Channukah Menu 2007
7 Dec 2007 12:08 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
cimoreneI was cooking all day, when i wasn't spending an hour walking briskly around the Student Village in search of ingredients. I'm exhausted and bloated, but it was glorious - exactly the way I think a Channukah celebration should feel, with oodles of food that I like and plenty of wine and lazy relaxed conversation.
Here's the menu, with recipes in standard and metric measures.
First I served hummus (store-bought) on
Challah, 2 loaves
7,5 cups (1,8 L) flour
1,5 T salt
0.5 c (1,2 dL) raisins, optional
3,8 c (1 dL) sugar
1,5 heaping T dry yeast
3/8 lb melted margarine/oil (170 g)
1 7/8 c warm water
5-6 eggs
sesame or poppy seeds, optional
Preheat oven warm, 140F or 60C. Mix flour, salt and rasins in a large bowl, making a well in center. add 1/2 the sugar to well, add yeast, cover with rest of sugar. mix yeast and sugar together in well. blend melted margarine and water slowly, mixing well. add margarine to yeast mixture in well and mix well with hands. set aside 1 egg and the yollk of another. add remaining eggs plus white of separated egg individual to the bread dough, kneading well after each addition, until all flour is absorbed--about 10 min. you may need more flour. divide in quarters and knead in mixer (or knead vigorously). cover dough in bowl with wax paper coated with margarine, then with a towel, and put in warm oven for 1/2 hour. when it has almost doubled in size, punch it down and knead thoroughly and briskly for ten minutes. cover with paper and towel again, and let rise for 15-20 min more, until it has almost doubled again. remove once more, punch and knead a third time, re-cover, and let rise once more for 15-20 min in warm oven. turn the dough onto a pastry board and knead thoroughly. using a knife, cut the dough into two pieces and divide each piece into six (or three... or four...). add a little flour, knead each portion and shape into a ball. cover the pieces not being worked on with a moist paper towel. with the palm of your hand, roll balls into ropes about 9" long. do all six. place side by side, braid. brush with remaining egg yolk, making sure you get into all the cracks; sprinkle with the seeds. place the bread in greased and floured rectangular bread pans, such as 4.5x10", or on a cookie sheet. bake in warm oven for 20 minutes, then raise temperature to 200F (95C) for 15 minutes, 275F (140C) for another 15, and finally 375F (190C) for another 15 until bread is golden brown.
Then I served
Oven-roasted potato wedges
Potatoes (4-5 for 2 people up to about 10 for 4-6 people?)
olive oil
salt and pepper
garlic powder
paprika
dried basil and oregano
dried cilantro
nutmeg
Wash potatoes and cut into wedges (I used two large and about eight medium potatoes for six women). Blot the cut faces of the wedges with a paper towel to remove excess starch and moisture. Pour olive oil into a container with an airtight lid such as a small tupperware - a few tablespoons at a time - and sprinkle spices into it (heaviest on the basil and oregano and paprika. go easy on the others and use only a tiny dash of nutmeg, or at least, that's how I prefer). Drop potato wedges in until the container is about halfway full. Put the lid on and shake it to coat the wedges. Lay them out in a single layer on a cookie sheet and bake for 30 minutes, turning once.
with
Tabbouleh (Lebanese salad)
about ½-1 cup burghul/bulgur wheat
2 small or 1 medium-large onion
1 T salt
1 t ground allspice (maustepippuri) (crucial! do not omit)
1-2 bunches of fresh parsley (I had to make do with one; more is better)
1 bunch fresh mint
1 bunch fresh scallions (green onions)
½ cup lemon juice
3/4 cup olive oil
lots of tomatoes, if desired
Put bulgur wheat in a large bowl and pour warm water to cover it by ½ inch or so. Soak for an hour and then drain in a sieve. Make sure it drains thoroughly. If it seems soggy or dripping, flatten it against the sieve with a spoon or squeeze it with a clean dishtowel.
Mince onion very small (like in a food processor) and combine with allspice and salt.
