This entry is also posted on Dr. Sukol’s blog, Your Health is on Your Plate.

About a year ago, a friend of mine got interested in the raw food movement.  Raw foodists prefer their food, as advertised, raw.  Uncooked.  She said it changed her life.  OK, lots of people say stuff like that.  But I have to admit that I see the difference – she is more relaxed, and brimming with beauty and energy.  Four kids?  No problem!

So she had been wanting to introduce me to her new style of cooking, and we decided to get our families together for dinner.  No deal.  We couldn’t make it fit all our crazy schedules.  We resigned ourselves to the fact that we had to put the idea on hold until things settled down a bit.  My daughter was a little disappointed, having been introduced to the raw food movement as a college student in Toronto, but the boys were secretly relieved, skeptical as they were about the idea of eating “raw food.”  I decided to withhold judgment for the meanwhile. 

Then last night I had the good fortune to attend a picnic in the woods complete with tiny electric lights, an enormous bonfire, spectacular grilled salmon, great company, children of all ages, and a talented guitar player.  Something for everyone.  And a raw peach pie, courtesy of my friend, who was also in attendance.  It was fantastic.  I couldn’t stop thinking about it afterward.

This morning I called her for the recipe.  She measured one cup each of raw almonds and brazil nuts, and placed them in a water-filled jar to soak overnight.  The next day she drained the water, and placed the nuts in a food processor with 1/2 cup unsweetened coconut flakes, 1/2 teaspoon vanilla, and a scant 1/2 teaspoon of cinnamon.  She processed the contents until the consistency of meal, and then added 6-8 dates (Medjoul variety, the finest and sweetest) to make a dough.  She pressed the dough into a pan to form a crust, and then placed it in the freezer to firm up while she finished the recipe.

Next she cut 6-8 peaches into chunks, and mixed them with 1 teaspoon cinnamon, 1 teaspoon lemon juice (optional), and 1/4 teaspoon grated nutmeg.  I was surprised to learn that the less sweet the peaches, the more important it was to include the lemon juice.  Then she slid the peach mixture into the crust, and refrigerated it until it was time for dessert.

Now, here’s what I want to know, and I’m going to need your help, dear readers.  First, you have to make this recipe, or take it to the family cook in your kitchen, and help them make it.  Then, you’re going to take out your glucometer or borrow one from a friend or relative.  Now you’re going to check and record your sugar, eat a slice of raw peach pie, and recheck your sugar 1 hour later. 

How much did your blood sugar rise?  Send a comment and let me know.  If I’m right, this pie will not spike your blood sugar like a traditional one made with a flour crust.  So, depending on how insulin-resistant you are, you may be able to eat a slice of this pie without hesitation, without worry, and without spiking your blood sugar.  And even if you are diabetic, you may be able to eat a slice, knowing that the blood sugar spike will be modest instead of astronomical.   

And did I mention how good that pie was?  I went back for a second piece before I’d finished the first.  OK, yes, I’m hooked.

Here’s what I wrote about Cohen after she was named as one of the Heeb100 in 2009:

Amanda Cohen, chef and owner of the New York City vegetarian restaurant Dirt Candy, was named in the food category. Cohen responded, “For everyone who has wondered about a Jewish conspiracy to control the world, I was just inducted into Heeb Magazine‘s ‘Heeb 100,’ which is sort of the next best thing. It’s a list of ‘smart, innovative and young’ [J]ews who are expected to control the world in the near future, or at least small portions of it.” Cohen added that she recently met with a rabbi to discuss getting kosher certification for Dirt Candy. She is currently featured on PETA’s VegCooking.com as Chef of the Month.

If you’re like me and you don’t have cable, you can always check out a stellar vegan cooking competition in New York City instead: Veggie Conquest!

I hope that all of you enjoy Fall Vegetables as much as I do. What’s fun about the change of seasons is that we are forced into creative ways to cook with the new bounty of the season. In this way, your food is never boring and you don’t get stuck eating the same foods day in and day out.

Here are 3 recipes and buying tips featuring some fall vegetables:  beets, parsnips and pumpkin.

Roasted Beet salad in Orange Dressing

A zero waste salad where every bit of an ingredient is used. Not only do I love the beets deep red hue, and their sweetness, but I really get a kick out of using the whole vegetable, root and the greens. In this salad the beets along with the greens are used and for the dressing, the orange zest along with the oranges are used as well.

