I got my chance May 8, 2009.  I announced the meal as vegan and gluten-free (the other meals there are vegetarian or vegetarian plus some fish), planned a menu, and set to work.  I quickly realized that, while my cooking skills are pretty good, my catering skills are quite lacking.  It didn’t help that we were never sure exactly how many people would show up (RSVPs are due two days before, but they’re flexible).

I planned for 20, got 18 (equivalent of 15 since several were small children), and cooked enough for 30.  Whoops.

A few folks lingering over dinner

After many years of cooking Passover Seders for upwards of 20 people, I have learned the trick of saving complex or new recipes for smaller venues.  Everything I made was simple to moderate and something I’d cooked many times before.

The Menu:

Chili-Cornbread Casserole
Roasted vegetables (red beets, golden beets, rutabaga, & leek with rosemary)
Green salad (romaine, cherry tomato, daikon radish, carrot, orange cauliflower, & mustard balsamic dressing)
Fresh strawberries with cashew cream
Challah (from masa) with sesame seed & oatmeal

Chili Cornbread Casserole

The good news is the food all came out fabulous.  No mishaps at all.  I can’t tell you how relieved I was about that.  The bad news is we had some disasters with the timing.  One of the disadvantages to cooking a large meal outside of your home is that you tend to forget things.  Well, Michael and I left a box of miscellaneous items behind.  Unfortunately, they were essential items for both of the dishes I had to finish up and bake in the synagogue kitchen.

Michael running home to get it set us back about 45 minutes, and we were already running 15 minutes late.  So everything was pushed back an hour (which means at least my time estimates were dead on).  The challah also took longer than expected, even though I had deliberately made them thinner than usual so they’d cook faster.

Salad and strawberries

All in all, I’d call it a success.  The next time I get the chance to cook for a crowd, I’ll have a clearer idea of amounts.  And hopefully the timing will work out better.

Roasted root vegetables

For anyone interested in the amounts of ingredients I used and what it all cost, check out my blog entry Catering Lessons: The Cost of Cooking for 30.

©2012 Norwitz Notions. All Rights Reserved.

My friend used slicing cucs (the kind you put in salad), cut into chunks.  They were delicious but a bit mushy with a thick skin.  I knew I’d want to use pickling cucs, which are thin-skinned, solid, and just the right size for pickles.  I found some at an organic farm stand I passed on my way to an appointment in Santa Rosa.  The farmer insisted I take some heads of dill as well.

I used the making sour pickles recipe from fellow tribe member Sandor Katz, author of Wild Fermentation.  With other veggie ferments, you add salt, massage it in, and let the vegetable juices come out and cover the veggies (adding some salt water if necessary).  But, with whole pickles, you need to make a brine.  With cucumber pickles especially, the salt to water ratio matters.  I used 3 tablespoons salt in 2 quarts/liters of water.

I also added a large head of dill flower, a small handful of peppercorns, and some grape leaves.  Katz (and other sources) say the grape leaves help make the pickles crunchier.  I figured it couldn’t hurt, and I do have a nice grape vine in the back of my property.  Next time though I’ll make extra grape leaves and then use them for stuffed grape leaves since all the commercial ones have preservatives.  If you want garlic, toss in a few peeled cloves.

Seasoning for pickles

Put your dry seasonings in the bottom of the container (use glass or ceramic; plastic works but I can’t recommend it).  You don’t have to sterilize it first but do make sure it’s clean.  Wash the cucumbers, cut out any bad spots, and remove any remaining blossom ends with your fingernail or a knife.  You can keep the stems.  Pack tightly into the container.

Packing pickles

Now, pour in the salt solution, making sure all the cucumbers are covered.  Put a plate or jar or other weight into the container to keep the pickles submerged.  I used a plate with a water-filled jar on top.  Cover the container with a loose fitting lid or towel to keep it clean.

Put the container on your kitchen counter or some other place that’s not too hot or too cold.  Don’t put into your fridge; it won’t ferment.

A plate as a jar weight

Check the pickles every day.  There will be a lot more mold growth than with sauerkraut and other vegetables.  Carefully wipe it away, cleaning the plate/weight as well.  You can dip a cup or ladle into the brine to pull off mold from the top.  The mold is white and isn’t overtly harmful but it will make your pickles mushy and bad tasting.  Don’t worry about traces but try to get most of it.

