I am not a professionally trained chef, but I love food. I love reading about it, cooking it, feeding myself, feeding others, talking about it, buying it, and growing it (presuming it’s not 6 degrees below zero in Chicago). 

One of my favorite cookbooks is Mark Bittman’s amazingly practical: How To Cook Everything: Simple Recipes for Great Food, which features straightforward techniques and an encyclopedic listing of all different types of food.  I’ve found that Bittman’s philosophy holds true to the way I like to cook; quick and satisfying - like his Noodles with Peanut Sauce.

This recipe works as well for a quick meal as it does for entertaining large groups.  I’ve found that the vegetarians at my Shabbat lunch table appreciate a hearty pile of saucy noodles just for them, especially when I add spicy baked tofu for an extra boost of protein.  And as long as I have all of the ingredients at home (most of which I like keeping around in my kitchen anyway), it takes only a few minutes to whip up.  The best part is, many of the items can be substituted or modified. Don’t have tofu? What about seitan or tempeh? Or chicken? Don’t have noodles? Try rice?  Served hot or cold, this dish is virtually impossible to mess up - even for novice cooks.  B’tai Avon!

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Many people complain that it’s difficult to find a synagogue to join in New York City. There are just so many options, that none of them feel exactly right - you might call it The Shul-Goers Dilemma. These days, however, I’m feeling pretty good at Temple Bet Pollan.

Michael Pollan gets his fair share of love on this blog, and his new book In Defense of Food: An Eater’s Manifesto has already joined its predecessor, The Omnivore’s Dilemma as a New York Times Best Seller. Pollan is in the middle of his second whirlwind book tour in two years (I guess he sleeps on the plane) – and I hear the same account every where he goes. Huge venue, sold out show, knockout performance.

Like any effective leader - Martin Luther King included - he’s charismatic and big on the big ideas that change the way we think - or in this case how we eat. But as I devoured (pun intented) Pollan’s new book on my subway commute, I wondered what, if anything, does his worldview offer to the Jewish community? And, perhaps more interestingly, what wisdom does the tribe have to offer back to him?

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Enlitened Kosher Cooking
Nechama Cohen
Feldheim Publishers (October, 2006)

Nechama Cohen’s Enlitened Kosher Cooking attempts to strike the elusive balance between healthy eating and traditional Jewish cuisine. 

As a nutritionist and mother of five who was diagnosed with Type 1 diabetes, Cohen originally intended her cookbook to be focused towards other Jews struggling with the disease.  Ultimately, however, Enlitend Kosher Cooking makes the broader connection between diabetes and obesity.  While enjoying meals is an important part of Shabbat and the holidays, Cohen suggests that these simchas can lead to overindulgence that contributes to weight gain and an unhealthy lifestyle.

Cohen’s book toggles between Torah (You shall be very careful of yourselves” Devarim 4:15) and the detailed nutritional charts around which her recipes are based.  She draws from the traditional canon of Jewish cooking, but her recipes are not limited to Ashkenazi fare.  In addition to Fat-Free Knaidlach and Classic Golden Chicken Soup, the book includes recipes that lighten up the familiar (Vegetarian Stuffed Peppers, Tofu Chopped Liver, Zucchini Kugel, Halva Frosting) and ones that draw from other Jewish cultures around the world (Sephardic Spicy Fish in Red Sauce, Spicy Yeminite Soup, Orange and Fennel Salad).

Cohen relies on heavily on the “ingredient swap” method of healthy cooking.  Instead of creating innovative new dishes, some of her recipes simply replace eggs with Egg Beaters, or use low fat milk or cream cheese instead of the full-fat versions.  While this approach seems slightly unsophisticated, her book is ultimately still useful for cooks who prefer traditional-feeling dishes (or are cooking for friends and relatives who do) without the extra fat and calories. 

Find out more or purchase Enlightened Kosher Cooking HERE.

Quick Bite is a new segment on The Jew & The Carrot which offers pithy reviews of today’s Jewish cookbooks. If you have a cookbook you would like to see reviewed, email tips@jcarrot.org

Cross-posted to the Kosher Blog
For many of you, having guests at a shabbat meal means often juggling various dietary restrictions preferences that guests may bring to the table. Michael Pollan makes the interesting point that the French consider it improper to impose your diet onto your host, and yet how many of you can recall meals in which you were left with virtually nothing to eat as a result of your kashrut/vege- pesce- ovo- lacto- tarianism/ or any possible allergies. Peter Berley’s The Flexitarian Table may hopefully solve at least some of the issues. Read more »

How local is your Shabbat? Many people set themselves the challenge to “eat local” for a meal, to focus on what’s available in a given place and season. My experience of eating local this summer so far transcends the cliche that I have to pause to remember how unusual this experience is, how much I have learned from it.

I’ve been growing food on 5 acres of land with a dozen or so other young Jews this summer at Adamah. Tonight is our last Shabbat together as a community, and we’re in the process of cooking a feast. The food is abundant, fresh, & for the most part, grown right here. The question is not, “What shall we make for dinner” but, “What shall we do with the tomatoes?”. It’s a relationship with the earth and the weather, and we’re learning that all things are possible — but not all the time. And noticing the results of a particular blend of sunny and rainy days, or the earth tilting away from the sun, or the summer winding down into fall, reinforces our awareness of the awesome diversity of edible plants.

