bake for 15 minutes, or until just dry (mine took closer to 20 minutes)

A look at the golden brown bottom of the macaroon:

Sunday, April 24, 2011

Passover Eats: Part 2

Seder plate with traditional shank bone, charoset, parsley,
two bitter herbs and a roasted egg.


In keeping with this year's theme of combining traditional with modern, I chose to shake up Seder menu. The hubby had our own Seder on Monday night and had a lovely Passover dinner with family on Tuesday.  For our meal, I wanted to cook something new and decided to turn to one of my newest cookbooks. Joan Nathan's Quiches, Kugels, and Couscous is a wonderful book about Jewish cuisine in France. I'll call it a book - more than a cookbook - because of the wonderful stories and history that accompany the recipes. After reading through a number of recipes I chose Membre d'Agneau a la Judaique (Roast Lamb Jewish Style). Joan describes the origin of the recipe was from a 1656 cookbook and that this was one of the first known uses of "Judaique" or "Jewish style" in a French recipe. This recipe gave me an opportunity to use the tin of anchovies I impulsively purchased in my Passover shopping spree. And since the anchovies are chopped and tucked into the lamb to melt away, the hubby wouldn't even notice!

Also new for the Seder was homemade horseradish, which was used in my new Passover deviled eggs, and New England style charoset. I went into my files of saved magazine recipes and found a Cooking Light recipe for a New England charoset that used concord grape wine, maple syrup, and cranberries. Perfect for a local food enthusiast like me! Recipes for the horseradish and deviled eggs were already posted, here I'll include the recipe for lamb and charoset along with a photo recap of all of our dishes.



Fresh horseradish - I don't think I'll ever buy it again!

Slicing the horseradish root into thin slices before processing

Fresh horseradish spicing up the gefilte fish
The beautiful bright red of the beet horseradish made equally beautiful horseradish deviled eggs topped with parsley!



After all these delicious appetizers, we still had room for the lamb. The recipe called for a top round or shoulder roast of lamb. I wasn't able to find that cut at my store, so I substituted a boneless leg roast of the same weight.


Membre d'Agneau a la Juadaique
Adapted from Joan Nathan in Quiches, Kugels, and Couscous

3.5 pound boneless leg of lamb, tied together (the store did this for me)
Salt and Pepper to season the meat
3 anchovy filets, cut into three of four piece each
6 cloves of garlic, peeled and cut into slivers
4 springs fresh thyme
3 springs fresh sage
Small potatoes, I used a bag of small red potatoes - about 18 small potatoes
1 pound zucchini, cut into chunks
1 cup of water
3 tablespoons olive oil
Juice and grated peel from 1 orange

Preheat oven to 450 degrees
In a roasting pan, spread 1 tablespoon of olive oil on the bottom
Add the roast and season with salt and pepper on all sides
Using a small sharp knife, pierce the lamb in a few spots creating small slits
Insert the pieces of anchovies and garlic into the slits
Add the potatoes and zucchini to the roasting pan
Add 1 cup of water to the pan
Pour the remaining olive oil over the vegetables
Top the lamb and vegetables with the remaining olive oil
Place in the oven and roast at 450 for 20 minutes
Lower the heat to 350 degrees and contine to cook for 1.5 hours or until the internal temperature measures 140 degrees
Remove from the oven and place the roast and vegetables on a separate plate
Pour pan juices into a medium skillet and add orange juice and orange zest
Cook, until reduced by half
Adjust salt and pepper to taste and serve

Summary:
Prep time: 10 minutes
Cook time: Approximately 2 hours
Roasting pan, sharp knife, cutting board, platter, skillet, measuring cups and spoons


New England Style Charoset




This recipe was from a Cooking Light magazine clipping I saved from back in 2003, celebrating local New England ingredients. I like chunky charoset, so I did not finely dice the apples, mince the cranberries, or grind the walnuts. Adjust the size of the cuts for your preferred consistency.