You can forgo boiling beets by roasting them in foil and avoid the mess that comes with the red staining on the pots.

Buy beets that are firm with smooth skins and tops attached. They should have a deep, rich purple-red color. Choose small to medium beets as they are usually sweeter and more tender. Beet tops should be fresh looking and dark green, not wilted or slimy.

Adapted from Bon Appétit, January 2004

Ingredients

6 medium beets with beet greens attached
2 medium oranges
1 small red onion, finely diced
1/4 cup extra-virgin olive oil
2 garlic cloves, minced
1 teaspoon grated orange zest
Sea salt to taste
Freshly ground pepper

1      Preheat oven to 400°F. Cut the greens from beets. Remove and discard stems. Chop the leaves coarsely and set them aside. Wrap each beet in foil. Place beets directly on oven rack and roast for about 1 hour, until tender when pierced with fork.

2      Let beets cool. Peel beets and then cut each into 8 wedges. Place beets in medium bowl.

3      Cook beet greens in large saucepan of boiling water just until tender, about 2 minutes. Drain and cool. When greens are at room temperature, squeeze them to remove excess moisture. Add greens to bowl with beets.

4      Zest the orange, then cut peel and white pith from oranges. Working over another bowl and using a paring knife, cut between membranes to release segments (this is called supreming).

5      Add orange segments and onion to bowl with beet mixture.

6      Whisk oil, garlic, orange zest in small bowl to blend; add to beet mixture and toss to coat. Season with salt and pepper. Let stand at room temperature 1 hour. Serve.

Maple Roasted Parsnips

The parsnip is a root vegetable that is a relative to the carrot, although much paler they do resemble each other. Typically parsnips are part of the main ingredient in a soup base or roasted for a richer flavor. For this dish the parsnips are roasted into a caramelized deliciously sticky texture, which makes them so moreish. You will not be able to resist them.

Choose parsnips that are firm, unblemished and small or medium in size (about 8 inches long). Large parsnips may have woody centers but, unlike carrots, broad tops are not an indication of woody cores. Parsnips range in color from pale yellow to creamy white. Avoid limp, shriveled or blemished parsnips with moist spots or a lot of tiny hairlike roots.

Ingredients

2 pounds parsnips, peeled and sliced

5 tablespoons olive oil

6 tablespoons maple syrup

2 tablespoons wholegrain mustard

Salt to taste

Serves 4

1       Preheat oven to Roast at 375F

2      Parboil parsnips in a stockpot under a medium high flame for 4 minutes.

3      Drain, then put in an ovenproof dish, and toss with olive oil and salt. Roast 45 minutes.

4      In a bowl, mix maple syrup and mustard together, and pour over parsnips when done. Roast for another 5 minutes more to set the taste.

Pumpkin Soup

The original recipe for this soup was made famous by the Jerusalem Ramada Renaissance Hotel, however I added more depth to this by adding some warming ingredients like cinnamon so that it would be more suitable for the Northeast climate.

Choose pumpkins that are heavy for their size and free of blemishes.

Ingredients

2 large yellow onions, diced

1 inch fresh ginger, grated

4 tablespoons vegetable oil

7 cups water

1 ½ pounds pumpkin, cubed or 1 ½ 15- ounce cans of pumpkins

1 medium white potato, peeled and cubed

2 medium sweet potatoes, peeled and cubed

½ cup apple sauce

3 tablespoons maple syrup

1 teaspoon cinnamon

1 tablespoon vegetable soup mix (Gluten Free)

1 tablespoon salt

¼ teaspoon white pepper

½ cup half &half creamer

pine nuts for garnish, optional

Serves 10

1. In a stainless steel pot under medium high flame, sauté onions in oil until golden.   Then stir in ginger.

2. Add the water, pumpkin, potato, applesauce and sweet potatoes. Bring to a boil. Cover, lower heat, and simmer for about 35 minutes. Let it cool.

3. With a hand blender, puree vegetables until smooth.

4. Add soup mix, salt, cinnamon, pepper and maple syrup and continue simmering for an additional ten minutes.

5. Stir in creamer and remove from heat. Serve sprinkled with pine nuts.

 I spent most of the day yesterday on Orchard Street on the Lower East Side of Manhattan.  Not literally.  I was reading Jane Ziegelman’s new book, 97 Orchard: An Edible History of Five Immigrant Families in One New York Tenement.  I wanted to know what they ate in the days before Crisco, Cool Whip, corn syrup, and Cocoa Puffs. 

