A Kabbalah of Food Shabbat Recipes
Yummy Pesto Butter
At our home, we love hot challah, so before Shabbat, we wrap 80 per- cent of our challah with foil and place it in the oven to warm it thoroughly for the meal. A spread of pesto butter complements the warm challah beautifully. It’s divine!
Although pesto is traditionally made with pine nuts, I use slivered almonds because they are less expensive and more readily available.
Ingredients
1 cup basil (about 20 leaves) 1⁄4 cup olive oil
1⁄3 cup slivered almonds
3 cloves garlic
1⁄2 stick margarine or butter 1 teaspoon pepper
1 tablespoon salt
Procedure
In a food processor, add all of the ingredients except the oil, blending each one slowly until the mixture reaches a pasty, spreadable consistency. Add the oil last, pouring in very slowly.
If using for a meal at which meat will be served, substitute margarine for butter as per kosher law so as not to mix meat and milk together.
Beet and Arugula Salad
When it comes to salads, I am a minimalist. I do not like heavy dressing because I like the ingredients to stand out on their own. Less is more. I love this salad especially because I grow these ingredients in my garden.
Serves 6
Ingredients
10 oz. baby spinach
10 oz. arugula
1 small red beet
1 small yellow beet, sliced 1⁄2 red onion
1 tablespoon grated ginger
Dressing
2 tablespoons honey
1⁄3 cup sesame oil or extra virgin olive oil
1⁄3 cup fresh lime juice
1⁄2 teaspoon salt
1⁄4 teaspoon pepper, freshly ground
Procedure
Boil fresh beets in water until tender. Do not use canned beets, which have high levels of sodium and are pre-seasoned.
Once the beets are cooked and drained, peel and slice them. Combine them with the rest of the ingredients.
Mix the dressing in a separate bowl. Add the dressing to the salad and
toss until incorporated.
Moroccan Salmon
Since the destruction of the first temple in Jerusalem by the Babylonians, about 2,500 years ago, the Jewish people have been displaced and living in a diaspora. Many were dispersed throughout the Middle East and Morocco, housing the largest Jewish population in the Muslim world. At its peak, the Moroccan Jewish community numbered between 250,000 and 350,000.
However, since 1948, when the State of Israel was created, many Jews have left Morocco for Israel, and by 2017 the Moroccan Jewish community numbered at less than 3,000. The Jews who live in Morocco today practice their religion in a free and open way because the current Moroccan king, Mohammed VI, is friendly toward them; however, Moroccan Jews also maintain a quiet presence because many of their neighbors do not support the State of Israel.
This salmon recipe is typically served in Moroccan Jewish homes for Shabbat dinner. Of course, each safta (bubbe) has her own way of making it; this is my safta’s recipe.
Serves 6 to 8
Ingredients
Marinade
1⁄2 cup oil
2 tablespoons paprika
1⁄4 bunch parsley, chopped
1 tablespoon salt
1 teaspoon pepper, freshly ground 1 teaspoon garlic powder
1⁄2 teaspoon crushed red pepper
1 tomato, grated
5 fillets of salmon
Sauté
1 tablespoon frying oil
1 onion
3 red peppers, chopped
1⁄2 jalapeño pepper, sliced into thin
circles
3 cloves of garlic, sliced 1 teaspoon salt
1 tablespoon paprika
Finishing
1 tablespoon lemon juice
1⁄4 bunch parsley, chopped
1 small can (about 6 oz.) or 1⁄2 large can
(about 12 oz.) of chickpeas, drained
Marinate the salmon fillets in a bowl with the oil, paprika, parsley, salt, pepper, garlic powder, crushed red pepper, and grated tomatoes for 30 minutes.
Heat the oil over medium heat and sauté the onion until translucent. Add the peppers; after three minutes of sautéing, add the garlic, salt, and paprika and cook until the peppers are tender.
Add the marinated salmon to the pan and cook for 10 minutes.
Add the lemon juice, the rest of the parsley, and the chickpeas.
Simmer, covered, on low heat for 20 minutes. Serve hot.
Fruit Blintzes
Blintzes, an old favorite of mine, are made of light, crepe-like dough. A good blintz should have a tasty filling. Here is the Chanukah blintz recipe that I find most flavorful.
Yields 8 to 10 blintzes
Ingredients
1 tablespoon maple syrup
1 cup blueberries
4 oz. goat cheese
8 oz. plain Greek yogurt or sour cream
2 tablespoons brown sugar
1 package regular crepe dough
3 tablespoons oil for frying
Procedure
Mash the blueberries, cheese, yogurt or sour cream, brown sugar, and maple syrup together with a fork; strain the filling with a fine mesh strainer.
Heat oil for frying in a pan.
Fill each crepe with two tablespoons of filling and wrap like an egg roll. Cook in oil until golden brown.