After 5 days, my pickles were crunchy with a slight tang but were more cucumber than pickle.  At two weeks they were just right.  You should taste now and then to see how you like them.  Some people go a month or more.  It’s not only a matter of taste (do you want sour, half sour, dill, etc?) but the salt concentration and temperature will make a big difference in the fermentation rate.  When they’re done, clean things up one last time and stick the container in the fridge.

Pickles ready for eating

This batch came out pickle perfect.  But my second batch, not so much.  That time I bought organic pickling cucs from the farmer’s market and they had air spaces in the middle.  You just can’t predict this.  The pickles took less time to cure and still tasted fine (though not as flavorful since I didn’t have any dill) and the texture wasn’t bad, but I didn’t get that solid pickle crunch when I bit into them.  I also had a lot more trouble with mold the second time, even after refrigerating.  They’re still edible but I’m not sure what went wrong.  Guess I’ll have to practice some more…next cucumber season.

©2012 Norwitz Notions. All Rights Reserved.

At our last time hosting a Jewish potluck with these friends, we made a great challah from a Pamela’s bread mix.  It came out great and worked well with a braid too.  But Miriam had her first life-threatening allergic reaction in August and our top suspect is tapioca (negative in the allergy testing but we’re not letting her have it until we can do it in a controlled manner with medical backup).  As anyone gluten-free for a while knows, pretty much every gluten-free bread mix or product on the market contains tapioca.  It’s a great flour, but Pamela’s has it too and we just can’t take the chance.

I ordered some more of Primavera’s fabulous organic masa and was going to make tortillas (to go with the ceviche I made for the main dish).  Then I thought…what if I braided and baked it instead?

First I took the fresh masa, scooped some chucks out of the bag with a spoon, evened them out, and rolled them into 3 balls.

Masa rolled into balls

Then, I rolled each ball into a log.

Masa balls rolled into lengths

And braided it, crimping the ends well and pushing down on the dough so it wouldn’t come apart.

Braided dough

Then it went for a roll (all sides) in a plate of sesame seeds.  I added some oatmeal so it would be “bread” we could say Hamotzi over.  This is completely optional if you don’t need it for religious purposes.  The oats didn’t change the taste or texture at all.  If you react to the wheat contamination in most oats, use ones certified gluten-free.  The sesame, on the other hand, was delicious and added a nice crunch.

Sesame seeds and oatmeal

I carefully moved each loaf to a baking pan generously coated with olive oil.

Challah ready for baking

I baked them at 325*F for about 35 minutes, turning once halfway through (use two spatulas so they don’t break apart).  I left them in the oven with the heat off for another 10 minutes or so.

Finished challah

Miriam ate about half of what was there and the rest of us made sure the plate was empty.  Even the nonallergic folks thought it was fabulous.   It came out dense and chewy, almost like a bagel (hmmm…) but still light enough to have the mouthfeel of bread.

I’ll have to experiment a little.  The oil kept it from sticking and also made it richer, which was what I was going for.  Without the oil, it might taste more like a tortilla.  But, overall, I’m very happy with how it came out.

Happiness is a little girl jumping for joy singing “it’s challah that doesn’t make me sick!!!”

©2012 Norwitz Notions. All Rights Reserved.

Challah is a braided egg bread that plays an important role in the weekly Shabbat prayers.  As you pray, you touch the bread, or touch someone touching it.  Though of course I don’t have any or allow Miriam to eat it, that isn’t enough when it’s happening in my house.  We can’t leave the crumbs and contaminated surfaces behind when people go home.  And cleaning well often isn’t 100%.

So I decided to make challah.  Or at least a bread-like substance that was challah-like.  Technically, challah should contain chametz (one of the 5 grains, also meaningful for Passover), but fortunately no one minded that it didn’t.

I’m not much of a baker (i.e., I stink) so I just bought a mix.  The bread a friend made from Pamela’s Amazing Wheat-Free mix was so good, I got that one.

Pamela’s Amazing Wheat-Free Bread Mix
INGREDIENTS: Sorghum Flour, Tapioca Flour, Sweet Rice Flour, Brown Rice Flour, Organic Natural Evaporated Cane Sugar, Chicory Root, White Rice Flour, Millet Flour, Honey and Molasses; Rice Bran, Sea Salt, Xanthan Gum, Yeast Packet.
1 slice of bread (1/16th of loaf) has 25 usable grams of carbs (29 total minus 4 fiber).

As it happens, they even have a recipe for turning the mix into challah on their website.

