Levana’s Pasta with Roasted Cauliflower and Bread Crumbs Topping Recipe. Gluten-Free Variation

A couple of weeks ago, Chef Sara Black and I had the pleasure of dining with the famed Lévana Kirschenbaum at her apartment. She graciously agreed to let me post the recipe of my favorite dish of the the evening.

Pasta with Roasted Cauliflower and Bread Crumbs
Gluten-Free Variation

I love the robust flavor of  cauliflower, and the roasting intensifies it even further.  I use frozen cauliflower, as it is already cut, cleaned, and every bit as delicious and nutritious! Attention Gluten-Free readers: This is for you too!

Although this dish needs no help from the usual pasta suspects to be fantastic, feel free to jazz up this recipe some more with one of the following: Minced anchovies or sardines, capers, grated parmesan, toasted nuts. In this case make absolutely sure to include no salt in your recipes, as one of these additions will be amply enough to salt the whole dish.

Ingredients

• 2 pounds frozen cauliflower florets, larger pieces cut smaller
• 6 slices bread, any kind including GF
• ¼ cup olive oil
• 8 cloves garlic
• ½ cup basil leaves, packed
• 1 bunch flat parsley
• Salt and pepper to taste
• 2 good pinches nutmeg
• 1 pound pasta, boiled and drained (rice noodles or other GF pasta OK), 1/2 cup cooking liquid reserved
• ¼ cup more olive oil
• Pine nuts, for topping

Directions

1. Preheat the oven to 475 degrees. Line a cookie sheet with foil or parchment and spray with vegetable spray. Spread the cauliflower florets in one layer on the cookie sheet, and spray again generously with vegetable spray.
2. Line another cookie sheet with foil or parchment. In a food processor, using the pulse button, process the bread, olive oil, garlic, basil, parsley, salt, pepper and nutmeg, until you get coarse crumbs. Place them on the second cookie sheet. Place both sheets in the oven, using upper third rack for the crumbs, and lower third rack for the cauliflower. Bake about 25 minutes, check a couple times on the sheets. The crumbs might be ready first. The cauliflower should be nice and dark.
3. In a platter, toss the pasta with the cauliflower, the reserved liquid, the crumbs and the added oil, and serve hot. Top with pine nuts.

Together with the Branzino fish entree we had next, we washed it all down with a delightful bottle of red – Ramon Cardova Rioja. Just like every time I ate Lévana‘s home, it was a meal to remember!

Enjoy, gentle reader, enjoy!

CS

Miso, Shiitake and Swiss Chard Soup

With winter fast approaching, with a predicted hurricane – a “frankenstorm” as the media refers to it – about to hit New York this very evening, it’s time to start thinking about comfort food. What better than a nice hot, hearty soup?

From Levana’s Table, by Lévana Kirschenbaum (page 48):

Photo by: Ann Stratton, page 49

Makes 8 – 10 servings

Although the flavors are rich and complex, rthis soupis ready in about 15 minutes. Miso adds its intriguing fermented flavor and a bulky but not starchy texture to the broth. It is important to add the Swiss chard aat the very end of the cooking process., so that it retains its brilliant color. The corn adds a wonderful flavor.

2 quarts (8 cups) water
1 pound shiitake mushrooms, caps, thinly sliced
One 2-inch piece of fresh ginger, peeled and minced
1/2 cup dark or light miso paste
2 ears of corn, cobs cut into 1-inch rounds
3 – 4 tablespoons soy sauce
3 tablespoons toasted sesame oil
1 tablespoon bottled hot sauce
1 pound firm or extra_firm tofu, cut into sticks
1 bunch (1 pound) Swiss chard, leaves only, cut into ribbons
4 scallions, thinly sliced

Combine the water, mushrooms ginger, miso, and corn in a heavy pot  and bring to a boil. Reduce the heat to medium and add the soy sauce, toasted sesame oil, hot sauce, and tofu. Bring to a boil again. Add the Swiss chard and scallions and cook for one more minute, until the Swiss chard is wilted. Serve hot.

