This Evening’s Radio Show, a Book Review & a Recipe

This evening – Wednesday, the 27th of February – at 10:00 pm (Eastern Time) we will be talking to Leah Schapira and Victoria Dweck, the co-authors of the cookbook: Passover Made Easy: Favorite Triple-Tested Recipes on our BlogTalkRadio.com/kosherscene segment.

Easy to prepare, delicious recipes. What more can you ask?

Leah and her first cookbook already appeared in this pages, and she also was our guest on BlogTalkRadio in 2011. Victoria Dweck is the Managing Director of AMI MAGAZINE‘s Whisk (the weekly food section – a magazine on its own!). Their backgrounds and customs may be very different BUT, their love of food makes them an unbeatable team.

Looking through their new cookbook with sections on:

• Food and Wine Pairing
• Seder Night
• Building Blocks
• Starters
• Soups and Salads
• Main Dishes
• Side Dishes
• Brunch and Dairy
• Desserts
• Replacement Index

…it is obvious this book will please the seasoned as well as the new bride who’s just starting to cook! The recipes from Meatballs in Blueberry Sauce to Brisket Eggrolls (my mouth is watering already!) and Antipasti Rolls, from Orange Soup to Butternut Squash Salad and Lime-Infused Pear Salad, from Eggplant-Wrapped Chicken to Veal Chops in White Wine Sauce and Braised Short Ribs in Homemade Duck Sauce are sure to enhance ANY Seder meal!

With side dishes like Stuffed Onions or Potato and Flanken Kugel, with breakfast goodies like Banana French Toast or Pineapple Pie; with desserts like Frozen Lemon Wafer Cake or Truffled Grapes this is the perfect gift to yourself, your family or Seder host (you can purchase this cookbook here).

With 60 easy to make, mouth watering recipes it was hard to choose just one to share with you, gentle reader, but as an incurable chocolate addict I think the following dessert is just perfect:

Chocolate Crackel  Sandwiches

(From page 112…)

Detail of photo by Daniel Lailah, on page 113

Yield: 9 sandwiches

Ingredients

• 4 cups confectioners’ sugar
• 1 teaspoon vanilla sugar (optional)
• 2/3 cup cocoa (scant)
• pinch salt
• 4 egg whites
• 3 cups walnuts halves, toasted

Chocolate Ice Cream Mousse

• 15 ounces bittersweet chocolate
• 9 eggs, separated
• 2 1/4 cups sugar, divided
• 3/4 cup oil
• 1 tablespoon lemon juice

Instructions

1. Preheat oven to 325F. Line 3 baking sheets with parchment paper.
2. In the bowl of a standard mixer (or using a hand mixer), combine confectioners’ sugar, vanilla sugar, and cocoa. Add the salt and egg whites. Beat well. Add the walnuts and mix until incorporated. Do not let the batter sit.
3. Immediately spoon full tablespoons of batter onto each baking sheet. There should be 6 cookies per sheet for a toal of 18 large cookies (the cookies spread). Bake for 12 – 15 minutes.
4. Prepare chocolate ice cream mousse: Line a 9×13 inch baking pan with parchment paper or plastic wrap. Melt the chocolate in a double boiler over low heat. In the bowl of a food processor or blender, combine egg yolks, 1 cup sugar, oil, and melted chocolate. Process until well combined.
5. In a bowl of an electric mixer, beat the egg whites until stiff, gradually adding the remaining 1 1/4 cups sugar. Add lemon juice. Lower speed and add chocolate mixture.
6. Pour ice cream into prepared pan. Freeze until firm,
7. Assemble the ice cream sandwiches: Pair the cookies that are the most even-sized. Using a deep cookie cutter the size of a cookie cut the ice cream. The ice cream should stick to the sides of the cutter; when you lift the cutter, the ice cream should come with it. Push it out onto a cookie. Sandwich it with the matching cookie. Freeze.

Hot Chocolate Sauce

• 1 cup sugar
• 2 teaspoons vanilla
• 1/2 cup cocoa, sifted
• pinch salt
• 1/2 cup water
• 2 tablespoons oil

1. In a medium saucepan over high heat, combine the sugars, cocoa, salt. water, and oil. Bring to a boil. Lower heat, stirring occasionally, until sauce thickens to desired consistency.

TIDBIT – Coca-Cola makes a special batch of soda for Passover using real sugar instead of high fructose corn syrup, which is kitnyiot. A yellow cap identifies the special bottles.