We used the egg-free alternative directions but super-concentrated it.  So for 3 eggs, I used 1/2 cup of water and 4 tablespoons flaxmeal.  We also made it dairy-free

Recipe:

1 bag Pamela’s Wheat-Free Bread Mix
Equivalent of 3 eggs
1/4 cup palm shortening, melted
1/2 cup soy milk (use anything)
1/4 cup sugar
1/2 cup warm water
1 yeast packet (enclosed)

The recipe calls for a stand mixer, which we don’t have.  It recommends a whisk attachment, which we do have on our stick blender.  But that made the too-dry dough fly all over.  Even adding some water didn’t help.  So Michael mixed it by hand with a large whisk then kneaded it with his hands.

Now the mixture was too sticky, so I added some brown rice flour as Michael kneaded.  And it turned out glossy and smooth and really nice.  It was so easy to handle I just braided it by hand instead of the plastic bag piping business the website recommends.

I think I could have easily done a true braid, but I started easy  by just making two long rolls and twisting them then sealing the ends.  I did this on a floured (rice) cutting board then moved it (with a dough scraper) to a greased baking pan.

I wanted to put sesame seeds on the outside, but didn’t have any.  So I did a light sprinkling of some ground sesame salt we had.  I didn’t do anything in place of the egg wash for the outside.

I put this in the oven, turned it on to 150*F for a minute, then turned it off (it was a cool day), and let it rise for a little over an hour.  Then we turned the oven on to 350*F and let it bake for one hour.  The bottom got a bit over-brown, almost black, but was still edible, and the crust was strong and thick.  The insides were soft and luscious.  I didn’t do a good job sealing one of the ends.  Also the two twists never really melded together and were like separate pieces of bread.

Our guests all loved the bread, though it didn’t really taste like challah and all of them were wheat-eaters.  I’d gladly make it every week if it weren’t so carby.  It’s definitely a winner for special occasions.  I think dividing it into two loaves and baking it for less time would soften the crust while still cooking the insides.

©2012 Norwitz Notions. All Rights Reserved.

___________________________________________

I had a sudden craving for bagels and cream cheese and smoked salmon — and I made bagels! bagels I could EAT!

I’ve been playing around lately with this recipe from Gluten-Free Gobsmacked for flatbread — I can’t have potato, corn, tapioca, or xanthan gum as well as gluten grains, so I had to make changes and see what happened.

I’ve made some yummy flat breads so far — not quite flexible enough to fold, but oooh, GOOD sandwiches if it’s cut in squares and just used as a piece of bread, and yummy toasted, especially when I add caraway seeds and dried dill before cooking — the texture and taste are very similar to rye bread to me, and I love rye bread.

Here’s the latest version of the recipe I’ve been fiddling with:

1/2 cup warm water
1 spoonful dry yeast
1 spoonful sugar
Leave in a warm place until it gets foamy (10-20 minutes).
(I tried adding egg one time like the source recipe, but it was much less like what I wanted that way, so I’ve been leaving it out since.)

Mix together:
1 cup brown rice flour
1/2 cup white rice flour
~1/2-1 tsp salt
~2 tsps guar gum.

Add 1-2 tbls olive oil and 1-2 tbls apple cider vinegar to the foamy yeast water, then mix in flour mixture. Add more water or flour as needed to make a dough that forms a ball in the bowl once all the flour is incorporated. Continue to mix/sort of knead (oil your hands first! VERY sticky) 3-5 minutes, to get the guar gum sort of activated.

If you want to add herbs, do it now. I’ve added about 1-2 tbls each caraway seeds and dried dill weed, and loved the result. I’ve not tried other herbs yet. I’ve also added some chopped kalamata olives, about 1/4 cup, and that was wonderful. I’m planning some sauteed onions and some poppy seeds for my next trial…

Put some oil in the bottom of a clean bowl, put in the ball of dough, turn to cover. Let rise 30-40 minutes in a warm place. It won’t rise as much as a gluten dough, but it will still swell up a bit.

For flatbread:

Smoosh flat between 2 sheets of parchment until it’s about 1/4″ thick, then carefully transfer to a floured sheet. Put some more oil on top, smoothing it around with your fingers and sort of gently poking valleys all over. Let rise in a warm place about 30-40 minutes. Bake in a moderate oven til it’s
just done (it really depends on how big, how thick, how hot your oven runs, etc — I’ve had it done anywhere from 8 minutes to 20 minutes). Let cool. I’ve done the fork holes like the original and that’s good too, but more work for about the same result.

For bagels:

Roll balls of dough in your oiled hands until they feel good and solid. Gently poke a hole thru the center. Put on a floured sheet. Brush with oil. Let rise 10-20 minutes while you start a pot of water simmering.