The elements may be raging outside, but this soup is certain to keep you warm.

Enjoy, gentle reader, enjoy!

CS

Simplicity and Elegance Rolled Into One – Cooking with Lévana Kirschenbaum

Traditionally women have slaved away cleaning and cooking for Passover, almost making this season into something akin to an Egyptians’ Revenge. While there is no doubt that celebrating the sedorim (aside from the religious reasons) is beautiful, getting there is not easy. While we can’t make your cleaning either easier or faster, Lévana – in the video below – shows us how to cook faster, easier and still enjoy a feast!

Lévana regales us with three fast, delicious, wholesome recipes from her new book: The Whole Foods Kosher Kitchen – Glorious Meals Pure and Simple

Chicken and Swiss Chard

• 8 serving pieces chicken (2 pieces per person, for example: 6 thighs, 6 drumsticks, 4 half breasts – 16 pieces, total for 8 people) with skin on.
• 2 teaspoons turmeric
• 2 large bunches of Swiss chard, leaves and ribs sliced thin
• 3 cups water

Place all ingredients in a wide heavy pot. Bring to a boil, then reduce the flame to medium and cook covered for about an hour. Transfer the chicken pieces onto a platter. If the sauce is not thick enough, reduce it on a high flame, uncovered , just a few minutes until it reaches the consistency of maple syrup. Pour the sauce over the chicken. Serve hot. Makes 8 servings.

Salmon in Pomegranate Sweet-&-Sour Sauce

Sweet-and sour combinations work beautifully with salmon. The onions caramelize and contribute a sweet counterpoint to the vinegar. Another quick and delicious dish, just the way it I like it – one pan, one step.

• 1 whole side salmon, no skin, no bones, about 3 1/2 pounds, trimmed
• 1 large red onion, sliced very thin (use the food processor)
• 1/2 cup olive oil
• 1 cup pomegranate juice
• 1/4 cup unfiltered apple cider vinegar
• 2 tablespoons tomato paste
• Salt and pepper to taste
• 1 teaspoon turmeric

Preheat the oven to 425 F. Place the salmon in a pan just large enough to accommodate the fish in one layer. Scatter the onions on top and on the sides of the fish. Mix the oil, juice, vinegar, tomato paste, salt, pepper and turmeric in a bowl, and pour over the fish. Cook about 20 minutes, or a tiny bit more until the fish flakes easily and the liquids thicken. Serve hot or at room temperature. Makes 8 main course servings or a dozen or more course servings.

Chocolate Dipped Fruits

• Bananas, orange, strawberries, pinneapple cubes, banana segments
• 2 cups very good quality semisweet chocolate chips
• 2 tablespoons oil

2 cups very good quality semisweet chocolate chips plus tablespoons vegetable oil. Melt in a small saucepan, on a very low flame, stirring, until just melted. Let cool just a few minutes, then dip only half way the fruit of your choice: strawberries, orange segments, pineapple cubes, banana segments etc… Arrange the dipped fruit on a platter sprayed with vegetable spray (to prevent the chocolate from sticking). Serve at room temperature.

Enjoy, gentle reader, enjoy!

CS

Passover Recipes on The Kosher Scene

Since we started this blog, in November 2009, we posted some excellent Passover recipes. Here, to help you find them all, we bring you the links. To help you with more recipes that only require very short and easy preparations, we will post (tomorrow) a video of the incomparable Lévana preparing three easy dishes to be enjoyed anytime during the eight days of Pessach or any other time of the year. Our recipes feature both gebrochs and non-gebrochs recipes to fit every taste, every need.

Pamela Reiss‘ offers us her superb Turkey Pineapple Meatballs. Eran Elhalal, owner/Chef at the celebrated non-kosher Saro Bistro in Manhattan’s Lower East Side presents us a succulent Pesach Almond-Pistachio Cake, that serves 12.

