The Charlotte Jewish News -November 2013 - Page 32
For Thanksgivukkah Celebrations, Planning and
Simplicity Lighten the Load
By Helen Nash
New York (JTA) - The phe
nomenon this year of Chanukah
and Thanksgiving eoineiding
eould mean even larger family
gatherings than usual.
So here are some tips: Plan the
menus well ahead of the speeial
eelebration, and piek reeipes that
are easy to follow and make them
well in advanee. This way, eooks
ean enjoy their eompany.
Have a few appetizers available
as guests arrive and dinner isn’t
ready. One of my favorites is
hummus, whieh I like to serve
with eueumbers, radishes, bell
peppers and toasted pita triangles.
My reeipe uses eanned ehiekpeas,
whieh makes it easy to prepare
and is a huge time-saver. Hummus
ean also keep in the refrigerator
for awhile, so it ean be prepared
toward the beginning of the week.
I like to start my holiday gath
erings with soup, and for
Chanukah-Thanksgiving, I sug
gest Barley Soup with Miso. It’s a
delieious variation on the tradi
tional mushroom barley that most
of us know (and love) from ehild-
hood. This reeipe is vegetarian,
it’s a perfeet fall dish, and ean be
made ahead of time beeause it
freezes well.
What would Thanksgiving be
without turkey? And Chanukah
without latkes?
My roast turkey is surprisingly
easy to make. For Chanukah, I
like to make a Grated Potato Pan-
eake, whieh is ideal when you are
expeeting many guests. (For an
other potato reeipe, try the baked
latkes dish in my latest eookbook,
“Helen Nash’s New Kosher Cui
sine.”)
Another holiday favorite for
the holidays is Osso Bueo
(Braised Veal Shanks); make it
ahead of time.
To end the festive meal for this
onee-in-a-lifetime oeeurrenee, I
reeommend everyone’s favorite -
brownies. The fudgy treats ean be
eut into any size or shape. They
freeze well and ean be served with
sorbet or fruit.
Hummus
Makes about 10 servings as an
hors d’oeuvre or dip
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Makes 6 appetizer servings
My family and friends always
love this ereamy dish, whieh ean
be found all over the world. Sinee
hummus refrigerates well, I try to
keep it on hand as a nutritious
snaek for my ehildren and grand-
ehildren. The eanned ehiekpeas
make this version less garlieky
than the norm beeause the garlie
is baked first.
Ingredients:
8 unpeeled garlie eloves
One 15.5-oz. ean ehiekpeas,
drained
3 T. tahini (sesame paste)
1/4 e. freshly squeezed lemon
juiee
1 t. kosher salt
1/4 t. ground eumin
1/3 e. plus 2 T. eold water
Preparation:
Wrap the garlie tightly in a
pieee of foil. Bake in a toaster
oven at 350 degrees for 15 min.,
or till soft. Remove and let eool
until you ean handle the eloves.
Squeeze the pulp from eaeh elove
into a food proeessor. Add the
ehiekpeas, tahini, lemon juiee,
salt, and eumin. Pulse till smooth,
adding water through the feed
tube till the mixture is ereamy
and has a mayonnaise-like eonsis-
teney. Season to taste.
Barley Soup with Miso
Makes 12 servings
The addition of miso adds a
delieate Asian flavor; the bright
green dill, a niee jolt of eolor.
Ingredients:
2 med. onions
3 garlie eloves
4 eelery stalks, peeled
4 med. earrots, peeled
1 lb. white mushrooms
3 T. extra virgin olive oil
1/2 e. med. pearl barley
8 e. vegetable broth
1 buneh fresh dill
2 T. barley miso paste (see note
following Preparation steps)
Kosher salt
Freshly ground blaek pepper
Preparation:
It is easy to ehop the vegetables
in a food proeessor. Quarter the
onions and garlie, and pulse in the
food proeessor till eoarse; remove
to a bowl. Cut the eelery and ear-
rots into large pieees. Pulse them
separately until eoarse, and add to
the onions and garlie. Wipe the
mushrooms with a damp paper
towel and eut them in quarters.
Pulse till eoarse and set aside. (If
you ehop everything together, the
vegetables will beeome mushy.)
Heat the oil in a Ig. saueepan.
Saute the onions, garlie, eelery,
and earrots for 1 min. Add the bar
ley and broth and bring to a boil
over high heat. Lower the heat
and eook, eovered, for 15 min.
Add the mushrooms to the soup
along with half the dill. Cook for
another 15 min. or till the barley
is tender. Remove and diseard the
dill. Stir in the miso and season to
taste with salt and pepper. Snip
the remaining dill for garnish.
Note: You ean buy barley miso
in most health-food stores.
Grated Potato Pancake
Makes 12 servings
This large paneake is fun to
serve to a large gathering - you
just eut it into eake-like wedges -
and it’s not greasy. Another plus:
You ean prepare it ahead of time
and reheat before serving.
