The Peppermill & this Evening’s Radio Show

Earlier today I attended Geila Hocherman‘s cooking demo and book signing (of her Kosher Revolution) at The Peppermill (5015 16th Avenue, Brooklyn – Tel: 718.871.4022) in Borough Park.

On 16th Avenue in Boro Park

Amidst shelves, racks and baskets filled with interesting cookware and a plethora of exotic ingredients barely seen or hardly even found in kosher stores (THEY HAVE CHOLOV YISROEL…. DULCE DE LECHE!!!!! I haven’t seen that since I left Uruguay in 1962!), Geila demonstrated four dishes to an enthusiastic audience.

A view of the front, a partial view of the back.

She started with Surimi Crab Cakes with Red Pepper Mayonnaise (Kosher Revolution, Page 72)…

...frying the crab cakes

She then followed with Fried Pea and Parmesan Ravioli (page 43) and Shiitake-Tofu Dumplings (page 42)….

Straight out of the steamer and ready to serve.

The crab cakes were incredibly tasty, the ravioli crisp and perfect, the shiitake dumplings were superbly delicious, but the best was yet to come!

The demo ended with Pistachio- Crusted Tuna with Wasabi Mayonnaise (page 78), delicious, perfect… frankly neither of those two words do it justice. While some preferred it well done and fully browned, I preferred it where you could still the red color. Truly a great way to crown a demo where unusual combinations of ingredients, and dishes one would not have thought of as part of the kosher diet were de rigueur. Verily, a Kosher Revolution, but… you expect nothing less from Geila.

The staff, all comprised of members of one family, was knowledgeable and helpful. I’ve been to many a store, many a foodie haven, and The Peppermill (5015 16th Avenue, Borough Park in Brooklyn – Tel: 718.871.4022) ranks among the best.

Two of the sisters-in-law, part of The Peppermill‘s team (Chayale Braver and Rivkie Braver) will talk about their unusual store on our internet radio show this evening at 8:00pm (Eastern Time), be sure to listen in to what promises to be an interesting and entertaining show.

Meanwhile, if you missed it, give a listen to last week’s show when our guest was Gary Landsman from the Royal Wine Corporation.

Hoping you will be listening,

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

This Week’s Events…

The $32.00 Prix Fixe Special Menu at 18 Restaurant continues:

240 East 81st Street, New York – (212) 517-2400

THE KOSHER SCENE SPECIAL DINNER PRIX FIXE MENU

$32.00 per person, tax and gratuities not included. All wine, beer and alcohol billed separately.
Any item ordered, not on the Prefix will be billed separately

May not be used in conjunction with ANY other special

APPETIZER

Combination Platters:

Humus, Babaganuosh, Turkish Salad, Tahini

Mixed Green Salads

Assorted Breads

ENTREE

Eighteen Mixed Grill Kebob Special Combo Platter:

Chicken

Beef

Side Dishes: Choice of 2

grilled vegetables

french fries

mashed potatoes

basmati rice

DESSERT

Coffee/tea

Assorted Rugelach or Slice of Cake

Cold beverage (non alcohol) included

The food’s delicious, the price is very reasonable, the portions are generous, the ambiance is elegantly casual, a perfect eatery to take your wife, your date or the family. Go ahead, treat yourself! All of you deserve it. (For this Prix Fixe, please print out the following  .pdf)

18 Restaurant
240 East 81st. Street (map)
New York, NY
Telephone 212.517.2400
www.eighteenrestaurant.com

With the Nine Days fast approaching, tonight’s cooking demo by Lévana features:

Monday, July 25th

The meatless feast. Gluten-free

The nine days are almost upon us. Thank Goodness we hear less and less grumbling about being “limited” to meatless dining: Incidentally, this is the way we eat at home all week, so no hardship here, only delicious treats, with sizzling international flavors.

• White gazpacho
• Artichokes and carrots in lemon sauce
• Mock crab cakes with red pepper coulis
• Linguini with roasted cauliflower and bread crumbs topping
• Green fruit salad
• Pecan lace cookies.

Click Here to Register!