3 gala apples, cored and then diced
1/2 cup sweetened dried cranberries
1/4 cup Concord grape kosher wine (like Manischewitz)
4 teaspoons maple syrup (I used Grade A medium amber)
1/3 cup chopped walnuts

Combine apples, cranberries, wine, and maple syrup in a bowl and mix
Stir in walnuts
Refrigerate for 2 hours in an airtight container

Summary:
Prep time: 10 minutes
Cook time: 0 minutes
Cutting board and knife, measuring cups and spoons, serving bowl, spoon


Coming up next:
Passover Eats: Part 3 will cover recipes good for Passover or any time of the year. Stay tuned for matzoh balls, roasted turkey breast with fresh sage and orange, roasted green and white asparagus, and almond macaroons.  And don't miss Part 4 - a Passover edition of snack dinner from the hubby.


Monday, April 11, 2011

Passover Eats: Part 1

Last year at this time, things were crazy and I didn't post anything for Passover! This year, things are equally crazy but I am setting aside time to prepare for Passover and think about the upcoming holiday. Passover starts on Monday night, April 18th. That means there is still time to work on your menus and stock up your house with Passover treats.

As I mentioned in my last post, I was thrilled to partner with The Urban Grape (a fantastic wine shop), Robin from Doves and Figs and Sara from Whole Foods Market in Brighton to put on a Passover Wine and Food Tasting. You can check out a recap of the event on their website. One of my contributions to the event was a write up of recipes to include in a booklet for all attendees to take home. I had fun putting together the recipes and want to share them with you as well. I hope you enjoy!

For Passover celebration, I focus on both honoring tradition and bringing a modern interpretation to the holiday celebration. For me, that means keeping the basic structure and menu that my family had at their Seder, but changing it to reflect where I am now. For example, keeping the same menu, but using ingredients from the local farmers market. That gives a sense of place, and community to the meal.

The recipes below take familiar Passover ingredients and put a new twist on them!

Roasted Beets & Asparagus Appetizer
Serves 6

Roasted beets and asparagus are bright, fresh spring flavors. Bright orange golden beets and the addition of orange infused olive oil ties the dish to the modern practice of including an orange on the Seder plate, to represent Miriam.



2 medium golden beets, unpeeled
6-8 spears of asparagus
1/8 cup toasted pecans, chopped
1 inch slice of fresh goat cheese, crumbled
2 tablespoons Orange infused olive oil
Balsamic vinegar
Kosher Salt

Preheat oven to 450 degrees
Line a baking sheet with foil and cover the foil with a thin layer of kosher salt
Place the unpeeled beets on the salt and put in the oven for 45 minutes
After 45 minutes, place the asparagus spear on top of the salt on the baking sheet
Return beets and asparagus to the oven for 15 additional minutes
After 15 minutes, remove from oven
Place asparagus in a small bowl and toss with 1 tablespoon olive oil and a pinch of salt from the baking sheet
Allow beets to cool for a few minutes and then peel
Slice beets into 1/8 inch thick slices
Arrange beets and asparagus on a serving platter
Evenly distribute toasted pecans and crumbled goat cheese on top
Drizzle lightly with balsamic vinegar and remaining tablespoon of olive oil
This dish is best served at room temperature




Passover Deviled Eggs with Horseradish and Parsley
This appetizer combines familiar items from the Seder plate in a new way. The bright red color of beet-horseradish contrasts beautifully with the bright green parsley and white hard boiled egg.



12 hard boiled eggs, peeled
1/4 cup mayonnaise
2-3 tablespoons red horseradish
3-4 tablespoons juice from red horseradish (to add color & additional flavor)
Pinch of salt and pepper
1/2 tablespoon chopped parsley

Slice eggs lengthwise, remove yolks carefully and place in a mixing bowl
Add mayonnaise, horseradish, and horseradish juice
Mash the yolks and ingredients until smooth
Season with salt and pepper
Using a spoon & spatula fill each egg white (or fill a plastic sandwich bag and cut the corner to pipe the filling into the eggs)
Sprinkle chopped parsley over the top as garnish
Serve chilled



I plan to serve these eggs with the contrasting Beet Pickled Deviled Eggs that I made for Thanksgiving. I think the opposite colors will look great!



