It wasn’t until I read this week’s Torah reading that I finally figured out what the lentil soup incident was all about. Call me dense, but although I’d first heard the story too many decades ago to count, the meaning didn’t click until just now. Although this is a recipe column the story isn’t really … Continue reading
When I sat down to write about stuffed cabbage I imagined the paean I’d compose to this East European Jewish classic. First I would explain the deep mystical meaning behind this delicacy alternatively known as holopches, galupches, tutued kaposta or kruv memuleh depending on where in the Ashkenazi Jewish world one traces one’s roots. After … Continue reading
This job takes under five minutes to complete This will eventually morph into farfel! Forget the Siberian Tiger and the Mountain Gorilla! There’s something far important that may be vanishing from the planet—farfel.. The once ubiquitous gravel shaped noodle known as the Ba’al Shem Tov’s tzimmes is almost nearly extinct, replaced on our Shabbos and Yuntif … Continue reading
Back when I was a kid and I wanted to know what we were having for dinner, my mother’s response would often be “chaloimes mit lukshen” (literally noodles with dreams). For a long time, my brother and I both thought this was some kind of food. Though we weren’t quite sure what food, we were … Continue reading
It’s the Nine Days, when cooking options are severely curtailed and I’ve been craving cabbage noodles. That’s the name my mother uses for the archetypical European dish alternatively known as káposztás tészta, Kraut Lukshen, or Kraut Pletzlach. It’s perfect for this week because it is pareve and filling. Thought cabbage noodles was a mostly because it’s … Continue reading
When I was growing up,(even when I was a young adult—which I’m not anymore. What is 52, an old adult, a young senior?) I thought I’d never make Hungarian fruit soup. It was part of my childhood, a dish my mother had brought over from Europe which like gribenes and fleishig eggs and jellied carp … Continue reading
It’s the 17th of Tammuz and I’m fasting. That means that I can’t have my beloved cocoa with ice cubes until nightfall, which makes me grumpy and sad. Booo!!! When I was younger, fasts confused me. Why call them “fast.”? If you’ve ever experienced one you’ll know that a fast day is anything but fast. … Continue reading
I think that I’ve stumbled upon the secret fuel to the Jewish brain. It’s Pistou, an ancient condiment, dip, relish (you pick) and, close cousin to Pesto. Pistou originates in from Provence, a lovely town on the French- Italian border which had a Jewish community that was neither Ashkenazi or Sephardic but followed it’s own minhagim. … Continue reading
There are days when I don’t feel like thinking about food. Today is one of them. My mind is on Leiby Kletsky and his poor family living through every parent’s worst nightmare. What can I say? Nothing, really except that perhaps we can honor Leiby’s memory by reflecting the blessing of being a parent and … Continue reading
Glingel is the humblest of dishes, a Jewish egg foo young that has fallen on hard times. None of my cookbooks offer a recipe and my google search was fruitless.. Even my Hungarian next door neighbor, didn’t know what it was. But Glingel deserves another chance. Not only does it feed body and soul, it … Continue reading
