I Say Kneidel, You Say Knaidal!

Yiddish is such a unique language and there are many pronunciations and dialects within the language, not least when it comes to food.

When I was growing up it seemed reasonably easy to follow . My mothers' family said Flyshig to describe meaty foods and my father's family said Flayshig. We used to laugh at Dad for his funny pronunciation because the kitchen was strictly our mothers' domain and meat was Flyshig and that was the way all the women in the house (Mum, Gillian and me) pronounced it, so he was outnumbered! However we pronounced  Beigal and Kneidel....with an "ay" sound, and I never thought anything of it. Until I met David, who was a Londoner. He said Baigal (bygal) and Knaidal (knydal) . One night when we were having Sunday night supper, I asked him if he wanted Vosht (salami) and Eggs, he didn't know what it was until I showed him a stick and he said "Oh, Vusht!" That was the way he said it at home.

It was David's Mum, Fay who taught me how to make Kneidels. They didn't feature on the menu on Friday night in our house but once I spent a few Shabbats at my future parents in law, I learned that they were obligatory. So I learned how to make them. It was quite tricky because Fay didn't use measurements...she just shook in the ingredients straight from their packets...but her kneidels were wonderful so she must have done something right. It was a bit disconcerting that she called this shaking from the packet "shitting"...but she is a Jewish Mrs Malaprop so I just put it down to one of her mispronunciations. I soon got used to being told to "shit" salt! I just say it without much thought anymore but realise it can be quite shocking to the uninitiated. I have learned now to translate for my mother in law, who can be quite hilarious...for example, she once told David he was driving like Fred Monsoon..she meant Nigel Mansell. She must be the only person who calls a strawberry a Trushkafke!

A lot of people complain that they can't make fluffy Kneidels, this is because they use too much Matzo meal, which make the balls too solid. This is how I do it and I guarantee you fluffy balls every time. I'm basing this on a 4 egg mix which makes about 20 or so balls, enough for eight with leftovers. It's not really worth making less, and they freeze beautifully.

4 large eggs
Salt and  ground white pepper (don't use black pepper unless you like speckles in your kneidels!)
1 large ladleful cold chicken soup. (This makes the kneidels super tasty. Just set some soup aside.)
Medium Matzo meal
Ground Almonds -essential for fluffy kneidels.

Put the kettle on
Whisk the eggs in a large bowl.
Whisk in the chicken soup.
Season with salt and pepper.
Add equal measures of matzo meal and ground almonds until the mixture just begins to hold together.
At this point let the mixture rest for about ten minutes. If, after this time the mixture is still too loose, add in a little more Matzo meal and ground almonds..then leave another five minutes. This allows the meal and almonds to swell and make this mixture firm.
Pour boiling water from kettle into a large pot and bring to boil. Repeat..you need a lot of water in order to give the kneidels plenty of room to float.
Wet your hands and form into small balls then gently roll into the pot of boiling water.
When the kneidels are cooked they will float to the top of the boiling water.
When they are all cooked, pour into a colander to drain.
Either tip drained kneidels straight into the chicken soup, or toss them in a little sunflower oil ( to stop them sticking) and allow to cool. Once cool, they can be frozen.

Do you take Sugar with your Fish?

It's been a very stressful day. On Tuesday night, my range oven overheated and the clock melted. I called in the engineer who informed me that the thermostat and fan had broken. OK, I have an all bells and whistles kitchen appliance insurance policy. Could it be fixed? Yes but the parts are out of stock and won't be in for 3 weeks. OK, I'll just use the oven without the timer then, a bit inconvenient but I'll manage. No, the oven is unsafe and is a fire risk, you mustn't use it at all. Back to the drawing board, I can't manage without an oven for 3 weeks, it's the Jewish Holidays for goodness sake! How can I braise a honey garlic brisket in the microwave? ( I didn't say that to him!)

My insurance policy will buy me a brand new like for like oven with 30% off the recommended retail price..let's go for that then. Oh and there's an additional charge £189 extra to install it and £14.95 to disconnect the old oven...and they can't guarantee that they'll take the old oven way and if the gas connection is not up to standard they won't install it and I'll have to book in a my own engineer to do the job. The final straw is that the new oven will be delivered in 5-7 days and they can't even guarantee a date! So I face the prospect of being lumbered with a dead oven over a 3 day Yom Tov! My stress levels are on the ceiling.  In the end I grit my teeth, go on -line with another company and order the oven for a bit more money but it will be delivered tomorrow morning, installed it and the old one will be taken away  The whole process has taken the whole afternoon and I had planned to make my honey cakes. It's a good job I fried my fish yesterday!

