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January 26, 2015
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Blintz Souffle

As I have already said, this is my mother’s recipe. Her original called for 3 tablespoons of sugar added to the egg / orange juice mixture. Frozen cheese blintzes tend to already be very sweet, so I omitted this sugar. I think this makes them better.

It’s a really simple recipe. Over the years, the hardest part has been to find frozen blintzes. I use a brand called “Goldens” available at major grocery stores, or a brand called “Kasia’s” which I find at Costco.

Try these for your next breakfast or brunch. If you want them to be more of a dessert, sprinkle powdered sugar on top or serve with fruit pieces.

BLINTZ SOUFFLE

EVENT: New Year’s Day Brunch

SERVES: 10-12 People

Ingredients

1 dozen frozen cheese blintzes

1/2 stick melted butter

4 eggs

1 cup sour cream

1/2 cup fresh orange juice

1 teaspoon vanilla

Pinch of salt

1/2 teaspoon cinnamon

Equipment

10” X 12” rectangular baking pan, at least 2” high

Directions

1. Pour half of the melted butter on the bottom of baking pan. Place frozen blintzes in pan, seam side down. Twelve blintzes should fit inside a rectangular pan.

2. Combine eggs, sour cream, orange juice, vanilla, pinch of salt in a blender and blend just until thoroughly blended.

3. Pour liquid over baking pan. Liquid should partially cover blintzes. Top with reserved melted butter. Cover with foil and refrigerate overnight.

4. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

5. Remove blintzes from refrigerator and allow to come to room temperature.

6. Top with cinnamon. Bake covered approximately 1 hour. Remove foil and bake 5-10 minutes just to brown top.

January 23, 2015
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Knishes, Rugelach, Poppy Seed Strudel and Deli Delights

Canter’s Deli is an institution in Los Angeles. Opened in 1931, it is a Jewish style delicatessen in the Fairfax District of Los Angeles. It’s famous for its corned beef and pastrami but also for the fact that it is open 24 hours a day, except for Jewish holidays of Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur.

Over the years it’s been a favorite of rock starts and major celebrities. Its varied patrons have included Marilyn Monroe, Madonna, Elvis Presley, Brad Pitt, Gene Simmons of KISS, Johnny Depp; and even more importantly, on Sunday mornings, my mom, my dad and my eccentric uncle Sammy.

I knew New Year’s Day brunch would have to include bagels and cream cheese, rugelach and poppy seed strudel from Canter’s. I remembered a party catered by Canter’s which included mini knishes and hoped they still made them. The knish recipe at Canter’s has remained the same for at least 30 years. The minis are delectable and the perfect antidote for a hangover. I had to order the mini knishes in advance and pick them up the day before the party.

A knish is traditionally an Eastern European snack food consisting of a filling covered with dough. In 2000, there was a knish Renaissance with specialty bakeries popping up in various locations including Maryland, Washington, DC, and California. I guess knishes are back in fashion.

The smell of the freshly baked knishes was intoxicating and it was hard not to sneak one during the drive home. I resisted and waited until New Year’s Day.

Here is a great party planning tip:

Check out your local deli or ethic market and see what you can buy readymade to enhance your menu. Of course, you need to sample everything before you buy it. No hostess would serve anything she hadn’t tasted, especially if it included rugelach, mini knishes, and poppy seed strudel; and maybe she’d even have to sample it several times just to be sure it was really good. Oh, the sacrifices I make for my guests!

January 21, 2015
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Roasted Fingerling Potatoes

This is another one of those dishes you can add to a brunch or dinner buffet.

I grow rosemary in my garden and have the other ingredients in my pantry at all times. New Year’s Day, I put the potatoes in the oven when I got up, they developed a beautiful crust and complimented the rest of the menu.

There is nothing wrong with simple food done well.

 

ROASTED POTATOES WITH ROSEMARY

EVENT: New Year’s Day Brunch

SERVES: 10-12 People

 

Ingredients

4 lbs tiny Yukon gold potatoes *

1/4 cup olive oil

1 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt

2-3 tablespoons minced fresh rosemary

A NOTE: I prefer Yukon gold potatoes because they develop a good crust. You can also use red or new potatoes.