Enjoy 18 Restaurant and Lévana’s Dinner and Show, gentle reader.

CS

Events of the Week

Just because it’s summer and Brooklyn’s Jewish neighborhoods’ street are half empty doesn’t mean that New York has become a ghost town. Kosher events abound and our favorites for this coming week are:

Monday, July 18th at 7:00pm (Eastern Time)

Lévana’s Moroccan Feast Part 2: Salad Buffet

Please make certain to register to the demo, as the venue has moved to my apartment!

We grew up eating no end of salads at almost every meal: Is it any wonder we loved our veggies and ate them without any prompting? I am even including a dessert salad. True to form, we will bake an authentic Moroccan bread to go with the feast so we don’t leave a drop of sauce behind (this bread is the only item on the menu that will not be gluten-free).

I’ll be demonstrating:

• Matbookha
• Grated carrot salad
• Roasted pepper salad
• Spicy lettuce and chick pea salad with salmon
• Tomato salad
• Eggplant salad
• Minted orange, endive and romaine salad
• Moroccan Bread

Click Here to Register!

Registrations: A gentle reminder – Please register at least two days before any cooking class demo so A) We know for sure we have a demo going, and B) We have ample servings!

P.S. Throw in a C) – It makes my life easier 🙂 P.P.S. Throw in a D) I’ll give you a free signed copy of my new cookbook if you bring a new friend!

Also starting tomorrow you can take advantage of a great, reasonably priced menu at 18 Restaurant:

240 East 81st Street, New York – (212) 517-2400

THE KOSHER SCENE SPECIAL DINNER PRIX FIXE MENU

$32.00 per person, tax and gratuities not included. All wine, beer and alcohol billed separately.
Any item ordered, not on the Prefix will be billed separately

May not be used in conjunction with ANY other special

APPETIZER

Combination Platters:

Humus, Babaganuosh, Turkish Salad, Tahini

Mixed Green Salads

Assorted Breads

Photo by: seamlessweb.com

ENTREE

Eighteen Mixed Grill Kebob Special Combo Platter:

Chicken

Beef

Side Dishes: Choice of 2

grilled vegetables

french fries

mashed potatoes

basmati rice

DESSERT

Coffee/tea

Assorted Rugelach or Slice of Cake

Cold beverage (non alcohol) included

The food’s delicious, the price is very reasonable, the portions are generous, the ambiance is elegantly casual, a perfect eatery to take your wife, your date or the family. Go ahead, treat yourself! All of you deserve it. (For this Prix Fixe, please print out the following  .pdf)

18 Restaurant
240 East 81st. Street (map)
New York, NY
Telephone 212.517.2400
www.eighteenrestaurant.com

CS

JICNY – 7th Annual Gala

You just moved to New York, whether in hopes of finding a job – or because you were offered a job, but you lack the resources to find activities, to mingle with other Jews of similar interests and circumstances. What to do, what to do? I remember when I first moved to New York City, though I had a few friends living here already, there was nothing like this available. That vacuum, however, has now been filled…

Last evening, I  attended JICNY‘s 7th Annual Gala, celebrating the first decade of this organization. We spoke to the founders, members of the Board of Trustees, teachers, and regular members. Tomorrow evening May 23rd we will broadcast the pre-taped interviews on BlogTalk Radio.com/Kosherscene at 7:30pm. (Eastern Time).

Jody Samuels, the main driving force of JICNY, mingling among the members.

What impressed me the most, after interviewing quite a few people, was the tremendous dedication of the three founding members (Jodi Samuels – of Metroimma and Jdeal, Gavin Samuels – Jodi‘s husband, Steven Eisenberg), the dedication of the Board of Trustees under the Chairmanship of Jeff Stier. What’s amazing is that in spite of the time involved EVERYONE is a volunteer!

As you will hear tomorrow evening at 7:30pm (Eastern Time) the members we spoke to (hailing from many corners of the world), were enthusiastic about JICNY, many either met through this organization, got interested in yiddishkeit through JICNY, or were able to define and discover themselves specifically because of the activities which they directed or participated in.