The house still smells of chopped and fried fish, even though I fried it in the deep fat fryer in the utility room and opened all the outside doors. Apparently you could smell it all the way down the road!

Going back to the title of the blog, I've not gone mad! The issue is whether one adds sugar to the raw fish mix before making chopped and fried or gefilte fish. This depends on where your ancestors came from. I am half Pollak, half Litvak. My mother's family hail from Galicia in Poland, hence they are Pollaks and Pollaks like their fish sweet, in fact they like everything sweet.. from holishkes to brisket. My grandmother and mother were wonderful cooks and I learned so much from them, including putting sugar in the fish. My mother in law is also a Pollak and her fish was sweet too..so no conflicts there. My fathers family were Litvaks, they originate from Lithuania and they do NOT put sugar in their fish, I don't know what my paternal grandmother's fish tasted like because she didn't make it and anyway she was a terrible cook. Pollaks do not like Litvak fish and vice versa! To me, fish without sugar is tasteless and without character, but it's all down to your roots and who taught you to cook!

Chopped and fried fish is basically a gefilte fish mix which is rolled into balls and fried instead of boiled. It is a dish which is unique to British Jews, you can't get it in Israel or the USA. I would be interested to know if it's made anywhere else in the Jewish world. It's origins are fascinating. Gefilte fish is essentially an Ashkenazi dish, it originated in Eastern Europe where carp fillets were chopped and boiled and eaten either stuffed back into the fish skin or boiled in balls in a broth of water, onion, sliced carrots, salt, pepper and sugar depending on whether you were a Pollak or a Litvak. The gefilte fish balls were eaten on Shabbat, a day when it is forbidden to pick out bones from fish. When our ancestors came to the UK, it was difficult to get carp, so they adapted the recipe to be made with sea fish, such as haddock, hake or cod. Enter the Spanish and Portuguese Sephardim,who didn't make gefilte fish for Shabbat but fried fish fillets in oil and ate them cold. Fish fried in animal fat such as butter is unpalatable when eaten cold, but fry it in olive oil or some kind of vegetable oil and it's a different story. Chopped and fried fish is a synthesis of the Ashkenazi and Sephardi versions and is absolutely delicious. It can be eaten hot or cold and is wonderful with chips, salad or in a sandwich made of sliced challah with a generous dollop of tomato ketchup!

So here is the recipe, taught to me by my late mother, the wonderful Esther Kay (may she rest in peace), and my amazing mother in law, Fay Phillips, both proud Pollaks.

I make a huge batch of it, about 5lb (2.5kg) worth, it's not worth making less than 3lb fish, because of the work involved. I use a deep fat fryer, although I did shallow fry for many years but gave up because of the many burns I sustained from splattering oil.

You need 3lb minced fish with onion (I use haddock but you can use cod or hake). Ask the fishmonger to mince the onion in with the fish. If you can get to a Jewish fishmonger, he'll know what to do. If not about 1/2 onion to every 1lb (half kilo) of fish.

Dump the fish into a large bowl. The next bit is not for the squeamish but you have to do this, if it disgusts you too much, buy ready made!
Into the bowl, shake in some salt, pepper and sugar. I can't give quantities, it all depends on your taste, keep adding as you go along until it's right. Either go in with your bare hand or put on a disposable latex glove and mix the fish to blend in the seasoning. TASTE! Now I know it sounds revolting but it's really not so bad and you only have to taste a bit. Keep adding salt, pepper and sugar till it tastes right. You have to trust your own taste and instinct.

Then add 1 beaten egg to every 1lb (1/2 kilo of fish). Mix again with your hands.
Then add equal amounts of medium ground Matza meal and ground almonds to the mix.. Do NOT listen to anyone who tells you that they only use Matza meal, you will get tasteless heavy cannonballs, not light delectable morsels.The ground almonds enhance the taste and the texture of the fish and are essential.  I have no idea how much I use, I just keep adding it till the mixture is bound enough to form the balls. Again, it's trial and error and instinct.

Leave the mix to stand and set while you heat up the oil, either in a shallow frying pan or a deep fat fryer. I usually set the temperature to about 190C and then turn it up or down depending on how fast the fish is frying.