These crackels are a simply delicious cookie that work well either on their own or paired with ice cream. There’s just one rule. Once you mix the batter, drop it into the cookie sheet immediately. If it sits in the bowl, the batter becomes thick and chunky and result in cookies that aren’t as appealing. I haven’t yet figured out a way to reverse that – so work quickly!

Confess! I can see you salivating as you read the recipe, so… enjoy.

Don’t forget to tune us in, this evening, at 10:00pm (Eastern Time) on BlogTalkRadio.com/kosherscene. Meanwhile, in case you missed, just listen to the archive of our last show with Esther Zafrani?

CS

Bargains at Deals Maven

We never imagined when we started The Kosher Scene that our coverage would include deals and bargains. Let’s face it, however, with (expensive!) Passover fast approaching, with items one needs in the kitchen and outside of it, we felt compelled to tell you about a site – we just discovered – which can save lots of money while bringing you links from all over the internet. Such a site is dealsmaven.com.

Current and recent deals include:

Cuisinart TOB-80 Compact Toaster Oven Broiler, Only $69.95!

Hot!! SodaStream Jet Home Soda Maker, Only $59.99! + Receive $10 Kohl’s Cash!

Seagate Backup Plus 1TB USB 3.0 Portable Hard Drive, $77!

KitchenAid Professional 5 Plus Series, 5QT Bowl, Stand Mixer, Only $259.77! w/Free Shipping.

New Passover Cookbook: Passover Made Easy: Favorite Triple-Tested Recipes, $10.87!

15% Off Select Baby Products At Amazon!

DeLonghi Juice Extractor, Marked Down To Only $149.99!!

Ends Today! Emeril All-Clad Hard Anodized Nonstick 8″ & 10″ Fry Pan Set, $24.99!

Hurry!! Shop Taste of Home: $5 Sale on Kitchen Gadgets and Cookbooks!

So far the categories covered are:

Categories

• Apparel
• Baby
• Camera
• Coupons
• Credit Cards
• Freebies
• GPS
• Hot Deals
• Kitchen
• Laptops
• Luggage
• Shoes
• Toys
• Travel
• Uncategorized

It may be a new site, but it has a lot to offer. Personally, I know I’ll be visiting and revisiting often.

Meanwhile enjoy the savings, gentle reader, enjoy!!!

CS

Kosher Food and Wine Extravaganza 2013 – Part 1

[I apologize to our readers for posting so late, but I had a family emergency. Immediately after the KFWE 2013 I had to leave for Richmond, VA. to deal with my 100 year old (ad meah ve'esrim!), Holocaust survivor uncle - my mother's baby brother - who both broke a hip and developed pneumonia all at the same time. While far from perfect, things are under control again and I can get back to work. CS]

KFWE 2013 took place on Monday, February 4th, last week. As always the wine selections were superb, the restaurants and caterers exhibiting were tops. Better and bigger than ever, with more people attending than ever. Today we are posting the first of a multi part series of video interviews with winemakers, chefs, restaurateurs and some of the people attending.

We started with Baron Edmond de Rothschild wines…

All videos copyright of © The Kosher Scene, 2013

Next we spoke to Joe A. Hurliman from the Herzog Wine Cellars…

We segued with our friend, producer of award winning wines, Dr. Moises Cohen owner and founder of Spain’s acclaimed Elvi Wines.

After quite a few more interviews we went to the main floor to taste and see what the interviewees were talking about. My favorite was the Clos Mesorah 2009, it tasted even better than last year. On the nose I found it to be rich in blackberry, black cherry, blueberry and floral notes. On the palate it exhibits concentrated and layered fruit, silky tannins, along with plenty of spice, buttered herbs, and good cedar that fills the mouth and makes for a rich and unusual experience, with a long finish of chocolate, vanilla, berries, and butterscotch, with fruit and butterscotch lingering long after the wine is gone. Wooow, we loved it!

We will be telling you about the other wines we also enjoyed at KFWE 2013, so… just stay tuned. Meanwhile enjoy, gentle reader, enjoy!

