Archive for February, 2008
Yid.Dish: Mushroom Soup with Chives
As much as I love hosting Shabbat dinners, by Friday night, I am completely exhausted. I often pull together a quick meal, hoping that I have chicken soup and a homemade challah leftover in the freezer from a previous week. This upsets me, because I’d love to have the time to cook all day on Friday in preparation for Shabbat, but with my demanding job, it doesn’t happen all that often right now.
However, by Sunday, I am rearing to go, ready to make a great meal from scratch. I recently decided to have a dinner party, and to make everything, from bread to homemade ice cream. It was not difficult to invite friends to this meal. Luckily, living in Chicago, I have a large kitchen (probably the size of many NY studios), so it’s not a problem for me to cook all day and make a huge mess.
Mushroom Soup recipe below the jump.
6 Comments »Natalie Portman in “Spicy” New Movie
New Yorkers visiting a certain patch of real estate in the East 20s known affectionately as Curry Hill know the secrets of kosher vegetarian Indian food - in fact, you can hardly throw a dosa without hitting Madras Mahal, Chennai Garden, or another Indian restaurant serving hecshered, meat-free fare.
Now, Israeli-born, vegetarian actress Natalie Portman will star in Mira Nair’s new movie, “Kosher Vegetarian” - exploring the interfaith romance between a Gujarati guy (actor, Ifran Khan) and Jewish girl (Portman).
Like Nair’s last movie (The Namesake), the love between these two characters will undoubtedly be fraught with disapproving parents and inter-cultural conflict. But at very least, the couple will know where to eat.
Yid.Dish: Vegan Challah
(cross-posted at Jewcy)
This challah recipe is spiced bread more than anything else. There’s no egg in it, which is what makes challah challah in my opinion, but we do braid it, so I call it faux-challah. The dough is pretty sweet so we added lots of salt to make it a savory loaf, but it’s just as easy to make sweet by adding cinnamon, pumpkin pie spice and raisins.
There are two sets of directions below - one from a Chabad rebbetzin, and one for those of you who might like something slightly more step-by-step.
I Got Youbar
Did you ever wish that you could create an energy bar with just the right nutritional ingredients, that tasted great, and was (mostly) kosher and organic? How about if the company that made them gave a percentage of their profits to a local foodbank? How about if the company was a mother and son who started out in the kitchen of their synagogue?
Check out this great story in the NYTimes, and head over to youbars.com if you feel like creating (and naming!) your very own Powerbar.
The Death of the Bagel?
First there were Smucker’s Uncrustables - the prefab PB&J sandwiches that resemble mini pot-pies and fit snugly (jam and all) in the toaster. Now, Kraft has introduced frozen Bagel-fuls that come pre-shmeared with cream cheese.
Really? PB&J and bagels with cream cheese are already the definition of “on the go” foods - is there really consumer demand to shave 30 seconds off the morning routine? And wouldn’t these convenience bagels actually take more time since they have to defrost?
More than that, I find Bagel-fuls to be a serious affront to the bagel’s integrity. There was a time when the bagel - crusty, chewy, and drowning in poppy seeds - rivaled challah as the quintessential Jewish bread. And while shrink-wrapped versions (like Lender’s) have already made a mockery of our beloved carb, Bagel-fuls truly represent a new low.
Fight back against this culinary offense - whether you’re partial to plain, scallion, or Toffuti, the right to shmear is yours.
Related bagel posts on The Jew & The Carrot
The Only Bagel
What’s so Jewish About Bagels?
Does it Work for a Knish Too?
Does a Bagel Platter Make us Hypocrites?
(Hat tip to My Jewish Learning)
Posterboy of The New Jewish Food Movement
Animal Care, Blessings, Cheese, Eco-Kashrut, Farming, Jewish Learning, Kosher, Milk, Seasonality, Spirituality
The Jew & The Carrot {hearts} Aitan and Adva Dairy. Thanks to Nextbook for producing a wonderful podcast and feature one of our favorite Jewish goat farmers - yes, there’s more than one!
“Goat Days”
Nextbook 2.25.08
By: Jesse Graham
(Listen to the podcast)
There’s a growing movement among environmentally conscious observant Jews to rethink kashrut. Its adherents place less emphasis on the official kosher stamp, and more on where their food comes from. They want locally and organically grown produce, and if they are meat-eaters, they want to know that the meat they’re eating comes from farms that treat animals humanely.
