Category: Shabbos

Liliane’s Dafina

Ever since I had dafina at the home of Moshe and Titi Haliwa in Marrakesh a few months ago, I’ve been dreaming about it. Unlike bean-heavy Ashkenazi cholent, dafina is a Morrocan stew that’s loaded with meat, bones, chickpeas, rice, wheat berries, potatoes and eggs! I love that the components are cooked separately in little packets and that there’s something for everyone in this loaded overnight stew.

A little while ago, I attempted to make dafina but it was an absolute fail! It was tasteless and watery, and the delicious kishke stuffing that Titi had made with ground beef, bread crumbs and ground almonds came out like dry cardboard. I rarely fail so badly at recipes, but I knew I needed a real Moroccan grandma to teach me the ropes! Luckily, Brigitte Dayan, a longtime follower, invited me to join her mom and sisters one Friday afternoon to learn to make dafina together! They put out an amazing spread of some of Liliane’s homemade Moroccan pastries, and we got to work making dafina and boulettes – the most delicious Moroccan meatballs (recipe coming soon)

Of course Moroccan grandmothers never measure, so I was so grateful that Liliane took the time to roughly measure the ingredients with me. It was so clear to me how much love she puts into her dishes, and she even got all dolled up to cook together! Liliane told me all about her life growing up in Morocco, and how she once hosted the prince for a Shabbos meal! She shared how everyone in town would bring their dafina pot on Friday’s to be cooked in one central area, and then they would pick them up on Shabbat afternoon, or have a local muslim deliver it. Sometimes you would get the wrong pot (her mom put a special sign on the handle)! Liliane’s recipe is very savory, while the one Titi had made was more on the sweet side (she adds dried dates) but feel free to play around and make it your own!

Does your family have a secret dafina ingredient? Share it in the comments below!

Thank you so much to the Dayan family for welcoming me in your home to cook dafina together! I had a blast!

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Instant Pot Barbacoa Beef

This week, my foodie friends and I decided to throw a dumpling party, where each attendee contributed another dumpling from around the world! You can watch a roundup here! I decided to go with tamales since I’ve always wanted to learn to make them the authentic way. First, I researched barbacoa recipes for the tamale filling (which you can also fill with beans, pulled chicken, cheese or veggies).

Barbacoa is actually the Spanish word for barbecue. It generally refers to meats over an open fire, but in Mexico, barbacoa evolved into a specific cooking style in which meat is slowly cooked in a pit dug into the ground, which is covered with agave leaves. Cooking the meat sealed in a pit steams the meat by sealing in the moisture while also imparting it with smoky flavor. Home cooks adapted barbacoa to the kitchen and converted it into braised beef, which works well in the Instant Pot or crockpot.

Barbacoa is typically made out of tougher cuts of meat, goat or lamb that require long, slow cooking times. Chuck roast, brisket and beef cheeks are common, but I used deckel because it’s a budget friendly with good marbeling. While tough, the meat breaks down into tender pulled beef in the Instant Pot.

The tamales were a huge hit at the party (full recipe coming soon), and I used my leftover meat to make pulled beef tacos for dinner the next night. I love that this recipe is spicy, savory and full of flavor, different from the sweet pulled beef I’m used to eating. Give it a try!

 


Related Recipes:

Blogoversary BBQ Brisket
easiest crockpot pulled beef
skirt steak tacos

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Simanim Plov

I’ve been working on so many recipes for #yeswecanchag initiative including this sheet pan chicken and tzimmes, this 6-spice Moroccan stoup, and this Israeli couscous with beef.  My fellow bloggers and I also got together and created THIS MENU of bonus budget-friendly recipes! I hope these recipes help you scale down your cooking this Chag while still bringing showstopping dishes to the table!

A few weeks ago, I traveled to Denver, Colorado to host a cheese-board-building demonstration at The Jewish Experience 20th annual wine & cheese event. The event was set up beautifully, and they even served my Mile High S’mores Pie in the Mile High City to celebrate, how fun?!

Since the demonstration was late in the week, I stayed in Denver for Shabbos at the home of Rabbi & Mrs. Zeldy Engel of Chabad Cherry Creek. Zeldy was so warm and welcoming, and she happily took me around the neighborhood hot spots, even driving out to Red Rocks for a breathtaking and scenic view of the mountains.