CS

Chocolate Checkerboard Cookies

Some of my grandkids will be visiting today, I thought these would make a special treat:

(adapted from Jacqueline Bellefontaine‘s What’s Cooking: Chocolate)

Detail of photo from page 125

Yield: 18

Ingredients

• 3/4 cup margarine, softened (use butter if you prefer creamier tasting dairy cookies)
• 6 tablespoons confectioner’s sugar
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract or the grated rind of 1/2 an orange
• 2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1oz dark bittersweet chocolate, melted
• a little beaten egg white

Directions

1. Lightly grease a cookie sheet. Beat the margarine and confectioner’s sugar in a mixing bowl until light and fluffy. Beat in the vanilla extract or the grated orange rind.
2. Gradually beat in the flour to form a soft dough. Use your fingers to incorporate the last of the flour and to bring the dough together.
3. Divide the dough into 2 equal pieces and beat the melted chocolate into one half. Keeping each half of the dough separate, cover and chill in the refrigerator for 30 minutes.
4. Roll out each piece of dough to a rectangle about 3″ x 8″ inches long and 1 1/2 inches thick. Brush one piece of dough with a little egg white and place the other piece of dough on top.
5. Cut the block of dough in half lengthwise and turn over one half. Brush the side of one strip with egg white and butt the other up to it, so that it resembles a checkerboard.
6. Cut the block into thin slices and place each slice flat on a cookie sheet, allowing enough space to spread a little during baking.
7. Bake in a preheated oven at 350 F. for about 10 minutes, until just firm. Cool on on the cookie sheet for a few minutes before carefully transferring to a wire rack with a spatula. Cool completely.

Enjoy, gentle reader, enjoy!

CS

The Michael & Judy Steinhardt Collection at Sotheby’s

You can glean an indication of a people’s essential soul through its art; you can tell an artist’s darkest fears or highest aspirations through his/her artistic creations. From its very beginning, Jewish art has been heavily influenced by its homestead environs, the cultural milieu, and the political and economic times of each era. Regardless of the external influences, however, the unique Jewish en-soulment  lives within every creation like a burning spark in each work. You can view these spiritual sparks in a collection of Judaica currently on partial display at Sotheby’s (1334 York Avenue, New York, NY 10021 - Tel: 212.606.7000). The full collection of 400 lots, collected by Judy and Michael Steinhardt consists of rare Jewish art spanning from antiquity to the 20th century and will be auctioned on April 29th, 2013.

Among the collection’s items one can find The Frankfurt Mishnah Torah, published sometime around 1457 to 1465, it is a beautiful set of eight illuminated manuscripts (another five volumes are in the Vatican). As Sotheby’s press release states, it is by far the most profusely illustrated manuscript of Maimonides‘ Mishna Torah and is expected to command between $4.5 to $6 million. An item that is currently on display is this beautiful North German Bronze Lion Aquamanile, from the 12th century…

One of only four known Aquamanilia (hand washing vessels) bearing a medieval Hebrew inscription.

Other items I was privileged to see are a German psomim bixl, used for havdallah at the end of Shabbos, a very ornate Torah crown…

An Italian Torah crown, circa 1730

The detailed work and beautiful lettering on the crown, speak eloquently of the artist’s reverence for his subject and mastery of the delicate nuances of his raw material. Also displayed is a Torah breastplate of rare workmanship unequaled today…

Intricately designed, unique in its beauty.

Other items displayed include 2 Ketubas – like the one below, for example:

The full ketuba above and the actual written contract on the bottom…

An unusual lot also on display is The Rouchomovsky Skeleton: A Russian Gold Articulated Skeleton in a Silver-Gilt Coffin, from Odessa 1892-96 and estimated at $150,000 to $250,000…

Very small, yet exquisitely detailed.

This collection affords more than just a glimpse at the collective Jewish soul, to see it and even more to own a piece of it connects a person to centuries of Jewish hopes, dreams, tears and laughter. The complete collection of 400 lots will be on display at Sotheby’s (1334 York Avenue, New York, NY 10021 - Tel: 212.606.7000) from April 24 trough 28, while the auction itself will take place on the 29th of April.

CS

RELATED POST

Judaica at Sotheby’s – Valmadonna Trust Library

Esther Zafrani – Glorious Creations Desserts

This past motzey Shabbos, I had the pleasure of attending one of Esther Zafrani‘s demos. I had heard of her before but until now never had the chance to see her in action.

She started her demo by carving two lovebirds… from apples…

Esther Zafrani carving a lovebird out of an apple

…she followed with a chrysanthemum, made from a watermelon.

A flower, from a watermelon!

She then proceeded to carve a mango…

Apples, watermelon, mango – lovebirds and flowers.

