The topping is optional but I wouldn’t skip it unless you are on a very strict diet. You can also spread chocolate on the top or lay cookie crumbs on the bottom for a crust.

Ingredients:

2 eggs

500 gr. white cheese (1/2% or 5%). If you can get the kind for baking, go for it (gevina levana le-afiyah). I am not sure what a good substitute would be outside of Israel–perhaps smooth ricotta.

1 container (150-200 ml.) 8%, low-fat shamenet (cream). I think it is the equivalent of half-and-half. (Note: We only found 15% in the store we went to.)

3/4 c. sugar

4 tablespoons flour

1 packet of vanilla sugar or a teaspoon of vanilla extract

1/2 teaspoon lemon juice

Mix all the ingredients and pour into a glass or ceramic quiche dish (23-27 cm.). You can use another shaped dish, but if the cake is too thick it will take longer to set.

Cook on high for 5 minutes, or until the cake is set in the middle.

Optional topping:

In the meantime, mix 2-3 more containers of the 8% shamenet or half-and-half with 3-4 tablespoons of sugar. You can use the same bowl. When the cake is baked spread the sweetened cream over the cake and heat on high for another two minutes.

Our Shiputzim offers another cheesecake recipe.

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Cream thoroughly:

6 tbps. butter

1 c. sugar

Add and beat:

2 eggs

Stir in, then beat well:

1 cup sourdough starter (don’t forget to feed your leftover starter)

3/4 c. milk

3 oz. melted semisweet chocolate

1 teaspoon vanilla

Sift together:

1-3/4 c. sifted all-purpose flour (as always, I use 90% whole wheat)

1 tsp. baking soda

1/2 tsp salt

Fold the flour mixture into the batter and stir until smooth. Pour into greased pans and bake about 40 minutes for one nine-inch (27 cm) square pan or 25 minutes for two 8-inch (24 cm) round pans.  Sprinkle sifted powdered sugar over the cake, if desired.

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Last year I made a sourdough starter. I managed to keep it alive over the course of the year and used it up just before Passover.

Most of use purchased, commercial yeast for baking. But we all have yeast available in our homes, for free. The challenge lies in incorporating the yeast living in the air into a starter, which is simply a base of flour and water. Last year I used commercial yeast to make the starter. This year I am starting from scratch. A group of us are doing it together on Twitter.

I use sourdough starter in both fast and slow recipes:

Fast—Sourdough pancakes, muffins or quickbreads. These are infinitely superior to standard recipes. You add some of your starter to the wet ingredients, mix in the dry ingredients, and bake or fry as usual. I even made a dairy chocolate sourdough cake.

Slow—Sourdough breads. Sourdough takes longer to rise than doughs made with commercial yeasts, but it is also more flexible as an extra hour or two generally doesn’t make a difference. Baking with sourdough, like baking with commercial yeast, takes practice. But the results for me were worth the experimentation.

To make sourdough starter, choose a week when you will be home fairly often. It takes some care to get started, but once ripe you only need to freshen it every week or two.

Ingredients for new sourdough starter:

Flour and water. I’m using 90% whole wheat. You will need several cups of flour by the time you are finished, and more when you begin baking in a week or so.

Instructions:

Mix a half-cup each of flour and water in a glass, plastic or ceramic bowl or jar, using a non-metal spoon. Cover loosely to keep out bugs and dirt, but let in air. This mixture will become your starter. Stir at least once a day. After a couple of days you will see bubbles forming. How long this takes depends on your climate and the amount of yeast spores floating around your kitchen.

Once bubbles form, feed it. Pour off the layer of liquid from the top and throw out about half of the remaining mixture. Add another half cup or so each of water and flour. The exact quantity isn’t so important, but use equal proportions of flour and water and keep the consistency fairly thick. Most recipes call for a half cup to a cup of starter. Since you can always feed the starter to make more, a cup or two on hand is all you need at any given time.