Gavin Stone, one of the Honorees, and his fiance (whom he met through JICNY)

The evening’s honorees were: Blossom and Ilan Cohen (Couple of the Year Award), Ruth and Sivan Katz (Leadership Award), Gavin Stone (Dedication to Jewish Life Award).

Among the many activities JICNY organizes are weekly Monday eve shiurim on Torah (in 5 languages), cooking demos featuring various international cuisines, job listings, Shabbat and yom tovim hospitality, and many more. With over 10,000 members in their database, seventy four marriages came about as a direct result of the couples meeting through the organization and a few more happening over the coming months; over 10,000 members were hosted for Shabbatot (with indefatigable Jody holding the record for thousands benefiting from her open home, her open heart). I wish there had been a JICNY when I first came to these shores from Montevideo, Uruguay.

CS

This Week’s Events

Lévana Kirschenbaum’s Dinner and a Show

Monday, March 28th
MOROCCAN STREET FOODS
This is as plebeian as our glorious Moroccan food gets, and even then it’s a complete feast, as always! Gluten-free to boot!

• Chick pea soup
• Chakshuka on white beans
• Schwarma
• Carrot Swiss chard salad
• Toasted vermicelli with olive oil, almonds and honey

The Cooking Demo runs from 7:00 to 9:00 followed by dinner, classes cost $45.00 for one session, $120.00 for 3 sessions or $200.00 for 5 sessions and a signed cookbook. Make your reservations at: http://www.levanacooks.com/kosher-cooking-classes/weekly-classes/

Location: Levana’s home – 210 West 101st Street. #9L (Between Amsterdam Avenue and Broadway)

Chef David Kolotkin at De Gustibus

Tuesday, March 29, 2011 | 1 – 3:30 PM
Join The Prime Grill’s David Kolotkin as this charming chef guides us through kosher cooking. The Prime Grill, which serves New American cuisine with accents from Asia, the Mediterranean and beyond, is one of the most sophisticated kosher restaurants in the City. With David’s guidance, you will create an interesting and dynamic feast of contemporary kosher fare.

Location
Venue: De Gustibus Cooking School
Homepage:  http://www.degustibusnyc.com
Street: 151 West 34th Street, 8th Floor
ZIP: 10001
City: New York

The cooking school is located on the 8th floor of Macy’s Herald Square on the 7th Avenue side of the building. You can enter the store at 151 West 34th Street and take the passenger elevators to the 8th floor, De Gustibus is located between the coat/bathing suit department and Human Resources in the employee section of the store.

Call 212-239-1652 or e-mail them at info@degustibusnyc.com for more information.

Both are great culinary experiences. We hope to see you at both events, gentle reader.

CS

The Week’s Events

Monday, March 14

Photo by: ArtScroll

11:30 am

Location:

Pomegranate Supermarket (1507 Coney island Avenue – Corner of Avenue L – Tel: 718.951.7112)

Who:

Susie Fishbein

Subject:

Cooking Demonstration: Fish (last part of series)

• Poached Salmon with Roasted Red Pepper Sauce
• Tuna Teriyaki with Radish Salad
• Green Tea Poached Cod

Free!

———-)xnOnx(———-

7:00 pm

Location:

210 West 101st Street, Apartment 9L (in Manhattan, between Amsterdam Avenue and Broadway)

Who:

Lévana Kirschenbaum

Subject:

Lévana’s Dinner and a Show

THE VEGETARIAN INDIAN FEAST GLUTEN-FREE – Lévana will demonstrate the following dishes:

• Corn hot and sour soup
• Aloo gobi
• Vegetable pancakes in ghee
• Jasmine rice
• Apricot chutney
• Yogurt raita
• Mango lassi
• Carrot nut pudding

The Demo runs from 7:00 to 9:00 followed by dinner, classes cost $45.00 for one session, $120.00 for 3 sessions or $200.00 for 5 sessions and a signed cookbook. Make your reservations at: http://www.levanacooks.com/kosher-cooking-classes/weekly-classes/

CS

Events of the Week

There are a couple of interesting events going on this week and we urge everyone to attend

