The Manischewitz Experience – 3 Day Pop Up at Chelsea Market

Manischewitz just had a three day Pop Up at Manhattan’s Chelsea Market. It opened to the public this past Thursday and continued through Friday and yesterday (Sunday). Though I wanted very much to see and taste Jamie Geller‘s demos, work did not allow it, but I managed to make it there yesterday.

I arrived just in time for Chef Katsuji Watanabe‘s cooking demo. Chef Watanabe not only is superb at what he does, but also has a winning personality!

With humor, and lots of patience, the Chef proved himself quite a showman

Sake, Mirin Soy Braised Winter Root Vegetables & Shizito Peppers Over Fine Egg Noodles

Chef Katsuji Watanabe, pouring in the Sake…

Ingredients

• 1 cup Manischewitz® Vegetable Broth
• 1 pkg. Manischewitz® Fine Egg Noodles
• 1 cup Cubed sweet potatoes
• 1 cup Cubed blue potatoes
• 1 cup Cubed heirloom carrots
• 1 cup cubed red onions
• 1 cup Cubed red onions 1/2 cup Chopped Shizito peppers
• 1 cup Chopped shitake mushroom
• 1/4 cup Chopped garlic
• 1/4 cup Soy sauce
• 1/2 cup Mirin
• 1 cup Sake

Almost done…

Directions

1. In heavy pot add all vegetables. Add the garlic and sauté for three minutes. Add the soy sauce, Mirin, sake, and Manischewitz® Vegetable Broth and cook to reduce.
2. Cook Manischewitz® Fine Egg Noodles according to package instructions.
3. Serve over steamed noodles and garnish with shizito peppers.

Ladling it out…

The pop up was divided into several serving stations, my favorites were Manni’s Pizzeria where just like Elizabeth Bland (The Cheese Mistress) I thought – as did Meyer Harroch, as well – that the matzoh pizza was surprisingly good.

Detail of photo by Elizabeth Bland at: https://cheesemistress.wordpress.com/2015/03/16/matzo-pizza-at-the-manischewitz-experience-2015/

Also the soup with crackers was nice, hot and delicious, the potato latkes were extremely tasty (in spite of being made from a mix in a box!).

All in all, I spent a very enjoyable couple of hours enjoying the serving stations, the demos and meeting old friends.

CS

The First Kosher Food Bloggers Conference

This week, started with a whole slew of important activities for the kosher food bloggers community. Monday opened up with Melinda Strauss and Shelley Serber‘s Kosher Food Bloggers Conference held in the Milleseme at the Carlton Hotel.

Melinda (from Kitchen-Tested.com) and Shelley ( from thekosherhome.com)hosted a superb 7 hour event, featuring recognized authorities on a variety of subjects of vital interest to the blogging community. The wildly successful Jamie Geller opened the procedures by defining the purpose and explaining the mechanics of becoming a brand.

Photographer Noah Fecks followed and told us what makes a photograph dramatic and relevant. A panel composed of Leah Schapira – Senior Food Editor for Ami Magazine, author of Fresh and Easy: Ordinary Ingredients – Extraordinary Foods – Dani Klein from YeahThat’sKosher.com, and Ely Rosenstock – Founder and CEO of BookofWin. This panel discussed the various approaches to making contents relevant and keeping it fresh.

The incomparable Lévana Kirschenbaum (who’s graced our pages countless times!!), then segued with her proven technique on making successful cooking demos, while Joe Applebaum, CEO of AjaxUnion Inc, spoke about Search Engine Optimization and Search Engine Market

With over sixty bloggers and brands in attendance, this conference was ably produced by the team Melinda Strauss and Shelley Serber, with direction from event planner extraordinaire – Nelly Rosenking. A hearty lunch of deli meat wraps, salads, fruits and desserts was prepared by Fairway Market.

For a first event by a young team, this one showed a tremendous degree of dedication, enthusiasm and professionalism; I can’t wait to again be pleasantly surprised by whatever event they plan next!

CS

Kosherfest 2011 Highlights – Part 1

I spent this past Tuesday and Wednesday at the Meadowlands Exposittion Center together with my good friend, successful commercial photographer and former Chair of the Photo Department at Fashion Institute of Technology – Irving Schild. I’ve been to Kosherfest quite a few times and as good as they were this one leaves those before it far in the dust. Not only was it far bigger (more exhibitors), it had far more visitors who were more informed, more health conscious, than ever before.