Besides the foods we commonly eat today, New Yorkers in the 1800’s ate buffalo, bear, venison, moose, mutton, otter, swan, grouse, and dozens of other species, both domestic and wild.  Organ meats included sweetbreads, hearts, livers, and kidneys.  Fish dealers offered eel, 15 types of bass, 6 types of flounder, and 17 types of perch.  Produce included purslane (I’m sure there is some growing in your backyard), salsify (a root vegetable), borage, burdock, beach plum, black currants, mulberries, nanny berries, black gumberries, and whortleberries.  Note the extraordinary variety in comparison to today’s offerings.

Breakfast often consisted of mutton chops, fish steaks, and porridge.  Oysters, whether raw or cooked, were abundant and extremely popular at all meals.  Herring was prepared in a myriad of ways, such as with sour cream and mayonnaise, pickled, fried in butter, smoked, rolled, stuffed with pickles, or as “chopped herring” salad.  I know this salad well because I used to help my Grandma Rosie make it. 

Grandma Rosie was born July 31, 1910, the fourth child in her family, and the first to be born in America.  Yesterday would have been her 100^th birthday.  Here’s her recipe:  Soak 12 pickled herrings overnight, drain, remove the skin and bones, and chop fine.  Add 2 cups cooked potatoes, 1 cup apples, and 2 hard-boiled eggs, all chopped.  Mince 2 medium onions, and add to salad.  Add 1 tablespoon each of oil and white vinegar, and salt and pepper to taste.  The book also called for 1 cup of beets and some capers, but I never saw Grandma Rosie put capers or beets in her “chopped herring.” 

Signature dishes on New York’s Lower East Side included hash, soups, and pies.  Pie was so popular that immigrants called Americans “pie-eaters.”  Mince pie, oyster pie, apple pie, pumpkin pie, chicken pie, and “sweetbreads in pastry” were among the choices.  Leftover beef, mutton, pork and fish was frequently made into “hash,” and boardinghouse dwellers were called “hash-eaters.”  Soups were made from bones, root vegetables, turnips, potatoes, cabbage, and dried beans.  I learned an old Yiddish proverb:  “Poor people cook with a lot of water.”  In contrast, the American government chose from among pork and beans, beef hash, corned beef with cabbage and potatoes, pot roast, boiled mutton, and mince pie to feed to newly arrived immigrants at Ellis Island. 

Smoked salmon is now considered a delicacy, but a century ago it was a food of necessity.  Without refrigeration, food was kept fresh and edible with four agents: heat, smoke, salt and acid.  Meats, fish and fowl were smoked, salted, or pickled.  Fruits and vegetables were pickled, jarred, or dried.  Corned beef, so named because of the large “corns” of salt used in its preparation, also belongs to the large family of preserved meats and fish. 

Here’s a recipe for turning cucumbers into dill pickles.  It’s very similar to the recipe Grandma Rosie gave me.  Pack 30 kirby cucumbers of approximately the same size into 1 large or 2 small jars, alternating the layers of cucumber with layers of dill (20 sprigs total).  Boil ½ cup kosher salt in 2 quarts water, and turn off the heat.  Add 2 tablespoons white vinegar, 4 cloves garlic, 1 dried red pepper, ¼ teaspoon mustard seed, 2 coin-sized slices of fresh horseradish, and 1 teaspoon of mixed pickling spice to the boiled liquid and pour over the cucumbers.  If necessary, add more salt water to completely immerse them.  Cover and keep in a cool place for a week.  If you like the cucumbers green, try one after 5 days. 

New York was famous for a squishy and gummy white bread called the “New York split loaf.”  In contrast, German immigrants made less expensive whole-grain rye and pumpernickel breads with dense, chewy textures and a sour, mildly nutty flavor.  These latter ones were the breads my family bought to slather with real or vegetarian chopped liver, depending on who was coming to visit.  Here’s Grandma Rosie’s recipe for vegetarian chopped liver:  Saute 3 chopped, medium onions in 3 tablespoons of oil until soft and golden.  Mash the contents of 1 large can of drained sweet peas, and add to the onions.  Add 1 ½ cups chopped walnuts and 2 chopped, hard-boiled eggs.  Chop by hand to desired consistency.  Season with salt and a generous amount of freshly ground black pepper.