Chef Laura Frankel, of legendary Shallots fame and now head of Wolfgang Puck‘s kosher division treats to her Chocolate Mousse with Extra Virgin Olive Oil, Poached Halibut in Olive Oil and Parsley Sauce with Extra Virgin Olive Oil.

Check out Chicken & Vegetable Croquettes and Stuffed Portabellini Mushrooms, you can’t help but love them!

Fish lovers… Chef David Kolotkin‘s Passover Chilean Sea Bass will completely seduce your palate!

For brisket recipes look at Passover Brisket Recipe or Chef Emeril Lagasse’s Passover Brisket.

If you want a twist on the traditional brisket, check out Lévana‘s award winning, oft reprinted Passover Brisket Recipe.

Chef Jeff Nathan, shares a recipe from his cookbook Adventures In Jewish Cooking, Veal Chops Milanese with Tomato Salad and Arugula.

My co-blogger SYR regales us with her mom’s superb Drum Cookies…

One of my daughter in law’s makes this Rolled Chicken…

Oyyy is this good!!!

And this year, so far we’ve posted Geila Hocherman‘s recipes (Cinnamon chicken tajine with prunes and apricots, Mina and Pignoli Cookies or her French Macaroons, Onion Stuffed Knaidlach and Miso Glazed Black Cod) and her food and wine pairing videos with Costas Mouzouras from Gotham Wines and Liquors. Check them out, we know you’ll love them as much as we did! And don’t forget that you can eat healthy, good food like Bonnie Gilger‘s Matzo Stuffed Chicken Cutlets.

Enjoy, gentle reader, enjoy!

CS

The Kosher Scene’s Radio Show for this Week

This coming Wednesday evening (March 21, 2012), at 8:00 pm (Eastern Time), we will talk with Lévana Kirschenbaum about her newest book, The Whole Foods Kosher Kitchen. The book was originally published as a paperback in November. While we praised the contents, we were nonplussed with the book’s production. This week the book makes its appearance in a larger, hard bound, format, with easier to read fonts and layout. The photography, by Meir Pliskin, has undergone a huge change as well.

While the appearance changed radically, while the new book is truly a pleasure to behold, the contents are the same. At the time, my co-blogger SYR wrote:

Though aesthetically the book’s layout is rather ordinary looking, the content is superb. It’s jam-packed with healthy mains, soups, salads, pastas, beads and desserts; aside from the general index, the cookbook includes a Passover index and a gluten-free index, with recipe notations indicating gluten free or gluten free adaptable. The recipes and text reflect a seasoned master chef who poured her culinary heart and soul into this cookbook. All content is meticulously organized and the format though visually lackluster nonetheless delivers the author’s usual witty humor and éclat in a most lively entertaining way.

Truly a hitchhiker’s guide to all things good-for-you and delicious, you’ll get never-ending use out of this comprehensive culinary work. The variations that accompany the recipes are awesome as are the tips and running commentary that weave through the pages. It’s like having a master chef or super balabusta mom right there with you preparing your best. Meir Pliskin’s photographs are tastefully done though the publisher’s cropping and cheap printing is somewhat disappointing. Lisa Young’s nutritional info though not revolutionary in content, serves as a useful reminder of healthy choices.

We will be speaking about the joys of whole food, this book is geared to the cook that wants healthy and delicious fares for her family but who doesn’t much care about the fuss of spending hours preparing the food.

Meanwhile, in case you missed them, please listen to the two shows we did last week: Alec Borenstein – Success Coach, Motivational Speaker and 9th Kosher Wine Extravaganza.

Don’t forget to tune us in this coming Wednesday evening (March 21, 2012), at 8:00 pm (Eastern Time) on BlogTalkRadio.com/kosherscene. We’ll be looking out for ya!