Ingredients:
4 Ig. Idaho baking potatoes
Kosher salt
Freshly ground blaek pepper
4 tablespoons vegetable oil
Preparation:
Peel and quarter the potatoes. If
you are not grating them immedi
ately, plaee them in a bowl of eold
water to prevent diseoloration.
Using the med. grating attaehment
of a food proeessor, grate the po
tatoes eoarsely. Plaee in a dish
towel and wring dry to remove the
liquid. Transfer to a bowl. Season
well with salt and pepper. Heat 2
T. of the oil in a 12” nonstiek skil
let. Add the potatoes, patting them
down firmly with a spatula to flat
ten them and even out the edges.
Cook over medium-high heat for
about 8 min., till the bottom is
golden. Invert the paneake onto a
plate and add the remaining 2 T.
of oil to the skillet to heat.
Slide the paneake baek into the
skillet. Pat it down again with the
spatula and eook for another 8
min., or till the underside is
golden. Invert onto a platter and
eut into the desired number of
sliees.
Roast Turkey
Makes 12 to 14 servings
You do not have to wait for
Thanksgiving to serve this dish, as
it is easy to make and quite tasty.
I often serve it when I have many
guests to feed.
Ingredients:
14-lb. turkey
3 T. freshly squeezed lemon
juiee
3 T. low-sodium soy sauee
Freshly ground blaek pepper
1 e. freshly squeezed orange
juiee
1 e. dry white wine
2 onions
5 sprigs rosemary
5 T. unsalted margarine, melted
Preparation:
Preheat the oven to 325 de
grees. Diseard any exeess fat from
the turkey. Rinse it inside and out
and pat dry with paper towels.
Season the skin and the eavity
with the lemon juiee, soy sauee,
and pepper. Combine the orange
juiee and wine in a measuring eup
with a spout. (This makes pouring
easier.) Thinly sliee one of the
onions and set it aside. Cut the
other onion in quarters and plaee
it in the eavity along with the
rosemary sprigs. Brush the turkey
with the margarine and plaee it on
its side in a roasting pan. Seatter
the slieed onion around the pan.
Roast the turkey for 30 min., bast
ing with the orange juiee-wine
mixture. Turn the turkey on its
other side and roast for another 30
min., eontinuing to baste. Turn the
turkey breast side up and, eontin
uing to baste, roast for 20 min. For
the final 20 min., plaee the turkey
breast side down. (If the drum-
stieks begin to get too brown,
eover the ends with foil.) The
turkey is ready when the drum-
stieks move easily in their soekets
Helen Nash
and the juiees run elear. (The total
eooking time is about 1 hour, 40
min., or about 7 min. per pound.)
A meat thermometer inserted into
the thiekest part of the breast
should read 160. Remove the
turkey from the oven and eover it
tightly with heavy foil. Let it stand
for 30 min. (This allows the juiees
to flow baek into the tissues.)
Plaee it on a eutting board. Pour
the eontents of the roasting pan
into a sm. saueepan. Put the
saueepan in the freezer for about
10 min., so the grease ean quiekly
rise to the top. (This makes it eas
ier to remove.) To serve: Skim off
the fat and reheat the pan juiees.
Diseard the onion and rosemary
from the eavity and earve the
turkey. Serve with the juiees.
Easy Brownies
Makes 7 dozen 1” squares
These fudgy bite-size brownies
ean be eut into any size.
Ingredients:
16 T. unsalted margarine, at
room temperature, plus 1 T. for
greasing the pan
1 e. unbleaehed all-purpose
flour, plus 1 T. for dusting the
pan
5 oz. good-quality imported
semisweet ehoeolate, broken into
small pieees
Seant 1-3/4 e. sugar
4 Ig. eggs, room temperature
1 t. vanilla extraet
Generous 1 e. walnuts, eoarsely
ehopped
Preparation:
Preheat oven to 350. Line a 9”
X 13” X 2” baking pan with wax
paper. Grease the paper with 1 T.
of the margarine and dust it with
1 T. of the flour. Invert and tap the
pan to shake out the exeess flour.
Plaee the remaining margarine
and the ehoeolate in the top of a
double boiler. Cover and set over
simmering water. Stir from time
to time until all is melted. Remove
the top from the double boiler.
Using a wooden spoon, gradually
add the sugar, stirring eontinu-
ously till the ehoeolate is smooth.
Stir in 1 egg at a time till well
mixed. Add the vanilla and flour
and blend well. Stir in the
ehopped nuts. Pour the batter into
the prepared pan, tilting the pan to
spread the batter evenly. Bake on
the middle shelf of the oven for 20
minutes, or until the top is slightly
firm to the toueh and a eake tester
inserted in the eenter eomes out
moist. Cool on a wire raek. Run a
metal spatula around the sides of
the pan to loosen the brownies. In
vert the pan onto a board and eut
into squares.
Note: These brownies freeze
well. Plaee them side by side in an
air-tight plastie eontainer, with
wax paper between the layers.^