Shape the fish into balls which just fill the palms of your hands cupped together and flatten slightly.
Lay on a platter until the oil is ready,

If you are shallow frying, put a tiny bit of fish in the heated oil and if it sizzles, it's ready. Add the balls to the pan, don't overcrowd it and fry each side until darkish golden brown. You don't want them pale, they look insipid.

If you are deep frying don't overcrowd the basket or they will stick together. I reckon it takes about 6-8 minutes for them to be cooked and golden brown but check after about  minutes. All appliances are different. Drain on kitchen paper resting on metal cake trivets. Try to resist eating them all in one go!

They freeze beautifully, I have been known to take frozen bags of fishballs on the plane to Israel with me! Enjoy and let me know how you got on! I will give one-to -one lessons if asked nicely!

A Good Fish Supper

I had a craving for a fish supper, not fish and chips, something a little healthier but needed some inspiration. So I went to my local supermarket which has a really good fish counter.  There was a special offer on sea bass, so I bought two whole and two fillets. I prefer my fish on the bone, it has much more flavour and I like prising all the lovely bits of fish of the bones but David prefers fillets and there is no persuading him otherwise. On to the veg and I bought three whole endives(chicory) and some Israeli samphire which has a lovely salty tang of the sea to it. 

I decided to bake the fish as it is a much less smelly business than grilling it. I put the fish on a bed of samphire and half a lemon cut into chunks. I topped it with the remains of a jar of capers, two anchovy fillets which had been lingering in the back of the fridge for too long, a couple of glugs each of virgin olive oil and white wine, seasoned with some Maldon salt and ground black pepper. This went into a medium-hot oven for about 20 minutes or so. I haven't a clue what temperature it was because all the numbers have come off my oven and I have to guess. I reckon about 200C. Since last night when I cooked this, my oven totally overheated, melting the internal clock. I think my it may be on its last legs, we'll see what the engineer says tomorrow. 

I wasn't too sure what to do with the endives. I've only had them in salad before. My mother in law adores it, she calls it chicon, she ate it in Belgium as a child before the war . I didn't want a salad, I felt like cooking it so it would blend well with the fish juices. I needed inspiration and advice. So I turned to my one of my trusty Nigel Slater books called "Real Cooking". I love the way he writes about food with total honesty and lack of pretension. You feel like you are sitting in his kitchen watching him cook because that is what he is...a great cook and a wonderful food writer. Anyhow, he writes that endives do very well married with strong flavours such as dijon mustard and rich ingredients like cream. I didn't want to make anything too rich, we are trying to eat light. 

The other book I researched was "Roast Chicken and Other Stories" by Simon Hopkinson who used to be the chef at the Normandie in Birtle near Bury. I remember it as being a very posh restaurant on the odd occasion that I went with my parents in the late 70's and early 80's. Simon Hopkinson trained there and he writes a very long piece in his book all about the endive and how when he first started at the Normandie at the age of 16, he detested the vegetable. The owner and chef, Monsieur Yves Champeau decided to break the young lad in by inviting him to a lunch which comprised mainly of chicory cooked in every manner conceivable!

After my research I concluded that the best and simplest way to prepare the endives was to braise them in a splash of water, a generous knob of salted butter and a squeeze of lemon juice. I cooked them on the hob in a cast iron pan (which was a wedding present!) for about 20 minutes till they were golden brown and bathed in a lovely savoury juice. There was a tinge of bitterness but it was delicious. I am thinking of reheating the leftovers under a grill with a topping of grated cheese, cooked till bubbling and golden. 

Finally, the potatoes. My organic veg order contained a bag of lovely new potatoes, and I wanted something crunchy to go with the fish and endives. So I cut a few into rough little squares with the skins on, tossed them in a couple of teaspoons of olive oil and baked them in the oven along with the fish, till they were all brown and crispy. 

Dinner was served and went down a treat!

Note: If you can't get sea bass, I think it would be lovely with rainbow trout.

Homemade Ricotta Cheese, Interesting Soup and Another Recipe Book!

