Bittman -- Turkey Again, Thanks to the Italians - New York Times

"TO the long and ever-growing list of things you can do with leftover turkey, you can add a hearty, pleasant and easily made barley risotto."Read more...Recipe: Barley ‘Risotto’ With Turkey and Mushrooms November 21, 2007

Recipe: Barley ‘Risotto’ With Turkey and Mushrooms
4 tablespoons butter or extra virgin olive oil, or a combination

1/2 cup chopped scallions or onion

1 cup pearl barley

1 teaspoon chopped fresh tarragon or 1/2 teaspoon dried, or 1 tablespoon chopped fresh chervil, mint, dill or parsley

3 cups any stock or water, warmed

Salt and freshly ground black pepper

1 cup chopped cooked or raw turkey meat

1/4 pound shiitake mushrooms, caps only, sliced

Chopped parsley leaves for garnish.


1. Put half the butter or oil in a medium to large skillet over medium-high heat. When butter is melted or oil is hot, add scallions or onion and cook, stirring, until softened, about 5 minutes. Add barley and cook, stirring, for a minute or so, until glossy; add herb, liquid and salt and pepper. Bring to a boil.

2. Turn heat down to low, cover and cook for 20 to 30 minutes, until barley is tender (it will not become very soft) and liquid is absorbed. Meanwhile, heat remaining butter or oil in a skillet over medium-high heat; cook turkey, stirring occasionally, until browned and crisp. Remove with a slotted spoon, then cook mushrooms until crisp in same pan; remove.

3. Check barley’s progress: Continue to cook, if necessary, adding a tablespoon or two more liquid if all liquid has been absorbed and barley is not yet tender. Stir in turkey and mushrooms and continue to cook until all is hot and combined, then garnish and serve.

Yield: 4 servings.

From 1997 I heart Mark Bittman Pumpkin Soup

The Minimalist; A Pumpkin Soup for Fall: It's Almost Too Easy - New York Times

PUMPKIN OR SQUASH SOUP
Total time: about 45 minutes

2 pounds peeled pumpkin or winter squash (weigh after peeling)
4 to 5 cups chicken or other stock
Salt and freshly ground pepper.

1. Place pumpkin or squash in saucepan with stock to cover and a pinch of salt. Turn heat to high and bring to boil. Cover pan, and adjust heat so that the mixture simmers. Cook until pumpkin is very tender, about 30 minutes. If time allows, cool.

2. Place mixture in blender, in batches if necessary, and puree until smooth. (The recipe can be prepared a day or two in advance up to this point; cool mixture, place in a covered container, and refrigerate.) Reheat, adjust seasoning and serve.
Yield: 4 servings.
Approximate nutritional analysis per serving: 85 calories, 3 grams fat, 8 milligrams cholesterol, 100 milligrams sodium (before optional salting), 5 grams protein, 11 grams carbohydrate.

Bittman has ideas for garnish, here's a few:

* Add 1 teaspoon of ground ginger or 1 tablespoon of finely minced fresh ginger to the simmering soup.

* Add 1 teaspoon of curry powder (and if you have it, 1/2 teaspoon of turmeric) to the simmering soup.

* Add 1/2 teaspoon of cinnamon, 1/4 teaspoon of allspice and 1 small grating of nutmeg to the simmering soup.

* Dice about 1 cup of the squash (you will almost always have extra, especially with pumpkin) into 1/4-inch cubes, steam until tender, and use as a garnish.

* Garnish soup with chopped chervil, chives, parsley or dill.


* Saute about 1 cup of sliced mushrooms in butter or oil, and add them as a garnish. Chanterelles are best, but shiitakes (remember to discard the stems) or button mushrooms are also good

.

Here's another version from Bittman's blog on How to Cook Everything Creamy Pumpkin or Winter Squash Soup

Makes 4 servings
Time: 45 minutes
This soup requires only a few ingredients, one of which is water, and bread as a thickener. It's fast and delicious.

2 pounds pumpkin or winter squash, peeled, seeded, and cut into 1- to 2-inch cubes
6 cloves garlic, peeled
4 cups water
4 or 5 slices stale, crustless French or Italian bread
Salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste
Minced fresh parsley leaves for garnish

Combine the pumpkin and the garlic in a large pot, along with the water (if you use stock the flavor will be better, but it is far from essential), and turn the heat to medium-high.

Bring to a boil, then turn the heat to medium-low and cook for about 30 minutes, until the pumpkin is very soft. (You may prepare the soup in advance up to this point. Cover, refrigerate for up to 2 days, and reheat before proceeding.)

Tear the bread into pieces and add them to the broth; cook 5 more minutes.