Zeldy prepared many of my cookbook recipes from her well-worn copy of Millennial Kosher and her sister’s recipe for Moroccan fish that smelled like actual heaven. But the star of the Friday night meal was PLOV. Zeldy hosted two Bucharian sisters, Aliza and Sharona, who came over earlier in the day to prepare this labor-intensive dish. By Friday night, the smell was intoxicating, and the huge pot was painstakingly transferred onto a huge round platter in middle of the table. Not only was the dish beautiful, it’s flavor was absolutely mindblowing – savory, spicy, with a hint of sweetness from the carrots and heat from the jalapenos. As I was eating it, my mind started wandering in a million directions on how I could “trash it up” (as I like to say!) and put my own spin on it. Wish Rosh Hashanah approaching, I thought it would be a great idea to incorporate some of the simanim, or symoblic foods that we eat on Rosh Hashanah, so I replaced the onions with leeks, and the jalapenos with apples, and finished it off with pomegranate seeds for a colorful one-pot-meal worthy of your holiday table. Yes. We. Can. Chag!

Related Recipes:

hummus simanim
simanim fritto misto
simanim pasta
simanim holiday salad

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#YesWeCanChag Yom Tov on a Budget!

Times are tough. With rising food costs and growing expenses, shopping and preparing for countless meals and guests for the holidays is more difficult than ever. I’m on a mission to help! Together, with some pre-planning, smart thinking and budgeting, YES. WE. CAN. CHAG. L’chaim!

I started the hashtag #YesWeCanChag over on Instagram as a community initiative to help us all create delicious and holiday-worthy dishes this Chag on a budget. I believe that the High Holidays should be a time of reflection, introspection, joy and love. They shouldn’t have to be a time of stress – and it all starts with perspective. Why are we here? We’re here to bring our family and friends around the table to celebrate our traditions and heritage. It doesn’t matter what we serve, so much as how we serve it. Set a beautiful table. Set a beautiful tone (relax!). Make everyone comfortable. The food is secondary. Yes. You read that right.

So, realistically, how can one budget when there is meal after meal, night after night?

For starters, my fellow bloggers and I have put together a menu of budget-friendly recipes which you can download here!

sushi nachos, Millennial Kosher, page 68

COMPOSE A BALANCED MENU

First things first, do away with the 3-4 course meals. No one can eat that much. It’s costly. It’s hard on the cook….There are so many reasons to scale back. Instead of a three course dinner with fish, multiple salads and dips, assorted proteins and sides and then dessert, serve a balanced meal without the fuss. To do this, imagine you’re in a restaurant – you order an appetizer – one or two at most, and then your main, which comes with a protein and two sides – then dessert. This is how you serve! So lets plan a holiday meal:

APPETIZER (choose 1-2): salad, assorted dips, hummus with toppings, sushi/tartare/crudo, nachos, tacos

ENTREE (choose 1 main, 1 starch and 1 vegetable or 1 main, 2 vegetables) : main (fish, chicken, meat), starch (rice, pasta, potatoes, couscous, farro), vegetable (cauliflower, asparagus, green beans, brussels sprouts, salad)

DESSERT: (choose 1) mousse, cake, cookies, fruit, sorbet, ice cream

fall harvest roast, Millennial Kosher, page 182

CHOOSE BUDGET FRIENDLY CUTS OF MEAT

Instead of following a recipe for a specific cut of meat, shop what’s on sale. Many cuts are interchangeable! The important thing to understand about how to cook meat is whether you DRY ROAST or BRAISE it. Tough cuts of meat require low and slow cooking in a braising liquid to help tenderize the meat, until it’s soft and falls apart. More tender cuts are cooked at high temperatures for a shorter period of time to firm up the muscles fibers. They’re usually served rare or medium rare, with a pink interior and a chewy texture. Therefore, if you are following a recipe for a braised brisket, but brisket is $21.99/lb., you can substitute a chuck eye roast at $15.99/lb. for any braised recipe. When it comes to braised meat – the simple rule to follow is that it’s ready when it’s fork tender – so put your fork in it and if it feels soft as butter, then it’s ready! If it’s still tough, keep cooking it for another hour, and check again. If you’re a meat novice, you’re definitely safer going with a braising cut, whereas dry roasted meat need more precision so as not to overcook (and a meat thermometer is recommended). It’s hard to overcook braised beef – 325 degrees for 3 hours is a good rule of thumb for a 3 lb. roast. Tougher cuts like 2nd cut brisket can sometimes use an additional hour or two.

Read my Guide to Purchasing and Preparing Kosher Meat for more information about different cuts of kosher meat. If you are unsure, ask your butcher if it’s a “braising” or “dry-roasting” cut.

Another great way to make the most of cheaper cuts of meat is to cook it in an instant pot/pressure cooker or to cook it sous vide – which tenderizes cheaper cuts.

