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Registered: ‎03-09-2010

Re: PASSOVER RECIPES

[ Edited ]

@Poodlepet2  you have the best ideas!  fun to experiment.

 

here is the Honey Nut Cake in Orange Syrup from Epicurious that i have used for years.  i try to make at least one day ahead of Seder as it gets more delicious as the cake absorb the syrup.  i do make extra syrup to be sure it is moist and goopy when serving.

it does add matzah cake meal to the ground nuts.

 

HONEY NUT CAKE in ORANGE SYRUP

 

INGREDIENTS
  1. Cake
    • 3/4 cup granulated sugar
    • 1/4 cup brown sugar
    • 1/4 cup vegetable oil
    • 3 eggs
    • 3 tablespoons orange juice
    • 1 teaspoon finely minced orange zest
    • 1/4 teaspoon salt
    • 1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon ( or 1/2 teaspoon for a more pronounced cinnamon flavor)
    • 1/2 cup matzoh cake meal
    • 1/2 cup finely chopped hazelnuts or almonds
    • 1 cup finely chopped walnuts
  2. Soaking Syrup
    • 2/3 cup granulated sugar
    • 1/4 cup honey
    • 1/3 cup orange juice
    • 1/4 cup water
    • 1 tablespoon lemon juice
    • 1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
 
PREPARATION
    1. Preheat the oven to 350°F. Generously grease a 7-inch round layer cake pan (if you do not have one, you can use a round foil pan of the same or similar size available in the supermarket baking aisle).
  1. Cake:
    1. In a medium-sized mixing bowl, using a wire whisk, beat the granulated and brown sugars with the oil and eggs until the mixture is thick and pale yellow. Stir in the remaining batter ingredients. Turn the batter into the prepared pan.
    2. Bake for 35 to 40 minutes, or until the top is light brown and set. Cool for at least 20 minutes. Meanwhile, prepare the Soaking Syrup.
  2. Soaking Syrup:
    1. In a medium saucepan, combine the ingredients. Heat to dissolve the sugar and simmer for 5 to 10 minutes, until the mixture becomes syrupy. Cool well.
    2. Pour the cooled syrup over the cooled cake, poking holes in the cake with a fork, to permit the syrup to penetrate. Allow it to stand for 2 to 4 hours to absorb the syrup. I prefer to refrigerate this cake so that while it is absorbing the liquid, it is also firming up. Also, chilling the cake offsets its sweetness and makes it easier to cut. Serve it on splayed muffin liners.
 
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@Meezerpleezer wrote:

@mustang66lady  I think that whether a matzo ball is light or fluffy is personal taste.  Probably most people like fluffy.  DH has an identical twin who only likes matzo balls large and fluffy. 

 

Like @sandraskates, the little cannonballs that I make are very dense/chewy on the inside and a little lighter if you will, on the outside.  They are difficult to cut in half with a spoon but it can be done.  I think that is why DH likes them smaller--much easier to eat.  When we lived in a more metropolitan area, the Jewish restaurants all seemed to serve very light, very large matzo balls in a chicken based broth soup.  I remember one place in particular, there was only 1 matzo ball in the bowl of soup and it was about the size of a tennis ball.


The cannonballs are exactly how my grandma made them and I guess that why I love them.  I make them more dense to serve with dishes like stews or brisket.  They hold up well to sauces without breaking apart.  For chicken soup, my family likes light and fluffy.  I also like little golf ball size rather than the huge "one to a bowl" baseball size.  I guess it is easier to make them larger for restaurants who do not want to fuss with rolling golf balls but the smaller are much more elegant and easier to eat so I think worth the effort.

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@meezerpleezer aand @sandraskates, you two have given me renewed hope for my matzoh balls!!!  I too, make dense critters-in spite of trying my best-following MIL's instructions, cookbook instructions, instructions on boxes.....

 

You see ladies,I humbly confess that I am Jewish by choice....after studying and five years of marriage, I wanted it-desperately.....I found a Conservative Rabbi who after rejecting me three times, allowed me to study....I thought only those Daughters of Israel who were born into the faith were graced with the ability to make fluffy matzoh balls! It was something that would forever set me apart....I resorted to buying Manishewitz ready made matzoh balls in the jar.....DH joked that I should send mine to the Israeli Military!

 

Thank you for sharing! Now I feel fully a part of the Sisterhood!!!! Yes!

I would love to try Shanus's method: maybe that could work.....call me crazy, but I love the idea of baking them! 

 

Mine have great flavor: I save chicken schmaltz for the occasion and use a fair amount of onion powder....and I can make splendid chicken soup.....I am so excited that my grocer started carrying chicken feet....my DH's eyes tear up when he talks about his grandmother's chicken soup.

