Seriously…TGIF.
I can’t even begin to describe how much I am looking forward to shelving this week and bringing it to a final end.
There was something in the news about how this Monday, the first one in January after the new year, was notorious for being, the one day of the year to experience, the worst case of the Monday blues.
I think my inner karma secretary, just didn’t get the memo…
Because it was my Wednesday, that was epic.
One of those days that just kept on giving..one duddy thing after the other.
The final bad gift of the day, when I found our beloved fish “Doggy”…..floating.
Great…as if my sweet Tunie B. hasn’t had enough disappointment in her very short life!
How do I now, break this news, to my very sensitive and attached 4 year old?
Do I even tell her, or do I do a quick switcheroo?
Believe me, this was one of the more tougher decisions I have had to make as a parent.
I went back and forth, weighing the pros and cons about being honest with my child, about life and the doozys she can throw us.
But at the same time, I really just wanted to protect her from the sadness…
life’s little lesson could wait another day or year!
In the end, I chose to tell her about Doggy.
Because she is my kid….she sees everything, I mean there is nothing she doesn’t take notice of.
She would know that the new fish…was not her ..fish.
So I was honest, in the most gentlest of ways that I thought I could explain it to her…
The questions she had were a mile a minute, and I truthfully didn’t have all the answers.
But in the end..it was all good.
And tonight when I asked her what she would like me to make for Dinner with the Liebermans?
She said chicken….
“it was her and Doggies favorite food.”

extra crispy honey garlic chicken

I had found a recipe for crispy honey chicken in one of my American Test kitchen magazines a few months back. It has been sitting on top of a huge pile of cookbooks, whose many pages are folded down, to recipes I MUST try one day soon!
I refuse to put this pile away till I try these recipes out, because in the past when I shelved them, in an attempt to maintain order, I regretted it deeply. It seems I was doomed to never find those recipes again when I went looking.
I have too many cookbooks and magazines.
But tonight, I knew I wanted to make this chicken recipe for Tunie B., it had her name all over it with the sweet spicy honey and the crispy crunchy chicken coating.
After reading the original recipe, I realized that I wanted to try to cut out the double frying it called for, and bake it in the oven. I also wanted to zest up the honey with a little spicy zing that would make the sweet honey flavor all the more prominent and savory.
I also had a container of baked garlic leftover from last week, that needed to be used today, so I tweaked the original recipe quite a bit.
It was a huge hit and I am thinking of making more for shabbat dinner, it was that delicious I could eat it two nights in a row.

Ingredients:
For the brine:
1/2 cup kosher salt
1/2 cup sugar
5 cups water
3 lbs bone in chicken legs ,wings or thighs. (I used a bag of Empire frozen Chicken drummets and wings)

For the crispy coating:
1 1/2 cups corn or potato starch
1 tsp. salt
1 tsp. black pepper
2 tsp. ginger powder
2 tsp. garlic powder
3/4 cup water + 1 tbsp. extra if needed
3 cups vegetable or canola oil for frying

For the honey garlic sauce:
3/4 cup honey
3 tbsp. spicy honey mustard (I used Bone Suckin Sweet Hot Mustard
1/2 cup already baked or fried garlic in olive oil *****

Directions:
Preheat oven to 375F

Mix the salt, sugar and water for the brine in a large bowl.

Add the chicken pieces completely submerging them in the brine. Cover and refrigerate them for 30 minutes or up to 1 hour.
In a separate bowl start your crispy coating mixture.
Mix together 1 cup of corn starch, with all the spices and the water. Set aside and refrigerate.

In a large pot or deep frying pan, heat the oil to frying temperature.
Remove chicken from brine and pat dry with paper towel.
Add the 1/2 cup of leftover cornstarch to another small bowl.
Remix the water and spiced cornstarch mixture, add the 1 tbsp. of water now if necessary.
Now it’s time to dredge, dip and fry.
First dredge and coat all the chicken in the plain cornstarch, removing any excess cornstarch by shaking it off.
Place on parchment lined prepared baking tray.
Then one at a time, dip each piece of coated chicken into the spiced watered cornstarch mixture covering completely and allowing the excess to drip off.
Then gently place in the hot oil and fry for about 2-3minutes, making sure to move them around to avoid sticking to the bottom of the pan.
Remove chicken with tongs and place onto a aluminum foil lined baking sheet.
Repeat with the rest of the chicken.

Place the fried chicken lined tray into the oven and bake for about 35 minutes till they have turned a nice crisped golden brown.
Now make the honey garlic sauce. In a small sauce pan on medium heat, pour in the honey, and the mustard. Mix well, until all the mustard dissolves in to the honey and you have a thick liquid honey consistency (about 6 minutes). Add the garlic with its olive oil into the honey mixture and mix well with a wooden spoon, mashing the garlic as much as you can into the honey.