There were many new and exciting products, that will be hitting the store shelves soon, as well as non-food items that  caught our attention:

Ner Mitzvah - A candlemaker in the shtetl.

This company used a very creative way to show us their line of products, no words were necessary… just good old fashioned candle making.

Argentina, a country right across the river from where I grew up, distinguished itself by having Marumatok snatch the Kosherfest’s Best New Wine of the Year (Fincas Marumatok Cabernet Sauvignon Malbec). Marumatok has a nice line of wines at very reasonable prices, they may be hard to find but are well worth the search!

One of Marumatok's executives talking about the company's wines...

Costa Rica had its own booth promoting kosher travel tours in that country.

Kosher Costa Rica Tours

To me one of the main highlights was a panel discussion with various cookbook authors where new and upcoming trends were discussed:

From left to right (seated) authors: Jeff Nathan, Levana Kirschenbaum, Susie Fishbein, Gil Marks, Jamie Geller (standing) moderators: Leah Schapira and Esti Berkowitz

Various bloggers were allowed to ask questions to the authors, making this an interesting information packed hour.

There were far too many interesting items and products for the scope of this brief post, but we’ll talk about a few more in the 2nd part of this series. Especially worthy of mention, however, is the Best Overall New Product winner: Tishbi Passion Fruit and Strawberry Champagne Preserves. Ora Tishbi truly outdid herself for the second year in a row. I’m not into preserves but these are truly delicious

Seyman once again had an incredible display of superb European cheeses… that Manchego, the Gruyère, the Halumi, the Parmegiano Reggiano… just remembering the taste makes my mouth water and I wasn’t even taking part in a Pavlovian experiment!

The Petrini Gelato Shoppe, introduced a new dimension of flavor. Both their milchig and parve lines were outstanding

The French chocolates from Michel Cluizel, were miniature works of art. Their taste incomparable, far above any other chocolates this chocaholic ever tasted before!

CS

Kosher Food & Wine Experience 2011 – Part 1

It was billed as bigger than its preceding shows… it was, it was billed as better than its preceding shows… it was! This was one of those rare occasions when hype and truth actually walked in locked step. The food, the wine, the liquors, all added up to a wonderful evening, an epicure’s dream come true.

SYR and I went in at 4:00pm, we saw and met many friends, magazine editors, fellow foodies and bloggers. We delighted in some products we’d already raved about on these pages, we discovered the new and revisited some great restaurants. As we spoke to favorite chefs, we  were happy to hear their craft was more than just a job, their passion for food, their creative juices continue unabated. Chef David Kolotkin of Solo and Prime Grill, Chef Jeff Nathan of Abigael’s and his wife Alison, Chef Mark Green of Glatt A La Carte, Jose Mireilles of Le Marais were among old friends showing off their creations.

Pomegranate had a large booth serving up some dishes that could have been made at any top restaurant.

Chef Emilio getting ready to hand out some delicacies.

Shana Wendel and staff presented Pardes‘ fares…

Lamb Meatballs with Turnip and Olive. Juicy, succulent, beautiful to look at... unmistakably Pardes!

Dr Alan Bronner and Chef Jack Silberstein of Jack’s Gourmet were serving  Chorizo Tacos, Pepper and Onion Soup with Sweet Italian Sausage and Bratwurst Sliders. We sampled all three and and loved them, here is an easy recipe they shared with us:

Bratwurst Sliders

Ingredients

• 1 package (4 links) Jack’s Gourmet Cured Bratwurst Sausage sliced 1/4″ thick on an angle
• 12 slider buns (4 burger buns can be substituted instead)
• 1/2 cup sauerkraut
• 1 tablespoon caraway seeds
• 4 tablespoons grain mustard
• 1 tablespoon chopped fresh tarragon leaves

Directions

1. Combine the sauerkraut and caraway seeds and reserve.
2. Combine the mustard and tarragon leaves and reserve.
3. Heat a saute pan over medium heat with 2 tablespoons oil. Add sausage and cook until golden brown, about 3 – 5 minutes.
4. To serve, slice the buns in half. Spead a small amount of mustard on the bottom half of each bun. Top with sausage and sauerkraut and place other half of bun on top. Secure with a toothpick if necessary.