And don't forget dessert!

Maple-Chocolate Matzo Crunch
This dessert is a standard offering for many families during Passover. Taking advantage of local maple syrup, this is a new take on an old favorite. Maple sugar can be found from local Maple Houses and is increasingly becoming available at grocery stores.


3-4 matzos (you may need more)
1 cup of butter
1 cup maple sugar
1 tablespoon maple syrup (Grade A Dark Amber or Grade B)
2 oz. chocolate chips (semi-sweet or milk-chocolate)
1/4 cup toasted pecans, chopped

*For the spice lovers, I made a few pieces of green chili maple chocolate matzo. I sprinkled green chili powder on the melted chocolate before sprinkling with nuts. It was delicious and I am thinking about making a full batch of spicy chocolate matzo crunch for next week!

Preheat oven to 450 degrees
Line a baking sheet with foil and arrange matzo pieces in a single layer
In a medium saucepan, combine butter, maple sugar, and maple syrup
Bring to a boil over medium heat and boil for 3 minutes, stirring occasionally with a heatproof spatula
Remove from heat and pour evenly over matzo
Bake maple covered matzo for 4 minutes
Remove from oven and sprinkle chocolate chips evenly over the matzo pieces
Return to oven for 1-2 minutes, until chocolate is melted (the chips will still hold their shape)
Using a spatula, spread the chocolate on the matzo, creating a smooth layer
Sprinkle toasted nuts on top of the chocolate
Allow to cool completely and break into smaller pieces
Store in an airtight container in the refrigerator


What's your favorite twist on a traditional Passover food or family recipe? I'm always on the lookout for new ideas!

Tuesday, March 30, 2010

Passover is here already?

It seems like I have been running non-stop since January. The calendar has quickly flipped pages and I find myself almost at April!

Passover is a good time to sit back and think about all we have to be thankful for - freedom, family, friends, and all these crazy opportunities that keep me bouncing around with a full schedule.

I haven't had a chance to post my photos or write up any recipes from our mini-Seder from last night, but here is a link to some of my Passover treats from last year. I made the same brisket and am planning to make a batch of chocolate covered matzoh later in the week.

To all a who are celebrating, I hope you had a wonderful Seder. To those of you preparing for Easter, save me a few cookies and chocolates for after Passover.

Monday, April 20, 2009

Passover Eats - Part 7: Fresh Horseradish

Passover Eats part 7 comes to you from St. Louis. My mom sent over the recipe she tried for fresh horseradish for this year's seder. I hear it got rave reviews and I'm sorry I missed out! The recipe is below. In the photo above are a new recipe for charoset with cranberries and delicious matzoh ball soup. Enjoy!

This recipe was in the Post Dispatch Food Section on 4-10-09 submitted by Leslie Caplan -"This Soprano Cooks Catering"

Chrain Beets and Horseradish
2-3 pounds fresh red or golden beets with tops still on
6-8 ounces fresh horseradish root
1 teaspoon salt or to taste
1/2 cup white wine vinegar or to taste
1/4 cup granulated sugar or taste

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
Cut the tops off the beets, leaving about 1-1/2 inches of stem. Wrap the beets in foil with the stems showing
Bake red beats for 1-1/4 hours or Golden beets for 1 hour

While beets are cooling, peel horseradish root*
Slice horseradish into thin disks and put into the food processor
Add 1 cup water; process until horseradish is finely chopped (Stand back from the processor to protect your eyes)
Spoon the horseradish into a strainer, pressing out as much water as possible

Peel the cooled beats and cut into chunks
Place the beets in the food processor and process until fairly fine

Put the beets, horseradish, salt, vinegar and sugar into a large bowl and mix
Let sit for an hour or so, then adjust sugar, vinegar & salt to taste
Refrigerate for a day or longer
Readjust seasonings if necessary
Serve with gefilte fish

*Note: Before making this recipe, cut a small piece out of the root and taste it to make sure it is not bitter. Bitter horseradish root ruins the chrain. If you don't want to use raw horseradish, substitute 4 tablespoons of bottled white horseradish or to taste.