As Grandma Rosie said often, “Hearty appetite!”

My interview from earlier this month was featured on Our Hen House‘s podcast this weekend. We talked about Torah teachings about compassion for animals, how well Judaism and vegetarianism mesh together, kosher slaughter, the new Jewish food movement, and vegan versions of traditional Jewish foods.

To listen to the podcast, click here. My in-depth interview starts about a third of the way into the podcast. I encourage this blog’s readers to listen to the whole interview, but here’s an excerpt:

There is a lot of foundation for compassion for animals and vegetarianism and veganism in the Jewish faith. And I feel proud to be Jewish knowing that Judaism is one of the forebears of animal welfare in Western civilization.

And I feel that my views on whether you want to call it animal rights, animal welfare, animal protection, what have you, can really be summed up by a Jewish term, it’s in Hebrew, called tza’ar ba’alei chayim, which means unnecessary animal suffering. That is, we should prevent causing animals any unnecessary suffering.

How you interpret that could be deemed, on the one hand, as treating animals humanely with animal welfare and just trying to minimize their pain. Or it can be, in my case, saying that if we don’t need animals for meat or for other ways in which they are exploited, we’re better off without meat and without circuses and rodeos and leather and fur, etc. So if that kind of animal use is unnecessary and suffering is inherent in causing those products to be produced, then, in my mind, it’s tza’ar ba’alei chayim, or unnecessary animal suffering.

This is cross-posted at The Fink Farms Dirt.

A cabbage harvest in July?

In California, it works. (We planted late in a mild winter.)

That means just in time for outdoor Shabbes dinners, we have the basic ingredient for coleslaw.

But with this gem-like vegetable sitting on my kitchen counter, I couldn’t bear the thought of traditional coleslaw: cabbage shreds drowned in mayonnaise and sugar. I decided to celebrate the color.  The following recipe is adapted from several sources.

1 head of red cabbage, thinly shredded

1 small bunch of cilantro, chopped

1/4 large red onion, finely sliced

1 red bell pepper, seeds removed, thinly sliced

1 cup thinly sliced celery (preferably from the leafy tops)

2 large cloves garlic

1/2 cup mayonnaise

1 tablespoon Dijon mustard (a hot, honey mustard would work as well)

2 tablespoons of apple cider vinegar

2 tablespoons of sugar, honey or agave syrup (optional)

Blend or whisk together the mustard, vinegar, mayonnaise, sugar, chopped cilantro and chopped garlic in a bowl.

In a large bowl, toss together the shredded cabbage, red pepper, red onion and celery. Pour the dressing over the vegetables and toss again. This slaw tastes best if it is allowed to chill in the refrigerator for a couple of hours.

If served at a dairy dinner, a half cup of crumbled blue cheese can be added. It tastes great as a salad or as a garnish spooned inside a sandwich.

The dressing isn’t heavy, so the vegetables have a starring role.  The cabbage tastes peppery, so I didn’t add ground pepper or salt. It’s an explosion of color on a plate.

This is a wonderful Parve side dish that I’ve been making for the past five years. Ask anyone in my family and they’ll tell you it’s a favorite at home. (My dad especially loves it). This recipe is simple and delicious and can be made up to a day in advance.

When I make this dish I usually use whole wheat spaghetti instead of regular. My little brother will not eat anything made of whole wheat because of the color and my Dad does not like the taste. What’s great about this dish is that the sauce disguises the color and flavor of the pasta!

About ½ of a package of thin spaghetti (Cook a little al dente unless you are using whole wheat pasta)

1.5 tbsp of creamy peanut butter

3-4 tbsp of soy sauce (I usually use low sodium and it still tastes great)

3-4 tbsp sesame oil

1 tsp ginger powder

A pinch of cayenne pepper (optional depending how big of a kick you want)

1-2 tbsp sesame seeds to mix into the sauce and it’s nice to have extra on hand for garnish

2 small thinly sliced scallions for garnish

Cook the pasta according to the directions on the box. Meanwhile, in a big bowl whisk together the soy sauce, sesame oil, and peanut butter until it forms a smooth, caramel colored sauce. It may take a minute or two before the peanut butter really mixes with the soy sauce and sesame oil to form the desired texture so don’t be discouraged! Next, mix in the ginger, cayenne, and the 1-2 tablespoons of sesame seeds.