Preheat oven to about 400.

When they’ve risen just slightly they will be sort of funky looking because the surface dough cracks without gluten to hold it together. Don’t stress about it. These are a bit more fragile at this point than regular bagels, I think, so be gentle. Lift with a pancake turner and lower into simmering water. They should not be crowded — my pot will do 3 at a time. Simmer 2-4 minutes, turn, simmer a couple more minutes, put on rack to drain.

When they’re all ready, flour a sheet and set them on it. Bake about 20-25 minutes, turn over, bake another 10.

These are flatter than regular bagels, but I can still cut them in half and each half is sturdy enough to put things on. Do let cool completely before trying to cut, and I find a tomato knife works best.

They are fresh right now and a bit crisp on the outside and chewy on the inside and omg BAGELS. After 2 years of not having any, I don’t CARE if they aren’t exactly right. They’re yummy and I love them.

(A plate full of bagels — recipe made 7 smallish ones)

(All doctored up with cream cheese and smoked salmon, and a bare half to see what it looks like)

Next day note: these are more like a heavy english muffin after sitting in a zipper bag at room temp overnight, but still really good, especially toasted.

©2012 Norwitz Notions. All Rights Reserved.

This year, a first-night seder on April 19, 2008, wasn’t the most stressful, but it was the weirdest.  All the food came out well but, otherwise, everything that could have gone wrong did.

I always find dietary and other restrictions to be a challenge (in a fun competitive sense) and I pride myself on creating a safe space for all of my guests, with food they can eat (perhaps not everything, but a decent meal).  But this year pushed me to the brink.

We had our own restrictions: no meat, nothing that Miriam is allergic to (she can get sick from crumbs and I want her to have a few days a year with other people where she can eat anything she wants), no chemical products on the guests, etc, but they’re seamless for us.  And we can still have a full seder.

(In foreground: matzoh plate next to my seat; in background: the main table with Miriam (brown dress), her Aunties Connie and Jan (holding babies), 3 other friends, and Grandma Julie standing at right.  The note on the door to our bedroom warns people not to open it, since that’s where the kitties spent the evening.)

This year, due to medical issues with guests, we had to leave the doors and windows wide open but couldn’t turn on the heat, we couldn’t light our candles (beeswax even), we couldn’t take photographs (except when the reactive guest left the room, so my food and other photos are lacking), we had two guests who invited themselves at the last minute (and one arrived scented and had to scramble to change clothes and wash-up), dinner was completely out of order and late, we had 4 (yes, four) cancellations the day of the seder, there were 2 guests who simply didn’t show up (medical emergency and they had a bad email address for me), oh and we nearly killed one guest (her fish allergy, which we always managed to accomodate in the past by being careful, was far worse that day, and we did more last minute cooking than usual, which made for more fumes)

Add to that the fact that I dropped a few of the usual rituals and customs to save time, but then ended up with even more gone due to the above restrictions.  We didn’t start with eating hardboiled eggs like we have in most years, due to Miriam’s allergy.  Two years in a row now I’ve had the idea of using whole walnuts instead, but then I can’t find any.  We skipped the handwashing and didn’t sing a single song.  And the post meal sections got lost entirely.  No Elijah’s cup, which I’m still upset over.  We only did the hunt for the affikomen.  It felt more like a dinner party than a seder.

Oy.

We were supposed to have 20 guests (including 5 children) but, with all the additions and subtractions, we ended up with 16 (including 4 children).  Three were new to our seder (2 had never been to any seder).

We had two tables.  The main one is our regular dining room table.  Michael always sits there, at the end furthest from the kitchen.  Then we move a buffet and desk back to add another table.  I always sit at this one, in the chair nearest the kitchen (behind the wood doors to the right).

(Main table to left has Grandma Julie (white shirt) and 2 friends; secondary table has my cousin Sara next to Miriam (visiting from the other table) and 3 friends)

Ritual Foods:

Oat flour matzoh
Horseradish
Parsley
Wine
Grape juice
Charoset
Salt water
Roasted beet (an ancient alternative to a roasted lamb shank)
Roasted egg

(Seder Plate: Parsley, horseradish root, roasted egg, roasted beet, salt water, charoset)

Dinner Menu:

Beet borscht
Gefilte fish
Mushroom and olive compote
Baked yams
Pan seared roasted halibut with rosemary
Drinks: Wine (red & white), grape juice, water, seltzer, lemon slices
Dessert: Macadamia Nut Torte

(Connie offers a toast)

(Sara gets Miriam some yams, as a friend looks on)

©2012 Norwitz Notions. All Rights Reserved.