Faye's note: When I made this recipe, I cooled the beets overnight in the refrigerator and put it all together the next day. After processing the beets and horseradish separately and combining the rest of the ingredients, I processed everything together one last time to have a "finer" consistency.

Per 2- tablespoon serving: 13 calories; no fat; no protein; 3g carbohydrate; 2.5 sugar; 0.5 fiber; 67 mg sodium; no calcium; 60 mg potassium.

Passover Eats - Part 6: Frittata

Toward the end of the eight days, we had a lot of leftover veggies but not enough of each to make a full side dish. We were also a little tired of eating brisket leftovers every night! So I pulled out the frittata recipe and added in the veggies we had on hand. This variation included asparagus and onions. A bonus of making a big frittata is that we had leftovers for breakfast the next morning (much tastier than matzoh and cream cheese).

Passover Eats - Part 5: Dinner!

The last few nights of Passover got busy with meetings and other things that kept me from the blog. Here are a few more posts about our Passover meals. In honor of the BU Hockey Team going to the national championship game, we had a festive meal on Saturday night. It was colorful and delicious! On the menu: brisket, turkey breast, golden beets and asparagus, and a medley of colorful roasted potatoes. Perfect for leftovers! The brisket and beets were covered in the earlier Passover Posts. The turkey is a pretty easy recipe - just make sure to cook it long enough! I don't have exact measurements - it all depends on the size of the turkey.

Lara's Roasted Turkey Breast
Fresh turkey breast
1 orange, zested and sliced
2-3 tbsp. of butter
Salt
Pepper
A few dashes of poultry seasoning
A splash or two of orange juice

Preheat oven to 350 degrees
Sprinkle some olive oil on the bottom of a roasting pan
Arrange orange slices on the bottom of the pan
Rinse and pat the turkey breast dry
Place the turkey, skin side up on top of the oranges
Make a few slits in the turkey skin
Pour orange juice over the top
Rub butter and orange zest all over the top of the turkey, making sure to get it into the slits under the skin
Sprinkle with salt, pepper, and poultry seasoning
Bake for approximately 2 hours (until internal temperature is 170 degrees or indicator pops up)
If the turkey looks like its getting too brown, put a piece of foil over the top

Let rest for 15-20 minutes before slicing.

Summary:
Prep Time: 10 minutes
Cook Time: Approximately 2 hours
Roasting pan, cutting board, knife, zester, measuring cups

Monday, April 13, 2009

Passover Eats - Part 4: Roasted Beets and Asparagus

Passover also rules out one of our stand-by veggies, green beans. So the natural green choice is asparagus. Instead of just a boring steamed asparagus, I found a Mario Batali recipe online for roasted beets and asparagus. His recipe called for a frisee salad - I left that out (too fussy) To make it more colorful (and less messy), I bought some golden beets instead of the traditional red. This was an easy recipe and just requires some time in the oven.

Roasted Beets and Asparagus
5 golden beets
14 spears of asparagus
2 tbsp. olive oil + 4 tbsp. of olive oil
2 tbsp. balsamic vinegar
Kosher salt
Ground pepper

Preheat oven to 450 degrees
Spread kosher salt on a baking sheet (covering the sheet)
Place unpeeled beets on the baking sheet
Put in the oven for 45 minutes
While the beets are cooking, cut the woody ends off of the asparagus
When the 45 minutes are up, open the oven and place the asparagus around the beets (on top of the salt)
Return to the oven and cook for an additional 15 minutes
Remove from the oven and place the asparagus on a platter
Drizzle 2 tbsp. of olive oil over the asparagus + a pinch of the salt from the baking sheet
Cut asparagus into 2 inch pieces
Let the beets cool for about 5 minutes and then peel
I cut them into halves, and then half moon shapes
Place in bowl and toss with the balsamic vinegar and 4 tbsp. olive oil
Season with pepper

Arrange asparagus and beets on a serving platter and enjoy! I served this dish at room temperature. It was delicious!