When the chicken is finished cooking, remove from oven and pour the honey mustard sauce over it all. Mix with a wooden spoon making sure to coat all the chicken with some sauce.
With tongs, place chicken into your serving platter, then pour the excess honey sauce from cooking tray over all the chicken.
Serve hot.

*****baked or fried garlic: I normally make a batch of this for shabbat. I put 1/2 cup olive oil to about 20 pieces of whole peeled garlic in a sauce pan on my stove top at medium low for about an hour, till they are soft and dark in color. You can also now buy them in most local kosher supermarkets at the deli counter.
For this recipe, if you don’t have on hand already made; throw the garlic into the cooling hot oil after the chicken has fried and fry a small batch.

The post extra crispy honey garlic chicken appeared first on the Patchke Princess.

TOP 5 PASSOVER DESSERTS

#1 Aunt Rachel’s Passover Cheesecake

FOR RECIPE PLEASE CLICK HERE

#2 Tunie’s Favorite Mango Lime Granita (or any fruit flavored granita)

FOR RECIPE PLEASE CLICK HERE

#3 Sarah’s Chocolate Mousse Cake

a>FOR RECIPE PLEASE CLICK HERE

#4 BEST EVER Pesach Blueberry Muffins

FOR RECIPE PLEASE CLICK HERE

#5 NEW & LIGHT Plum Brule Tart

FOR RECIPE PLEASE CLICK HERE

BONUS RECIPE:
I love this recipe that my friend Rivky Eisenberg of The Viennese Table (best cheesecake’s in the world) first introduced me to from the Gourmet Magazine – Over the years I have made something similar – But I can honestly say there is just something about this original recipe that is SOOO GOOD!

MATZAH ALMOND BRITTLE

FOR RECIPE PLEASE CLICK HERE

The post 5 Easy & Yummy Pesach Desserts appeared first on the Patchke Princess.

my passover prep is minimal.

It’s one of the perks of going away to family…

especially when my sister is a good cook – & has my mother’s disease..

NO ONE IS ALLOWED IS THE KITCHEN with her when she cooks!

kinda makes me laugh…but I have learned to just back seat cook from the kitchen stool as I watch her slave away

I do feel sorta badly that my sister is working so hard…so yesterday Tunie B & me went shopping for a present

in Mamila Mall we came across this Kitchen store called SOHO that had the coolest QUIRKIEST  kitchen gadgets that

I just have to share with all of you!

Many of them made me laugh outright – some even had me knocking my forehead thinking

“why the heck didn’t I think of that!”

COOL & QUIRKY KITCHEN MUST HAVES:

#1 Carrot Sharpener

Now who doesn’t want a carrot sharpener that can not only peel your carrot, but also can give you a pencil sharp deafly point? But seriously if this things works imagine all the cool things you can do with beautifully curled carrot slices! Garnish salads, makes curly carrot crispy fries, carrot rollantinis…I could really get creative. Also, FINALLY I have a sharpener for those giant pencils I always won at my school carnivals!

#2 Dish Washing Gloves with Attitude: Or create your own “Soap” Drama.

Now who really thinks that doing the dishes can be fun? Well with these dish washing gloves, not only do you keep your hands from getting chapped, you can also star and narrate your own dish soap opera theater! Who knew all the Drama there could be when fork snubbed spoon for fish knife!?

#3 CoolAMARI Ice Cubes: Apparently these ice cubes are 8 times the FUN than regular boring square ones! How can you NOT want these for your next pitcher of homemade sweet ice tea?

#4 The Table Saw: Now I don’t know about you, but the last time I tried cutting through my 7 layer cake with my dinky cake knife and having a hard time cutting through all the gooey layers, I was totally wishing I had a table saw to do the job! Well I have to wish no more! I just don’t get the whole cross-cut the lettuce thing…But then again when I bought my ginzu knife from the late night tv commercial, I never realized how much I would use it to cut all those soda cans with!

#5 CORKERS:  Cry no more!  All those bottles of wine that we are going to be opening this Passover, will come to double use! or..at least their corks will. Now you and your kids can create corkers – cork animals that will be fun for the whole family & give you a terrific keepsake of your LONG seder meal this 2013! Imagine all the fun you can have with these babies during the Seder- reenacting some of the 10 Plauges!  Move over Chia Pets – there is a NEW animal in town!