I started with two horseradish roots. They were 8 – 12 inches in length, and fairly skinny, maybe an inch or two in diameter. I chopped them into inch-long segments like so:

Then I loaded them into the food processor. Prepared Horseradish is either white or red, the latter colored by the addition of a small amount of beet; I find it augments the taste in a subtle but pleasant manner. I added in a small piece, maybe equivalent in size to one or two of the horseradish root slices.

A splash of white vinegar serves two purposes. First off, it lubricates the food processing so that the blades actually grind up the root slices; otherwise, they simply get moved around and jam the blades. Also. it acts as a preservative. The finished horseradish quickly loses its heat when exposed to air, and the more vinegar you add, the better it will retain its heat (although you don’t want to add too much, as it will be excessively moist and vinegary-tasting).

Process until it is finely ground, with no chunks of white root visibly remaining. Occasionally stop the blades so you can scrape the sides with a butter knife. But be careful … the mix at this stage is extremely powerful and it will bring tears to your eyes.

Once it’s done, immediately dish a few tablespoons out into small serving bowls. This should be one of the last tasks you do before the meal, because if it loses too much of its heat while sitting on the open table it will be bland and uninspiring. In the past, I have been shy about adding vinegar, and the result was almost tasteless by the time our guests bit into it (compensation perhaps for one year in which I somehow made it far too strong, and nearly killed all our guests simultaneously in the process).

After it’s served, be sure to return the lid of the food processor to its place so the mix is kept away from air as much as possible.

When we have leftovers, I transfer them again to glass jars, and make sure the lids are sealed tightly on at all times when they are not in immediate use.

©2012 Norwitz Notions. All Rights Reserved.

This is only the second time we’ve made gefilte (gelfilte, gelfelte, gefelte) fish. The stuff in jars is pretty good (some people hate it but I grew up on and adore the stuff) but every last brand has eggs in it. And pretty much all have gluten (matzoh meal), many have MSG, and some even have preservatives. The eggs make it forbidden food in our house.

For Passover 2006, we used a recipe I adapted from two found online:

Yahoo Food
About.com Home Cooking

We used 3 lbs of halibut (I made the mistake of getting it on the bone–what a pain!–though it did mean we had skins for the stock) and simmered it in stock for a couple of hours. It came out well, with good texture (not as compact as the jarred kind, but still firm) but quite bland. With extra seasoning and horseradish, they were quite acceptable.

I would have liked to use carp, but the only decent source is 45 mins away and we didn’t have time. So this year I decided to use rockfish. Partly because it has more flavor than halibut and partly because we were serving halibut for the main course.

I used less fish because it was boneless. And I doubled most of the seasonings.

Gefilte Fish Recipe:

2.5 lbs fresh fish fillets (you can use any white fish or even non-white; we used 2.57 lbs of rockfish
6 large carrots
4 large onions
4 eggs or flaxseed goo replacement (we used 4 TB flaxmeal in 1 1/3 cups water, heated
8 TB almond meal
3 TB salt
1.5 TB white pepper
3 TB sugar
3/4 cup ice water (or as needed)

Bone and skin fish, if necessary (save for stock). Food process carrots and onions until fine, transfer to large bowl. Gently pulse fish in small batches. You don’t want total mush but it should be chopped well. Add seasonings in with a fish batch to distribute them more evenly.

Add the almond meal and cooled flax goo to the bowl and mix well with a pastry blender to break up chunks. As you mix, add the water as need to make the consistency right. Don’t add it all unless you need it.

Get the stock going (we didn’t have stock prepared so we used plain water). Then form the mix into small firmly packed ovals.

Gently drop into the simmering water.

Okay, so now you simmer (meaning medium-low heat, no boiling) for 2 hours, remove with a slotted spoon, and chill completely before serving. Easy, right?

Well, no. Our balls totally and utterly fell apart. I figured out that much of the problem was that the water got up to boiling and the pressure of it (all those bubbles) destroyed the fragile balls. But what made them so fragile?

I have a few theories

1. I made Michael a cup of water (chilled in the fridge), with strict instructions to add a little bit at a time, as needed, and not use it all. He misheard me and dumped it all in at once.
2. The almond meal was homemade (most of it went into the dessert) and pretty coarse. Almond flour would have been better.
3. Maybe there were too many carrots and/or onions.