Aside for purchasing budget friendly cuts, you can also get more bang for your buck by braising meat until pull-apart tender and then serving it in tacos, on a flatbread, or over nachos to stretch a small roast to serve many!

Additionally, you can get creative with the most budget-friendly cut – ground beef – and turn it into a festive appetizer or entrée. Some holiday-worthy ideas include: meatballs, single-serve empanadas or meat knishes with a mushroom sauce, spaghetti Bolognese, stuffed cabbage, shepherd’s pie, kofta kebabs, beef flatbread, moussaka.

sukkah onigiri

THINK OUTSIDE THE BOX (OR BARN!)

You don’t need to make meat the star of every meal! Consider serving a dairy meal with shakshuka, frittata, quiche and a cheese board or serve a classic chicken paprikash with dumplings! You can do falafel or sushi in the sukkah. Themed meals are super fun over the course of the holiday.

ramen bowls, Millennial Kosher, page 182

MAKE IT A ONE-DISH-MEAL

With so many holiday meals, you don’t have to be so formal. Consider a one-dish-meal one night in the sukkah – like build your own ramen bowls (you can even use leftovers here!),  Yemenite chicken soup with freshly warmed pita, some schug and hummus, Unstuffed cabbage with little meatballs or a hearty mushroom barley soup.

leftover chicken soup pot pie

REPURPOSE YOUR LEFTOVERS

With meal after meal during the Chagim, waste not! use leftovers to your advantage. Here are some ideas:

•leftover roast can become: nachos, tacos, bourekas, pulled beef pizza/flatbread, shepherd’s pie, pulled beef sandwiches, eggrolls, wontons

•leftover chicken can become: chicken pot pie, chicken tortilla soup, chicken tacos, ramen bowls, chicken Caesar salad, Pad Thai, chicken wraps

•leftover fish can become: sushi salad, fish patties, fish tacos, fish nachos, salmon pasta salad, summer rolls

•leftover rice can become: fried rice, rice pancakes, arancini, risotto, tomato rice soup, bibimbap

•leftover pasta can become: pasta salad, kugel, minestrone soup, Asian noodles
•leftover mashed potatoes can become: shepherd’s pie, bourekas, gnocchi

USE THIS NOT THAT

Remember that recipes are just guidelines, you don’t need to follow them to a T (unless you’re baking, then it’s another story!). Substitute cheaper ingredients when you can. For instance, instead of getting sushi grade tuna for sushi salad, consider using kani (mock crab sticks). Use barley instead of farro or apples instead of figs and sliced almonds instead of pine nuts.

SHOP ON SALE

Be flexible with your menu and buy what’s on special. Most types of white fish are interchangeable in recipes, and as mentioned above, you can substitute many cuts of meat in a recipe as well.

drunken figs

BUY SEASONAL PRODUCE

Seasonal produce is cheaper because it’s abundant and more local  (when produce is out of season, they need to ship it in from tropical climates, making it more expensive).

HOST A POTLUCK

Invite over some neighbors or friends and have them bring a dish or two! Everybody wins!

Got more ideas for cooking Yom Tov on a budget? Comment with them below!

Shaved Brussels Sprout Salad

Gosh, it has been FOREVER. I almost feel like opening with a HELLO WORLD post, like I did in my very first blog post ever. Does anyone even blog anymore?

Well, in an Instagram poll recently, it turns out that people don’t go to blogs as much, although quite a number of you mentioned that you do, indeed, visit the blog, for all the oldiebutgoodies and just to search for recipes with ingredients you have on hand.


Also, the holidays. So many of you visit on the holidays. THANK YOU!!

Speaking of holidays, I hope you had a wonderful one all around. I did not manage to get over here with a Chanukah post. I even missed my 10 year blogoversary. That was a big one. LIFE. It’s hectic these days.

In case you haven’t heard, I was busy wrapping up the manuscript for book #2, so things have been hectic over here. Lots and lots of recipe testing, but sadly none that I can share. It’s been stressful, and taxing, but OH. SO. DELICIOUS. I cannot wait till you all get to cook from it! March 2023 baby!!

In the meantime, I’ve been on a salad kick. Actually more of a SELF CARE kick. My salad making has been more about NOURISHING than feeding myself and the results have been so worthwhile.

And now I get to share the amazing results with you because this salad is everything you want in one: SWEET, SALTY, TANGY, SPICY AND SMOKY!!! Can I get an amen???? Pass the brussels sprouts!

 

Related Recipes:

kale crunch salad
holiday salad
waldorf salad

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