#6 The PLUNGE Cork: Now that you are making all the cork animals – you are going to need a way to close up your extra wine. How about this bottle closer? certainly very appropriate considering that plungers and Matzah go hand in hand for most people during passover! (just pointing out the obvious people! – please don’t write me hate letters)

#7 The Ring Peeler:  Yes I know this is another carrot peeler gadget – but my sister could so use this on all those Potatoes she is planing on peeling this year!

 #8  The Sardine Paperclip: (no oil added) I can’t begin to count the number of times I was in the middle of making a terrific new dish when I had to just stop cold because I did NOT have a paperclip to finish my cooking task. Thank you to who, ever invented these sardine paperclips – because now I can have an “office” supply blend in to my kitchen beautifully, instead of being a junk drawer eyesore!

#9 The Geppetto Pencil Sharpener: it is true I am always using pencils in my kitchen to mark up recipes etc.. My one issue – why is it named Geppetto? that sure looks like Pinnochio to me.

#10 Chefs’s Stand -The iPad Cooking Holder: OK I must admit – this is THE gift I ended up buying my sister (I also bought one for myself!) My poor iPad has been abused and for Pesach I had to really scour the crevices for all the dried up bits of dough, batter, & other food particles I left behind while cooking with it (I am serious!)  I truly believe the best gift is one that you would give and appreciate if it was given to you – so my darling sister….ENJOY! maybe now she will actually get a chance to use her iPad for something other than letting her kids play angry birds!)

Now for a Really Quirky Recipe  – I made this up because I just wanted something different that was NOT your typical potato or zucchini kugel!

Passover Sweet Potato Apple Fennel Onion Crumble Kugel

yields 2 small loaf pans

tip: This is my version of a sweet potato kugel that is meant to be served on a platter & sliced into loaf sizes on the table. The key to making this kugel is to make sure to pack your ingredients very tightly and compact into your baking pan. Make sure to use a disposable aluminum pan, for easy removal of loaf.

Ingredients:

3 large onions, diced small

3 Tbsp. 0live oil

5-6 large sweet potatoes

2 cups diced apples (3 large apples)

1 head fennel, diced

3 tbsp. potato starch

4 eggs

1 tsp. cinnamon

salt & pepper to taste

For the crumble:

1.5 cups of crushed candied nuts (I used pecans) 

1/2 stick of margarine, room temperature

1/2 cup of ground almonds

3 tbsp. Matzah Meal or Potato starch

Directions:

 Pre-heat your oven to 350 F.

1. In a frying sauté your onions in olive oil on medium heat until they have turned brown and caramelized, about 15 minutes.
2. While the onions are cooking, pierce the skin of your sweet potatoes all around with a fork. Place them in the microwave and nuke them for 5-8 minutes until they are soft. (you might have to do 2-3 potatoes at a time)
3. When the sweet potatoes are soft, remove the skins and mask the potatoes until creamy smooth. Add 2 eggs and the 3tbsp. potato starch to the mashed potatoes, mix together well. Set aside.
4. After your onions are finished cooking, set them aside on a plate. In the same frying pan sauté the apples and fennel for 5-6 minutes on medium high heat with 1 tbsp. olive oil until they are soft. Remove from heat.
5. Whisk to eggs together and then add them to the apples & fennel and mix together.
6. In a bowl, mix together all the ingredients for your crumble. Using your fingers as you mix, crumble everything until you get a sand like texture with the mixture.

ASSEMBLE YOUR LOAF:

1. Spray your loaf pans well all over with non-stick spray.
2. On the bottom of your pan, layer your crumble mixture. Make sure to pack it in very tightly and evenly.
3. Next layer is the apple & fennel mixture. Spoon on top of the crumble and then press down with the back of your spoon, until they are a thick compact layer. 
4. Then layer the sweet potato mixture. Pack in the mashed sweet potato almost till the top of the pan leaving about 1/2 inch.
5. Lastly layer the fried onions over the sweet potatoes till the top of your pan
6. Bake in the oven for 25 minutes.
7. Remove from oven and let cool for about 15 minutes before removing from pan.
8. To remove from pan, flip over onto your serving platter and then tap the bottom with the back of a knife until the kugel loosen. Gently remove from aluminum tin and serve. This kugel loaf can be served warm, or at room temperature.

The post Top 10 Kitchen Quirky ….. (Passover Sweet Potato Apple Fennel Onion Crumble Kugel) appeared first on the Patchke Princess.

but first I wanted to give Tunie B. a little taste of what I had growing up…

some over seas TRAVEL ADVENTURE!

Tunie B. & Flying = all  you can eat nosh, videos & uninterrupted mommy time – can it get better for this 3 year old? She packed her own bag with her menchies, essential nosh items, blues clues notebook & hello kitty wallet!