The reason for throwing out part of the starter is to get a higher proportion of fresh flour to the original. Once your starter is ripe you will use one part for the recipe, and add fresh flour and water to the rest to keep it going.

Feed the starter once or twice a day until ripe. Starter is ripe when very bubbly and covered with a thick froth. At that point you can begin baking. Making the starter takes about a week from start to finish, depending on your kitchen’s conditions.

Every time you use the starter you will take some off for your recipe (or throw it out if you are not baking) and add enough flour and water to the original to replace what you used. Wash or switch the container every few weeks. Let the starter sit out until frothy, then put it back in the refrigerator. If you forget to maintain the starter, it will take more time to become active again. Once my starter spoiled and Mimi coached me on how to fix it.

Quick review:

1. Mix flour and water.
2. Stir regularly until bubbles form (one to three days).
3. To feed the ripening starter, dump half and add fresh flour and water.
4. Feed once or twice a day until a thick froth appears on top (another three to six days). Now it is ripe and read for baking.
5. Use it, but keep some back. Feed the original starter and let it sit out until frothy. Then return it to the refrigerator until next time, or keep it out if you are using it within the next few days.

Sourdough recipes from Mimi’s Kitchen:

Onion Sourdough Bread

Oatmeal Sourdough Bread Once I perfected this, I never looked back.

This page has a bunch of recipes. I’ve only made the muffins, and they are terrific.

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anything kosher!

A Simple Jew presents Tayvos Achila & Achila D’Kedusha posted at A Simple Jew. This is an interesting discussion of practical tips to avoid overeating.

muse presents Down, Down, Up! posted at me-ander, saying, “It’s about kosher kitchen planning. Plan with Pesach in mind.”

A Mother in Israel blogs wonders whether Pesach leads to wasting food.

desserts

RaggedyMom presents Pesach Chocolate Chip Bars posted at RaggedyMom. She makes Pesach for the first time and is already sharing recipes.

diet food

More dieting ideas from Batya, who presents Dieting On Passover, No Problem posted at me-ander.

Every day meals

Since we’re ready for some leavened food, Ilana-Davita presents Vegetable Lasagna posted at Ilana-Davita.

Mimi presents Eggplant and Techinah « Israeli Kitchen posted at Israeli Kitchen. Browse her blog for more recipes for Passover and the rest of the year.

Annette Berlin is back, presenting Crustless Broccoli and Cauliflower Quiche posted at Craft Stew, saying, “I invented this pie during Pesach, but it’s so good and easy, we will be eating it all year long.”

mominisrael presents Chicken with Black Olives and Tomatoes posted at A Mother in Israel. Good hot or cold, for Passover and year-round.

Passover

Passover is over, but it’s never too soon to start thinking about next year.

muse presents Home For Pesach (Passover) posted at Shiloh Musings.

Mrs. S. presents Important questions posted at Our Shiputzim: A Work In Progress, saying, “Notwithstanding the title, this post is really a recipe for a non-gebrochts broccoli kugel.”

muse presents Shopping For Passover posted at me-ander.

Ilana-Davita presents Israeli Potato Salad posted at Ilana-Davita, saying, “Fine during Pesach.”

Leora Wenger presents Recipes for Pesach posted at Here in HP.

G6 presents Strawberry Fluff – The Recipe and the Ritual… posted at Guess Who’s Coming To Dinner.

muse presents Passover Cooking and a Present posted at me-ander, saying, “You can tell people to a-file it away for next year b-cook it with left-over matzah It’s always good.”

Ben-Yehudah presents Jealous? posted at Esser Agaroth. Here he brags about the inexpensive kosher for Passover products available in Israel that cost a fortune elsewhere.

Elisson presents POPEYE PIE posted at Blog d’Elisson.

Ookami presents fish, chicken and cholent recipes at Pesach Cooking 2009 posted at Insanity now, serenity later. See his comments here for more ideas.