CS

This Week’s Events

If you are tired of the same old bread, if you want to try something different, something that will open up new wonderful worlds of flavor, you must attend the incomparable Levana Kirschenbaum‘s demo tomorrow evening at 7:00pm:

Monday, December 12th

Secrets of Whole Grain Quickbreads and Muffins. Served with salad and soup

Think of all the delicious and healthy breads and muffins you could be whipping up in minutes, and you may never again wait in line for those nasty baked goods the cart around your corner heaves all day long. All the following goodies are equally at home as loaves or muffins, and each batch will make you enough for a good two dozen muffins or a large loaf, so we’ll have fun mixing and matching!

We will be serving our goodies with soup and salad.

I’ll be demonstrating:

• Caraway mustard bread
• Apple oat bread
• Irish soda bread
• Spicy pumpkin bread
• Zucchini pecan lemon bread
• Steel-cut oat soup and salad

You can register for this demo at: http://www.levanacooks.com/kosher-cooking-classes/weekly-classes/

$45 / class. $120 for 3 classes. $200.00 + a signed cookbook for 5 classes
$25 — attending for dinner only
$35 — child class fee (ages 12 and under)

Tuesday, December 13th

These days a wine tasting is far more than just an event where you taste wine, it includes live music and more. Thanks to Aron Ritter‘s Kosher Wine Society, the standards have been raised:

PRE-CHANUKAH WINE TASTING EXTRAVAGANZA!

8 CABERNETS

ONE FOR EACH NIGHT OF CHANUKAH!!

8 OTHER HAND-SELECTED WINES!

and that’s not all!!

Join us for a Gala Chanukah Expo

Live Jazz, and Chanukah Eats!!

7:30pm – 9:00pm

Pre-Registered Online Price:

$25.00

$36.00 at the door

Zanger Hall

347 West 34th Street

(Between 8th and 9th Avenues)

New York, NY 10017

PURCHASE YOUR TICKETS TODAY!

 CLICK HERE NOW!

Hope to see you there, gentle reader!

CS

Yom Tov Recipes – Cranberry Apricot Bread Pudding

Last year we had a few posts with recipes for this time of the year:

Orange Honey Cake

Yom Tov Recipes – Carrot Kugel

Yom Tov Recipes – From Prime Grill’s Chef David Kolotkin

Yom Tov Recipes – Rib Roast

Yom Tov Recipes – Personal Honeyed Chocolate Lava Cake

This year we feature yom tov recipes again and we’ll start this year’s series with one of  Chef Lévana Kirschenbaum‘s dishes, from her new book The Whole Foods Kosher Kitchen.

Photo by: Meir Pliskin

Cranberry Apricot Bread Pudding

I often whip up this treat after a party, when I look to recycle my leftover bread. Attention gluten- free diners: This is for you too!

Any bread will do as long as it is not too crusty (in other words, don’t use baguette or ciabatta!). You will love the kick and the bold ruby-colored specks the cranberries add. Nothing to it: All aboard-one step and you’re done! Individual desserts: Pour into greased muffin molds and reduce the baking time to about 45 minutes.

Sometimes cranberries can be hard to find, like in this Rosh Hashanah holiday season, so I am making the pudding with apples, which is every bit as delicious. I have included the apple variation, every bit as delicious and as pretty.

• 3 cups milk or dairy-free milk, low-fat OK
• 4 eggs
• 2 cups all-fruit apricot preserves
• ½ cup sugar
• 1/2 cup oil
• 2 tablespoons orange flower water  (settle for 2 tablespoons orange zest)
• 3 tablespoons apricot brandy or rum
• 3 cups fresh or frozen cranberries, coarsely chopped (food processor)

Preheat the oven to 375°F. Mix all ingredients except cranberries by hand in a bowl, breaking up the bread and preserves as you go. Fold in the cranberries. Pour the batter into a greased 9-by-13-inch pan, or a greased 10-inch round pan. Bake for about 1 hour, or a little longer, until the pudding looks nice and puffy, and the center is firm. Serve warm or at room temperature, alone or with caramel sauce (recipe follows), and a scoop of sorbet or vanilla ice cream. Makes a dozen servings.

variation: Apple Bread Pudding GFA

Skip the cranberries and the orange flower water, reduce the milk to 2 cups. Add 4 Granny Smith (green) apples, unpeeled and coarsely grated and 2 tablespoons ciinamon. Proceed just as above.