Puree the soup in a food mill or blender, reheat, and add salt and pepper. Garnish and serve.

MAke your own lox

From San Jose Mercury News - Party salmon

This recipe comes from "How to Cook Everything" by Mark Bittman (MacMillan, 944 pp., 1998). And it couldn't be easier.

Start with a whole salmon or a big fillet. Just make sure the salmon is as fresh as can be. Coat it with a mixture of kosher salt and brown sugar. Drizzle on a little vodka, gin or brandy. Top with some fresh dill - or not, if you're like me and didn't want to make a special trip to the store for it. The gravlax will be delicious either way.

Wrap the salmon tightly in plastic wrap, weigh it down with a couple of unopened cans, and stick it in the refrigerator. Then wait for the sugar-salt mixture to do its thing. After two or three days, the salmon will turn translucent. It's then ready for eating. Slice it very thinly to serve.

Bittman - Monkfish With Mashed Potatoes and Thyme

Bittman does it again - His Monkfish With Mashed Potatoes and Thyme from this week's New York Times plus the accompanying article "A Partnership Steps Out of the Restaurant" says - put the fish on top of the mashed potatoes!

the recipe

the video


October 24, 2007
Recipe: Monkfish With Mashed Potatoes and Thyme
Time: 30 minutes


1 1/2 pounds Yukon Gold or other all-purpose potatoes, peeled and cut into chunks

Salt and pepper

2 tablespoons butter

1/4 cup milk, or as needed

Several sprigs fresh thyme

3 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil

3or 4 cloves crushed garlic

1 1/2 pounds monkfish, in 1 or 2 pieces, trimmed.


1. Preheat oven to 450 degrees. Put potatoes in a saucepan with water to cover. Add a large pinch of salt. Cook potatoes until quite tender, about 15 minutes. Drain and put through a ricer or food mill, or mash with a fork or potato masher. Add butter, milk, a few thyme leaves, and salt and pepper to taste. Keep warm in the oven or reheat in a microwave when ready to serve.

2. While potatoes cook, or immediately after they are done, put an ovenproof skillet large enough to accommodate monkfish over medium-high heat. After a minute, add the oil, garlic, a couple of thyme sprigs and then fillets. Sprinkle with salt and pepper. Cook for about a minute, then without turning, transfer to oven.

3. Roast until monkfish is cooked through, 8 to 12 minutes depending on its thickness. (It will be tender but still firm when done; a thin-bladed knife will meet consistent light resistance when inserted in its center.) Reheat potatoes if necessary, then serve monkfish browned side up on top of them, garnished with a little more thyme and pan juices.

Yield: 4 servings.

How to carve a roast chicken - Sunset Magazine

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The All Mark Bittman -Index - The New York Times

The best thing since the NY Times decided to give up subscription access in favor of click-ads, is this - The Mark Bittman archives. Mark Bittman - The New York Times

Recipe: Zucchini-Pear Soup - New York Times

Mark Bittman's Zucchini-Pear Soup - New York Times
plus a video on how to do it: here!

Porto's Bakery

Bittman on soups, today

Now that the NY Times is free, again, at last, here's Bittman's A Marriage Made at the End of Summer. With a video. Just a word about puréeing soups: If you have an immersion blender, this is as good a place for it as any. Home immersion blenders don’t have the power to truly purée in the way standard upright blenders do. But putting just-off-the-boil soup in an upright is a tad dangerous. If the lid flies off at the wrong moment — and it happens — you run the risk not only of scalding yourself but also of staining the ceiling. No kidding.

LA's Grilled Cheese

A list of restaurant reviews of the old classic - No Glamour, but Sandwich Is a Star - New York Times
The classic Los Angeles grilled cheese, like the $5.95 version served at the 101 Coffee Shop in Hollywood, begins with perfectly buttered sourdough bread, topped with cheddar and perhaps a nice tomato, grilled to tawny perfection, its contents stretching appropriately with each bite. It is perfectly paired with a Coke (not diet, thanks).

Cheese Enchiladas - recipes from around the world

Feed Me Bubbe Episode #17 Fresh Fruit Salad

Enchiladas verdes

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easy deviled eggs
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vegetarian chopped liver

lunch1
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Poppy-seed Cake

Poppy-seed Cake
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Baked Spaghetti

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A Shakshuka recipe with Catsup?

It's here at The Jewish Week: All Shakshuka Up

turkish coffee

How to Make Hummus

Shakshuka Video

Is that a kugel in your pocket, or...?: Shakshuka Recipes

Shakshuka Recipes from Is that a kugel in your pocket, or...?

Shakshuka

Shakshuka
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shakshuka recipe - Google Search

Lots of recipes...