Some other friends with a great product are Valerie and Robert Groper from My Brother Bobby’s Salsa. SYR finally got to taste their salsas, she fully agrees with me they are superb. Can’t wait until they are available in Brooklyn!

Shalom Bombay was there as well, I had a selection of their Chicken Pakoras, Chicken Biryany and the Chicken Tikka Masala liberally sprinkled with the Mint and Tamarind Chutney and loved the whole combo. Noi Due still makes the best Espresso I’ve ever tasted in the US.

A new discovery was got cholent? Inc. I had their Moroccan Dafina and the Polish Cholent (just like my mamma used to make!!!). They have 16 different types of cholent, wish I could taste them all… The same people folks also own Gemstone Catering and we were very impressed with their Eve’s Apple and Hickory Wood Smoked BBQ Pulled Brisket Sliders. Tammy Polatsek from Aristocratic Design Co. told us these guys make superbly delicious food, well… they do!

There were so many restaurants to choose from, so much looked, smelled and tasted great I could write a very long post extolling the virtues of each, suffice it to say that the choice of eateries and caterers represented was tops. We also talked to cookbook authors Chef Lévana Kirschenbaum, Chef Jeff Nathan, Chef Susie Fishbein, Chef Jamie Geller. All in all a delightful evening, amidst delightful people.

CS

This Week’s Events

This is a great week! If you like food, if you like wine these events are tailor made for you:

Tuesday, February 22nd

Kosher Food & Wine Experience 2011

Tomorrow’s the event of the year!

As always, the star of the show is the food and wine on offer. This year over 300 wines from all over the world will be available from wineries including Herzog, Yatir, Castel, Capcanes, Elvi, Goose Bay and more! In addition, Royal Wine will be launching some new wines at KFWE2011 including the Herzog Special Edition Chalk Hill Warnecke Vineyard 2008, the Oak Knoll Single Vineyard Cabernet Sauvignon and a new line of Gamla Reserves. Additionally, the wines of Alexander Winery in Israel will be making their debut in the United States market.

Guests will also be able to taste delicious food from some of the top rated kosher restaurants and caterers in the Tri-State area. “This is an opportunity to try some exceptional wines and great food, we don’t hold anything back,” said Mr. Landsman, “KFWE is our gift to our customers. We want to give people a chance to try the wines they are hesitant to buy, the special occasion wines they read about or see in the store.” Another benefit of this event is its proximity to Passover, giving people the opportunity to trywines that they would like to feature at their Seders.

A notable addition to the event this year will be the attendance of celebrity cookbook authors/food personalities Joan Nathan, Jamie Geller, Suzy Fishbein, Lévana Kirschenbaum and Jeff Nathan who will all be available to discuss food and wine pairing and their newest books.

KFWE 2011 will take place on Tuesday, February 22, 2011 at 6:30pm at Pier 60 – Chelsea Piers, NYC. For more information on the 2011 Kosher Food & Wine Experience or to order tickets, please visit: http://www.kfwe2011.com .

Don’t forget to enter KSCENE10, as your discount code, when you buy your ticket(s).

Wednesday, February 23rd

Israel Wine Lovers featuring: Barkan Winery

9 Interesting Wines, 2 Great Winemakers and 1 Amazing Evening with Barkan Winery

Nanoosh Hummus Bar

Who’s hosting? Avi Ashman, Raphael Sutton
Price: $36.00 per person
Where? Nanoosh Hummus Bar
171 Madison Avenue New York, NY
When? 7:00pm

Barkan, with vineyards all across Israel, is the second largest winery in the country.  The winemaking team’s quest to produce a variety of quality wines results in Barkan making all of the right moves (including large financial investments) to continue improvements in their vineyards and in the winery. You can always count on Barkan, and it’s Boutique winery Segal, to release quite a few interesting wines.

