Sponge Cake 2008, watercolor by Leora Wenger
I got two endearing comments last night on my
sponge cake recipe (or Esther Robfogel’s z”l recipe) that I posted two years ago:
Esther G. Robfogel (1904-1997) was my mother. I ate her excellent sponge cakes on Pesach and throughout the year for many decades. I hope that my granddaughter, Esther F. Robfogel, will carry on the tradition.
- Nathan J. Robfogel
I’m Esther Robfogel’s daughter. Although I used to bake with my mom, baking was never my forte. As it happens, I was thinking about making mom’s cake this year. After reading your blog, I know I will. Thanks.
- Hanna
For more recipes, be sure to visit Phyllis’ aka Imabima’s latest posting of the Kosher Cooking Carnival, Rosh Chodesh Nisan edition.
Also see:
On a sad note, two men in Teaneck, New Jersey died walking home from shul at the end of Shabbat when a tree fell on them. I can’t imagine what Pesach is going to be like for those two mourning families.
Guest Recipe by Kira
The potato leek part is my older daughter’s favorite soup, and we make that quite often, and she prefers it without any milk or cream. Both kids love the novelty of having the green star in the middle, and they actually eat the spinach (swirling it with the soup to dilute the taste). I think the spinach purée alone makes a pretty tasty dairy-free “creamed spinach” side dish, but since I am the only one in the family who likes creamed spinach, I don’t make it unless I am making the soup.
If you don’t have a kosher for Passover cookie cutter, use a cup.
Potato Leek Soup
(makes 10 servings)
Ingredients
3 leeks
5 tbsp olive oil
2 pounds white potatoes, chopped
2 qts water
Salt and pepper to taste
½ cup cream or milk (optional)
Cooking equipment
Cutting knife
Colander
Spatula
Measuring cup
Measuring spoon
Large pot
Cookie cutter or small plastic cup with the bottom cut off
Blender (stick blender works nicely)
To make the plain potato leek soup:
1. Discard tough part of green tops of leeks, then wash bottoms thoroughly
2. Cut leeks into thin slices and rinse in colander.
3. Cook in olive oil until leeks are soft – about 5 minutes.
4. Add potatoes and water and bring to a boil.
5. Lower heat and simmer for 30 minutes or until potatoes are soft.
6. Puree with a blender.
Add salt and pepper to taste. For a creamier variation, add ½ cup of cream or milk
Spinach Purée
1. Blanch 1 lb of baby spinach (Put in small colander and submerge briefly into boiling water until barely cooked. Then transfer to bowl of ice water.)
2. Drain spinach.
3. Puree with ¼ of batch of potato leek soup.
Assemble final soup by placing the cookie cutter in the bottom of a soup bowl. Spoon spinach puree into the cookie cutter to desired depth. Pour potato leek soup around cookie cutter to the same depth. Then remove cookie cutter and repeat in another bowl.
For more kosher for Passover recipes, visit:
Ever since Thanksgiving I’ve been working at this stuffing recipe. On Thanksgiving I made it with white rice (because we had a lot of leftover white rice from ordering Chinese food), but I prefer other bases for the stuffing. I have been making stuffing in chickens ever since. I highly recommend fresh sage if you can get it (see above photo – I grow it in my backyard, but it’s currently covered with snow); dried sage and other dried herbs are OK substitutes.
Ingredients
- 1 whole chicken (you are going to have to make more if you are using a turkey)
- filler: 1/2 cup cooked couscous or 1/2 cup cooked rice or 1/2 cup cubed homemade bread
- 1 egg
- 1 onion, chopped
- 1 stalk of celery, chopped
- 1 apple, cubed
- salt and pepper to taste
- dried or fresh sage and other herbs to taste
- optional: 1 cubed zucchini (add after the onion is translucent and cook for a bit)
How to prepare the stuffing
Start baking your chicken. You can sprinkle with pepper and fresh squeezed orange juice if you like, but don’t put in the stuffing yet. Meanwhile, prepare the stuffing. Saute the chopped onion and celery. When the onion is translucent, add the chopped apple and optional zucchini. Cook until apple starts to soften. Mix in herbs, seasoning, egg and grain filler. Now that the chicken has baked for at least half an hour, you can add the stuffing with a big spoon. Continue baking the chicken until the chicken is done (probably over an hour total). If you have extra stuffing, you can bake it on the side of the chicken. You can also add other ingredients on the side, like mushrooms or carrots.
If you have vegan friends joining you for the meal, you can prepare twice as much and cook the vegan “stuffing” separately, without the egg and far away from the chicken.
I liked the home-baked bread version the best, but one doesn’t always have extra rye-whole-wheat-sourdough bread available. In general, you should try playing with amounts to get the right proportion of wet ingredients like egg and apple to the grains.
This was my kitchen way back in July. See the tomatoes on the window sill? Must have been a bountiful week. The tomatoes are gone, but the clutter is still there.
This was in my kitchen last Friday: doughnuts for Chanukah (we have a custom of eating foods fried in oil to remember the oil that miraculously lasted for 8 days) and challah for Shabbat (the commandment or mitzvah is to eat two loaves of bread with each Shabbat meal – a rich egg bread has developed as the tradition to uphold the mitzvah). Yes, both are homemade. Little red in this photo, but it does keep with the theme of my kitchen!
And here are some red strawberries that got gobbled up last night, along with the doughnuts (sufganiyot) and latkes (potato pancakes). I also made Mimi’s fish soup and a cubed pressed salad of cucumbers and carrots that I seasoned with fresh-squeezed lemon juice, orange juice, and chopped fresh ginger root.
For more photos with red, visit Ruby Tuesday:
Shiitake Mushroom Soup with Clear Broth in a Red-Trimmed Bowl
I was in mood for a mushroom soup with no grains, and so I came up with this recipe. To photograph it for a post, I put in a red china bowl. This prompted my daughter to eat it; she insisted on eating it in the red china bowl. You see, presentation does count!
Ingredients
- 8 oz. shiitake mushrooms
- 8 oz. baby bell mushrooms
- 1 leek
- 1 zucchini (or substitute other greens, such as bits of kale or collards)
- 1 onion, chopped
- 1 tsp. olive oil
- 1 tsp. mirin (rice wine – or substitute 1 tsp. dry wine)
- 1 tsp. miso
- chopped scallions
- 1 tsp. sea salt
How to Make the Soup
Saute the chopped onion in a bit of olive oil. Slit the leek in half; wash out any particles inside the leek. Cut in half and put in with the onion. Chop the zucchini and put it in with the onion. Add chopped mushrooms. Cover with water and add at least 1 cup more water. Cook until all is tender. Add sea salt and wine. Add miso at the end. Sprinkle with scallions and serve.
Proof My Daughter Liked the Soup:
For more photos with red, visit Ruby Tuesday:
• More soup recipes
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