Men and women equally enjoyed it, as was made obvious by those who approached her work table after the demo. Esther gives demos and carving classes to groups or individuals. She not only does beautiful carvings but she also a baker. She can be reached, in her office (Glorious Creations Desserts), at 718.258.9491 or on her cell 917.803.6051.

It was a great evening, Esther Zafrani made it so!

CS

A Night of Wine and Art – Part 2

Last Wednesday – January 23rd, 2013 – we had a superb evening of wine and art at the Igal Fedida Gallery, (1482 First Avenue, between 77 and 78 in Manhattan). Recanati Winery presented 8 of their top wines.

All photos copyright of © Irving Schild

Brent Delman – TheCheeseGuy.com

Brent’s selection of imported European and domestic cheeses, never disappoints. He has singlehandedly raised the standards of the kosher cheese industry to the delight of both the Jewish and non Jewish markets.

Looking at the paintings…

Estie Wartenberg and winemaker Gil Shatsberg, serving Recanati wines

Among my favorite wines of the evening was the Reserve Syrah/ Viognier 2010. Full bodied and with gripping tannins, it showed plum, berries and currant fruits with subtle notes of roasted meat and earthy minerals. My co-blogger, SYR, had special praise for their Special Reserve White 2010, a blend of Chardonnay, Viognier and Sauvignon Blanc. Exhibiting only the barest of wood it showed abundant peach, nectarine and apricot all coming together for a long finish.

We both agreed, however, that the Special Reserve Red 2007 was in a class by itself! Dark garnet in color, full-bodied but with a remarkable sense of lightness on the palate. On the nose, it opened with berry-cherry before introducing flavors of currants, red cherries and wild berries, on a background of sweet cedar and dark chocolate. Long and generous.

Some of World of Chantilly’s pastries..

World of Chantilly, has long been known for its pastries and cakes, their reputation for quality and flavor proved well deserved by the speed with which these pastries were devoured by the crowd.

From right to left, Udi Kadim – CEO of Yarden Winery USA, and yours truly

Aron Ritter, from the Kosher Wine Society, introducing the speakers

All videos copyright of © The Kosher Scene

The Kosher Scene‘s first ever event, was sponsored by the Igal Fedida Gallery, TheCheeseGuy.com, Recanati Winery, World of Chantilly with Aron Ritter‘s Kosher Wine Society invaluable help in promoting the event. With over 60 people attending, this was a memorable evening and the first of many more to come.

CS

RELATED POSTS

A Talk with Igal Fedida

A Night of Wine and Art

//

The Thrill of Victory…

[I confess, it's been just over two month since Kosherfest 2012, and this video should have seen the light of day much sooner. Though making our readers wait was unprofessional and unforgivable there were truly extenuating circumstances, unfortunately. In any case, the competition was exciting. The three competing Chefs, were consummate professionals. I have no doubt the judges had a very hard time declaring a winner. CS]

Last year, I was one of the judges at Kosherfest 2011 Chefs’ Competition , this year I was behind a SONY AX2000 taping the proceedings. There was excitement, at times the chefs nervousness was palpable yet – at all times – it was obvious these 3 professionals were thoroughly enjoying what they were doing.

All videos copyright of © The Kosher Scene

The judges were Chef Jack Silberstein, from Jack’s Gourmet, Chef Seth Warshaw of etc steakhouse, Paula Shoyer, author of The Kosher Baker and Pastry Chef Philip Kaemerle, pastry instructor at the Center for Kosher Culinary Arts. The event was sponsored by CKCA, Jack’s Gourmet and Great Kosher Restaurants Magazine.

Chef Alexandre Petard from Ladino Restaurant, Chef Koby Weiner from Fairway‘s Kosher Food division and Chef Ari White from Got Cholent? and Gemstone Caterers went up against each other. Each created a masterpiece with the secret ingredient which they only were able to find out about immediately prior to the clock starting the 45 minute countdown. Yellow tail tuna, was that secret ingredients, while they could prepare it in any way they liked, they had to use each of a number of ingredients given them.

The fact that such varied dishes were made with the same set of ingredients is a true testament to each one’s imagination, creativity and professionalism. I hope, gentle reader, you enjoy watching this video as much as I enjoyed the live proceedings.

CS

A Night of Wine and Art

This coming Wednesday the 23 of January (from 7:30 pm to 9:30 pm), The Kosher Scene, as well as Recanati Winery, The Cheese Guy and World of Chantilly will be cosponsoring a Night of Wine and Art at the Igal Fedida Gallery,(1482 First Avenue, between 77 and 78 in Manhattan) together with the Kosher Wine Society.