I love it when the latest Lakeland catalogue drops through the letterbox. I usually save it for the weekend when I peruse it at my leisure and bookmark all the things I would like to buy. The Autumn issue featured an Italian Cheese making set. It's really hard to get Kosher Ricotta and Mascarpone cheese in Manchester, so when I read that with the Mad Mollie Cheese making kit I could make my own, I hit the Buy button. £19.99 promised me kilos of homemade cheese including Mozzarella, it was too good to miss. So today I took the plunge and made my first batch of Ricotta and it really wasn't that difficult. Basically after sterilising your pot, thermometer, spoons etc, you bring 2 litres of full fat milk up to 95C, then add a teaspoon of citric acid crystals dissolved in 1/4 cup of water and turn the heat off. The milk starts to curdle straightaway, you then leave it to cool for about 1 hour (I went to visit my mother in law!). You then separate the curds from the whey with a slotted spoon and put the curds in the little strainer provided. Let it stand for another hour to settle and Voila! Apparently the whey is very good for the plants in the garden, I hope mine liked it, they need all the help they can get!
http://www.lakeland.co.uk/18085/Mad-Millie-Italian-Cheese-Kit
This is how my cheese turned out.

My veg box included some broccoli and and the recipe cards that came in the box included one for broccoli, feta and walnut soup. I thought it sounded interesting so made it for supper. David's verdict was that it was "different", which means he wasn't sure but he emptied the bowl. I wasn't sure at first but it grew on me. I think if you can't find kosher feta cheese, then Chevingtons' Cheshire or Lancashire would also be good. Anyhow, here is the link to the recipe.
http://www.abelandcole.co.uk/recipes/broccoli-feta-and-walnut-soup
My soup looked like this!

I couldn't resist Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall's latest book, River Cottage Light and Easy.



 He promotes healthier eating by reducing the amount of wheat, dairy and meat that we eat. I have cut down drastically on red meat, we rarely eat it, but I am a big bread and cheese lover. The book is well written, beautifully illustrated with the kind of food photography that I can only aspire to, and I can't wait to get stuck in. I'm thinking of taking it to Israel with me, because the book is lavish with its' use of fresh fruit and veg and I want to be able to cook light there, to counteract the food that we eat out in restaurants. We do tend to eat out quite a lot in Jerusalem, there are so many fantastic places to try and our choices here in Manchester are rather limited. It still gives me a thrill to know that in Jerusalem I can just go out to eat pretty much wherever I want, I don't take it for granted at all, even eating a stir fry in the local Mall still excites me!

A Cull, A Box and A Lasagne

This morning I performed a major cull of the contents of one of my kitchen cupboards. It's a particularly difficult cupboard for me to get to, being at floor level and in a corner. It's the cupboard where I keep baking tins, accessories for my milky food processor, salad bowls, random Tupperware boxes and my fish griddle. Things had got into a tip because it's on the floor and I have to get down on my hands and knees and then virtually climb in to put things away...not good for my back at all! It had got to the point where I couldn't close the cupboard at all and I was ramming it shut because things kept falling out. I had had enough! So I plucked up courage, pulled everything out of the cupboard and then sat on the floor surrounded by stuff, totally overwhelmed and at the point of no return. I threw out all the skanky Tupperware boxes that had missing lids, or were covered in unspeakable things. I slung out the rusting cake tins and other dubious items, cleaned out the cupboard and put everything back. I filled a whole black refuse sack and sat back on my knees looking at my pristine cupboard and felt extremely virtuous. I wonder how long it will take before I'm ramming things in and forcing it closed again?

I received my first organic box today from Abel & Cole. I was tempted by their introductory offer which came through my letterbox and promised me a free 250 page cookery book with my first order.  I couldn't resist (because of my bad cookery book habit) and subscribed to a weekly box of organic fruit and veg delivered to my door every Wednesday, thinking that this may encourage me to use seasonal local items rather than refrigerated chill blasted veg from Kenya. I have to admit that the whole package was very attractive when it arrived. The box was wrapped in string, there was a welcome booklet, some recipe cards, and of course my free cookery book which looks really good. Its's divided into seasons and then describes various fruit and veg and how to cook them in original ways. There was a really good selection of fruit & veg in the box, including baby squash, courgettes and broccoli, as well as grapes, bananas and some really tasty apples. I think I'm going to make a batch of Bircher muesli with the apples and there was a really interesting broccoli soup recipe which I'm going to make tomorrow. 

I didn't cook tonight! Ethan offered to make a veggie lasagne and very tasty it was too. He is a really good cook with an excellent palate, knows instinctively how to combine flavours and is not afraid to experiment. He did have a slight anxious moment when he discovered that there wasn't enough milk to make a béchamel  sauce.  I found a pint in the freezer and proceeded to defrost it on full power in the microwave...two minutes in and the bottle exploded, leaving a milky mess in the microwave and a blob of iced milk left in the container. I have a history of exploding things in the microwave but that's another story for another day......