When the spaghetti is ready, drain and let it cool for a minute. Once the pasta is cooled, pour it into your bowl with the sauce. Mix the spaghetti until it is completely covered with the sauce. If you see that the pasta is too dry, go ahead and add a dash more sesame oil or soy sauce or both.

Next, sprinkle your scallions and extra sesame seeds on top. Let the noodles cool in the fridge for around an hour or until you are ready to serve. It can be served at room temperature too, but trust me it tastes great cold.

I hope you enjoy this recipe as much as my family does!

B’tei Avon

One time my brother came home to find me on the couch watching The Food Network.  He threw his hands up, “all you watch is food TV!”  That’s pretty true, but there is one cooking show I was missing out on, until now.  Eat in Good Health is a Yiddish cooking show produced every 2 weeks by The Forward.  It is one of the most enjoyable cooking shows I’ve seen.  The show is a great mixture of tradition, modernity, entertainment, and education.

The show’s hosts, Rukhl Schaechter and Eve Jochnowitz speak throughout the show at a calm but normal pace.  Though they teach a few of the nuances of Yiddish, it is not a language learning show.  Still, while watching the show I felt like I was picking up a few phrases.  At the very least, the flow of the language started to feel familiar, and I did learn that there are different words for sweet and sour cherries.

As surely and naturally as they speak Yiddish, they live in the old world and the new.  There was something so fun about watching Eve say, in Yiddish, that she had purchased organic, locally grown popcorn in Union Square.  Two minutes later, they sing a traditional Yiddish song about the mamelige (a kind of Jewish polenta) they’re making.  They also defer to their grandmothers occasionally when cooking, Rukhl explaining that she measures salt in her hand because that’s what her grandmother did.  Later, they come right back to modernity, suggesting to put feta (something I don’t think they had in the shtetl) in the mamelige.

In such a fast paced world where food seems incomplete without truffle oil and Himalayan salt, the down to earth traditionalism of this show is refreshing.  Eve’s delight as the popcorn she is making “finds sound” and starts popping is just as entertaining as watching Bobby Flay garnish a plate as seconds count down.  In fact, perhaps The Food Network would benefit from some of Eat in Good Health’s style.  Though I have a feeling that watching Paula Deen sing a song about butter with a southern twang wouldn’t be quite the same.

The clip above is their second episode, watch their first episode here

For my first recipe post on The Jew and the Carrot, I thought I’d start off with something versatile. I sampled a version of this quinoa recipe while browsing at my local Whole Foods and then came home and made my own version. It’s great served as a cold salad or as a warm side dish and it is ideal for all of those summer picnics and pot lucks you have on your calendar. Quinoa packs up really easily and this one is so full of veggies, colors, and flavors that it’s sure to be a hit!

Summer Quinoa Salad
Adapted from Whole Foods Team member recipe; Serves 4-6

2 cups quinoa
3 ears fresh corn or 2-3 cups frozen corn
1 butternut squash, peeled and cubed
2 limes, juiced
1/2 cup scallions, finely chopped
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 jalapeño, minced
1/4 cup olive oil
1 pinch salt
1/2 tsp cayenne
2/3 cup pine nuts or toasted almonds

Roast corn on a cookie sheet with a little bit of olive oil. Sprinkle with salt and cayenne. Bake at 350 degrees for 20 minutes or until the kernels are light brown. Mix around a few times during roasting process.

Roast small cubes of butternut squash in a separate pan (they cook at different speeds so it’s easier to keep them separate) with olive oil and salt. About 30-40 minutes or until the squash is soft and brown on the edges.

Rise quinoa. Add 3 3/4 cups to 4 cups water to the quinoa, bring to a boil, cover, and let simmer for 20-30 minutes or until water has been completely absorbed.

Chop remaining ingredients and juice limes. Toast nuts or almonds.

Transfer cooked quinoa to a large bowl and let it cool for five minutes. Then add olive oil, salt, and fresh garlic.

Add corn, jalapeño, squash, scallions, and lime juice. Toss and adjust seasoning as needed.

Garnish with pine nuts or almonds.