Soups and Salads
We've been eating pretty low-fat for quite a while now, but here are some of my favorite recipes from mostly before, but also a few from since the big change.
Unfortunately, most of what I have here are desserts. Like most people who have cooked for a long time, I usually don't measure ingredients. It makes it hard to give out recipes that way, but, oh well. Desserts I make less often, and they're usually less forgiving, so I still measure those for the most part.
The recipes here are partially old family recipes, some recipes I adopted from other people, and some are actually from my own mind. All have been thoroughly taste tested, with rave reviews. :)
All measurements are in standard American units, and temperatures are in degrees farenheit.
Enjoy!
You can download MasterCook 5 versions of all the recipes one at a time, or get all the recipes here.
Soups and Salads
Main Dishes
Desserts
In a deep pot, cover meat 3 times its depth with water. Add split peas, barley, and lima beans. Bring to a boil. Skim. Cook about 1.5 hours, until meat and split peas soften. Add other ingredients. Cook slowly till desired consistence and softness. Beef soup mix and salt may be added to taste.
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Soak beans overnight. Cook all ingredients together for about 4 hours, until done.
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Pour flour in a bowl and mix with water and milk to make a smooth paste. Add eggs and melted butter. Mix well to form a very thin batter. Strain if necessary.
Heat small saute pans over a medium heat. Pour in some batter and very quickly pour the excess back into the bowl containing the batter, keeping in the pan only what stuck in that second or two.
Cook till set and edges look a little crisp. Do not turn over to cook other side.
Turn out cooked bletlach onto a clean cloth, stacking one directly on top of one another.
Mix well.
Take a bletlach, and imagine it as the face of a clock. Take a blob of the filling, maybe 1"x1"x2", and place it lengthwise (long between 5:00 and 7:00), slightly flattened, but not spread out, on the bletlach, towards 6:00. Fold the flap at 6:00 over the filling. Fold 3:00 over, fold 9:00 over, so you now have a long rectangle with a curved edge at 12:00.
Take the bletlach covered blob and roll it towards 12:00 until it is completely rolled. Do not fold or roll any of the sides too tightly or when the eggs and cheese expand during cooking, it will break open the delicate bletlach.
To cook, place on a lightly greased griddle over medium heat. Cook till golden brown on both sides. Be very careful when turning the blintzes over so you don't break them open.
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Combine all ingredients and roll into 1" balls.
For each 1 pound of ground beef, use the following sauce plus one additional recipe for sauce, minus the water, to the total number of sauce dimensions.
Carmelize sugar with a little water in a deep pot. Carefully, using a long spoon, stir in the boiling water. Add the other ingredients. Add the meatballs. Simmer at least 1.5 hours. For better flavor, once cool, store in fridge overnight and eat the next day.
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This is one of my most 'famous' recipes, one of those that everyone asks me to make. I've also gotten excellent responses from people who tried it after I posted it on Usenet last year.
I make the sauce by sight/taste, so the measurements are estimates. Adjust to your own tastes.
Sauce:
Mix the apricot preserves, soy sauce, and ground ginger well, and adjust to taste.
Put the chicken in a pan and pour the sauce over them. Turn all the pieces to coat them completely with the sauce. Arrange the pieces in the pan so that they are not on top of one another. Put as many of the pieces of Apricot as you can find on top of the pieces of chicken.
Bake at 350°F, basting with the sauce from the pan every 20 minutes or so (I use a turkey baster rather than a brush), for approx. 1 to 1.25 hours, till the sauce on top of the chicken almost starts to burn.
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This doesn't work as well without the oil, but it does work.
To use this with Chicken, do not marinate for more than a few minutes or it will be too strong.
For each 1 lb or so of steak, combine the following in a blender or food processor:
Marinate steaks for at least 2 hours at room temperature or overnight in the fridge. Cook as desired, but it comes out the best on the grill.
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Crust:
Crust: combine graham cracker crumbs, butter, 2 t. cinnamon, and 4 T. brown sugar. Press into the bottom of a spring form pan.
Filling: mix the remaining ingredients until smooth. Pour over the crust.
Bake for 1 to 1.5 hours, until the center has risen.
Cool before removing from the pan. Run a spatula around the inside to loosen the sides before removing.
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I have tripled and even quadrupled this recipe and it comes out perfect every time!
Mix well. Bake at 350°F for 40-45 minutes in a 9x13 greased pan.
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This cake is exceptionally moist due to the inclusion of sour cream.
Cream butter and sugar till light and fluffy. Add eggs and vanilla. Beat well. Sift dry ingredients and add alternately with bananas to creamed mixture. Mix well. Add nuts. If banana flavor is not strong enough, try adding 1/4 tsp. banana flavoring.