Ethan's Lasagne

Back in the Kitchen Again!

September 9th 2014- New Beginnings....and an Old Fruitcake

Today I finally got round to sorting out all my recipe books. I found a host of long lost treasures and am looking forward to getting into them again. Some of them I'm not so sure about but I just have't got the heart to get rid of them and so they will just be part of my ever growing collection. I confess that have a really bad recipe book habit, I blame Amazon!

Among the treasures I found were recipes that were written down by my mother on scraps of paper, recipe cards and the backs of some books that belonged to her. My mother passed away 32 years ago so they really are treasures. She was a very keen baker so there are lots of recipes for cakes and biscuits as well as some very retro ideas from the 60's and 70's. I would really like to get them into some kind of order...another project to add to my list.

My other passion is photography, and thankfully food and photography are a match made in heaven, so I would like to use this blog as a springboard to developing and growing my skills, both as a cook and a photographer.

I called this blog Back in the Kitchen because I started it 5 years ago after I had surgery on my back and hadn't cooked for 6 months prior to the operation. The blog marked my return to good health and to the kitchen again.

Five years on and I am fortunate enough to have two kitchens, one here in Manchester and one in my apartment in Jerusalem.  So this blog will record my food adventures both here and there, hopefully reflecting the differences in styles and the impact of much more seasonal cooking in Israel on my repertoire.

I am looking forward to re-starting this venture again and hopefully keeping it going this time.

Today I decided to bake a fruit cake, something my mother always did when it was coming up to Rosh Hashana, she made it the rest of the year too, but I always remember long days of baking in her kitchen before the festival. My father was always very partial to her fruitcake, which was particularly light, not like a heavy English fruit cake at all. I have combed my old recipes but alas can't find the fruit cake but I did find something very similar in an old cookery book of Mum's. Alas the book has no name because both the front and back cover have come off, the pages are yellowing and my guess is that the book dates from the early 60's because I remember Mum using it when I was a little girl.

The recipe is very simple and I am copying it as I found it in the book.

LIGHT FRUIT CAKE

6oz margarine (I used Tomor soft )
6 oz sugar ( I used golden caster)
4 eggs (I used large)
9oz flour (I used white self raising)
1/2lb mixed dried fruit
I also added 1 tsp vanilla essence

Cream margarine and sugar well. Add eggs and flour gradually. Add fruit last. If a little stiff, a drop of milk can be added. Bake in oven for about 3/4 hr. Reg No 4 (which I calculated to be 350 F or about 180 C)
Mrs F Casket

I remember Mum showing me how to add the eggs, one at a time, with the mixer on slow at first then fast, adding a couple of spoons of flour in between each egg, to stop the mixture from curdling. I used a round cake tin, which I greased and then lined with baking paper.

GOLDEN BUTTONS

When I was learning to cook, the doyenne of  Anglo Jewish cuisine was Evelyn Rose. Most households had at least one of her compendiums on the bookshelf. Her magnum opus, The Complete International Jewish Cookbook has literally fallen to pieces in my house. Yet another of Mums' cookbooks, it was where she looked to add sophistication to her repertoire, egged on by me. In the baking section of the book there is a delightful selection of biscuit recipes. They work like a dream, my only criticism is that the recipes make a lot less than stated, so where she says a recipe makes 30 biscuits, reckon on 20, unless you like tiny bite-size morsels. If you need more, just double up the recipe. I made a batch of Golden Buttons this afternoon and they are delicious with a cup of tea. Please don't be tempted to make them with margarine, unless you are vegan, they really need the butter to work properly.

3oz (75g,3/4 cup) self raising flour
3oz (75g,1/2 cup) caster (superfine) sugar
3oz (75g, 1 cup) porridge oats
3oz (75g, 6tbsp) unsalted butter
1 level tbsp golden ( corn) syrup
1tbsp milk with 1/2 level teasp bicarbonate of soda ( baking soda)

Put flour and oats into bowl. Bring sugar, butter and syrup slowly to bubbling point, stirring all the time to dissolve the sugar. Immediately add the bicarbonate of soda and milk, then onto the dry ingredients. Leave for 10 minutes. Roll into 3/4in (11/2 cm) balls and arrange well apart on greased trays. Bake in moderate oven ( Gas No 5, 375F, 190C) for 10-12 minutes or golden brown.

 The Complete International Jewish Cookbook by Evelyn Rose