Shabbat Dinner in summer

In the heat of summer, cooking in a hot apartment with no air conditioning and preparing a great big heavy Shabbos dinner is not the most enjoyable thing for me.

After some consideration I decided that something light was in order for this heat wave we are experiencing.

Efi will never say no to chicken schnitzel. It’s easy to prepare and saves well too. As for the rest of the dinner I planned to just make various hot and cold salads to keep the meal as light as possible.

For the chicken schnitzel, I seasoned fresh breadcrumbs with dried coriander leaves, salt and pepper. (I have a recent obsession with coriander lately!)

The Israeli salad was made including: sweet red pepper, ¼ cup each of fresh coriander, parsley and mint. I added some fresh pomegranate seeds just for fun. A dressing made of lemon juice and olive season with salt a pepper is mixed through.

Warm potato salad is something I watched Jamie Oliver make on one of his cooking shows some time ago and fell in love with, who does not like carbo-loading!! I chose a bunch of Mediterranean baby potatoes that were cleaned and quartered and boiled till quite soft. Water drained in a colander and shaken about to rough up a little. A dressing is made of 2 Tbsp each of olive oil and lemon juice seasoned with salt and pepper and a ¼ cup fresh chopped parsley which is poured over the still hot potatoes...mmmm

The highlight however was the Warm aubergine and chickpea salad!!!

The aubergine was sliced lengthways and set aside with sprinkled salt for 30 mins. Thereafter rinsed under fresh water and cubed. In a pot, I warmed a little olive oil and added ½ tsp of dried flaked garlic and a tsp ground cumin. The cubed aubergine was then added and cooked till soft and a little browned. A drained can of chickpea’s added to the pot and warmed through. A Tbsp olive oil and tsp lemon juice stirred through and tossed with some fresh coriander leaves.

Shabbat Shalom! 

A very fresh salad

With the weather as hot as it is today (36 C) in Cape Town, a person can eat nothing but a fresh salad.  I had the following ingredients in my fridge to make this salad.

¼ cup fresh parsley

¼ cup fresh mint

¼ cup fresh coriander

1 Israeli cucumber

2 tomatoes

Juices of half a lemon

Olive oil

Salt and pepper to garnish

Chop the parsley, coriander and mint finely. For the tomato and cucumber, cut it the same way you would when making an Israeli salad. Drizzle with the olive oil and lemon juice and garnish with salt and pepper to taste.

This salad can be eaten with just about anything or even on its own with toasted ciabatta or pita bread to soak up all the juices. My kind of summer dish!

 Shavua Tov!!

Happy 2012!

Well, it’s been a while since I last blogged, but with the ‘silly’ season upon us and me working in the hospitality industry finding the time proved to be somewhat difficult. So here is a summary of what was happening in my kitchen through Hanukkah and the rest of the holiday season.

Firstly I must admit that Hanukkah has got to be my favourite holiday and its all about the beautifully lit candles, okay, maybe the food too ;)

Sadly this year my first batch of doughnuts was a complete flop. Lesson learnt: be careful of the difference between fresh and instant yeast and how to convert fresh yeast for instant yeast! Sadly I only read the following article on eHow after I threw all the doughnuts out.

‘Yeast is the component in bread dough that makes it rise through the release of carbon dioxide and the formation of alcohol. Fresh yeast is an active form of yeast that must be stored in the refrigerator. It works best for breads that require a long period of time to rise. Instant yeast is a form of dry yeast that is allows dough to rise in a shorter period of time. You can substitute fresh yeast for instant yeast in a pinch.

1.
Read the directions and determine how much fresh yeast the recipe calls for.



2.
Measure out 2 tsp. instant yeast for every 1 tbsp. fresh yeast called for in the recipe.



3. Add the instant yeast directly to the flour during the mixing process. The instant yeast does not need to be "proofed," which is a process of allowing the yeast to activate in water before adding it to the recipe.



oh well, better luck next time...

However the good news is that my Aunt Lilla shared one of her doughnut recipes with me and Hanukkah was saved! Hooray!!

They are so easy to make and look what fun I had making different shapes!

‎ 1 cup sugar, 2 Tbl spoons melted butter, 2 eggs, 4 cups sifted flour, 4 tsp baking powder, 1/4 tsp salt, 1/2 tsp cinnamon, 1 cup milk.

Beat eggs until light, add sugar gradually, beating well. Blend in butter, sift dry ingredients add alternately with milk to the sugar mixture. Roll a 1/4 inch think on floured board. Cut with a doughnut cutter fry a few at a time in deep hot oil.

And then I had a go at making latkes, my very first attempt I might add!  To be honest, I am not so sure that I am a big fan. Perhaps I need more practise and to experiment with more varieties in future, so I will not give up all together and will give it a good go next Hanukkah. 

I made sure to wring out all the liquid as far as possible, worked on getting the temperature of the oil just right and I believe that I got that right, but I am not hooked. I thought I would stick to something just basic since it was my first try and made just potato and onion. I think I would like to try the carrot or Zucchini next time.

And then I made an awesome rare roast beef, as first for me and I am utterly impressed with myself as it was just delicious! After getting my roasting dish really hot, I rubbed the piece of beef in Nomu’s Roast Rub and briefly browned each side for a couple of seconds and pushed the dish back into the oven which was on a temperature of 200C for approximately 20 mins. The vegetables of choice were then added and the lid was placed on this time and the dish was left in the oven for a further 15 minutes and that was it. 

The cooking times would differ depending on the size of the meat however, but I believe the secret is not to overcook the piece of meat. What we could not eat, we sealed and put in the fridge, I ate of it two days later with a bit of mustard and it was just divine!

I have attempted to make a few cakes and deserts, but lately have had some bad luck which I am still trying to figure out what went wrong, as soon as I do, I will make sure to share them with you, for now, I just keep trying! J 

Here is to prosperous 2012 to all!!