Equipment

2 baking sheets

Directions

1. Preheat the oven to 400 degrees.

2. Cut the potatoes in half and place in a bowl. Toss with olive oil, kosher salt and rosemary.

3. Dump the potatoes on 2 baking sheets and spread into single layer.

4. Roast in the oven for approximately 45 minutes, until browned and crisp.

5. Remove from oven. Taste. Add more salt if necessary.

January 19, 2015
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Roasted Tomatoes

It might seem silly to post a recipe for roasted tomatoes, but the more I talk to people, the more I realize that there is a need for even simple basic recipes.

With a recipe this simple, it’s imperative that you use the best quality tomatoes you can find, and the best quality olive oil you can afford. I buy organic grape tomatoes which are readily available at Trader Joe’s.

These tomatoes work as a side dish for brunch but also for a juicy roast chicken or roast lamb.

On New Year’s Day, I popped them in the oven first thing when I woke up. By the time I had my morning tea and was starting to get organized for the day, they were done. My idea of fast food.

 

 

ROASTED TOMATOES

EVENT: New Year’s Day Brunch

SERVES: 10-12 People

Ingredients

4 cups multicolored grape tomatoes

3 cloves garlic, minced

2 tablespoons olive oil

2 teaspoons basil

Kosher salt and fresh ground pepper to taste

Equipment

Baking sheet

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 450 degrees.

2. Place the tomatoes, garlic, basil and oil in a large bowl.

3. Toss to combine and evenly coat all tomatoes with oil.

4. Place on baking sheet. Sprinkle with kosher salt and fresh ground pepper.

5. Bake in preheated oven approximately 20 minutes, until some of the tomato skins pop and start to brown.

6. Remove from oven. Serve room temperature.

January 16, 2015
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Pumpkin Monkey Bread

This is a recipe I used to make years ago using store bought biscuits.

I was testing it two weeks before the New Year’s Day party and it was cooling on my kitchen counter one evening when two friends stopped by for an impromptu dinner. We sat at dinner commiserating about how we had eaten too much over the holidays and how we were cutting back on sugar and carbs.

One of my friends spied this cake and asked about it. I told him it was a test for New Year’s Day but I wasn’t totally happy with the results and wasn’t going to include it. My friends listened to all my criticisms and then insisted, just to be helpful, to taste test it. They made it through half the cake before they pronounced it New Year’s Day worthy.

In keeping with our plan to cut down on sugar and carbs, my friend volunteered to take the second half to work. I’ll never know whether it actually made it, but I can be sure it didn’t go to waste.

PUMPKIN MONKEY BREAD

EVENT: New Year’s Day Brunch

SERVES: 12-16 People

Ingredients

For topping:

3 tablespoons melted butter

1/3 cup chopped nuts (pecans or walnuts *)

1 teaspoon cinnamon

¼ cup granulated sugar

For monkey bread:

½ cup granulated sugar

1 tablespoon cinnamon

½ teaspoon ground cloves

2 10-oz. cans refrigerated buttermilk biscuits

1 cup packed brown sugar

½ cup (8 tablespoons) butter

1/3 cup canned pumpkin

3 oz. cream cheese

Equipment

6 cup non-stick fluted tube or bundt pan

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Make topping:

1. Brush pan with ½ melted butter. Sprinkle half the nuts and half the cinnamon and 1/8 cup sugar.

Make monkey bread:

1. In a large bowl, combine cinnamon, sugar and cloves.

2. Separate each can of dough into 10 biscuits and cut each biscuit into quarters.

3. In palm of hand, form each quarter into a small ball and roll each ball in cinnamon-and-sugar mixture.

4. Place each ball in pan making several rows.

5. When you have used one can of biscuits, sprinkle remaining topping ingredients: chopped nuts, cinnamon, sugar and melted butter over pan.

6. Continue with second can of biscuits.

7. In a 1-quart saucepan, combine brown sugar, butter, pumpkin and cream cheese over medium / low heat until butter is melted. Whisk mixture until smooth. Don’t worry if pieces of cream cheese aren’t blended. Allow mixture to cool slightly.

8. Pour mixture over biscuit in pan.

9. Bake 30-35 minutes until the top is golden. Cool in pan 10-15 minutes.

10. Place heatproof dish upside down over bundt pan and turn pan over. Pan should easily lift off.

11. Allow to cool completely and store covered room temperature.

 

* A NOTE: I buy the nuts — walnuts or pecans — at Costco.

