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March 26, 2010
Foods fit for the whole week
It’s easy to be colorful and creative with all of your holiday meals.
EFRAT TABI
For Passover, I would like to suggest three recipes. Two of these recipes can be served at your Passover seder, while the other recipe can be enjoyed throughout the holiday: charoset, stuffed red peppers and a Mediterranean omelette.
There are so many different recipes for charoset. Some people make it from fresh fruit (mainly from apples), while others prefer to make it from dried fruits, often based on dates and raisins. Ashkenazi-style charoset is based on apples, walnuts and sweet wine, with some people choosing to add raisins. Charoset, done in the Sephardi style, is based on dates, raisins and different kinds of nuts. Charoset made from fresh fruit is light and juicy, while the one with dates and raisins is of a thicker consistency.
In my parents’ house (they came to Israel from Romania), we used to make charoset Ashkenazi style. It was juicy and fresh tasting. Because it cannot be kept for a long time, we always finished it at the seder, and I was always left with the taste for more, craving it until the next year.
In my husband’s home (his parents came to Israel from Iran), they used to make Sephardi-style charoset. As it was made from dried fruits, the best part was that you could keep it for a long time. It can be enjoyed during the whole week of the holiday and you have a great treat to pair with matza or even by itself.
In my recipe, the nuts are roasted and salted. This is what makes it so delicious – the mixture and balance of tastes; the sweetness from the dates and raisins, the saltiness from the nuts and a bit sourness from the orange juice.
CHAROSET
200 grams seedless dates
100 grams raisins
1/2 cup of water
100 grams salted almonds
100 grams salted peanuts
100 grams hazelnuts
juice from one orange
1 tbsp. honey
1. Put the dates and the raisins in a pot, add the water and cook just until they soften. (First, let the water boil and then reduce to medium heat.)
2. In a food processor, grind the almonds, peanuts and hazelnuts into a coarse texture. Transfer to a deep bowl.
3. Transfer the date and raisin mixture to the food processor. Add the orange juice and grind until fully combined into a smooth paste.
4. Transfer the paste to the bowl with the nuts, add the honey, and mix together until the dates and raisins absorb the ground nuts.
5. Transfer to a sealed box and let sit in the fridge for at least two hours before serving.
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One of the challenges during the week of Passover is to not eat too much matza. We are so used to eating products that contain yeast that a week without can seem almost impossible. So, in order to satisfy our cravings for bread, pasta and other carbs, we end up eating matza. Because matza does not satisfy our hunger, we eat ... that’s right, more matza!
This Mediterranean omelette can be served as a great morning-time or supper dish. With some salad on the side, yogurt or sour cream, you will not feel that you need to eat too much matza with it. The extra vegetables that you add to the eggs make it thick and very satisfying. This recipe makes three to four servings.
MEDITERRANEAN OMELETTE
6 eggs
1/2 of a red pepper
1/2 of a green pepper
1/2 of a large tomato
1/2 onion
20 spinach leaves
4 mushrooms
2-3 tbsp. of olive oil
1/4 tsp. turmeric
1/2 tsp. salt
1/2 tsp. black pepper
1. Slice the onion into strips.
2. Slice the peppers into thin strips and cut the tomato into identical cubes. Chop the mushrooms into thin slices (cut them in half and then slice each half into thin slices).
3. In a frying pan, heat the olive oil, fully incorporate the turmeric and add the sliced onion.
4. Sauté the onion until golden brown.
5. Add the peppers, tomato, mushrooms and the spinach to the sautéed onion and stir well. Sauté until the vegetables soften.
6. Transfer vegetables to a bowl. Let the sautéed vegetables cool down for a few minutes.
7. Beat the eggs, add to the sautéed vegetables and mix well until the vegetables are fully combined with the eggs.
8. Pour two tablespoons of olive oil into a hot frying pan, add the egg mixture and fry on medium heat.
9. Fry the omelette until it is fully cooked on that side, cut into four pieces and flip to the other side, frying until it is done.
10. Serve warm or at room temperature.
***
For the following recipe, I was inspired by my 14-year-old daughter, Dor. We cook a lot of stuffed vegetables at home. I like to stuff peppers (red and green), tomatoes, eggplants, onions and potatoes. I always stuff the vegetable with rice and ground meat. Lately, my daughter suggested that we make this dish vegetarian, with a base of brown rice. The idea to stuff the peppers with brown rice gave this recipe a completely new twist. When you stuff vegetables with both rice and meat, the stuffing becomes kind of heavy (but with all of the seasoning, it tends to taste very good). Stuffing the peppers with brown rice made the dish light and airy.
I think that this dish can be very festive and colorful, and can be served as a side dish. You can make it ahead of time, and warm it up in the oven or in the microwave.
STUFFED RED PEPPERS
4 medium-sized red peppers (ones with a rounder shape, so it will be easier to stuff them)
1 cup of brown rice
3 cups of water
1 onion
1 red juicy tomato
4 garlic cloves
1 and 1/2 tsp. kosher salt
1 tsp. black pepper
1/2 tsp. paprika
2 tbsp. of parsley or dill
To coat the peppers you need:
4 tbsp. olive oil
3 garlic cloves
1 tsp. dried oregano
pinch of salt
pinch of black pepper
Preheat the oven to 400 degrees Fahrenheit.
1. In a medium pot, add the rice and three cups of water. Cook for around 15 minutes until the rice is just half-way done. Taste the rice. If it is soft from the outside but still hard on the inside, it is ready. Do not worry – the rice will be fully cooked after it is baked with the peppers in the oven.
2. Remove the rice from the heat, pour the rice into a colander, let the water drain, and pour cold water on the rice to stop the cooking process.
3. Remove the peppers’ “tops” and put them aside for the stuffing. Clean the peppers of seeds.
4. Slice the onion into thin strips. In a saucepan, pour two tablespoons of olive oil and sauté the onion until brown.
5. Mince the garlic and add it to the onion. Sauté for approximately 30 seconds. (Be careful not to burn it.) Add the paprika and stir well.
6. Cut the tomato and the leftover red pepper bits into thin slices. Add them to the onion and cook until the tomatoes are softened.
7. Transfer the rice to a deep mixing bowl, add the cooked onion and tomato, chopped dill/parsley, salt and pepper and stir well. Taste the mixture and adjust the seasoning, if needed.
8. Stuff the peppers with the rice mixture, filling them to the top.
9. In a small, deep bowl, mix together four tablespoons of olive oil, three crushed garlic cloves, oregano and a pinch of salt and black pepper.
10. Transfer the stuffed peppers to a baking or Pyrex pan. Brush the outside of the peppers with the olive oil coating. You will have some coating left over, pour it on top of the peppers and let it seep into the inside.
11. Bake the peppers in the oven for approximately 30 minutes or until the outside softens, but still remains firm.
12. Change the oven to grill/broil mode, and bake the peppers for five minutes, or until the top of the peppers just start to burn. Be careful not to over-burn the peppers.
Happy Passover to all of you and thank you for letting me share my passion for cooking with you!
Efrat Tabi is the owner, with her husband Albert, of the Donair Place and Coffee Shop, located at Yarrow Station, 42375 Yarrow Central Rd., in Chilliwack. The phone number is 604-823-0111.
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