Whatever the reasons, we had fish soup on our hands. Even the best balls were a mess. So I decided to try straining the fish (with pressure on it to squeeze out as much liquid as possible) and sticking it in a mold to chill. I saved the fish broth and froze it.

Guess what? it worked! I would have loved a pretty mold, but couldn’t find one (aside from a plastic Christmas mold I have no idea how I got). So I used a glass Pyrex baking/storage dish and cut the gefilte fish into squares.

It came out pretty good. Decent flavor and texture. But next year I’m going to stuff it in a mold and use the water bath method to cook it. Without eggs and wheat (and fancy machinery), it is always going to be a delicate dish.

Serve with plenty of fresh horseradish.

©2012 Norwitz Notions. All Rights Reserved.

Fortunately for our taste buds, variety is allowed. This may be the most popular recipe in the US, but it’s far from the only possibility. Charoset is a ritual food used during the Passover seder so there are some qualities it needs to have. It is the reminder for mortar, which Jews in ancient Eqypt used to make bricks, one of the main tasks set upon them during centuries of slavery, according to the Torah.

I’ve had some wonderful non-apple-based charosets over the years, and I thought about making one of them for Passover this year (2008) but we were making several new dishes and that was too much. I love the traditional kind though.

No exact measures here. So much is personal preference. This recipe makes enough for 20 people, often with some leftovers. It depends how much your family and guests like to eat. And if you want enough to last you all week (makes a nice dessert, or works as a side dish with dinner, especially with leftover horseradish).

Recipe:

6 large apples (I’ve found Braeburn to be the best)
A bit of fresh lemon juice (optional, if you’re working with a lot of apples)
2 cups walnuts
Honey to taste
Splash of red wine (or grape juice; we’d use more wine if there weren’t children)
1 TB or so cinnamon

The rest is pretty simple. Chop the apples. Michael generally does half to a semi-paste in the food processor and half chopped by hand. You can add some nuts too to make a paste or grind them coarsely.

Then mix in the other ingredients. Serve chilled or at room temperature. Because of nut-allergic guests, we always make a nut-free version. Sometimes we make a grape juice one too.

©2012 Norwitz Notions. All Rights Reserved.

Matzoh (aka matzah, matza, matzo) used during a Passover seder must come from one of five specific grains: wheat, spelt, rye, barley, and oats. The first four are all gluten grains. These grains are forbidden during the eight days of Passover unless they are in matzoh form. There are other crackers you can make that are perfectly acceptable for use during Passover, but they aren’t from one of the five grains, so they can’t be used for the blessing.

This leaves oats. Oats are in the grass family but a different subsection from the gluten grasses/grains. They don’t have any gluten themselves but are closely enough related to gluten grains like wheat that a few gluten-intolerant folks also can’t have oats. But the vast majority of celiacs and others who are gluten-free who react to oats do so because they are almost always harvested and processed on the same equipment as wheat, so they are contaminated.

There do exist gluten-free oats; where the growers and processors take special care not to contaminate them. So far, they are expensive and don’t come organic. This will probably change in the future. Bob’s Red Mill is one supplier.

And there is a company that takes those gluten-free oats and makes Kosher for Passover matzoh from them. A Godsend for many Jews!

Shemura Oat Matzos

Also sold through MatzahOnline and distributed in stores in the US, Canada, South Africa, Israel, the UK, and Australia.

But, at $35 for a box of 3 (that’s the round handshaped, though the regular aren’t much less), plus shipping, yeah…well, maybe not.

So, I decided to make it myself. Some frum (strictly observent) Jews won’t make their own matzoh at all, because of some picky things that can go wrong. Others will do it but won’t accept my method, because I used oatmeal, which is already cut up. I would have tried oat grouts, but I wasn’t sure I could grind them with the equipment I have.

I’m not frum or Orthodox and my Rabbi (Conservative) is cool with my doing my own matzoh, so that’s good enough for me. I did take care with the preparation though.

The basic rules are:

1. Every piece of equipment you use must be completely cleaned of grain residue.
2. No yeast or other leavening may be added.
3. The time from the first possible contact with water, until the matzohs are safely in the oven baking, must not exceed 18 minutes.

Technically, this means oatmeal or oat flour is out because it could have contacted water during the grinding process, but I used oatmeal anyway. I couldn’t find oat flour. I am not sure how acceptable oat grouts used in this way would be to a frum Jew and I would be curious to find out.