One devotee of this movement is an unassuming thirty-year-old named Aitan Mizrachi, founder of the AVDA Dairy, a small-scale goat dairy farm in northwestern Connecticut that produces organic, kosher raw milk yogurt and cheeses.
Conscious Carving
Animal Care, Eco-Kashrut, Farming, Food Conference, Food History, Hazon, Jewish Orgs, Kosher, Meat, Notable Press, Vegetarian
Here’s the newest article about kosher, ethical meat…this one I wrote for American Jewish Life (Those of you who read this blog religiously might already be well-versed on the subject - but for the non ethical food-obsessed Jews out there, it’s definitely still hot news.)
Conscious Carving
American Jewish Life
By: Leah Koenig
February 25, 2008
Early on a Friday morning this past December, 70 Jews gathered in a frost-covered field in rural Connecticut. Some of them huddled in small groups, talking in hushed tones and blowing on their frozen fingers. Others stood at a distance, quiet with thought. They were all there for one reason — to witness three goats being slaughtered for meat, in accordance with Jewish law.
No, these people were not part of some underground Jewish cult. They were attendees of a food conference hosted by the New York-based non-profit, Hazon (which, for full disclosure, is my employer). The purpose of the ritual slaughtering, was to “enable people to have a more direct understanding of where kosher meat comes from,” said Hazon’s Executive Director, Nigel Savage. In this case, it would be the same meat that many of the participants would eat that night for dinner.
Yid.Dish: Cholent with the Enemy
“If an idolator gives a banquet for his son and invites all the Jews in his town, then, even though they eat of their own and drink of their own and their own attendant waits on them, Scripture regards them as if they had eaten of the sacrifices to dead idols…” - Talmud Bavli, Avodah Zarah 8:1
All this recent talk on the blog about choice and continuity in Judaism got me thinking about the Talmudic text quoted above. (Before I front like I’m too cool for school, I readily admit that Hazon’s staff just read this text* during a staff meeting, which is why it’s at the front of my consciousness.)
In my eyes, this - along with a few similarly prohibitive verses - sits as one of the more distressing texts in Jewish tradition because it implies that Jews should not eat with “non-Jews” (in the non-Jew’s home), even if the food they’re eating in that home is otherwise kosher. Why? Because eating symbolizes so much more than filling our bellies - it’s social, it connects us to other people, and it could, as they say, lead to mixed dancing…
More thoughts and a cholent recipe below the jump.
From Bare Boobs to Green Living
National Geographic is known for its compelling articles on the wonders of the ancient and modern world - and also its photographs of bare chested women (the ones that brought a blush to the cheeks of more than one generation of kids.).
Now, National Geographic can also be known as a resource for green living - they’ve launched a new magazine, Green Guide, which they claim is for everyday folks, not “enviromanics.” (ummm…thanks, that makes me feel great about myself).
They’ve also created a series of online quizzes that test one’s knowledge on things like saving gas and plastic recycling, and allow one to find out which “eco-celebrity” they most resemble. Two of the quizzes are food related: Food Safety and Get to Know Your Inner Organic Foodie, so if you’re in the mood for a little wholesome, nerdy fun (beats reading another story about the recall - or staring warily at your hamburger), take a few minutes to test your food savvy.
(hat tip to Slashfood)
If you don’t enjoy your kashrut then shuck it; an older thread revisited
I never replied to the comments on an older thread from Bravo for liberated day school teacher: “Bacon’s delish” in January, but I intended to and it’s never too late to blog.
Isaac congratulated me but brought up that “Judaism is my religious field for reasons that transcend choice.” I disagree. Perhaps the odds are not in your favor that you’ll leave Jewish identity behind completely. It will surely leave an impression on your life permanently. But you can renegotiate its particulars anytime you want. Kashrut or no kashrut, the right is yours.
RivkaK was shocked that un-kosher friends pretend to be kosher for their parents, but perhaps this is food for thought for Isaac. Kashrut is often familial turf which, outside it’s religious value, endears or estranges some of us from home. I’ll get that in a moment.
It seems anarchist lawyer didn’t like what I said, challenging me by asking “Don’t you think we have an obligation to our forbears to respect the traditions of the past?”
Digest This: Jews, Food, and Sustainability
Here are two interesting tidbits from the wild world of Jewish food - the first about sustainable agriculture in Israel, and the second about Manischewitz-inspired cuisine. Dig in!