We are honored that Irit Boxer and Yotam Sharon, two of Barkan’s winemakers, will be with us and present a selected wine list that demonstrates the great quality of their craftsmanship.  This tasting is a MUST and we promise a fun night!!  Where else can you taste two styles of Pinotage (never tasted that grape yet? you have to…) and the effect of 100 meter (300 feet) height difference on Cabernet Sauvignon’s flavor?  Other great wines will be explored as well…

All wines and foods, during the tasting, are Kosher.

Israel Wine Lovers meets at the back of Nanoosh and brings their own food, their own wines, since Nanoosh is not under ANY kosher supervision!!!

CS

There Is Still Time…

The Kosher Food & Wine Experiences 2010 was very good, this year – with more restaurants and caterers exhibiting, with more Chefs demonstrating and answering questions, with more wines – it promises to be better!

There are a few days left, you can still get your tickets, you can still get your 10% discount

As always, the star of the show is the food and wine on offer. This year over 300 wines from all over the world will be available from wineries including Herzog, Yatir, Castel, Capcanes, Elvi, Goose Bay and more! In addition, Royal Wine will be launching some new wines at KFWE2011 including the Herzog Special Edition Chalk Hill Warnecke Vineyard 2008, the Oak Knoll Single Vineyard Cabernet Sauvignon and a new line of GamlaReserves. Additionally, the wines of Alexander Winery in Israel will be making their debut in the United States market.

Guests will also be able to taste delicious food from some of the top rated kosher restaurants and caterers in the Tri-State area. “This is an opportunity to try some exceptional wines and great food, we don’t hold anything back,” said Mr. Landsman, “KFWE is our gift to our customers. We want to give people a chance to try the wines they are hesitant to buy, the special occasion wines they read about or see in the store.” Another benefit of this event is its proximity to Passover, giving people the opportunity to trywines that they would like to feature at their Seders.

A notable addition to the event this year will be the attendance of celebrity cookbook authors/food personalities Joan Nathan, Jamie Geller, Suzy Fishbein, Lévana Kirschenbaum and Jeff Nathan who will all be available to discuss food and wine pairing and their newest books.

KFWE 2011 will take place on Tuesday, February 22, 2011 at 6:30pm at Pier 60 – Chelsea Piers, NYC. For more information on the 2011 Kosher Food & Wine Experience or to order tickets, please visit: www.kfwe2011.com .

Don’t forget to enter KSCENE10, as your discount code, when you buy your ticket(s). Hope to see you there, gentle reader!

CS

Kosher Food & Wine Experience 2011 Discounts

The Kosher Food & Wine Experiences 2010 was very good, this year – with more restaurants and caterers exhibiting, with more Chefs demonstrating and answering questions, with more wines – it promises to be better!

As the Royal Wine Corporation‘s press release for this event states:

As always, the star of the show is the food and wine on offer. This year over 300 wines from all over the world will be available from wineries including Herzog, Yatir, Castel, Capcanes, Elvi, Goose Bay and more! In addition, Royal Wine will be launching some new wines at KFWE2011 including the Herzog Special Edition Chalk Hill Warnecke Vineyard 2008, the Oak Knoll Single Vineyard Cabernet Sauvignon and a new line of Gamla Reserves. Additionally, the wines of Alexander Winery in Israel will be making their debut in the United States market.

Guests will also be able to taste delicious food from some of the top rated kosher restaurants and caterers in the Tri-State area. “This is an opportunity to try some exceptional wines and great food, we don’t hold anything back,” said Mr. Landsman, “KFWE is our gift to our customers. We want to give people a chance to try the wines they are hesitant to buy, the special occasion wines they read about or see in the store.” Another benefit of this event is its proximity to Passover, giving people the opportunity to trywines that they would like to feature at their Seders.

A notable addition to the event this year will be the attendance of celebrity cookbook authors/food personalities Joan Nathan, Jamie Geller, Suzy Fishbein, Lévana Kirschenbaum and Jeff Nathan who will all be available to discuss food and wine pairing and their newest books.

KFWE 2011 will take place on Tuesday, February 22, 2011 at 6:30pm at Pier 60 – Chelsea Piers, NYC. For more information on the 2011 Kosher Food & Wine Experience or to order tickets, please visit: www.kfwe2011.com .

Don’t forget to enter KSCENE10, as your discount code, when you buy your ticket(s). Hope to see you there, gentle reader!

CS