So when I booked my flight – I purposely…yes purposely

decided to have a 15 hour stop over in London, England.

The iPad – the mother’s #1 way to keep a kid busy & quiet through out a long flight! 

From 6AM – to 10:40 PM me & my Tunie B. would have a real European Mommy & Me Fun!

Buckingham Palace, a walk along the Thames, a wave to Big Ben, some Harrods shopping, & a really great meal…

all were in the cards…

but HA. Joke is always on the one who plans….

In all my lists & ideas… I never actually considered the WEATHER!

& from the second we landed & had to trek that very very long walk in Heathrow airport to Passport control..

the air hit us with a bone chilling biting cold that seeped through our clothes no matter the layers…

making me consider for a very brief moment…

checking in to the Siravus Lounge in Terminal 3, paying my 40 pounds for a bedroom with a shower & taking a very long nap…

But I was on a mission…

&… I am a single mother whose middle name is “go-with-the-flow” & whose theme song is “you can’t phase this!”

so …instead of my sunny fun filled dream day in England…

we played “Find the Queen” …..

I bought one of many Queen Elizabeth image post cards that every kiosk in Heathrow airport carried & told Tunie  – this is who we are looking for.

She is the Queen & she wants us to go to her palace for some tea & prizes, but I forgot her address so we need to find her.

This little “tall tale” kept us going the whole day…& it got us a few laughs & some special fast track treatment when she told the airport security check in girl, (who gamely asked her “who’s the lass in the photo?), that the Queen was lost & needed to eat her tea with us!

& in every train, automobile, double decker bus..we took

Tunie had to look out for the Queen..& if she saw her….well then it was time for a Tea Party!

Because of the cold I really wanted to do things the fast and easy way – take a cab to buckingham 

wave hello, and then go get something to eat…. 

But with the airport cabs charging 75 pounds or $115 one way…we hopped the Heathrow express to Paddington Station instead. ($45 round trip)

Starving at 10 AM & Tunie out for the count after the train ride, I decided food was a MUST. 

The ticket agent was supremely helpful in giving the best directions and local advice. He also saw that I was with a carriage & a sleeping kid, and called a fellow colleague to personally escort me to the platform (a 6 minute walk), to ensure that I make the train and had help in those places where my carriage would be difficult to maneuver as to not wake her up! All I can tell you is, this American was in shock, these English folk could not have been MORE cordial & helpful to this Yankee – I was so grateful!! 

Having heard about a local Kosher dairy restaurant from all my Facebook UK fans

I had marked IsolaBella Cafe as my one English Food Stop.

Originally wanting to hit the Golders Green location, (since it was where I lived as a kid for a year and wanted to share it with Tunie)

I changed last minute to the Westfield London Location…since it was in a HUGE shopping center & out of the freezing cold!

It was the perfect place to let Tunie sleep as I high end window shopped some Dior, Louie Vitton, tried the London version of Starbucks (tastes the same!), charged my iPhone at the Apple store, and ate a surprisingly tasty English Kosher Dairy Meal!

This mall had everything, including a champagne restaurant, where you can get a glass of bubbly with your sushi lunch before you shop for your Dior. Tunie & I really enjoyed IsolaBella. I loved the decor, the lucite chairs with their hot pink fabric seats & clashing colors mixed with wood. The service was friendly & the food was more than passable – I was hesitant but hopeful with all the recommendations. I loved that they had a kids menu which had the English standard and kid favorite Fish n Chips. For $14 the kids portion was really an adult size portion, with a drink & dessert included! The fish n chips were the perfect combo of crunchy coating to soft juicy fish!

I opted for something a little different, and was excited by the Asian/Indian inspired part of their menu – and ordered the perfect meal for that freezing day. The Silium -A hot soup filled with noodles and Chinese vegetables and some fried egg rolls! Their was just something so surprisingly delicious about the sweet & salty hot broth with veggies & noodles with  the added bonus of tasty bites of soggy egg roll – Who knew?! I am definitely going to have to recreate this one day when I get home!

My total bill with the additional add on of a hit-the-spot hot cocoa with a nip of rum & whip cream (yes I most definitely kept to English tradition and added a shot of alcohol to my hot drink to ward off the bitter chill!) was a total of $34 dollars (24.35 pounds). Not bad for a meal that could have really fed 4 people.

Tunie & I never got to see the Queen…we sat on the bus for 2 hrs because of a Traffic light outage around Picadilly Circus, before I gave up.

But we had our English tea…and a really very fun….LONG day…despite the cold…

Would I do a stop over again?