Jessica Bernstein presents A peek Into My Kitchen: Rafi’s Matzah Brie and A peek Into My Kitchen: Nut-Free Charoset posted at peek a blog.

Leora Wenger managed to get Stuffed Squash for Pesach with bits of Matza and Mushroom posted at Here in HP.

Shira Abel of Tchochkes presents Cauliflower Quiche.

Ilana-Davita reviews two recipes, including my chicken with tomatoes and olives above and a cooky recipe by Mimi.

A Simple Jew presents A Subconscious Complaint about matzah posted at A Simple Jew.

Restaurant or Cookbook Reviews

Yisrael Medad presents Hungry Jerusalemites line up for a taste of Grandma’s cooking – Haaretz – Israel News posted at My Right Word, saying, “seems like it’s a cook-out in Machaneh Yehuda.”

That concludes this edition. Submit your blog article to the next edition of kosher cooking carnival using our carnival submission form. Past posts and future hosts can be found on our blog carnival index page. Please help publicize KCC by linking to this post on your own blog.

Next month’s issue will be hosted by Gillian of Food History.

Technorati tags: kosher cooking carnival, blog carnival.

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Chicken with Black Olives and Tomatoes

Ingredients:
1 cut-up chicken
Flour, or potato flour for Passover
1 tbsp. oil
One sliced onion
3/4 can tomatoes
3/4 can black olives
3 cloves of garlic
Black pepper

Method:

1. Saute the onions in the oil, and remove them to a plate.
2. Coat the chicken pieces with flour and brown in oil on both sides. For Pesach I’ve substituted potato starch, but this year I left out that step entirely. Let me know if it works with matza meal.
3. Add the garlic, sauteed onions, tomatoes, olives, and black pepper to taste.
4. Bring to a boil, cover, and cook for another 45 minutes. Check for doneness.

I served this Friday night. In the morning, we spooned the sauce on cold turkey breast. The recipe is forgiving in terms of quantities of tomatoes and olives, but the more olives the better.

The Kosher Cooking Carnival will appear here on April 22. Click to submit a post.

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Material Meidel hosts this month’s Kosher Cooking Carnival at the blog Kosher Cuisine.  I’ll be hosting the next one (after Pesach!) so post your recipes and send them on over.

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I am enjoying Mimi’s challenge of cooking with whatever she has in the house. As food manager of a large family I have had to learn to keep well-stocked, but when I run low I try not to run across the street. We shop at a large grocery every three weeks or so, the shuk for produce once a week, and daily at the makolet (corner store) for bread and milk . I’ve talked with my husband about buying produce once in two weeks, but he fears we don’t have enough room.

We are enjoying the variety of inexpensive vegetables post-shmitah and I had put up a couple of batches of marinara sauce. I don’t know why fresh tomatoes are so cheap while canned tomato products shrunk in size and grew in cost.  Last time I bought fresh chickens I cut off and cooked the white meat and saved the broth for soup, since most of the family prefers dark meat.

We usually eat Shabbat leftovers on Sunday and dairy the rest of the week, creating a problem when there is meaty food left over after Sunday. Sometimes I freeze it to add to soup or combine with other leftovers for a day I don’t feel like cooking.

This week I solved the problem by adding leftovers to a meat meal I prepared Tuesday.  I chopped a large mushroom and some vegetables that never made it onto last night’s pizza.  Then I added chicken breast cut in bite-sized pieces, marinara sauce, the last few tablespoons of cholent, two pieces of leftover cooked potato with the cooking water and voila, chicken casserole, served on top of plain rice.  I would have added the roasted vegetables I’ve been making since Abbi mentioned it here, but some family members would have rejected the dish had they found bits of beet or turnip. So I served those separately.

Related posts:

The Day is Short and The Work is Great: Easy Shabbat Preparations

What’s There to Eat? Saving Time in the Kitchen

Rosh Hashanah Menus and Meatball Recipe

What’s for Dinner?