Caramel Sauce

Another glowing example of a treat known as dairy that doesn’t in the least suffer from a dairy-free adaptation, au contraire! (Go ahead and multiply the recipe if you would like-it keeps very well.)

• 1 cup Sucanat
• ½ cup agave syrup
• ⅓ cup water
• ¾ cup dairy-free milk, low-fat OK
• ⅓ cup soy or rice milk powder
• 3 tablespoons brandy or rum
• 1 tablespoon vanilla extract
• 1 teaspoon salt

Bring the Sucanat, agave, and water to boil in a small saucepan, stirring. When it comes to a boil, stop stirring and cook until thick and a deep amber color, 2 to 3 minutes. Whisk the remaining ingredients in a small bowl until perfectly smooth, then carefully add to the saucepan (to avoid splattering). Cook another 3 minutes on a medium flame, whisking. Makes about 2½ cups. Store refrigerated in a glass jar.

Enjoy, gentle reader, enjoy!

CS

This Week’s Events…

Monday, September 12th:

Lévana Kirschenbaum resumes her weekly cooking demo (Cooking and a Show) series this evening:

Upcoming Cooking Demo in NYC: Monday September 12th: Asian Feast. Gluten-Free

You may have trouble going back to ordering in a Chinese restaurant after you realize how superior homemade is, thanks to all the glorious  Asian flavors. We will never know why Chinese cookies are called Chinese, but we do know they are fabulous! 

I’ll be demonstrating:

• Mock Crab salad
• Hot and sour egg drop soup
• Steamed chicken breasts with shitaki and baby bok choy
• Vegetable fried rice
• Chinese Cookies

Click Here to Register!

Tuesday, September 13th

Read until the end for an amazing 2 for 1 deal! Aron Ritter, founder and President of The Kosher Wine Society presents:

SPECIAL TASTING WITH ALEX HARUNI!

Join us for the season’s first sit-down guided wine tasting with Alex Haruni, owner of Dalton Winery.

Sign up today to meet Alex and taste his newest wines!

Tuesday September 13, 2011

7:30 – 9:30 PM

Zanger Hall
347 West 34th street
New York, NY 10001

Price: $65.00

Wine List Includes:

Dalton Alma White (Chardonnay-Viognier) 2010
Dalton Alma (Cab Sauv-Merlot-Cab Franc) 2009
Dalton Alma Smv (Shiraz-Mourvedre-Viognier) 2009
Dalton Estate Shiraz 2009
Dalton Reserve Shiraz 2007

Event Sponsor:
Allied Importers
Dalton Winery

Although the price is $65.00 per person for the above tasting, you can a 2 for 1 deal IF you email: info@kosherwinesociety.com AND mention The Kosher Scene Radio Internet Show OR The Kosher Scene blog and my first name (Chaim). at: info@kosherwinesociety.com. You must contact them today, no later than 6:30pm. Tell them you want the 2 for 1 deal.

I hope to meet you, gentle reader, I’ll be at both of these events.

CS

Cioppino

This past Monday eve, SYR and I attended Lévana‘s Dinner and a Show: Light Italian Feast. As usual it was enjoyable, educational and absolutely DELICIOUS! Certainly one of the best cooking classes I’ve ever attended.