Shakshuka recipe - recipes & cooking tips

Cick here for Shakshuka recipe Ingredients:

4 eggs
4 tomatoes (medium) - chopped to small cube

Tomato paste
2-3 green peppers (optional)
2 onions (small) - finely chopped

hot chili pepper - whole (optional)READ MORE...

Kuuba Bamya (Dumplings and Okra)

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Vegtable skins stuffed with rice, meat, and spices.

Feed Me Bubbe Episode #17 Fresh Fruit Salad

For Kosher Emergencies, Manna From a Machine

New York Times

WHERE else but New York could two guys who grew up together find a way to blend kosher food, cutting-edge cooking technology and hip-hop?

Earlier this month, the nation’s first glatt kosher vending machine that can shoot out a hot knish was installed at Hackensack University Medical Center in New Jersey. The machine also crisps up kosher mozzarella sticks, cheese pizza and onion rings. And in a few weeks, freshly grilled hot dogs in warm buns will be for sale there, too. Not from the same machine, of course. That wouldn’t be kosher.

The vending machines are called Hot Nosh 24/6. “To make it a little Jewish sounding we called it nosh, and we added the 24/6 to give a little cuteness to it,” said Doron Fetman, who with his partner, Alan Cohnen, created Kosher Vending Industries.

Although Orthodox and some Conservative Jews do not use electric devices during Sabbath, the creators of Hot Nosh 24/6 will leave that choice to the customer. Despite their name, the machines will be ready to serve 24/7.

Ruby Azrak, a street clothing magnate who launched Russell Simmons’s Phat Farm line, is backing the project. Mr. Azrak, who refers to himself as “a Syrian Jew from Brooklyn who keeps kosher but doesn’t wear a yarmulke,” has one of the machines in the stylish garment district office where he runs the House of Dereon, the clothing line of the singer Beyoncé.

The minute Mr. Fetman and Mr. Cohnen presented the project to Mr. Azrak, he saw it as an idea worth millions.

“If you’re in Brooklyn and you eat kosher, it’s no problem,” he said. “But if an Orthodox Jew is stuck in Oshkosh, Wisconsin, where are you going to eat? If you walk into an airport, there is nowhere to eat. If you walk into a hospital for a good thing like your wife giving birth or a bad thing like someone is sick, there is nowhere to eat.”

Over the next couple of months, the men will install Hot Nosh machines at a handful of colleges, malls and hospitals in the tri-state area. They’ll put some at Jewish day schools in Brooklyn and at the Sloatsburg rest area on the New York Thruway, the largest one on the way to the Catskills. Their business plan calls for 2,000 machines in the next two years in ballparks, malls, airports, military bases — pretty much anywhere people might be willing to pop in a few dollars for something hot and kosher.

From a culinary perspective, this is the kind of food that would make the pharisees of local, seasonal food fall to their knees and beg for mercy. The frozen knish is thawed in a microwave compartment, then crisped by what Mr. Fetman calls “a convection oven on steroids.” The hot dogs, individually sealed in plastic so they can stay in the machine for up to 21 days, are heated in seconds with a combination of grilling and infrared technology. The bun is warmed in a separate oven.

For food from a vending machine, it isn’t terrible. Crusts are crisp, fillings soft and steamy. It would do in a pinch. But the knish this reporter sampled couldn’t compare to one from Mr. Broadway, a kosher deli near Mr. Azrak’s office.

The men who developed the machines grew up together in New Jersey and run the business from an office in Rockland County, New York. A year ago they started talking about how frustrating it was to travel and not be able to eat anything at airport restaurants.

“I said it would be great if we could come up with some food in a box we could sell,” said Mr. Fetman, who also runs a deli and catering company in Somerville, N.J.

They discovered a company called KRh Thermal Systems in California, which had created machines it describes as “fully automated mini-restaurants.” Over the past few years, Kraft, Tyson and other food companies have used them to sell pizza, chicken strips and grilled sandwiches in hotels and offices. But the men behind Kosher Vending Industries think that’s a limited market.

“In America there’s a Burger King on every corner, so who needs to eat hot food out of a machine?” asks Mr. Azrak.

At Hackensack University Medical Center, the kosher vending machines solved a vexing food problem. The hospital has Orthodox staff members and an increasing number of patients from Orthodox communities in New Jersey and upstate New York, said Irma Newdorf, the assistant director of nutrition and food management. Although the cafeteria offers kosher sandwiches and yogurt , it sells no hot food and is not open 24/7, or even 24/6.

“It works beautifully,” Ms. Newdorf said. “Now if they could do something like that for halal foods, that would be great. We have a growing Muslim population, too.”