 

He spent summers with his grandparents in Brooklyn: Brighton Beach to be exact.  Back in the 60s they still had old school kosher butcher's and fish mongers. His grandma would choose a live chicken, they would go about their shopping, go back and pick up the plucked chicken....no parts were wasted, and it would make sense that chicken feet give extra flavor....the nails kind of skeeve me, but I will wrap them in cheesecloth so I don't have to see them!

 

Another chicken story is my FIL and his sister would fight over an egg that might be found in a roasted chicken: it was a great delicacy.

 

Back then, a house wife still had to clean the innards, and if the chicken was "enceinte", the egg was gently removed and roasted with the chicken!

 

Well, thank you both for sharing your love of dense matzoh balls: and now I feel I am truly MOT!!!!

Poodlepet2

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Our Church always has a seder, because that is what the last supper was ,and it instituted the first  holy mass, for us

 

We were instructed by the Holy Father, it must be done according to Jewish tradition, and  not to add or subtract anything. We were instructed to remember those to whom the passover was given , and do it with reverence and respect

 

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Registered: ‎03-09-2010

@ms traditional, what a fantastic recipe! For Diabetics, we can work with this! If you can tolerate malitol, plain, unflavored malitol is sold on Amazon and many low carb websites. You could use cake meal( remember to count the carbs) but they do make almond flour which is more finely milled than almond meal. Making almond meal is easy, but I wouldn't try making almond flour.  It is available at Wal-Mart in the baking section.  Coconut flour could be a possibility, but then we would run into additional liquid issues and the need for xanthum gum.you can use granulated sugar replacer for the 3/4 cup sugar, but I would keep the 1/4 cup brown sugar.

 

My idea for using mailto would be for that magnificent soaking sauce, but mailto is known to cause gastric distress for a lot of people. Another idea might be to simple double the amount of OJ  and reduce it by about a quarter. The sugar here is used as a syrup....the soaking sauce is going to be syrupy, but if the diabetic version isn't, I'm sure it's not going to take away from the cake!

 

Thank you so much for posting this!

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Cherry, that is wonderful-and that is progress! I loved Pope John Paul II and I love Pope Frances: he is another Pope of the People!

 

We have to keep this about food, but this is a little factoid you might find interesting.....Christianity had its earliest roots in several sects of Judaism.  Men are commanded to cover their heads.....those little hats you see on cardinals???? We call them Kippahs or kippot!

 

Baptism and ritual cleansing? Research what a Mikvah is....

 

Now then, do you have any particular foods that are Easter Mists in terms of symbolism????

 

Eggs are on our Passover plates and have very similar symbolism to Easter Eggs!

 

Are you ready for round two of the storm? It sounds as if high winds may be back in your future....if Shanus lives in Western NC, we might want to send her some shovels to dig out with!

Poodlepet2

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@Poodlepet2  what great ideas for adjusting cake to diabetic regime.  you are full of good stuff.over time i hope we see more recipes posted: something new is fun for everyone. 

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Hello and Good Morning @Poodlepet2. My eyes are still 1/2 closed from the time change...a glorious nap, after I finish making my minestrone soup for supper, will cure that. Loved your story about the egg inside the chicken. It brought back many memories.

 

When my Nana was plucking feathers, etc. (couldn't watch entire process) from the chicken & found the egg...a fight among the grandchildren began. Of course, even though she had a 3rd grade education, she was smart in all things that mattered and made a dozen boiled eggs, stashed the whites and put the extra yolks in the soup!! No fighting & we were none the wiser..

 

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@ms traditional, thank you! Diabetes is so prevalent these days we have a thread dedicated to it over on Wellness.  So many people struggle with food-especially around holidays.

 

Jews know two things: suffering and great food!  Once I got over my shock, I made it my mission to keep on enjoying food and finding healthier ways to enjoy!

 

I love home cooks like Jamie Gellar: she has all the classic high calorie and high fat recipes....Tradition is tradition after all.....but she has lightened up so many recipes and has come up with healthier, easier ways to run a Kosher kitchen!  Last year, she came up with a brilliant menu for Pesach that was much less stressful. She has I don't know how many children and always seems to be at some stage of pregnancy.....wow! She is inspiring!

Poodlepet2

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Shanus, I love eggs in soup-especially the yolks! When we had a cold snap a few weeks ago, we made a pot of chicken soup with Egg yolks.

 

We got the idea from a Peruvian restaurant we recently discovered.  They put a whole hard boiled egg in their chicken soup.

 

How is the snow situation?

Poodlepet2