The Jewish Biscotti

Mandelbrot: Almond Bread

The Jewish biscotti may have Italian roots.

By Adeena Sussman

It was a long time before I made the connection between mandelbrot, the twice-baked cookies commonly found in Ashkenazi Jewish households, and biscotti, the twice-baked cookies of Italian provenance.

It's unclear how and when Ashkenazi Jews began baking mandelbrot, but Joan Nathan, in her book Jewish Cooking in America, suggests that the large Jewish population in Italy's Piedmont region may have been responsible for disseminating the recipe to German friends and family.

Though the term mandelbrot literally means "almond bread," many modern varieties abound, some with the addition of butter, chocolate chips and dried fruit. This is a traditional recipe, similar to the one my grandmother used to serve with steaming glasses of tea.

Continue reading for recipe.

Leftover Challah Recipes

Beyond french toast.

By Leah Koenig

Last spring, I received quite the shock upon opening my freezer for its annual pre-Passover cleaning. Inside, bag upon bag of forgotten scraps and ends of challahs-past sat shivering and waiting for redemption. I hadn't meant to let my leftover challah situation grow so ugly, but there it was, staring me in the face. With only a few days before I needed to be hametz-free, I decided to feed some of the challah to my compost worms, and dump the rest of it (guiltily) into the garbage. But I promised myself that next Passover I would

Of course, there is little I can do about the weekly surplus of challah that builds up after Shabbat. The real conundrum is what to do with all those odds and ends that accumulate into a freezer full of old challah. Conventional Jewish wisdom seems to suggest one acceptable option: French toast.

According to Arthur Schwartz's Jewish Home Cooking: Yiddish Recipes Revisited, challah French toast first showed up on menus in the 1940s, but was made famous in the 1950s and 60s by two Brooklyn restaurants, Wolfie's and Cookie's. "At Cookie's and Wolfie's," he writes, "they served big, crisp-edged wedges of deep-fried, egg-saturated challah with a paper soufflé cup of cherry preserves."

These days, challah French toast is so ubiquitous that recipes for it regularly turn up in mainstream Jewish cookbooks, and even some non-Jewish ones. Decades from now, culinary anthropologists may point to challah French toast as an example of American Jews' distinct and fascinating contribution to traditional Jewish cuisine.

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Nontraditional Matzah Brei Recipes

Spice up the classic Passover dish with these sweet and savory variations

I always approach conversations about matzah brei with care. Holding an important place in Bubbe's Greatest Hits, discussions around the dish can get downright emotional. Never really getting the appeal of this Passover specialty, I was always surprised when people of great taste would rhapsodize about it. I mean, it's just eggs and matzah. Bland-on-bland to my mind …and tastebuds. But then I read the chapter on matzah brei in Jayne Cohen's Jewish Holiday Cooking, and I began to think of it as a blank canvas food, a dish to be built upon, as you would an omelette, or for my sweet tooth, french toast.

Looking back to another one of Bubbe's Greatest Hits, salami and eggs, and merging the flavors into matzah brei made the dish over for me, and gave it personal significance, bringing me back to Sunday night dinners at our kitchen table.

Oven-baked Matzah Brei Pudding takes this classic dish into dessert territory, and the chocolate doesn't hurt one bit either. Allowing time for the matzah to soak up the eggy chocolate pudding in the fridge will yield a moist and, ironically, bread pudding-like consistency. It's easy to take this dish over-the-top. Throw in nuts or coconut for texture, serve fresh from the oven with a scoop of ice cream, or a dollop of whipped cream for a heart-meltingly yummy treat. It's matzah brei as a year-round comfort dish.

Here are my recipes for Salami & Eggs Matzah Brei and Chocolate Matzah Brei Pudding.

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Going Beyond Matzah

Now that Passover is here and you have 7 or 8 days of leaven-free cooking, here are many dishes and recipes sure to please everyone in the family. There's Sweet and Sour Stuffed Grape Leaves or Spinach Salad with Mushrooms and Hibiscus Flower Vinaigrette; Egg Lemon Soup with Matzos, or a Bitter Herb Salad; Chicken with Bitter Herb Pesto and Brazilian Holiday Fish with Cilantro and Wine.

And desserts...
Chocolate Olive Oil Mousse, Almond-Lemon Macaroons, Carrot Souffle with Pecan Topping, Sesame Vanilla Passover Cookies, Double Chocolate Mocha Drop Cookies and so much more.

You'll also find traditional recipes for gefilte fish and seder ideas from Argentina and Jerusalem.  So what are you waiting for?  Read on.

  
Continue reading for meals and recipes.

Passover Antipasti, Low Carb, Fat Free

Yield: 10 servings

You can use almost any vegetable for this lovely and popular dish. The following is a list of suggested vegetables.

Salad:

1 large onion, peeled and quartered, mixed with 1/4 teaspoon ground curry powder
2 small tomatoes
1 small eggplant, washed and ends removed
1 small sweet potato
2 small-medium zucchini
1 basket any type of mushroom or combination of different kinds

Dressing:
Non-stick cooking spray
1 tablespoon olive oil
3 cloves garlic, peeled and finely minced
salt and pepper to taste

Garnish: fresh and/dried basil and/or rosemary, a bit of kosher salt

Slice vegetables and lay flat in a baking pan lined with baking paper that has been sprayed with non-stick cooking spray. Spray vegetables with the non-stick spray as well. Wisk the dressing ingredients and spread on the vegetables. Sprinkle with dried herbs of choice. Bake covered at 400°F until golden, about 15-25 minutes. Uncover and bake until tender-crisp. Store in an airtight container.

Nutrition Facts: Serving size 3 pieces (oz) 4 (g) 120 Calories 58 Protein (g) 1.7 Carbs (g) 3 Fat (g) 0.8 Sat. Fat (g) 0.3 Cholesterol (mg) 0 Sodium (mg) 10 Calcium (mg) 31 Fiber (g) 2.5 Exchanges: Vegetable 1

Tunisian Passover Ratatouille

During Passover, the eight-day observance when distinctive food themes and various rules govern what may be eaten, this casserole recipe meets the requirements.  This simple dish uses eggplants and tomatoes plus herbs and spices.

Servings: Makes 6 side-dish servings.
Prep Time: 20 mins
Total Time: 30 mins

ingredients
2 mediumeggplant (about 1-1/2 pounds)
3 tablespoonsolive oil
2 mediumtomatoes, quartered
4 clovesgarlic, minced
1 tablespoonsnipped fresh marjoram or 1 teaspoon dried marjoram, crushed
1 teaspooncoriander seeds, crushed
1/4 to 1/2 teaspoonsalt
1/4 to 1/2 teaspooncrushed red pepper
2 tablespoonspine nuts, toasted
Fresh marjoram leaves

Continue reading for directions.

Mock Chopped Liver, Vegetarian Style

A Vegetarian Option

A vegetarian version of a timeless Jewish favorite, this recipe is delicious as a spread, dip or even as a side dish.

Ingredients

1 can French style green beans
2 hard boiled eggs
2 medium onions
oil for browning onions
1/4 cup walnuts
salt to taste

Directions

Saute onions in oil until brown. Drain green beans, pressing out as much water as possible. Put all ingredients into food processor, processing until smooth. Salt to taste.

Note: You can substitute additional hard boiled egg whites for one or both of the yolks. This recipe can also be made vegan by replacing the eggs with fresh mushrooms.