Vegetables

This is a luscious and bright tasting sweet kugel. A great counterpoint to pickled brisket or with roast turkey. It is also great cold, with cream, as a sweet side dish during the week or for a vegetarian Seder. A variation of a great recipe attributed to the Margareten Family.

There are many ways to make onion rings. This recipe offers the lightest, crispest rings imaginable. Panko are Japanese breadcrumbs and if you try them once, (Costco sells them or Asian food markets), you'll see why they are great for chicken filets, fish and particularly, onion rings. They are available in Asian food stores.  

This savory stuffing is too good to save for Passover which is when I usually serve it!  It is also perfect for the kosher table at Thansgiving. Use it in chicken or turkey or pat it in a casserole as a side dish. It freezes well baked or unbaked and is good enough to serve all year. As with my special Passover Potato Kugel, this can also be made as a kugel in a very well-greased Bundt pan or fluted baking dish for a prettier presentation, allowing you to cut it by the slice. 

The trouble with most bought salad dressings, low and no fat et al, is that they lack flavor. The second part is unless they are cream style, the vinaigrette separates. But making your own vinaigrette can get tiresome (if salads are a daily thing). What’s more – salad is low fat until you add the dressing and then calorie hell breaks out. Hence, this wondrous recipe. This recipe is brilliance – it is no or low fat, robust of flavor and has a magic ingredient that makes it hold together. I make it by the gallon.  

Hummus is what you’re used to but this North African spin on the chick pea, Middle Eastern approach to a bean spread, is dynamite. It uses fava beans (canned are fine). Touches of dried chili pepper, cumin, plenty of paprika an a touch of lemon makes this a deep brownish-red, spicier hummus. It’s a nice change from the tahini (sesame seed paste) laden ones. Use this on crackers, flatbreads, or alongside grilled chicken or fish. Or eat it plain, by the spoonful – it is smooth as silk, spicy, a little hot and just outstanding.  

Rustic and yet refined, this leek-laced cream soup has bistro food written all over it. A touch of white wine is all you need in spirits, but one of testers suggested cognac, sherry or dry Vermouth –also all good flavor notes. Nothing shreiks bistro quite like a bowl of this.
Serve up some pears and blue cheese and a crusty bread to make it complete.

You can use pre-cooked lasagna or par boil regular lasagna. If you can find a more ambrosial tasting lasagna, please share it. It is lite, has an additive garlic bechamel going on, and makes use of surplus zucchini. This is sumptuous and despite the steps it takes: easy; despite the rich flavor – it is also somewhat lower fat. Using zucchini thus saves you from one more zucchini bread. Spinach can also be used in this recipe with the zucchini or instead of (steam, drain and chop it fine).