Yup in a heart beat – but you can be sure it will be SUMMER weather!

Now for my Pesach version of a delicious dessert that is definitely worthy of being served at High Tea with the Queen!

Plum Brule Tart

yields 1- 9 inch round tart

note: this recipe can be made in advance and frozen if tightly wrapped.

Ingredients:

For the crust:

1/2 cup crushed candied nuts (I used Pecans) or you can use any ground nuts not candied

3/4 cup ground almonds

3 tbsp. potato or tapioca starch

1/4 stick of margarine, room temperature

1/4 cup packed brown sugar

For the filling:

1 large egg

3 large egg yolks

1/2 cup sugar

2 cups non-dairy whip topping

1 tsp. vanilla extract

1 tsp. orange extract

2 tsp. orange rind (optional)

4-5 ripe plums, cut into 1/2 inch slices

Directions:

Pre-heat oven to 350 F.

In a bowl mix together all your crust ingredients. Use your hands to crumble everything together into a sand like texture mixture. 

Spray the bottom of your tart tin with non stick spray and then press the crumble compactly to pans bottom, creating a crumble crust.

Place tart pan in oven and bake for 5 minutes. Remove and let cool.

As the crust is baking, assemble your filling. 

In a sauce pan over medium-high heat bring the non-dairy whip to a scald (right before it starts to boil & bubble). Remove from flame and set aside.

In a large bowl mix together the eggs, sugar, extracts and orange rind. Pour in the hot cream and mix well.

When the crust has cooled, place tart pan on a baking tray, and arrange your plum slices all around your crust.

Then pour your filling mixture into the tart pan till the top.

Bake tart in oven for about 25 minutes until the Brule custard has turned golden and firm.

Remove from oven and let cool for 5 minutes before placing it into the fridge.

Let the Plum Brule cool & set in the fridge for at least 1 hour before serving.

The post The Queen & IsolaBella ….A Pesach Plum Brule Tart appeared first on the Patchke Princess.

A wonder

what a little thing like sunshine…

& a day of 50 degree weather

could do for your overall psyche!

I use to make friendly fun of my friends

who complained about Seasonal Disorder…

but I realized yesterday …

I total suffer from it as well.

Because after spending an entire day soaking up all that glorious vitamin D yesterday…

as I Pesach cleaned my car (2.5 hour job – no joke – how does it get dirtier than my entire house combined?!)

I felt like a different person…or more like the real me.

full of energy, chipper…..just happier & plain good.

nothing in my life had changed…just the daylight hour & the first warm day in a long time.

a wonder…this little thing called sun.

time to think seriously …about moving…

Talking about wonders….I spent the last few weeks testing Passover side dish recipes. I also had taken a trip to the new super-sized  WALMART in my area

recently and after 2 hours leisurely going up every aisle, I walked away with a $19.99 Farberware Mandoline & this idea for a recipe!

I must tell all of you, that if you get one new kitchen gadget for your Pesach kitchen this year – I highly recommend a MANDOLIINE. With the amount of vegetables that we go through during Pesach, this tool makes life in the kitchen so much easier & quicker! AND I love that my slices are now uniformed and the exact thickness or thinness that I desire – keeps things looking so professional and appetizing.

My good friend Miriam Konigsberg had me over for Purim this year and besides her killer Pastrami, made a truly  delicious potato gratin that looked like the dairy cheese & cream filled ones that I love & use to make all the time in Tastebuds. I was so impressed that it was Non-Dairy, that I could not stop talking about it at the meal LOL.

After generously sharing with me her gratin filling recipe, (ok I might have harassed her endlessly for it) I kept Miriam’s recipe in mind when I was creating this gratin Passover version of that recipe.

Miriam’s original recipe called just for  2 layers of potatoes & was very liquidly when you cut in to it, perfect for her meal but I was looking to do something a little different with it. I wanted a gratin that was more hearty, something closer to a lasagna then a gratin , just with all vegetables.

What I was so impressed with, is the crust that formed on top of the gratin, it looked like cheese, and tasted crusty and creamy like a great cheese topping but just Pareve!

The secret WONDER ingredient in Miriam’s recipe was MAYONNAISE! – I could not believe it. For some reason it had never occurred to me to substitute mayonnaise to achieve this creamy – cheesy texture.

I really LOVE when I discover something new & amazing to play with in recipes!!

And I owe Miriam K a big thank you for this opening my eyes to this WONDER & helping create a new Passover MUST on my menu!