Recipe:

2 cups oatmeal
1 tsp salt
1/2 cup water

Makes 2 large matzohs

You can double (etc) the recipe, but be sure to have extra hands to help if you are doing this within the time limit. I think I could have easily doubled it and been fine by myself, but I wanted to test the recipe and make sure I could do it fast enough, so I made two batches, each with the above amount. I carefully washed everything in-between batches.

For my first batch, I used 1/2 tsp salt (not quite enough) and worked quickly without being hurried. I got them into the oven in under 10 mins. For the second batch, I worked slowly but without distraction. I made it in about 13 mins.

I started the clock when I poured the oatmeal into the measuring cup, since it was slightly damp from rinsing and drying.

Instructions:

Measure the oatmeal, pour into a food processor with a normal blade, or the grinder of your choice. Grind fairly fine, with the salt, at least so 2/3 is flour, if not more.

Set aside a bit of flour and put the rest into a bowl. Add most of the water (most of the recipes for wheat matzoh call for 2 or 3 times the amount of water. To my surprise, the oats on took half a cup).

Knead the dough well, adding more flour or water as needed. Spend a good 2-3 minutes on kneading.

Put on to a surface, use the extra flour for the top and bottom, and roll out with a rolling pin. You want it as thin as possible without breaking. If you are a skilled baker, your results will not look like mine.

Use a dough scraper, or other wide thin utensil, to pick up dough in one piece.

Place on to an unseasoned baking tray. I used a broiling pan so the heat would distribute more evenly. Bake at 400*F for several minutes, until crisp. Turn once halfway through. These took about 13 minutes or so to cook. They may be slightly bendy when they come out, but they’ll firm up as they cool.

Don’t make the mistake we did and store them in a container when still warm. Let them cool first. Otherwise, they start to get soft again. Ours were slightly leathery after a couple of hours.

These matzohs have real flavor. No cardboard crackers here. Our seder guests inhaled them. Usually we have lots of leftover matzoh, but this time we were lucky to have enough for the Affikomen.

Links:

Matzoh Unleavened Passover Bread
Basic recipe and instructions for making your own. Assumes you are using wheat or spelt. 2 cups flour to 1 cup water.

How to Make Homemade Matzoh Bread
Recipe and instructions using a speciality flour (probably wheat). 3 cups flour to 1 cup water.

What is Matzah?
No recipes but general info and a cool picture of homemade matzah.

Mission: Possible – Gluten-Free (Mock) Matzo
Almond-based Passover-safe cracker recipe. Full recipe with pictures.

©2012 Norwitz Notions. All Rights Reserved.

Although you can serve borscht year-round, I almost always make it for Passover. This year was no exception. To me, beets are a necessary part of the holiday and, if I don’t make borscht, I will make another dish featuring beets.

Recipe:

6 large beets
8 large carrots
8 stalks of celery (about 1/2 bunch)
3″ fresh ginger root
Salt to taste
Fresh lemon juice (1 slice per bowl, or about 4 lemons’ worth per recipe)

Makes about a gallon of borscht, which is enough for 2 dozen bowls, plus some leftovers. Feel free to scale the recipe up or down to meet your needs.

Note that this is a raw recipe, aside from the beets. One day, I’d like to try it 100% raw, but I need to find a way to soften the beets.

Wash the beets well, cut off greens if any, and place in to a soup pot where they are covered with water (use filtered, not tap). Simmer until fork tender (a fork goes in but not with great ease), about an hour. Remove beets from liquid and soak in cold water to cool (or cool slower with no water). Don’t discard the cooking liquid.

Once cool enough to handle, the skins and tops of the beets will slip off in your hands. Compost the skins and put the beets back into cool water if they are still hot.

Using a large-holed grater, grate the beets into another container. They can be completely cooked through or slightly raw in the middle, as per your preference. I like them more on the raw side.

The liquid in this bowl is leftover from the pot (which I emptied for the carrots and celery). I removed two quarts of broth (one went back into the soup later and one got frozen).

Food process the ginger with the carrots and celery and put back into the empty pot.

Add the grated beets, season as desired, then add as much broth as you wish to get the right consistency. I like this soup thick, almost like a stew, so I only added back one quart.

At this point, you can add the lemon juice. I generally do not because one of our regular Passover guests is allergic to citrus. I serve lemon wedges on the side and strongly encourage people to add the juice from a full wedge (1/6 of a lemon) to each bowl.

Chill until ready to serve.

Good as is or with a dollop of sour cream.

©2012 Norwitz Notions. All Rights Reserved.