Monday, February 14th

Lévana’s Dinner an a Show

This week it will be held in Lévana’s house at: 210 West 101st Street, Apartment 9L (in Manhattan, between Amsterdam Avenue and Broadway). The subject of tonight’s class will be: THE STUDENT’S – AND EVERYONE’S – SURVIVAL GUIDE. She will demonstrate the following:

• Assorted smoothies
• Assorted omelets
• Grilled cheese sandwiches
• Steel-cut oats with assorted toppings
• Crepes with assorted toppings

The Demo runs from 7:00 to 9:00 followed by dinner, classes cost $45.00 for one session, $120.00 for 3 sessions or $200.00 for 5 sessions and a signed cookbook. Make your reservations at: http://www.levanacooks.com/kosher-cooking-classes/weekly-classes/

Thursday, February 17th

Liquors Galore Purim Kuten Extravaganza

Liquors Galore (1212 Avenue J; Brooklyn, NY 11230-3702; Telephone: 718.338.4166) will present and evening of food and wine, entertainment and Zev Brenner’s Show Live. It will start at 6:30pm and will continue until 11:00pm

Enjoy the wines, enjoy the food, enjoy the entertainment, all for one low price… FREE!!! Try beating that value!

Enjoy this week’s events, gentle reader, enjoy.

CS

Our Guest This Week Will Be…

Last week we presented Jay Buchsbaum the Executive VP of the Royal Wine Co., as our interviewee. You can hear Jay and his encyclopedic knowledge of all things wine, here

This coming Wednesday, at 8:00pm, our guest will be Chef Lévana Kirschenbaum, the regulars of this blog know how much we enjoy her cooking demos, how much we enjoy her recipes. Mrs. Kirschenbaum has written three cookbooks Lévana’s Table, In Short Order and Lévana Cooks Dairy-Free!. She’s now hard at work on her fourth cookbook on Superfoods, due out this coming summer.

Who is Lévana? What are her credentials? Most of you may remember her ground breaking restaurant Lévana’s, but there is far more as we are told on her website:

For nearly thirty years Lévana Kirschenbaum has owned and operated a catering business, a bakery and a successful Manhattan restaurant all while raising a family. She understands that even gourmet chefs don’t want to spend all day in the kitchen. With this in mind, she keeps the recipes simple, insisting that using fresh, natural ingredients will yield fantastic results without a lot of fuss.

When Lévana opened her eponymous restaurant with her two brothers-in-law twenty five years ago, all Kirschenbaums were perfectly aware they were facing a hard sell: introduce fine kosher dining to the Kosher public, who until then was content either eating at home or grabbing a bite in the rare joints that served institutional old world treats. The general prediction was that the presumptuous idea would fall flat on its face.

Undaunted by being the trailblazers of the trend, they surrounded themselves with the best chefs, developed the most delicious dishes and waited patiently until the idea of gourmet kosher caught on. The rest, as we all know, is history: kosher food and wine has experienced a veritable explosion and has its place among the most prestigious competitions. Many luxury kosher restaurants have opened and thrived since Lévana’s pioneering days, bearing out the dictum that imitation is the greatest form of flattery.

With over 25 years of experience in professional cooking, recipe development, catering and teaching, celebrity chef Lévana makes the preparation of nutritious and exotic gourmet cuisine easy. She gets countless devoted fans for her fearless, practical and nutritious approach to cooking and spreads the good word on simple, streamlined, elegant and wholesome dining in her classroom on the Upper West Side – where she gives weekly demos – and around the country.

What is her goal?

Fine dining that is also contemporary, nutritious and easy to prepare is a way of life that Lévana instills in her classes. Lévana’s unfussy, straightforward approach utilizes fresh, all natural ingredients to create international flavors from her native Morocco and other wide-ranging culinary influences.

I’ve known Lévana for a while now and I can assure you that the show will be truly informative and entertaining. Just listen in, gentle reader, at 8:00pm on Wednesday, February 2nd, on Jewish Radio Network. Enter the site and click on the red “here” under the white “Radio,” then wait about 30 to 90 seconds for the application to start streaming.