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Committee chairman MK Ophir Pines-Paz acknowledged that “the crisis is severe, but there is no sense of crisis and no one is behaving as if it were a crisis. We expect the government to adopt a determined, aggressive police of enforcement and punishment, including criminal charges [against violators of water restriction regulations].”

Most water is used for industry and agriculture, but homeowners are not being taught or encouraged to save water except for a few ineffective ads that seem to have gone off the air. As for the weather, we keep getting predictions of several rainy days. Then we end up with a few minutes of precipitation and a revised, arid prediction.

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Method: Chop the garlic and parsley in a dry food processor until fine. Add the other ingredients, keeping back some water until the mixture is the right texture. Most people prefer it slightly runny. Keep in mind that it congeals some in the refrigerator. Taste and adjust seasoning if necessary. If you use bottled lemon juice, the preservatives will help the techina keep longer (I’m not recommending this, I’m just saying.)
When serving, put enough for one meal in a separate bowl and don’t return the leftover dressing to the original batch.

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Oleh Girl Yael has an electricity-challenged apartment, and her only reliable cooking appliance is her microwave. I dedicate this post to her.

Almost any food can be cooked in the microwave, once you learn the techniques.

I’m not an engineer so forgive me if my explanation of how the microwave works is not technically accurate. It’s meant for the beginning home cook.

Microwaves work by radiating microwave energy into food. Microwave energy only heats up the moisture in the food, so dried foods may burn or explode. (I tried microwaving dried apricots once.) The waves pass through glass, ceramic, plastic and paper so these materials do not get hot, except via the food. Metal, however, deflects microwaves. You can keep one metal spoon in your food without causing damage, but not two, and I have read about a judicial use of foil.

Because microwaves only heat moisture they are more efficient than conventional ovens, which heat up everything in the vicinity. As the food cooks, the utensil and microwave get warm and even hot. But most of your precious energy dollars/shekalim go right into the food.

Microwaves heat food from the outside in, and it can take a while for the heat to penetrate. Food should be cooked in shallow utensils or stirred frequently. If there is no rotating turntable, food must be turned manually. Foods such as chicken parts must be turned from top to bottom and moved from the edge of the pan to the center and vice versa. Individual items like potatoes or cookies should be arranged in a circle.

Microwave power setting options are delineated in percents or High-Medium-Low. But the microwave really only has two settings, off and on. If you choose the highest power setting, High or 100%, the microwaves penetrate the food continuously. If your microwave has 1000 watts of power, you will be using all of those watts for the entire cooking time.

Microwaves using higher wattage cook food faster, but those with lower wattage work equally well. Whatever the wattage or setting, check to make sure food is cooked through. This applies to conventional methods of cooking as well.

If you choose the 80% setting, the microwave operates for 80% of the time and pauses for 20%. The food cooks more slowly and gently, because microwaved food continues to cook even when the microwaves have stopped waving. But I never use any setting other than High. If the food is delicate, like eggs, I check frequently and take the food out just before the egg is solid. In general food needs to be removed when it is slightly underdone, or it will overcook. Eggs will get rubbery.

I prefer a slow defrost in the refrigerator to the microwave, which warms up food as it defrosts. This attracts bacteria, so microwave-defrosted food must be cooked immediately. And why turn on an additional appliance? Defrosting the food in the fridge keeps the refrigerated food cold and saves on your electric bill.

Yael wanted some recipes, but they will have to wait until after Yom Tov (bli neder; I know I’ve been bad about promised posts). You can cook all manners of vegetables, meat, eggs, fish, legumes and grains in the microwave. You can even bake some items, especially if they are moist. You do need to acquire non-metal utensils that fit (and rotate) in your microwave. Chances are you already have glass bowls and tableware that are microwave-safe. When shopping, choose utensils that are safe for both microwave and conventional ovens.
Follow-up post with recipes

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