Jewish - - Page 8

by gansie

Hott Links: Pass the, er, Matzah

By now, you’ve totally heard us *kvetch* that we’re waiting for the day when ES makes it BIG. And when that happens, you’ll surely get recipes that you can use ahead of time, instead of hearing about them after the fact.

Example: I’m going home for Passover this weekend. Not really sure what I’m going to make yet, so unfortunately, I can’t give you great, original ES dishes to try at your family seder. But I will be able to report back, and hopefully give you some inspiration on what kosher food to make for the following days.

So far though, my mom has requested twice-baked potatoes, and I’m thinking I’ll spike mine, SAG’s and DAD GANSIE’s with some wasabi powder. (My mom is the plainest eater in the world, no wasabi for her. Actually, I say she has a “delicate pallet” because that’s the nicest way I can think of to say she won’t eat shit.) I’ve also requested steak for dinner, because it’ll only be the four of us for the first night.

When my aunt’s family comes over for the second seder, we’ll see what group-style meal we come up with – probably turkey or brisket. DAD GANSIE’s a huge proponent of the bird year round. I’ve been asking him to post his turkey soup for a long time now (hint, hint).

Oh, and clearly we’re making matzah ball soup.

Here, though, are some interesting kosher-for-passover recipes:

Fruited Quinoa Salad [Atlanta Journal-Constitution] (via 80P’s Mom)

Matzoh Lasagna [A Mighty Appetite]

Mediterranean Fish Cakes [Culinate, Zena Chew Collection]

———
And please, totally send me your Passover suggestions

Photo: Charleston Heston as Moses

by gansie

If You’re Going to Cheat on Us

Now I’m sure that our ES readers feel so completely satisfied with our coverage on all things food related that you don’t have the desire to check out other, less funny, less entertaining, less informative food blogs. But if you do, you may want to check out The Amateur Gourmet. Adam Roberts really nails the New York-gay-lawyer-Jew thing. Plus he makes some pretty great food.

Through my Express freelancing, I had the chance to gChat with the blogger behind the blog, who also is a published author and a new Food Network personality.

Check out our convo.

in Celebs / Desserts / Personal / TV 5 comments

by BS

For My Next Trick, I Will Submerge a Bagel in a Bowl of Milk

A few months back, we had a lively discussion on ES about the importance of freezing bread. Here’s an instructional excerpt from Tim:

…thin bread from the freezer is so easy to butter before you toast, broil, or fry it. Mmm.
Bread in the fridge, however, will keep longer but will affect the quality and texture and will taste stale. Help educate your friends to stop bread refrigeration.

I’ve been trying to follow this advice. However, I still think there’s nothing better than fresh bread – bagels, baguettes, whatever – fresh beats frozen by a mile. So now when I buy any kind of bread, I try to make an exact calculation of how long it will last and keep just the right amount unfrozen. For example, I’ll buy a loaf of bread, keep six slices in the breadbox for the next three or four days and freeze the rest immediately. (The breadbox is metaphorical, I don’t really have one, who does anymore?)

In general, this works out well, but with this crazy modern life you never do know what’s gonna pop up at the last minute, and from time to time I estimate incorrectly and end up with that one rock hard stale bagel or slice of bread that I really should have just frozen in the first place.

My point is, life is pretty difficult these days. But my better point is, ya gotta have some recipes for stale bread.

How Wheat It Isn’t

Living in New York, I could care less about skyrocketing gas prices – I can count the number of times I’ve driven a car on on my fingers. And to be honest, I’m about ready for this city’s real estate bubble to burst already (got half a mil? you can be the proud owner of a tiny apartment in the middle of a crappy neighborhood!) But this developing wheat crisis is threatening to hit me where it hurts – in the stomach.

That’s right, the pillars of the New York City food chain are about to topple, because rumor has it pizza is heading up to $3 a slice! But that’s not all – next up: bagels for more than a dollar a pop. And no, that doesn’t include cream cheese.

As a rough estimate, I’d say I eat a bagel for breakfast about 17 days a month, and grab a slice of pizza for lunch or dinner maybe 10 times a month. That means the monthly expenses associated with being a New York City bottom feeder just jumped by about $15. Let’s not even think about pizza bagels, which I can only assume are now going for the price of white truffles.

The reason? Bad weather around the globe has hit wheat crops hard, sending prices through the roof. So let’s start praying for some sunshine, people, because if this starts screwing with wheat thins in any way, I am just going to explode.

in Uncategorized 1 comments

by BS

Hott Links: Has Anyone Heard About this Top Chef Show?

Sorry to hit you with the back-to-back Bravo action, but Top Chef 4 starts in Chi-town this evening, and, hey we’re excited. As always, you can count on ES for all your TC gossip, ramblings, and of course, our world wide web famous Padma Lakshmi photo gallery.

– Bravo has a completely unnecessary and completely amazing “Which Top Chef judge are You?” quiz. I won’t tell you which one I matched up with, but let’s just say “though always graceful and poised, I can be playful when the time is right, and I bring a zest for life to everything I do.”

– There’s only one interesting question in this Grub Street interview with Padma Lakshmi, and it’s the last one.

– Time Out NY has the lowdown on Top Chef 3 winner Hung and his latest restaurant stint in NY (they also explain why he’s wearing a yarmulke).

Photo: Time Out NY

in TV 6 comments

by BS

What Would St. Patrick Eat?

When holidays come around, the ES mailbag tends to fill up with letters from worried readers unsure how to properly prepare for the coming celebratory feasts. Since it is almost St. Patrick’s Day – one of our most exciting holidays, at least in terms of ingestion – we’re taking this opportunity to address some of these questions publicly. Hence, our newest feature: Ask ES.

Send your comments, concerns and food-related dilemmas to info@endlesssimmer.com

The Feast of St. Patrick:

Dear ES,

March is upon us and I find myself thinking… what would St. Patrick eat? Naturally, green, white and gold must figure somewhere, but aside from pistachio muffins and my own bland tri-colour risotto, I’m at a loss.

So, I challenge ES to concoct something appropriately coloured and tasty… Extra points for incorporating Guinness. Or vodka, just coz I like vodka.

Ailbhe

Let’s Not Choke on These Birds

My friend Tucker and I visited some friends in Manhattan a couple of weekends ago. It was a meeting of DC-transplants, as no one seems to settle in this transient city. So while we were all together, and with JH living so close to the Union Square farmers market, we decided to make dinner.

Most of our friends are students, including the gracious host, so we knew we didn’t need to impress — beans on toast would have done! But JH is a stickler for “etiquette” – it had to be seasonal fare with absolutely no repeat dishes. We started planning the menu a few days in advance, with a few options in mind (farmers markets can be unpredictable.)

Our key ingredients were onion, beets, leeks and pheasant. We cooked three pheasants, which we named Judy, Angela and Patrick. Yes, we’re a little loopy.

I mentioned in the comments of a previous posting that I wanted to cook a dish around Jerusalem Artichoke and up until this trip I had never even seen the damn vegetable. Clearly, it was going to be an interesting feat. We named this the “Challenge of the Chosen Choke!”

Dinner to feed ten… See menu after the jump.