Passover Vegetable Gratin Lasagna 

Ingredients:

3 large potatoes, sliced into thin very thin rounds

1-2 large white onions, sliced into thin rounds

1large eggplant, sliced into very thin rounds

4 Large beef stake tomatoes, sliced into very thin rounds

for the spice mixture: (you will need about 2 tsp. of the following spices)

garlic powder, onion powder, kosher salt, black pepper, oregano & basil

1 cup mayonnaise

2 eggs

1/2 cup potato starch

2 cups water

2 Tbsp. oil

Directions:

1. Pre-heat oven to 350F
2. In a bowl, mix together all your spices for your spice mixture.
3. Spray the bottom of a 9×13 baking dish. 
4. Layer the bottom with your sliced potatoes, overlapping them as you place them down. 
5. Sprinkle generously over the layered potatoes some of your spice mixture.
6. Then layer the onions over the potatoes, and sprinkle spice mixture.
7. Next layer the eggplant, and sprinkle the spice mixture.
8. Then top with a last layer of sliced tomatoes, and sprinkle the spice mixture.
9. Repeat steps 4-8, until you have an 8 layer vegetable gratin.
10. Once you finish layering, whisk together well the mayonnaise, eggs, potato starch, water, and oil in a small bowl.
11. Pour the entire mixture over the gratin, making sure to evenly portion it all around.
12. Place in oven and bake for about 45-50 minutes, until the top is a golden brown and the vegetables are fork tender.

The post A Wonder…Passover Vegetable Gratin Lasagna (Pareve & Gluten Free) appeared first on the Patchke Princess.

I did it!

yup – after 5 frustrating tries I finally got it right.

I just made the most Awesome Passover GF Blueberry Muffins!

& I want to KVELL!

the one thing that I find I am really missing on Pesach is some type of muffin to eat with my morning coffee.

NOT an expert when it comes to Gluten Free baking, I specifically wanted to come up with a recipe

that was not a sponge cake recipe with a 100 eggs that have been whipped…

I really wanted something that was more on-point as far as flavor, texture and can

ultimately satisfy that craving and be a little healthier to boot.

having a different recipe in mind originally…

I went to the store looking for my ingredients.

when I went down the Kosher for Pesach aisle

I saw a box of Farina

instantly I had a flash of seeing a recipe for Farina Breakfast Muffins.

without the recipe, but willing to experiment, I bought the box.

The first 2 batches were awful…

I almost gave up on the spot…

thinking ugh it’s one week – I will survive without a morning muffin!

but I was already in the kitchen and the mess was made…

so what the heck..what’s another try?

and the 3rd batch was better…but not exactly..

with the last minute inspired switch from potato starch to tapioca starch

I had it! I did it! WOOHOO!

my tenacity paid off in a big way with this delicious recipe.

So much so, that I will be making these muffins YEAR ROUND.

Awesome Pesach Breakfast Blueberry Muffins

yields 24 standard size muffins

tip: these can be made in advance and freeze beautifully. Take out one at a time as needed, and toast in the oven before serving.

Ingredients:

6 ounces (1 bag) ground almonds

1 cup Tapioca Starch

1 cup Passover Farina

1 tsp. baking soda

1 tsp. baking powder

1 tsp. kosher salt

1 tbsp. cinnamon

1 1/4 cup non-dairy whip

4 large eggs

1 cup oil

3/4 cup sugar

1 pint Fresh Blueberries

Directions:

Pre-heat oven to 375F. Prepare your muffin tins with liners.

• 
• In a large mixing bowl add the almonds, tapioca, farina, baking soda, baking powder, salt & cinnamon. Whisk them all together till combined.

• 
• In separate bowl, mix together the whip, eggs, oil, & sugar. Whisk together till well combined.
• Pour the wet ingredients into the dry ones, and whisk together till well combined and you achieve a thick smooth batter.
• Fold in the fresh blueberries to the batter.
• 
• Using an ice scream scooper, scoop batter into the muffin liners till the top.
• Bake in oven for 25 minutes, rotating pan halfway through baking. Muffins are ready when tops are golden brown and there is no jiggle to the batter. 
• Let cool in tin for about 10 minutes before removing to rack to cool completely

The post I DID IT!!!…Awesome Passover Gluten Free Blueberry Muffins appeared first on the Patchke Princess.

I literally can taste food in my head…

and there have been many a night…

I actually dream in recipe.

I LOVE food – period.

it is way more than a romance….it is an obsession.

and so when the urge strikes…and it almost always does…

I cook up what was keeping me up the night before…and satisfy my cravings.

Now if only all my non-food dreams…

would so easily come TRUE  TO!