We especially liked the Cioppino and Lévana graciously allowed us to post her recipe:

Ingredients

• 1/3 cup olive oil
• 6 cloves garlic
• 4 ribs celery, peeled
• 2 red peppers
• 1 large onion, quartered
• 1 fennel bulb, quartered, centers removed, sliced-thin
• 3 leeks, darkest parts removed
• 1 large can (28 oz.) crushed tomatoes
• 2 cups dry white wine
• 6 cups water
• 6 bay leaves, or 1 teaspoon ground
• 2 good pinches saffron
• 2 tablespoons paprika
• 1 tablespoon anise and fennel seeds
• Good pinch cloves
• Good pinch red pepper flakes
• 2 2-ounce can anchovies, drained and rinsed

• 1 side salmon (about 3 pounds), cut in large cubes
• 1 pound flaked mock crab
• 1 large bunch flat parsley, minced

Directions

Heat the oil in a heavy wide bottom pot. In a food processor coarsely grind the garlic, celery, pepper and onion. Add the ground mixture to the pot, with the leeks, and sautè until translucent. Reduce to medium and cook for 30 minutes. Add the fish and parsley and cook just 5 more minutes. Ladle into soup bowls, and serve with good toasted bread or croutons.

Though it took me more 60 years to even taste fish, I can assure you (as does, SYR) that these was an incredibly tasty soup with a rich array of subtle flavors. Considering the ingredients… I can actually say…. it’s good for you, as well!

Enjoy, gentle reader, enjoy!

CS

Boeuf Bourguignon – “One of the Most Delicious Beef Dishes…”

Originating among France’s Burgundy peasantry, this dish was elevated to the status of haute cuisine by none other than the King of Chefs and the Chef of Kings (as the French press and Kaiser Wilhelm II referred to him) – Auguste Escoffier. Julia Child in her Mastering the Art of French Cooking, refers to Boeuf Bourguignon as ”certainly one of the most delicious beef dishes concocted by man.”

While looking for a kosher version that might do justice to Ms. Child’s praises, I came across this scrumptious recipe in Lévana Kirschenbaum‘s latest book, The Whole Foods Kosher Kitchen, page 164:

Detail of photo by: Meir Pliskin on page 165 of The Whole Foods Kosher Kitchen

Boeuf Bourguignon

Spend a wonderful evening with a few French classics and some wine to go with dinner! By the way, my bourguignon has been included in Joan Schwartz’s charming book, deceptively innocent, called Meat and Potatoes. My secret ingredient is crème de cassis, the wonderful black currant liqueur.

This dish reheats very well and improves with age, so go ahead and make it a day or two ahead.

• 4 pounds beef or bison shoulder, cut into 2 inch cubes for stew
• 6 cups water
• 3 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
• 6 cloves garlic, peeled
• 2 cups dry wine
• 1/4 cup crème de cassis
• 2 large tomatoes, diced small
• 1 tablespoon coarsely ground black pepper
• 6 bay leaves, or 1 teaspoon ground
• 4 sprigs fresh thyme, leaves only(or throw in the sprigs in whole, but don’t forget to discard them at the end of cooking)
•  2 pounds very thin long carrots, peeled (about 20)
• 20 very small organic potatoes, scrubbed (only organic potatoes are safe with skins on)
• 2 dozen tiny onions, peeled and left whole (frozen OK: they are already peeled)

On a stove top: Place beef, water, and oil in a heavy, wide-bottom pot. Bring to a boil. Reduce to medium and cook covered for 2 hours. Add the garlic, wine, creme de cassis, tomatoes, pepper, and bay leaves and cook for 30 more minutes. Add thyme, carrots, potatoes, and onions and cook for 30 minutes. The meat should be fork tender, Transfer meat and all vegetables on platter with a slotted spoon. If the liquid left in the pot is too thin, reduce it on a high flame until it is thickened, the consistency of maple syrup. Pour the reduced liquid over the whole dish and serve hot. Will make 8 to 10 servings.

With a Crock-Pot: Layer all the ingredients except the water (no water) in a 6-quart Crock-Pot, in the order they were given. Set the Crock-Pot on low in the morning. It will be ready for dinner (10 to 12 hours total cooking time).

Variation: Try the dish using dark stout beer instead of wine, as my daughter in law Ruthie does.

As you taste this you’ll certainly agree with Julia Child’s assessment. So… enjoy, gentle reader, enjoy!

CS