Pour into 2 greased loaf pans. Bake at 350°F for 45 minutes, or until top is golden brown. Cool well.
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This is an old family recipe, but much the same, I imagine, as almost any other Eastern European recipe for Rogallach.
Dough:
Dissolve yeast in the hot water and set aside. Sift flour and sugar. Add beaten eggs, melted butter, and vanilla to the flour. Mix well. Add yeast and mix well again. Refrigerate overnight.
Divide dough into 4 parts, keep unused sections in the fridge. Mix together the filling, and put 1/4 of it onto a board and roll dough over it, turning it over an over so it is completely covered, flattening it until it is about a pie sized circle. Cut into 16 wedges and roll each wedge, starting with the outside edge.
Arrange on a cookie sheet with the tail underneath. Bake at 325°F for 19 min. Remove immediately. Cool on a rack.
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These are pure EVIL!!!
Line a 13"x9"x2" pan with aluminum foil. Melt butter in pan. Sprinkle sugar, coconut, and nuts over melted butter. Drizzle evaporated milk over all.
In a small bowl, beat ream cheese and egg till smooth. Gradually add the frosting mix till well blended. Carefully drop blobs of this mixture onto the coconut/sugar mixture. Spread blobs carefully to cover coconut/sugar layer.
Slice cookie dough into 1/4" slices and arrange over cheese mixture.
Bake at 350°F for 30-40 minutes, or until cookie top is golden brown. Immediately invert onto a cookie sheet and peel off aluminum foil Cool completely before cutting into squares.
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Line a 9" pie tin with one of the crusts. Combine lemon juice, flour, sugar, nutmeg, cinnamon, and lemon rind. Place half of the apples in the pan, arrange so that sharp edges are inward. Sprinkle with 1/2 of the sugar/spice mixture. Top with the rest of the apples, arranging like before and heaping them in the center, and sprinkle with the rest of the sugar/spice mixture. Dot with butter. Seat second crust on top, trim and close edges. Make a few slits in the top crust, and glaze with a beaten egg yolk mixed with water.
Bake at 425°F for 40-50 minutes or until apples test tender and crust is browned.
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I got this recipe from my sister, Lisa, when I was living in Israel and couldn't find baker's chocolate easily. Its so good though, that this in the only brownie recipe I use.
Melt the cocoa, butter, and oil together, and set aside.
Beat the eggs till light and fluffy. Gradually add the sugar. Stir in the vanilla. Beat well. Beat in the cocoa mixture, then the flour.
Pour into a greased and floured 15"x10"x1" pan and bake at 350°F for 20-25 minutes. Cool in pan.
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These are like mini cheesecakes!
Beat all ingredients together for 5-10 minutes until creamy.
Mix well
Bake at 375°F for 15 minutes. Makes about 30. May be decorated with canned fruit pie fillings.
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Cream butter, granulated sugar, vanilla and salt until fluffy. Stir in flour until well blended. Chill 30 minutes or until firm enough to handle. Shape into 1" balls.
Place balls 1" apart on an ungreased cookie sheet and bake in a pre-heated oven at 375°F for 12-15 minutes or until light golden. Remove from pan while still hot and place cookies very close together on a rack. Sift heavily with confectioners sugar. Cool and store in an air-tight container in a cool place.
Before serving, sift again with confectioners sugar. Makes about 48.
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Place pecans on the pie crust. Beat all other ingredients well. Pour carefully over nuts. Bake at 350°F for 50-60 minutes.
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This is for a regular 9" pie crust. For a deep dish pie crust, double all the ingredients except for the pecans.
Melt the butter and chocolate bits together, remove from heat and set aside to cool a bit.
Once semi-cool, mix together with all the remaining ingredients. Mix well. Pour into the pie crust and bake at 350°F for 50-60 minutes. Do not refrigerate.
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Pat dough evenly onto the bottom and 1" up the sides of a greased 9"x9"x2" pan.
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Beat the eggs till light and frothy. Stir in the sugar, lemon peel, and lemon juice. Add the flour mixture and stir till just blended. Do not overmix.
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For this recipe, you must use butter for everything, not margarine. Even for greasing the pan.
Line the bottom and sides of an 8" or 9" cake pan with foil, and butter the foil heavily. Set aside.
In a heavy skillet, combine all the ingedients. Bring to a boil over a medium flame. Stir constantly until the mixture reaches a coffee with cream color.
Pour immediately into the buttered, foil lined pan, and pat down into an even layer with a wooden spoon.
Refrigerate at least 1/2 hour before breaking into pieces (a 'wrap it in foil and throw it as hard as possible onto the floor' ceremony usually takes place at our house at this point. :). Keep refrigerated.
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Ellen Savyon Vig ellen_vig@yahoo.com