Finally, if it’s true that “you are what you eat,” this meal is made with the sweat of some of the most talented, beautiful, caring, inspiring people I have ever met. The conversations while weeding, the grunting from behind the tiller, and everytime two people share the load of a heavy harvest bin full of zucchini — these are all in the food we eat. I don’t have to tell you it tastes damn good! Don’t let the concept of “eating local” get you too caught up in the number of miles or the gallons of gasoline. Eating local means eating the world you want to live in, the world you do live in. It means your food is a reflection of your experience of time passing, and a way to celebrate it. It means that instead of being nourished by proteins and vitamins, you’re being nourished by the people and the energy and the world around you.

So here’s what’s on the menu for tonight — shabbat shalom!

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Tonight, my Shabbat table is going to be potluck in every sense of the word.  On the menu is a mismatched (and hopefully charming??)  set of dishes including yellow squash and spinach lasagna, tempeh with gravy, vegetarian sushi, and caprese salad with homemade mozzarella.   

The group of people sharing this delightful meal is almost more interesting than the menu:

• Three modern orthodox men of varying persuasions within that denomination (one currently studying at Yeshiva University)
• One Jewish couple: he grew up conservative/kosher, she is studying to be a reform Rabbi at HUC
• One non-Jewish couple: both spiritually-minded, nominally Christian, and frequent Shabbat dinner guests
• One female Jewish farmer, currently living at Adamah
• One post-denominational, semi-observant, egalitarian woman (me)

This type of uber pluralism is rare in the Jewish community, at least on a small, informal scale.  I’m excited but to be honest, I’m also a little nervous about this gathering.  What will happen when the conversation steers out of safe territory (books, movies, favorite childhood TV shows)?  Will it be tense if my friend’s phone starts to ring (which, inevitably, it will)?  Will my non-Jewish guests be uncomfortable if we get into a round of z’mirot after dinner?  I’ll post a comment after Shabbat to give the update - but for now, wish us (pot) luck! 

I write these words on Friday afternoon. I have just finished braiding the challah that we will eat in a few hours, and it is now under a dish towel, for its final rise. I love the feel of the dough in my hands, and the ritual of braiding, feeling the tradition in between my fingers, knowing that millions of other Jewish women have done this very same thing Friday afternoons for forever. I love the way the doughy aroma fills the house — it smells like Shabbos. But I can’t help but feel the tiniest bit guilty because of my secret: the bread machine.
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Shabbat Shalom to Marco, Phyllis, Talia, Mia, and Laila

Love, Everyone at Hazon

(Nigel, Cheryl, Daniella, Leah, Ariela, Nancy, Sabrina, David, Ben, Josh, Linda, and Hale)

I recently heard an interview with Native artist Lawrence Paul Yuxweluptun during which he made a comment about the nature of food. He asked “When a Haida is eating a hotdog When does the hotdog become Haida (referring to the first nations band)? When it’s in his hand? When it’s in his mouth? or after he’s had a bowel movement.” Yuxweluptun was using this image as a metaphor for many cultural dilemmas. I ended up stuck on the Koan-like statement for a while trying to grapple with what about the metaphor hit me. I think it stems from the possibility of thinking about it from a literal perspective and then approach food and culture differently. When does what we eat become who we are, if it even ever does.
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Recently, a friend asked me if I was a foodie, a question which caught me thinking quite a while for an accurate response. “Well, I used to be” was the only thing I could think of. Reflecting back on that answer, I found myself questioning what and how I eat and how that differs from what one many think of when they think of a foodie.

Typically your average culinary fan tends to place a high value on taste and other palate-based pleasures. Different tastes and cuisines are prized and much is made of importance of the finest ingredients. Star chefs, award-winning cookbooks, and the finest tools become things to live for. But, I like food. I like to eat good food. What makes me feel that I am different that this? I pondered this and came to the conclusion that perspective was key.
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Actually, it’s in the pinenuts. Yessir! I’ve made challah with pinenuts twice now, and enjoyed it both times, and so I’m ready to declare a public launch. I was vaguely inspired by a pinenut torte I had once at a fancy Italian restaurant, but mostly I just love pinenuts, and also love mixing Things That Are Sweet with Things That Are Not, for character-deepening effect. In challah, it adds this buttery nutty soft crunch that is terribly pleasant.

I have done two variations: Read more »

Despite the crazy weather which the North East is experiencing today, I am having a number of friends over for shabbos this week and was up late cooking last night. I made an array of different dishes, in addition to my friends offering to make a few dishes as well and helping me out in the process. I remembered that my friend’s mother had a good blend whole wheat/white flour challah recipe, so I decided to make it as well. It’s been some time since I’ve made it last, so I felt I was up for the challenge. Read more »

I am staying in my community for Shabbos and since I am eating at friends for the meals, I offered my hosts to make something. I made the following two dishes last night – feel free to try them yourself and I’d greatly encourage feedback!

The Ultimate Chocolate Cake from The Kosher Palette

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This is the Shabbos meal I will prepare on Friday:

• Canapes of white bean spread with carmelized spring onions with a minty Meyer lemon spritzer
• Passed hors d’oeuvres: Fresh spring rolls and Smoked salmon with lemon-scented goat cheese and dill
• Creamy celery root and parsnip soup
• Salad of frisee, blood oranges, oro blanco (a fancy type of grapefruit), avocado and fennel in citrus vinaigrette
• Vegetable terrine of greens, millet and sweet potatoes, with pea shoots and crisp shiitake mushrooms on a bed of mushroom masala sauce
• Rose geranium sorbet
• Port-poached pear parfait (say that one five times fast)

And I will make this Shabbos meal for almost 40 people. Really, I will. I’m not kidding.
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