Moroccan Casserole

[Reader Ester Azouline, from LA, sent us the recipe and photo below. She adapted this recipe from The One Dish Bible. I made it last night and found it deliciously filling. CS]

Ingredients

Serves 6

• 2 tablespoons vegetable oil
• 1 lb lamb, cut into 1″ cubes
• 1/2 cup chopped onion
• 3 tablespoons all-purpose flour
• 1 can (about 14 ounces) diced tomatoes, undrained
• 1/4 cup water
• 1 teaspoon ground ginger
• 1 teaspoon ground cumin
• 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1/2 teaspoon sugar
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 teaspoon black pepper
• 2 medium unpeeled red potatoes, cut into 1/2″ pieces
• 1 large sweet potato, peeled and cut into 1/2″ pieces
• 1 cup frozen lima beans, thawed and drained
• 3/4 cup sliced carrots
• Pita bread

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 325 F.
2. Heat oil in large skillet over medium high heat. Add lamb and onion; cook intil lamb is browned on all sides, stirring occasionally. Sprinkle flour over meat mixture. Stir until flour has absorbed the juices. Cook an additional 2 minutes.
3. Stir in tomatoes with juice, water, ginger, cumin, cinnamon, sugar, salt and pepper. Transfer mixture to quart casserole, bake 30 minutes.
4. Stir in potatoes, sweet potato, lima beans, green beans and carrots. Cover; bake 1 hour or until potatoes are tender. Serve with warm pita bread.

Enjoy, gentle reader, enjoy!

Esther Assouline

Ground Beef With Potato Topping

It’s cold out there and we can all use some comfort food, I adapted the following recipe (to make it kosher) from 1 Ground Beef, 100 Meals, I used the cookbook’s photo on page 99

Ingredients

• 1 lb 7 oz potatoes cut into chunks
• 2 tablespoons sunflower oil
• 1 onion, chopped
• 1 garlic clove, chopped
• 2 carrots, chopped
• 1 lb 2 oz ground beef
• 1 2/3 cups sliced mushrooms
• 1 1/4 cup hot beef stock*
• 1 teaspoon sugar
• 1 tablespoon soy sauce
• 1 1/4 cup Daiya Mozzarella Style Shreds (pareve/vegan)**
• salt and pepper to taste

Directions

1. Cook the potatoes in a large pan of salted boiling water for 20-25 minutes, until tender but not falling apart.
2. Meanwhile, heat the oil in a pan. Add the onion, garlic, and carrots. Cook over a low heat, stirring occasionally for 5 minutes, until the onion softens. Increase the heat to medium, add the ground beef  and cook, stirring frequently, and breaking it up with a wooden spoon, for 8 to 10 minutes, until evenly browned.
3. Add the mushrooms and cook for 2 minutes, pour in the stock and stir the sugar and the soy sauce. Season with salt and pepper to taste; reduce heat, cover, and simmer for 20 minutes.
4. Preheat the oven to 400 F. drain the potatoes, return to the pan, and mash well, then stir in three quarters of the cheese.
5. Spoon the meat mixture into an ovenproof dish and spread the mased potatoes over the top to cover the meat. Sprinkle with the remaining cheese and bake in the preheated oven for 20 minutes, until the topping is golden brown. serve immediately.

*Beef Stock

Yield: 8 cups

Ingredients

• 6 lb beef soup bones
• 1 large onion
• 3 large carrots
• 1/2 cup water
• 2 stalks celery, including some leaves
• 1 large tomato
• 1/2 cup chopped parsnip
• 1 medium potato
• 8 whole black peppercorns
• 4 sprigs fresh parsley
• 1 bay leaf
• 1 tablespoon salt
• 2 teaspoons dried thyme
• 2 cloves garlic
• 12 cups water

Directions (from allrecipes.com)

1. Preheat oven to 450 degrees F.
2. Trim root end off onion. Slice or quarter the onion, peel and all. Scrub carrots and chop into 1″ chunks. In a large shallow roasting pan, place soup bones, onion, and carrots. Bake, uncovered, about 30 minutes or until the bones are well browned, turning occasionally.
3. Drain off fat. Place the browned bones, onion, and carrots in a large soup pot or Dutch oven. Pour 1/2 cup water into the roasting pan and rinse. Pour this liquid into soup pot.
4. Scrub the potato and chop it into chunks, peel and all. Chop the celery stalks into thirds. Add celery, tomato, parsnip, potato, peppercorns, parsley (including stems), bay leaf, salt, thyme, and garlic to the pot. Pour in the 12 cups of water.
5. Bring mixture to a boil. Reduce heat. Cover and simmer for 5 hours. Strain stock. Discard meat, vegetables, and seasonings.
6. To clarify stock for clear soup: In order to remove solid flecks that are too small to be strained out with cheesecloth, combine 1/4 cup cold water, 1 egg white, and 1 crushed eggshell. Add to strained stock. Bring to a boil. Remove from heat, and let stand 5 minutes. Strain again through a sieve lined with cheesecloth.

**Daiya Mozzarella Style Shreds (pareve/vegan)

Ingredients (as listed on package)

• Filtered Water
• tapioca flour
• non-GMO expeller pressed canola and/or non-GMO expeller pressed safflower oil
• coconut oil
• pea protein
• salt,
• vegan natural flavors
• inactive yeast
• vegetable glycerin
• xantham gum
• citric acid (for flavor)
• titanium dioxide (a naturally occurring mineral)

Made in a plant free of animal ingredients, milk, soy, egg, peanuts and tree nuts (excluding coconut). The Orthodox Union provides the kosher certification.