Summary:
Prep Time: 10 minutes
Cook Time: 1 hour (non-active)
Baking sheet, platter, bowl, measuring cups, tongs, serving utensils

Passover Eats - Part 3: Breakfast!


Breakfast during Passover is always a hard one. I love to eat english muffins, bagels, cereal, oatmeal, etc. So this was my delicious Saturday morning breakfast. Matzo, kedem orange marmalade, and cream cheese. Quick and oh so unsatisfying. Sunday was matzo brei (no photos - it doesn't really photograph well).

Passover Eats - Part 2:

A little dessert before dinner never hurt anyone. Thanks to my 'old' NFTY friend Amy for posting a very easy and delicious matzo toffee crunch recipe. I tweaked it a little (no toffee on hand) Below is my version! It got rave reviews at work. If only they knew what matzo really does to you.....

Check out Amy's blog for the recipe (http://adouble.blogspot.com/2009/04/chocolate-toffee-matzos.html). I used dark brown sugar, salted butter, and semi-sweet mini chocolate chips. For the toppings I tried a few different things. I topped a few sheets with chopped pecans, left a few plain, and topped the rest with a delicious cinnamon sprinkle mix from pampered chef. Yum!!!

Passover Eats - Part 1: Brisket

The next few posts will cover the various foods we've had this week for Passover. If they are not new recipes, I'll list what we substituted or omitted to make the recipe Passover friendly. My non-Passover keeping friends always say that this should be a great week for weight-loss (no carbs!), but they have no idea how deadly all the Passover treats can be (K for P Dr. Brown's cream soda, macaroons, chocolate caramel matzoh, crumb cake......). Hope you enjoy this collection of food! First up - brisket!

The last brisket recipe I made had beer - a definite no for Passover. So I substituted in Manischewitz Concord Grape wine, a Passover favorite. I stuck to the basic recipe proportions and techniques in Joy of Cooking to make this delicious meal.

Passover Brisket
5 lb. brisket
2-3 cloves garlic, minced
2 large onions, sliced into 1/4 rings
1/2 cup beef broth
1/2 cup concord grape wine (Manischewitz or Mogen David)
1/2 cup organic (K for P) smoky barbecue sauce (or k for p chili sauce)
Salt and Pepper
Olive oil

Preheat oven to 350 degrees
Trim excess fat from the brisket
Rub the minced garlic, salt and pepper all over the brisket (use your hands for the garlic)
Cut the onions and measure out everything you need for the recipe
Heat a few tablespoons of olive oil in a large heavy pot (with a lid) over medium heat
Put in brisket and sear for 4 minutes on one side
Flip over brisket and add onions to the pot, sear for 4 more minutes
Remove brisket from the pot and put it aside on a plate
Continue to cook the onions until they are browned, about 5 minutes
Add beef broth to the pot and scrape the browned bits off the bottom
Add brisket back to pot and add BBQ sauce and wine
Put the lid on the pot and place in the 350 degree oven
Cook for 2.5 hours
Cool in the pot and refrigerate overnight

When you are ready to serve, slice and return to the pot with the sauce
Cook at 350 degrees for 30 minutes

Summary:
Prep Time: 10 minutes
Cook Time: Active - 15 minutes; Total 2-3 hours
Large heavy pot with lid, cutting board and knives, measuring cups, slicing knife and serving utensils

Thursday, April 9, 2009

Coming tomorrow - Passover Photos


Coming tomorrow - Passover Seder pictures. Stay tuned for brisket, mashed potatoes, gefilte fish, charosets, and chocolate carmel matzoh. Delicious!

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