One of my readers had emailed me recently saying that her daughter was allergic to eggs and she is having a very hard time finding good side dishes that she could make that would be delicious and exciting for not only her daughter but her whole family.

I was feeling her pain as I read the email that night eating one of my favorite steamed chineese dumplings from a local takeout place. I filed the email away, thinking I would look up some recipes I have stored in my notebooks the next morning and see if anything might work for Pesach & her family.

That night I dreamed of this recipe. It took me a few days to actually get myself in the kitchen and try it, but tonight when I did, I was so excited about how it came out and can NOT wait to share it with all of you!

I used cabbage as the dumpling wrapper, thinking that it would hold the filling well under all the steam or frying and I was right! I bought green cabbage, but I think for the steamed dumpling recipe especially, purple cabbage would be a much better choice, beside the gorgeous color, it has more of a flavor depth.

I used basic vegetables that you will find in most chineese recipes, but added the fennel the last minute, because I love the taste and thought it would be a great addition. But feel free to leave out if you are not such a fan of the anise flavored vegetable.

For the fried dumplings, I took my favorite Pesach Chicken Nugget recipe’s batter, CUT THE EGGS, added a few spices,  and then dredged and fried.  In general I have come to realize I actually prefer the potato starch version of this batter recipe than the flour one. It is lighter and crisper and I think a tad bit tastier. On a whole I much prefer anything fried, but I gave the steamed option for all you dieters.

But at the end of the day, not only are these vegan, with no egg in site,  these Passover Dumplings are really so darn tooting delicious, perfect for a side dish or as a meal..

Fried & Steamed Passover Dumplings

tip: these last in the fridge assembled raw for up 2 days. Fry or Steam 

Ingredients:

1 head of cabbage (green or purple), boiled whole in water for about 8-10 minutes until softened

for the filling:

2 red bell peppers

1 pint button mushrooms

10-12 baby carrots

1 head of fennel

1/2 red onion

1 tsp. garlic powder

1 tsp. onion powder

salt & pepper to taste

for the batter:

3/4 cup potato starch

2 tbsp. oil

3 tbsp. water + more if needed

1.5 tsp. garlic powder

1.5 tsp. onion powder

2 tbsp. dried parsley

salt & pepper

Directions:

1. prep all your vegetables

2. In a food processor, process all the vegetables with all the spices for 30 seconds.

3. separate the cabbage and using one leaf at a time, place about 2-3 tbsp. of filling into the center of the leaf.

4. then fold over top side of the cabbage to cover filling, and then bring in the sides to create a small tight as possible pouch

5. if steaming, place your steamer into the center of your frying pan that is filled with hot water that is steaming, cover and cook for about 8 minutes.

IF FRYING:

1. Whisk together all the batter ingredients until you have a thick pancake like batter. If needed add water 1 tbsp. at a time till you reach the desired loose consistency.

2. Dredge the cabbage dumpling in the batter, coating it on all sides well with the batter.

3. Heat up a frying pan with about 3 tbsp. of olive oil. When the oil is hot, fry the cabbage dumpling on all sides for about 1-2 minutes on each side, until crispy.

4. Serve the dumplings with a delicious dipping sauce.

Thai Dipping Sauce

I combined 1/4 cup of Almond Butter, with 1/4 cup of duck sauce (or you can use orange or apricot preserve) with 2 tsp. of soy sauce and whisked until smooth.

The post A Dish to Dream About….Fried & Steamed Passover Dumplings appeared first on the Patchke Princess.

Chefs, Home cooks, regular every day people seem to love Balsamic Vinegar

for many…

many years, I was simply NOT a fan.

the smell alone could bring me to my knees.

But, when I got serious about this cooking thing some 13 years ago…

I had to make friends with my vinegar

& I did…best friends.

So lesson folks…

never Pass-Over things quickly just because they might frighten or intimidate you…

face them head on…

because you might have missed out on something really great!

Talkng about GREAT…

this Onion Balsamic Chuck Eye Roast is mouthwatering good!

The use of balsamic vinegar mixed with the crushed tomatoes gives the meat this delicious

not too tangy sour taste that blends perfectly with the sweetness of the honey & onions

There are really just no words to describe it…

YOU MUST MAKE IT!!

It is another great recipe for Pesach – Easy, Simple & One Pot!

Mouth-Watering Onion Balsamic Pot Roast

Ingredients:

1 3-4 lb Chuck Eye Roast

2 tsp. onion powder

2 tsp. garlic powder

2 tsp. kosher salt

2 tsp. pepper

4 Large White Onions, sliced into large pieces

1/2 cup sweet white wine

1/2 cup Balsamic Vinegar

2 cups crushed tomatoes

1 cup water

1/4 cup honey

Directions:

Pre-heat oven to 300F. 