I’ve made lowcarb latkes for several years with good results. Now I’ve made them without eggs or gluten, due to family allergies. They came out great. But when you are working with different ingredients, you need to follow a few guidelines.

My absolute favorite veggie to use is turnip. Most people don’t think much of this idea…until they try them. Turnip latkes have a lovely sharp flavor but they’re not spicy like raw turnips can be. Zucchini, radish, and spaghetti squash all make fabulous latkes too. And, of course, you can always use potato.

With potatoes, you can just grate them and then mix in your other ingredients. But with lower-carb vegetables, you must remove some of the water or your finished product won’t hold together.

Prepare the vegetables at least an hour ahead of time. Coarsely grate them in a food processor (or by hand if you’re a culinary machocist). Don’t grind or slice them, they will not come out right. Put in a bowl and salt them well (don’t use more salt than you would for taste anyway, but use as much as you can). Toss to get the salt on all parts and let them sit for half an hour at the very least but an hour if possible. Several hours is even better, but there’s no need to go beyond that.

Letting them sit allows some of the excess liquid to settle to the bottom. The salt pulls out even more liquid. This is essential for latkes; without this step you end up with a soggy mess. Just before mixing with the other ingredients, taste the veggies and see if there is more salt than you want in the finished latkes. If so, rinse with a bit of fresh water. Take the veggies one handful at a time, squeeze really well, and put the dry veggies in a fresh bowl. Discard the liquid.

Now it’s time to mix in the other ingredients.

I don’t often eat onions (or garlic or anything in the same family) but radishes make a fine substitute. They can be grated.

Your basic seasoning is salt and pepper. I like cumin with the turnip. You can add anything you like here. Most latkes are fairly simple, but there’s no reason why you can’t make them spicy or any flavor you wish.

If you eat egg, go ahead and use it. But if you don’t, flaxseed makes a nice substitute. Take 1 tablespoon finely ground flax (store in freezer) and put into 1/3 cup of water. Nuke for 1-2 minutes in a much larger container and let sit for a while. This substitutes for one egg and will be the consistency of eggwhite. You can multiply the recipe as desired, just remember it will foam up so use a large container. Or you can cook it on the stove. Or let the flax sit in the water overnight.

The matzoh meal helps to bind the latke but the gluten in it isn’t doing anything special. For a lowcarb latke, use soy flour. Rice flour (I’ve used brown) works very well.

Fry your pancakes in plenty of olive oil. Do not skimp. Chanukah is a holiday of olive oil in particular, oil in general. Traditionally, potato pancakes (made in the Jewish communities of Eastern Europe) were fried in goose fat (or, presumably, chicken fat). They couldn’t get olive oil and of course didn’t use lard like their non-Jewish neighbors. Substitute other vegetable oils at your own risk. Very few hold up to the high heat of frying. If you use bacon grease or pork fat, I do not want to hear about it.

Recipes:

Turnip latkes

5 cups (about 2.5 lbs at market) shredded turnip
3-4 eggs or 3-4 TB flaxseed meal in 1 to 1 1/3 cups water
2 tablespoons flour
1 tablespoon cumin powder
Salt and pepper to taste

Zucchini & Radish Latkes

6 cups shredded zucchini (maybe 5 lbs)
1 bunch radishes, roots shredded
3-4 eggs or 3-4 TB flaxseed meal in 1 to 1 1/3 cups water
2 tablespoons flour
Salt and pepper to taste

After mixing everything together, use a spoon to drop balls of mix (about 1.5″ wide) in to a good amount of hot oil. Smoosh down with spatula. Let them brown on one side then turn, adding more oil as needed. Cook on medium-high heat. Turn more if they are not fully cooked. Don’t let them burn but remember that these vegetables need to be cooked more than potatoes or they will taste raw.

The traditional way to serve Chanukah latkes is with sour cream and/or applesauce. Sour cream (and other dairy) would only be used if the latkes were made without animal fat and were not eaten in the same meal with any meat or meat products (eggs and fish don’t count as meat). You can use any topping of your choice, or eat them plain.

An earlier version of this recipe was posted to alt.support.diet.low-carb December, 29, 1998 and to my lowcarb website March, 1, 1999.
Other listings: Dmoz: Cooking: Fruits and Vegetables: Turnips, Nepszabadsag Online & here (Hungarian), eGullet Society, Half the Sins of Mankind (blog), World Culinary Institute, Jewish Search, plus a ton of “link pages” with identical lists.

©2012 Norwitz Notions. All Rights Reserved.