CS

Cooking with Lévana – Part 5

It’s no secret to anyone who regularly peruses these pages (here, here, here, and here) that both SYR and I are enamored with Lévana’s cooking and teaching styles. Often defying the tried and true, she combines many an ingredient in ways that conventional wisdom might sometimes question but the results are always delicious! She does, time and again, prove that cooking for a crowd need not be a whole day affair, she invariably comes up with shortcuts that save hours of work, nerves and sweat.

This past Monday, after just over a month of being unable to do much, I found my way to Lévana’s Dinner and Show, this week. She covered Sephardi Finger Foods; the menu consisted of the following:

Lamb, Pine-Nut and Raisin Grape Leaves
Spicy Chicken Cigars
Mushroom Borekas
Fishballs in Lemon Sauce
Spicy Marinated Olives
Vegetarian Stuffed Zucchini and Eggplant
Nut Truffles

"Let's start now, OK?"

It’s hard to choose just two of the recipes, but since this week we’ve been covering mushrooms we will include this one where she uses them:

Mushroom Borekas

Filling:
3 tablespoons olive oil
1 medium onion, chopped
1 pound mushrooms, chopped
¼ cup fresh bread crumbs
Salt and pepper to taste
Good pinch nutmeg
½ teaspoon dry thyme or tarragon
2 pounds puff pastry sheets, kept chilled
1 egg, mixed with a little water

Preparing the filling

Preheat oven to 400 degrees.

Heat the oil in a skillet. Add the onion and sauté until translucent. Add the mushrooms and sauté until all liquids evaporate. Add the remaining filling ingredients, and combine thoroughly. Cut the puff pastry to desired size. Place the filling in the center and close on all sides, pressing all around the sides with a fork. Place on a foil-lined cookie sheet. Repeat with remaining dough and filling. Bake about 30 minutes, or a little longer, until golden brown and puffy. Serve hot.

Hot and delicious

Hot and delicious

The Spicy Marinated Olives were superb (and those who know me, know I’m no big fan of olives), with very subtle hints of anise. Unusual, delectable!  The Spicy Chicken Cigars were the best I’ve ever tasted; the Fishballs in Lemon Sauce, superbly delicious, didn’t taste fishy at all!

The Vegetarian Stuffed Zucchini and Eggplant looked great and tasted supreme. The excellent Nut Truffles dessert, was just sweet enough without the sweetness drowning out any of the other flavors.

The pièce de résistance, for me, was the Lamb, Pine-Nut and Raisin Grape Leaves dish:

Lamb, Pine nut and Raisin Grape Leaves

Filling
1/4 cup olive oil
4 large cloves garlic1 large onion, quartered
1 small bunch flat parsley
¼ cup mint leaves, packed
1 pound ground lamb
1 large tomato, halved, seeded, and diced small
1/2 cup golden or black raisins
1/2 cup pine nuts, toasted (325 degree oven. 10-12 minutes)
Good pinch saffron
1/2 teaspoon turmeric
1 teaspoon cinnamon
Pepper to taste
1 15 ounce jar grape leaves, separated and rinsed
1 cup pomegranate or cranberry juice
3 tablespoons tomato paste
2 tablespoons olive oil

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees.

Heat the oil in a skillet. In a food processor, finely grind the garlic. Add the onion, parsley and and mint, and grind coarsely. Add the ground mixture to the skillet, and saute until translucent. Add the lamb and tomato, and cook 2-3 more minutes. Add all remaining filling ingredients and mix thoroughly. Place a tablespoon stuffing at the bottom center of a leaf (smaller leaves: Make them overlap to get a larger more workable surface). Roll once, fold the sides towards to center, and roll all the way up. Place seam side down in a pan just large enough to fit the leaves snugly in one layer. Repeat with the remaining leaves and stuffing. Whisk the juice, tomato paste and oil in a little bowl, and pour evenly over the leaves. Bake about 40 minutes, until the juices are reduced and the leaves look nicely browned on top. Serve warm or at room temperature.

Lamb and Pine-Nut Stuffed Grape Leaves - ready to be baked

All in all, it was a cooking demo and dinner to remember.

CS