Mince the leaves of the parsley and mint and the entire lengths of the scallions, both white and green (a food processor is really ideal here, but you don't want a wet mush! Be careful not to over process). Mix greens thoroughly. Fold bulgur wheat into the parsley mixture. Refrigerate until an hour before serving/for several hours. Stir in seasoned onion and dress with lemon and oil. Ideally, serve this with chopped tomatoes (say, 6 medium tomatoes for this size recipe, which wasn't quite enough for the 6 of us, so in future I will certainly double it).
Then I served
Roasted vegetables and feta
For 2 people, about 1 bell pepper, 3-4 carrots, ½ onion if desired. For 6 I used 2 bell peppers and about 8 carrots. Also: feta cheese, olive oil, cumin. Serve with tabbouleh or over couscous.
Cut vegetables into long strips and spread in the bottom of a roasting pan; top with lashings of olive oil and about 1 tablespoon whole or ground cumin. Top pan with aluminum foil and bake until carrots begin to soften to your desired texture, maybe ½ hour to 40 minutes at around 200C. If you immediately stir in a package of cubed feta, the feta will begin to melt into a milky sauce and the whole mixture can be mixed into couscous or tabbouleh for a very rich taste experience. I served the feta on the side this evening.
And for dessert we had vanilla icecream and
Apple cranberry crisp
Filling:
4-5 sourish apples, peeled and cored and sliced thin
6 oz fresh or frozen cranberries (or lingon berries)
1 t lemon juice
2 T honey
2 T maple syrup or sugar syrup
1 cup (2.4 dL) loose brown sugar
1 t cinnamon
1/4 t nutmeg
1/4 t allspice
1/4 t salt
Topping:
½ c (1,2 dL) brown sugar, loose
1 c (2,4 dL) oats
4 graham crackers or 5-6 digestive cookies, crumbled
½ c (1,2 dL) flour
1/4 t salt
½ c unsalted butter cut into small pieces (6 T)
Preheat oven to 375F (190C). In a large bowl, mix all filling ingredients. Spread evenly into, for example, a 9x12" square baking dish or a round cake pan of similar size. In the same bowl, combine dry topping ingredients, then mix in butter with a fork until topping is crumbly. Sprinkle over apples. Bake in preheated oven for 40-50 minutes or until topping is golden brown and apples are tender.
Here's the menu, with recipes in standard and metric measures.
First I served hummus (store-bought) on
Challah, 2 loaves
7,5 cups (1,8 L) flour
1,5 T salt
0.5 c (1,2 dL) raisins, optional
3,8 c (1 dL) sugar
1,5 heaping T dry yeast
3/8 lb melted margarine/oil (170 g)
1 7/8 c warm water
5-6 eggs
sesame or poppy seeds, optional
Preheat oven warm, 140F or 60C. Mix flour, salt and rasins in a large bowl, making a well in center. add 1/2 the sugar to well, add yeast, cover with rest of sugar. mix yeast and sugar together in well. blend melted margarine and water slowly, mixing well. add margarine to yeast mixture in well and mix well with hands. set aside 1 egg and the yollk of another. add remaining eggs plus white of separated egg individual to the bread dough, kneading well after each addition, until all flour is absorbed--about 10 min. you may need more flour. divide in quarters and knead in mixer (or knead vigorously). cover dough in bowl with wax paper coated with margarine, then with a towel, and put in warm oven for 1/2 hour. when it has almost doubled in size, punch it down and knead thoroughly and briskly for ten minutes. cover with paper and towel again, and let rise for 15-20 min more, until it has almost doubled again. remove once more, punch and knead a third time, re-cover, and let rise once more for 15-20 min in warm oven. turn the dough onto a pastry board and knead thoroughly. using a knife, cut the dough into two pieces and divide each piece into six (or three... or four...). add a little flour, knead each portion and shape into a ball. cover the pieces not being worked on with a moist paper towel. with the palm of your hand, roll balls into ropes about 9" long. do all six. place side by side, braid. brush with remaining egg yolk, making sure you get into all the cracks; sprinkle with the seeds. place the bread in greased and floured rectangular bread pans, such as 4.5x10", or on a cookie sheet. bake in warm oven for 20 minutes, then raise temperature to 200F (95C) for 15 minutes, 275F (140C) for another 15, and finally 375F (190C) for another 15 until bread is golden brown.