January 14, 2015
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Shakshuka

At breakfast in Morocco recently, I was drawn to row after row of lipstick-red mini tagines. I lifted the lid on one and to my delight saw eggs that looked like they had been basted, nesting in a bed of luscious tomato sauce.

After the first bite, I decided that I had to make these. I didn’t know what they were called but when I described them to a foodie friend, she said, “Ah, you’re talking about ‘shakshuka’.” Usually when attempting something new, I consult lots of recipes. This time, I consulted nothing. I simply remembered the taste of the sauce and proceeded.

The sauce has very few ingredients but several steps. It combines canned diced tomatoes, fresh garlic, double strength tomato paste and of course harissa. Everything is simmered in a large saucepan, cooled and then put in a blender or Vitamix to puree. It is then reheated, reduced slightly, thickened and kept on the stove until ready to combine with eggs.

Enough sauce is put in a lidded 3-quart flat saucepan and the eggs are carefully broken directly into the sauce. The lid is replaced and the eggs allowed to cook. It’s served right from the pan. This makes enough sauce to make several batches, at least three batches with 4 eggs in each pan.  This is the only dish we ran out of on New Year’s Day. Enough said.

 

SHAKSHUKA

EVENT: New Year’s Day Brunch

SERVES: 12-16 People

Ingredients

5 14.5-oz cans diced tomatoes *

2 tablespoons double strength tomato paste **, or 4 tablespoons for regular tomato paste

3 cloves garlic, crushed

2 teaspoons harissa

Salt and pepper to taste

2 tablespoons olive oil

Fresh Italian parsley, chopped

1 ½ dozen eggs

Equipment

Large saucepan

3-quart sauté pan with lid

Directions

1. Heat the olive oil in large saucepan over medium heat and add the crushed garlic and harissa.

2. Stir and allow to cook for about 2 minutes.

3. Add crushed tomatoes and tomato paste.

4. Bring to a gentle simmer and cook about 10 minutes. Stir to mix.

5. Remove from heat and allow to cool slightly. When cool, puree in blender or Vitamix.

6. Return to large saucepan and cook on low heat for 10 minutes, uncovered, to allow sauce to thicken.

7. Taste, correct with salt and pepper. Spoon 1/3 of sauce into 3-quart sauté pan and warm over low heat. Sauce should fill the pan, creating a bed for the eggs.

8. Using large spoon, make indentations in sauce and carefully break one egg into each indentation.

9. Cover with lid and continue to cook over low heat until eggs whites are set. Remove from heat for 2 minutes to allow dish to settle.

10. Garnish with chopped parsley.

11. Repeat two more times.

* A NOTE: I buy the canned diced tomatoes at Costco.

** ANOTHER NOTE: I buy double strength tomato paste in a tube because it seems to stay fresh longer than the cans.

NEW YEAR’S DAY BRUNCH

GAME PLAN

 

4 Weeks Before

  • Invite guests: Send evites early as people may have established New Year’s Day traditions

3 Weeks Before

  • Plan menu: My menu had some food that needed to be kept warm. Omit this if you don’t have equipment like a chafing dish.
  • Arrange support staff or kitchen help if you will use it

2 Weeks Before

  • Finalize menu
  • Make detailed shopping list
  • Decide what you will buy readymade

7 Days Ahead

6 Days Ahead

  • Do grocery shopping: non-perishables, ice, frozen orange juice, blintzes, etc.

4 Days Ahead

  • Set-up buffet table

3 Days Ahead

  • Do grocery shopping: perishables, cream cheese, smoked fish, fresh orange juice, eggs, etc.

2 Days Ahead

  • Prepare and bake Pumpkin Monkey Bread
  • Roast leg of lamb for Lamb Hash
  • Bake potatoes for hash
  • Chop onions for hash
  • Buy and arrange flowers
  • Buy bagels, pastries, breads, fish, cream cheese, etc.

1 Day Ahead

Morning of Party (My party started at 12:30 p.m.)

  • 10:00 a.m.
  • Prepare fish platters (2 hours ahead)
  • Slice breads

Have a drink and wait for your guests to arrive!

