Apple Latkes!

Joan Nathan's recipe from The Jewish Holiday Kitchen

Makes approximately 36 latkes

• 2 eggs, well beaten
• 1 1/2 cups orange juice, yogurt or milk [I used milk]
• 1 tsp baking powder
• dash of kosher salt
• 1/4-1/2 cup sugar, depending on taste [I used 1/2 cup]
• 3 medium apples, peeled & coarsely grated [I used my food processor, which works wonderfully]
• Vegetable oil for frying
• confectioners' sugar

Mix eggs with the orange juice, yogurt or milk in a bowl.

In a separate bowl combine the flour, baking powder, salt & sugar.  Add dry ingredients to the egg mixture, along with the grated apples.  Heat a thin layer of oil in a skillet.  Allowing 1 large tablespoon of batter per latke or pancake, drop into the hot oil. Cook about 2 minutes on each side, or until golden brown.

Drain on paper towels, sprinkle with confectioners' sugar and serve.

*If you have leftovers, let cool completely and then freeze in a single layer in a ziploc bag.  Do not put in the refrigerator as they will become soggy.  To reheat, you can put in the toaster or on a cookie sheet in the oven.*

My New Knife

My husband got me a Henckels 7" Santoku knife for Hanukkah.  Yay me!  Here it is w/my other two Henckels knives.  One of the great things about working in a professional kitchen is that you get to use professional knives.  One of the bad things is that my Harris Teeter knives had to go. ;)

Japanese Night

The last dinner party at our house had a Japanese theme.  I used The Quick and Easy Japanese Cookbook by Katsuyo Kobayashi and made the following two recipes.  They were awesome and a huge hit.

Stir-Fried Beef and Lettuce with Kimchi

7 oz beef loin, thinly sliced
1/2 cup kimchi spicy Korean pickled cabbage
1/2 head lettuce
1tbsp sesame oil
2 pinches of salt [I used Kosher salt]

• Cut beef into strips about 1 1/2 inces long.  Cut kimchi into bite-sized pieces.  Mix beef and kimchi, let marinade.
• Tear lettuce leaves roughly into bite-sized pieces.
• Heat the sesame oil in a wok until quite hot. Add beef and kimchi, and saute over high heat until the meat turns color.
• Add the lettuce, season with salt, and stir-fry briefly, until lettuce leaves just begin to wilt.
• Remove from wok and serve immediately.

I served over a bed of udon noodles.

Tofu With Sweet Miso Sauce

1 cake firm tofu
3 tbsp miso paste [red, if possible]
3 tbsp sake
1 tbsp mirin [or honey]
1 tbsp sugar
a small piece of Japanese yuzu citron peel [or lemon peel washed]
1 block konnyaku
1/2 tbsp sesame oil
4 to 5 shiso perilla leaves, or lettuce or other greens [optional]

• Place the tofu in a pan with just enough water to cover and bring to a boil over medium heat.  Simmer 5 minutes, until the tofu is firm.  Use a spatula to carefully remove it, and place it on a cutting board.  Pat dry with paper towels.
• Moisten a small pan with water [to prevent sticking], add miso paste, sake, mirin, and sugar and bring to a boil over medium heat.  When the mixture begins to bubble, turn heat to low and stir constantly with a wooden spoon until it becomes thick and glazed.  Turn off heat and add a few gratings of citron peel.
• Cut tofu and konnyaku into slices 3/4 inch thick [working from one end, as if you were cutting off pats of butter].  Make a series of crosshatches on one side of each konnyaku slice, to allow flavor to penetrate.  If you have wooden skewers, insert a skewer through the center of each slice of tofu and konnyaku to make it easy to pick up and eat.
• Heat the oil in a fry pan and saute tofu and konnyaku over medium-high heat until golden-brown on the outside and warm on the inside.
• spread a little of the miso mixture over each slice, and serve on a bed of perilla leaves.

If you don't have skewers, eat with chopsticks or a knife and fork.  Much to my surprise, even my kids liked these.  The miso paste was very sweet and gave the tofu and konnyaku a nice flavor.  No one had ever had konnyaku before so it was fun to introduce it. I was able to easily find all the ingredients at an Asian Market that my friend Shannon recommended.

I found the cook book itself to be easy to follow, with some helpful pictures and illustrations throughout.  If you're looking for a good Asian cookbook to experiment with, I'd say this is a good one.

Alton Brown Granola Bars

I want to try these next:

Ingredients

• 8 ounces old-fashioned rolled oats, approximately 2 cups
• 1 1/2 ounces raw sunflower seeds, approximately 1/2 cup
• 3 ounces sliced almonds, approximately 1 cup
• 1 1/2 ounces wheat germ, approximately 1/2 cup
• 6 ounces honey, approximately 1/2 cup
• 1 3/4 ounces dark brown sugar, approximately 1/4 cup packed
• 1-ounce unsalted butter, plus extra for pan
• 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
• 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
• 6 1/2 ounces chopped dried fruit, any combination of apricots, cherries or blueberries

Directions

Butter a 9 by 9-inch glass baking dish and set aside. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.

Spread the oats, sunflower seeds, almonds, and wheat germ onto a half-sheet pan. Place in the oven and toast for 15 minutes, stirring occasionally.

In the meantime, combine the honey, brown sugar, butter, extract and salt in a medium saucepan and place over medium heat. Cook until the brown sugar has completely dissolved.

Once the oat mixture is done, remove it from the oven and reduce the heat to 300 degrees F. Immediately add the oat mixture to the liquid mixture, add the dried fruit, and stir to combine. Turn mixture out into the prepared baking dish and press down, evenly distributing the mixture in the dish and place in the oven to bake for 25 minutes. Remove from the oven and allow to cool completely. Cut into squares and store in an airtight container for up to a week

World's Best Granola

Seriously.  My kids wanted it for dessert.  Thank you to Charlie for sending it to me! I am now an Alton Brown fan!  The only modifications I did were to use dried cranberries instead of raisins [dried cherries was also listed as an alternative by Charlie] and I added 1/8 cup of flax seed.

Ingredients

• 3 cups rolled oats
• 1 cup slivered almonds
• 1 cup cashews
• 3/4 cup shredded sweet coconut
• 1/4 cup plus 2 tablespoons dark brown sugar
• 1/4 cup plus 2 tablespoons maple syrup
• 1/4 cup vegetable oil
• 3/4 teaspoon salt
• 1 cup raisins

Directions

Preheat oven to 250 degrees F.
In a large bowl, combine the oats, nuts, coconut, and brown sugar.
In a separate bowl, combine maple syrup, oil, and salt. Combine both mixtures and pour onto 2 sheet pans. Cook for 1 hour and 15 minutes, stirring every 15 minutes to achieve an even color.
Remove from oven and transfer into a large bowl. Add raisins and mix until evenly distributed.

Candy Flavored Vodka

Must try this! Thanks to Leslie for the link! When I make some, I'll post about it.

Applesauce

The kids  & I made applesauce the other day w/the locally grown apples we got from The Produce Box.  We had 3 different kinds of apples too.  It was extremely easy:

Core, peel, & cut apples. [I found several recipes that said you didn't have to peel. So I didn't, but next time, I would. Yes, the skin just falls off eventually, but what a pain to dig through it all to find them.]
Cover w/water & bring to a boil, reduce heat & stir to prevent bottom apples from burning.
Add sugar, ground cloves, cinnamon & nutmeg to taste.
When apples are soft, mash w/potato masher.

Let cool & enjoy!