In a bowl, mix together all the spices. Using your hands rub the spice mixture all over your roast, entirely coating it.

In a large frying pan or in a dutch oven, heat up 2 tbsp. olive oil. Using tongs, sear your roast on all sides for about 1 minute on each side all over. Remove the roast from pan and set aside for a few minutes.

Deglaze your pan with the white wine, using a wooden spoon to scrape the bottom and mix all the leftover juices from the roast. Let the wine cook down for about 4-5 minutes and then remove from flame.

In another bowl, mix together the balsamic, crushed tomatoes, water, sugar and pour it into the wine pan and combine. 

Place your sliced onions into the bottom of your pan. Lay your roast on top of the onions. Pour the balsamic tomato mixture over the entire roast, making sure to coat it well. 

Cover the pan tightly with foil and cook in the oven for up to 4-5 hours, until tender to the fork.

To Freeze: Let the roast cool completely. You can then slice if desired and place into clean pan with the reserved juices or just freeze whole making sure it is tightly covered with saran wrap & foil.

To Reheat: Let defrost in fridge over night. Slice first, and then reheat in low temp oven for 45 minute to an hour covered. 

(since I lost all my pics I took this past weekend – this photo is from pinterest which linked to this website. It is a Similar recipe to one that I had created.)

The post Passover the….Onion Balsamic Chuck Eye Roast appeared first on the Patchke Princess.

the best laid plans are meant to never work out it seems…

lost all my pictures that I took for the last 2 weeks

while I was testing my Pesach Recipes…

spent the last 4 hours trying to recover them – to no luck!

kinda sucks.

Oh well – the Blogging…must go on!

lesson learned…

ALWAYS download the pics the same day you take them!!!

my procrastination has FINALLY hit me in the head!

Anyways…

So you know how every food package that is for something you use to cook or bake with, comes with a BRAND recipe? Well, have you ever tried them?

I do!  One of the main reasons, is because that is what I do for a living! My main source of income these days, comes from recipe development for companies that are looking for great recipes using their products, that they can put on the back of their packages, web sites and countless other promotional materials.

I know how hard I work on developing those recipes and how good they really are.  So when I see a recipe on a box or bag, 9 out of 10 times I end up trying them if I can and of 7 out of 10 times I find that I have something useable – to put my own twist on.

There are also those very few times I find a real GEM of a recipe that becomes a staple in recipe box! Of course I ultimately put my own twist on those recipes & share them with you all!

This Ultimate Pesach Brisket came right off Lipton Onion Soup Mix package. I added a little sugar but other than that, this was a real winner and so perfect for Pesach.

Personally, I love to serve slow cooked roasts on Yom Tov. Not only are they full of unbelievable flavor, impressive looking when served, easy to prepare in advance, they also truly are more delicious when served the next day, rewarmed (the meat has more time to soak up all that yummy goodness in the sauce).

Pesach cooking and baking is stressful enough without having to make recipes that are complicated. This one is truly the ULTIMATE PESACH RECIPE!

pic from stock photography -closest thing that I found that looks like what I made.

The Ultimate Pesach Brisket

Ingredients:

1 3-4lb Brisket

1 Bottle of Ketchup

1 packet of Onion Soup Mix 

1/4 cup of packed brown dark sugar

1 1/2 cups of water

Directions:

In a bowl, mix together well,the ketchup, onion soup mix, brown sugar & water. 

Place your brisket in the aluminum tray or dutch oven, and pour the mixture over the entire brisket, turning it around and making sure both sides have been coated.

Place the pan in the fridge overnight or for a minimum of 3-4 hours. Then Pre-heat your oven to 275F. Cover your pan tightly with foil and place in oven. Cook for minimum of 6 -8 hours, turning the meat over once half way through.

To test doneness – take 2 forks and insert pulling apart in opposite directions. If the meat falls apart easily than it is finished. If it is tough and gives you resistance, then put back in oven for another 30-45 minutes.

To Freeze: Let meat rest for at least 20-30 minutes, then remove to cutting board reserving all the liquid.  Slice or pull apart according to preference, then put back into a clean plan. Take all the reserved liquid, and mix well, then pour over the sliced meat and the cover the pan very tightly with saran warp and then foil. Then place in freezer marked well, till needed.

To Reheat: Remove Pan from Freezer to Fridge the night before serving & let defrost in fridge overnight. Place in a low temperature oven for 45-1 hr to reheat, serve hot from oven right before serving.

The post So be it…The Ultimate Pesach Brisket appeared first on the Patchke Princess.