January 12, 2015

New Year’s Day Brunch Menu

 

 

Buffet

* Fresh fruit salad (GF)

* Apple fig crumble (GF)

* Greek yoghurt (GF)

Smoked salmon platter (GF)

* Capers, sliced tomatoes, sliced onions, sliced Persian cucumbers and pickles

* Bagels and cream cheese

* Pumpkin monkey bread

* Shakshuka (GF)

* Blintz soufflé

Lamb hash (GF)

Chicken livers with mushrooms

* Roasted Tomatoes (GF)

* Roasted fingerling potatoes (GF)

* Knishes (kasha, potato)

* Rugelach (chocolate, prune, cinnamon)

* Poppy seed strudel

Beverages

Coffee

Tea

Mimosas

Bloody Mary

(GF) Gluten Free

* Vegetarian

January 9, 2015

January 7, 2015
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New Year’s Day Brunch: The Party

January 5, 2015
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New Year’s Day Brunch Party: The Food

When I was a kid, my parents always had a New Year’s Day brunch. The menu featured lots of Jewish deli food, bagels and cream cheese and lox (which we now call “smoked salmon”), corned beef, pastrami, potato salad, cole slaw, other cold cuts, lots of pastries and of course my mother’s blintz souffle. It was always buffet style and people would come throughout the day to eat, watch football games, and celebrate the New Year. I remember these parties with great fondness.

I can still see my mom carefully and methodically arranging the fish platters. Most of my mom’s menu was cold because the buffet was set up to last until the football games ended. I also remember feeling that, depending on the football schedule, the party went on a bit too long, too late into the afternoon and sometimes early evening.

I started having New Year’s Day celebration more than 10 years ago. My New Year’s Day Brunch is less about football and more about the food and getting together with good friends to set the tone for the year.  My mother’s influence is obvious. My menu always includes some of the traditional foods she served: bagels and cream cheese and lox, blintz souffle. I’ve expanded this to include dishes I want to eat, I have tasted on my travels throughout the year, and surprises that will delight my guests. Also, because this is New Year’s Day, I always include enough foods that will settle a stomach for someone who might have done a bit too much celebrating the night before. This is the meal to serve lots of carb options.

The blintz souffle is the perfect cure for a hangover and wonderfully delicious. It’s very simple to make and in fact is prepared the day before and baked the morning of the party. I was pleased that it was such a hit. Many of my guests remembered their mothers making a version of this dish and it brought back great memories. Food has such power to take us back to earlier times and places.

The shakshuka was my attempt to replicate eggs cooked in tomato sauce that I had eaten in Morocco. When I described this dish to a foodie friend, she said, “Oh, you mean ‘shakshuka’.” So it had a name. I used my memory to create the flavors in the tomato sauce and used Moroccan spices of course. It was a huge hit. I love coming back from a trip and sharing with friends some of the foods and flavors I’ve enjoyed.

The lamb hash also had a bit of Moroccan influence as you will see from the recipe. I had thought about making lamb hash earlier this year when I had leftover leg of lamb. This recipe does double duty. The leg of lamb itself is rubbed with a paste which includes prunes, spices and dijon mustard. It’s roasted slowly in the oven. I toss red potatoes or baking potatoes in the oven at the same time. You slice and enjoy the lamb with delicious gravy the first night and use the leftovers for hash. The hash was an experiment that turned out to be a keeper recipe.

I guess I was thinking a lot about childhood memories and food and I got a hankering for chicken livers. My father and I used to love sauteed chicken livers and scrambled eggs for breakfast. No one else in the family liked chicken livers so we didn’t have them very often. About 10 years ago, I developed a recipe for chicken livers and mushrooms in chasseur sauce.  I really didn’t know if anyone else would eat chicken livers, but I decided to make them anyway. I was delighted to overhear the comment “I love chicken livers and these are amazing!” Also, I made extra thinking I would have leftovers the next day with some scrambled eggs. I had one lonely liver left. I probably will make a batch in the next two weeks so I can get my fix.

Roasted fingerling potatoes and roasted multicolor organic tomatoes rounded out this food menu and complimented the other dishes.

In addition, for those with a sweet tooth, there was fresh fruit salad, an apple fig cardamom crumble, rich Greek yoghurt, lots of pastries from the deli, and homemade pumpkin monkey bread. The biggest surprise of the party was that most of the pastries were left. With so much good food and really fresh bagels, people didn’t go for the sweets. Is this a trend for 2015? I will keep you posted.

I’m just starting to think about 2015, my parties and my travels. I don’t know where my travels will take me and the parties aren’t yet planned. I can only hope that wherever I go, I come home inspired to create new dishes, incorporate new flavors and bring my family and friends a little “taste” of my journey.

Happy New Year to you and your friends and family!