Then I served
Oven-roasted potato wedges
Potatoes (4-5 for 2 people up to about 10 for 4-6 people?)
olive oil
salt and pepper
garlic powder
paprika
dried basil and oregano
dried cilantro
nutmeg
Wash potatoes and cut into wedges (I used two large and about eight medium potatoes for six women). Blot the cut faces of the wedges with a paper towel to remove excess starch and moisture. Pour olive oil into a container with an airtight lid such as a small tupperware - a few tablespoons at a time - and sprinkle spices into it (heaviest on the basil and oregano and paprika. go easy on the others and use only a tiny dash of nutmeg, or at least, that's how I prefer). Drop potato wedges in until the container is about halfway full. Put the lid on and shake it to coat the wedges. Lay them out in a single layer on a cookie sheet and bake for 30 minutes, turning once.
with
Tabbouleh (Lebanese salad)
about ½-1 cup burghul/bulgur wheat
2 small or 1 medium-large onion
1 T salt
1 t ground allspice (maustepippuri) (crucial! do not omit)
1-2 bunches of fresh parsley (I had to make do with one; more is better)
1 bunch fresh mint
1 bunch fresh scallions (green onions)
½ cup lemon juice
3/4 cup olive oil
lots of tomatoes, if desired
Put bulgur wheat in a large bowl and pour warm water to cover it by ½ inch or so. Soak for an hour and then drain in a sieve. Make sure it drains thoroughly. If it seems soggy or dripping, flatten it against the sieve with a spoon or squeeze it with a clean dishtowel.
Mince onion very small (like in a food processor) and combine with allspice and salt.
Mince the leaves of the parsley and mint and the entire lengths of the scallions, both white and green (a food processor is really ideal here, but you don't want a wet mush! Be careful not to over process). Mix greens thoroughly. Fold bulgur wheat into the parsley mixture. Refrigerate until an hour before serving/for several hours. Stir in seasoned onion and dress with lemon and oil. Ideally, serve this with chopped tomatoes (say, 6 medium tomatoes for this size recipe, which wasn't quite enough for the 6 of us, so in future I will certainly double it).
Then I served
Roasted vegetables and feta
For 2 people, about 1 bell pepper, 3-4 carrots, ½ onion if desired. For 6 I used 2 bell peppers and about 8 carrots. Also: feta cheese, olive oil, cumin. Serve with tabbouleh or over couscous.
Cut vegetables into long strips and spread in the bottom of a roasting pan; top with lashings of olive oil and about 1 tablespoon whole or ground cumin. Top pan with aluminum foil and bake until carrots begin to soften to your desired texture, maybe ½ hour to 40 minutes at around 200C. If you immediately stir in a package of cubed feta, the feta will begin to melt into a milky sauce and the whole mixture can be mixed into couscous or tabbouleh for a very rich taste experience. I served the feta on the side this evening.
And for dessert we had vanilla icecream and
Apple cranberry crisp
Filling:
4-5 sourish apples, peeled and cored and sliced thin
6 oz fresh or frozen cranberries (or lingon berries)
1 t lemon juice
2 T honey
2 T maple syrup or sugar syrup
1 cup (2.4 dL) loose brown sugar
1 t cinnamon
1/4 t nutmeg
1/4 t allspice
1/4 t salt
Topping:
½ c (1,2 dL) brown sugar, loose
1 c (2,4 dL) oats
4 graham crackers or 5-6 digestive cookies, crumbled
½ c (1,2 dL) flour
1/4 t salt
½ c unsalted butter cut into small pieces (6 T)
Preheat oven to 375F (190C). In a large bowl, mix all filling ingredients. Spread evenly into, for example, a 9x12" square baking dish or a round cake pan of similar size. In the same bowl, combine dry topping ingredients, then mix in butter with a fork until topping is crumbly. Sprinkle over apples. Bake in preheated oven for 40-50 minutes or until topping is golden brown and apples are tender.
