Sponge Cake 2008, watercolor by Leora Wenger

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:

• Ilana-Davita: Kosher for Pesach Dishes – Meat and Fish
• Ilana-Davita: Kosher for Pesach Desserts
• Ilana-Davita: Kosher for Pesach Quick and Light
• Cooking Manager: Passover Recipes and Cooking Techniques
• On my blog: Recipes for Pesach

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:

• Pesach Recipes – a list compiled in 2009 by Leora
• Kosher for Passover – Meat and Fish by Ilana-Davita

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 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

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

Fall Leaves at East Jersey Olde Town, Piscataway, New Jersey

On My Blog

Elsewhere in the Blogosphere

Long ago, Jacob prepared some lentils for his brother Esau. “And Jacob gave Esau bread and pottage of lentils” – Genesis 25:34. So here are some lentil recipes:

• Ilana-Davita: Lentil Stew
• Leora: Lentil Soup and Lentil Salad
• Mimi: Majadra: Lentils and Rice
• Cooking Manager: Lentils with Onions and Garlic
• Meg: Spiced Lentils with Squash and Raisins
• Christina: Stuffed Lentils

Soups on My Blog (pareve, vegan)

• Mushroom Barley Soup
• Shiitake Mushroom Soup
• Turmeric Soup
• Farmer’s Market Soup
• Lentil Soup
• Minestrone Soup

Soups from Some of My Favorite Bloggers

• Ilana-Davita: Hearty Soup
• Ilana-Davita: Hokkaido Pumpkin Soup
• Imabima: Squash Mushroom Soup (I suggest using olive oil instead of margarine, for health reasons)
• Mimi: Vegetable Stock (pareve) and Potato Leek (dairy)
• Mrs. S.: Potato Soup
• Shimshonit: Split Pea Soup
• Batya: Easy, One-Pot Vegetable Soup
• Abbi: Cauliflower and Mushroom Bisque
• Rivster: Pea, Leek and Broccoli Soup

Macrobiotic Soups

• Meg: Simple Cannellini Bean Soup
• Meg: Miso Soup
• Carol: Creamy Beet Soup
• Carol: Minestrone Soup

Fish and Poultry Soups

In this fish and chicken soup category are my children’s favorite, my chicken soup, and my own favorite, Mimi’s Fish Soup:

• Mimi: Fish Soup for Winter Dinners
• Mimi: Turkey Stock
• Leora: Chicken Soup

I believe soup is one of the healthiest foods one can eat. And it is yummy, too!

As Lewis Carroll wrote:

Beautiful Soup, so rich and green,
Waiting in a hot tureen!
Who for such dainties would not stoop?
Soup of the evening, beautiful Soup!
Soup of the evening, beautiful Soup!

Beau–ootiful Soo-oop! Beau–ootiful Soo-oop! Soo–oop of the e–e–evening,
Beautiful, beautiful Soup!

Beautiful Soup! Who cares for fish,
Game, or any other dish?
Who would not give all else for two
Pennyworth only of Beautiful Soup?
Pennyworth only of beautiful Soup?

Beau–ootiful Soo-oop! Beau–ootiful Soo-oop! Soo–oop of the e–e–evening,
Beautiful, beauti–FUL SOUP!

– Lewis Carroll

According to this article, that poem was a parody of a poem called “Star of the Evening.” More of Lewis Carroll’s funny poetry on this page.

Mushroom Barley Soup

I originally learned how to make mushroom barley soup from Mollie Katzen’s Moosewood Cookbook. Here is my current one-pot recipe, which I prepare now by heart without consulting Mollie:

Ingredients

• Mushrooms
• 1 onion
• 1/2 cup barley
• Flavoring: I use a tsp. of miso. You can also use soy sauce and/or 1 tsp. of red wine.
• Salt and pepper to taste
• Water
• Olive oil to cover bottom of pan

Many optional ingredients:

• Root vegetables: chopped carrots, parsnip, and/or turnip
• Garlic clove
• Chopped celery
• Chopped ginger root
• Green leafy vegetables: chopped kale or collards
• Herbs, fresh or dry: dill, oregano, thyme
• Shiitake mushrooms: make the soup all the more healthful and flavorful by using shiitake mushrooms

Preparing the Soup

Saute the chopped onion in a bit of olive oil at the bottom of a large pot. When the onion turns translucent, add the barley. Add more than enough water to cover the barley – about one inch higher in the pot. Cook for about 1/2 hour until the barley is almost tender. Add pepper and salt to taste. Add optional ingredients of carrots, other root vegetables, garlic and celery; add the mushrooms. Pour in one cup more of water. Cook until the vegetables are tender. Add optional kale, dill, other herbs and/or other fast cooking greens. Add soy sauce or miso to give the soup taste. Serve warm.

Coming soon (next week?): a list of soup recipes from around the blogosphere. Also, some suggested soup ingredients. If you have a favorite soup recipe that is on a blog, feel free to leave the link in the comments (thanks to Mrs. S., who last week did just that).

Strawberry Cashew Pudding

Ingredients:

• 1 cup strawberries or blueberries (or try some other berries or fruit)
• 1 cup raw cashews or macadamia nuts
• 1 pinch of sea salt
• 1/2 tsp. vanilla extract
• 3 Tbsp. maple syrup or honey (or to taste)

Soak the nuts for about 4 hours and drain. Blend all ingredients using food processor or blender until creamy and smooth. Serve immediately or chill. The original recipe suggests adding a little water, soymilk, or almond milk to facilitate blending if needed (I didn’t do this).

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I’ve made this twice with blueberries (original recipe called for blueberries) and once last week with strawberries, as pictured.

Source: www.GetHealthyWithCarol.blogspot.com via Klara

Sukkah 2008; painting of grapes in the corner

As this coming week is Sukkot, I suspect many of you celebrating this upcoming holiday are (again) meal planning and cooking? What’s on the menu? I’m hoping to make an apple pie, and I also plan to make strawberry cashew pudding (another recipe from Klara). The pudding, if all goes well, will become a post, too.