 

Enjoy, gentle reader, enjoy. I did!

CS

French Country Casserole

Growing up in Uruguay, my mother used to make many a delicious dish for dinner that became favorites. This one most certainly qualified as comfort food. For a long time I tried to remember the ingredients, while my experiments usually worked well they never quite approached the flavor as I remembered it.

Recently, I came across a recipe that does full justice to my memories. Slightly adapted from MMMM… CASSEROLES (published by Parragon Books Ltd in 2010):

Serves 6

Ingredients

• 2 tbsp corn oil
• 4lb 8oz boneless leg of lamb, cut into 1 inch cubes
• 6 leeks sliced
• 1 tbsp all-purpose flour
• 1/2 cup rose wine
• 1 1/4 cups chicken stock
• 1 tbsp tomato paste
• 1 tbsp sugar
• 2 tbsp chopped fresh mint, plus extra sprigs to garnish
• 1/2 cup chopped plumped dried apricots
• 2 lb 4 oz potatoes sliced
• 3 tbsp melted unsalted margarine
• salt and pepper to taste

Photo from: Mmmm... CASSEROLES, page 49

Directions

1. Preheat the oven to 350 F.
2. Heat the oil in a large, flameproof casserole. Add the lamb in batches and cook over medium heat, stirring, for 5-8 minutes, or until browned. Transfer to a plate.
3. Add the leeks to the casserole and cook, stirring occasionally for 5 minutes, or until softened. Sprinkle in the flour and cook, stirring, for 1 minute. Pour in the wine and stock and bring to a boil, stirring. Stir in the tomato paste, sugar, chopped mint, and apricots. Season to taste with salt and pepper.
4. Return the lamb to the casserole and stir. Arrange the potato slices on top and brush with the melted margarine. Cover and bake in the preheated oven for 1 1/2 hours.
5. Increase the oven temperature to 400 F, uncover the casserole, and bake for an additional 30 minutes, or until the potato topping is golden brown. Serve immediately, garnished with mint springs.

Enjoy, gentle reader, enjoy!

CS

And the Runner Up Recipes Are…

We got quite a few interesting recipes and even some nice photos. On Monday past, we posted the winning recipe for our Shavous contest, now we are posting the next best ones.

2nd Runner Up

The following recipe shows that you can make something delicious even if it is easy to prepare…

Baked Blintz

(My daughter in Providence, RI, made this. It was easy to prepare and it was truly delicious! CS)

Ingredients

We usually “Healthify” it by substituting for ingredient in parenthesis. Tastes AMAZING either way.

FILLING:

• 2 Eggs (or Egg Substitutes)
• ½ Cup Sugar (or Splenda)
• 1 lb Cream Cheese
• 1 lb Cottage Cheese or Farmers Cheese

BATTER:

• ½ cup Sugar (or Splenda)
• 2 eggs (or Egg Substitutes)
• 1 cup Flour (or Whole Wheat Flour)
• ½ lb melted margarine or butter
• Pinch Salt
• 3 tsp Baking Powder
• ¼ cup Milk
• 1 tsp Vanilla

Directions

1. Mix Filling – Set aside
2. Mix Batter
3. Pour ½ Batter into greased 9” X 13” pan (preferably glass)
4. Spread Filling over batter
5. Pour remaining Batter over Filling
6. Bake 1 hour at 325

Submitted by Evan Rosenhouse LMSW, TX

—–)xOx(—–

1st Runner Up

Macaroni, Tuna and Cheese Casserole

Ingredients

• 8 oz elbow macaroni
• 2 tablespoon olive oil
• 2 crushed garlic cloves
• 4 oz mushrooms, sliced
• 1/2 red bell pepper, sliced thinly
• 7 oz can of tuna
• 1 teaspoon oregano
• 3 teaspoons butter (and more for greasing)
• 2 tablespoons all purpose flower
• 1 cups of milk
• 2 sliced tomatoes
• 4 tablespoons bread crumbs
• 1 cup grated cheddar
• salt and pepper to taste

Photo sent in by: Giora Malinovsky

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 400 F.
2. Boil a large pan of slightly salted water. Add macaroni and return to boil. Cook for 8-10 minutes until macaroni is al dente. Drain, rinse, then drain thoroughly again.
3. Heat olive in a skillet and cook the garlic, mushrooms and bell pepper until soft. Add the tuna and oregano, season with salt and pepper and heat through.
4. Grease an 8 cup oven proof dish with a little butter. Add half the of the cooked macaroni, cover with tuna mixture, then add remaining macaroni.
5. Melt butter in a pan, add the flour. Cook for 1 minute. Slowly add the milk and bring to a boil. Simmer for 2 minutes, stirring constantly until thickened. Season to taste with salt and pepper.
6. Pour the sauce over the macaroni. Add the sliced tomatoes on top of the sauce, sprinkle with the breadcrumbs and cheese. Cook in the preheated oven for 25 minutes.

Submitted by Giora Malinovsky, FL

Enjoy, gentle reader, enjoy… even if it is no longer Shavuos.

CS

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