Putting their money where their mouth is
The Robert H. Smith Family Foundation recently pledged $15 million to Hebrew University to support their work around sustainable agriculture. The grant, which will go to the university’s Faculty of Agricultural, Food and Environmental Quality Sciences in Rehovot, is part of a $51 million “Feeding the Future through Sustainable Agriculture” campaign to put the school at the forefront of research into sustainable agriculture. (Hat tip to JTA)
Cooking up a storm - Manischewitz Style
The Jew & The Carrot Contributor, Alix, made us laugh with her tales of the “Simply Manischewitz Cook-Off,” regional semi finals. Now things are getting serious. Next Wednesday, 6 semi-finalists will compete in Manischewitz’s National Kosher Cook-Off in New York City. Whose (kosher) cuisine will reign supreme? Meet the finalists here.
The Rabbi’s Reject Shackle and Hoist Methods
Last week The Jew & The Carrot posted an article about the ”shackle and hoist” scheitah (kosher slaughter) methods used to produce much of the kosher meat imported to Israel. Yesterday, YNet reported the response from The Israeli Chief Rabbinate and OU Chairman. Thanks to The Jew & The Carrot reader, Joshua, for bringing this article to our attention.
Rabbinate: Import Meat Only if ‘Morally Slaughtered’
YNet - 2.20.08
By: Neta Sela
PETA and the Torah? Following the lead of The Society for Prevention of Cruelty to animals, which has long protested against cruel “lift and bind” slaughter techniques practiced in many United States and South American slaughterhouses, the Israeli Chief Rabbinate has also decided to work to eliminate such techniques.
At a recent conference involving the Chief Rabbitate’s Kashrut Committee as well as Ashkenazi Chief Rabbi Yona Metzger, a decision was made to only sanction meat imported to Israel as having undergone a kosher shechita (ritual slaughter) if the animal was killed utilizing the relatively more humane “boxing” technique.
Yid.Dish: Pizzatashen?
Tonight, a few friends are coming over for a pizza-making party - it seemed like an apporpriate activity for a random mid-winter night. Meanwhile, last night was Purim katan (the mini-Purim celebration that occurs a month before regular Purim - and only on leap years when the month of Adar rolls around twice).
Something about the convergence of these two events must have released the crazy bug in me - because, as I was scanning cookbooks for a good dough recipe and shopping for ingredients (a combination of wilted broccoli rabe, toasted pine nuts, roasted garlic, red sauce, mozzarella and parmesan), a BRILLIANT IDEA hit me: pizzatashen! Pizza dough, pizza ingredients, hamentashen shape - there really couldn’t be a more obvious culinary partnership.
I recognize that hamentashen - those little jam-filled, tri-cornered pastries, fall pretty squarely in the sweet category - cherry, poppyseed, ginger marmalade if you’re feeling bold. Until the possibility of pizzatashen crossed my mind, I’d don’t think I’d ever used “savory” and “hamentashen” in the same sentence. But once the initial kitsch factor wears off, this new cousin of the calzone seems long overdue. If you’re feeling a little freaked out about the whole idea, check out this photo of another pizza-inspired pastry.
And if you have other recipes/traditions for savory hamentashen - please share! Check out the recipe for herbed pizza dough below the jump.
Presidents, Politics, and Permaculture?
Ever wonder what your favorite presidential candidate thinks (or votes) about the Farm Bill, nutrition, or organic food? The folks over at Just Food put together an easy-to-read chart on that very subject. (And they welcome suggestions/additions.)
Find out interesting facts like: Senator John McCain voted against “Country of Origin labeling, and co-sponsored the “Child Nutrition Act in 1998,” Senator Barack Obama plans to “strengthen producer protections to ensure that independent farmers have fair access to markets,” and Senator Hilary Clinton has emphasized the “importance of expanding organic food production” in her plan for rural America.
Check out the Democratic candidates’ food views here.
Check out the Republican candidates’ food views here.
Also - this just in - Ben & Jerry’s endorsed Barack Obama’s campaign and created a flavor to celebrate: Cherries for Change. Obama is currently the only candidate to have an ice cream flavor made in his honor…but the race is still young. :) - Hat tip to Jewlicious.
*Some of the candidates listed in the charts have withdrawn from the race.