Gil Shatsberg, winemaker at Recanati Winery will introduce us to wines ranging in price from the mid $20s to the mid $70s. The wine list includes:

• Recanati Shiraz 2011
• Recanati Rose 2011
• Reserve Merlot 2009
• Reserve Petit Syrah/ Zinfandel 2010
• Reserve Syrah/ Viognier 2010
• Reserve Wild Carignan
• Special Reserve Red 2007
• Special Reserve White 2010

Gil Shatsberg heads winemaking and vineyard management at Recanati Winery, one of Israel’s top five wine producers and an international standard bearer for fine quality Israeli wines. Shatsberg’s credentials include managing and making wine for seven years at the critically acclaimed Amphorae Vineyard. In early 2008, Gil took over from former Recanati winemaker Lewis Pasco, who left to pursue new career.

Our faithful readers are already familiar with Igal Fedida. Igal was born and raised in Israel, moved to the United States at an early age to pursue a successful business career in construction, design and remodeling. Being of curious and deeply spiritual nature, however, he decided to take some time to get to know the World and he traveled to many distant and unusual pockets of our home planet. He enjoyed drawing, sketching and design since an early age and he discovered the love for photography during his travels, capturing images of nature and people alike.

Returning to Los Angeles, he enrolled in intensive photography study program at the UCLA. Exploring the world of photography, his need for expression drove him to develop a unique form where he combined Polaroid photographs with water color in order to deepen the effect of the image. In doing so he discovered that his need to express the nature and the World that surrounds us far surpasses the limited potential of photography. Subsequently, as if an invisible hand pointed a direction, the magic door opened and he was pulled into the world of painting.

Completely self taught, over the time he developed his own fascinating style of contrasting images. His black and white collection clearly expresses his inner search of balance between order and chaos, good and evil and evermore constant yin and yang presence in life. On the opposite to this sharp collection stand abstracts filled with mesmerizing colors inspired by nature and God alike. Some of his paintings carry deep meanings about the creation and the world from ‘big bang” and Adam and Eve to modern day socialites while others are visually hypnotizing, energy filled abstracts of strikingly vivacious colors.

Brent Delman (thecheeseguy.com), will present us with a delectable selection of imported cheeses. World of Chantilly will bring us their superb selection of award winning pastries.

Please reserve your tickets at the Kosher Wine Society‘s website (space is limited as the gallery is small), for what promises to be an incredible Night of wine and Art, this coming Wednesday from 7:30 pm to 9:30 pm (Eastern Time) at the Igal Fedida Gallery (1482 First Avenue, between 77 and 78 in Manhattan).

Hope to see there!

CS

RELATED POSTS

A Talk with Igal Fedida

A Night of Wine and Art – Part 2

This Evening’s Kosher Scene Radio Show

Our guest this evening at 10:00pm (Eastern Time), on our BlogTalkRadio show, will be Estie Wartenberg US sales/brand manager for Israel’s Recanati Winery. Among other subjects we will be talking about next week’s exciting Night of Wine and Art at the Igal Fedida Gallery.

Who is Ms. Wartenberg, what qualifies for her current position? In her own words:

I began my wine journey at the Royal Wine Corp in 2001, where I was hired as a sales representative for Queens, NY. In 2005 I was the first salesperson ever at Royal Wine Corp to receive the “Sales person of the Year” award. In 2007 I left Royal to go to The Beverage Network Publications and worked as the Sales and Marketing Manager out of their corporate office on John Street in NYC. I also wrote articles on Kosher wine for their industry magazines; The Beverage Media and The Beverage Journal. While I was working for the magazine, I got a call from Palm Bay International, the US importer for Recanati Wines. They were looking for someone with a background in Kosher wine to manage their Kosher brand in the US. (Palm Bay International mainly imports Italian non Kosher wine.) Palm Bay hired me in February 2010 to be the US Sales/Brand Manager for Recanati Winery.

Meanwhile, in case you missed it, why not listen to last week’s broadcast with Allison Josephs from Jew in the City?

Don’t forget to tune us in this evening at 10:00pm (Eastern Time), on our BlogTalkRadio show, will be Estie Wartenberg US sales/brand manager for Israel’s Recanati Winery. We’ll be wait’n for ya!

CS