Shabbat

On Friday we had Shabbat and had a friend over to dinner. Lili did such a great job of planning and helping create a wonderful Shabbat. We had roast chicken. You can find the recipe in one of my previous posts. We cooked two so that I could use the leftovers from one this week.




I roasted aspargus and made an orzo side dish.

Orzo with artichoke hearts and black olives.

Bring 5 quarts of water to a boil and add one box of orzo. It's the 1 lb. box. Cook until the pasta is firm, but not mushy. Drain, rinse with cold water so it doesn't stick together, dress it with some olive oil, and set it aside.

In 2 tbs. of olive saute 1 chopped onion, 1 small can of chopped black olives, I used kalamata olives and chopped them, they were good. Also add 6 diced artichoke hearts that are packed in water. Saute until the onion is translucent and then add the orzo. Cook until the orzo is hot and then top with grated pecorino romano or parmesan cheese.

Easy, and yummy.

Now, Lili is a big fan of lemon bars so she and I went to the food network website and found a recipe from Ina Garten for lemon bars. Check it out at www.foodnetwork.com.




Of course, it was challah day because it was Shabbat.

Refrigerator Soup

Thursday Rob went to Wendover and I ordered a pizza. I just didn't have any energy, so a great veggie pizza from the Blind Onion was in order. Montse and I shared, she got the crust and we had a great evening.

On Friday we had Shabbat supper with the Jewish Community. It was a very small supper this time. Only three families. Pam brought salmon with sun dried tomatoes and basil on a bed of citrus. Barb and Herb brought salad and apricot pie for dessert. I made challah (duh!, I always make challah.) and a rice dish that I got from the November 2009 issue of The Food Network Magazine. This rice dish is so easy and so great. I doubled the recipe because I was feeding eight and not our.

You need two cups of cooked rice.
1/2 cup sour cream
1 cup cheddar cheese
1 cup chopped scallions
1 4 oz can of diced green chilies
Parmesan cheese
salt and pepper
and cayenne pepper or smoky paprika.

Spray with nonstick cooking spray or olive oil the bottom of a small casserole dish. Take about 1/4 cup of Parmesan cheese and sprinkle it in the pan, then in a bowl mix together the rice, sour cream (I used plain yogurt), the cheddar cheese and the scallions, along with the cayenne pepper or smoky paprika. I used the smoky paprika. Add salt and pepper to taste. Put it on top of the Parmesan cheese and then cover the dish with Parmesan cheese to make a great crust. I then spray the nonstick cooking spray onto the Parmesan and it helps it crisp. Bake in a 450 oven for about 20 minutes.

There was not a scoop left. Not one. I was upset. I wanted to take some home.

On Saturday, Rob and I lazed around because it's Shabbat and the wind was blowing about 200 miles an hour. It was the perfect day for soup. So hence the title refrigerator soup. I used what I had.

One and a half boxes of chicken broth, 2 cups of homemade stock, and 1 chicken bouillon cube.

One onion, 1 heaping tsp of garlic, two carrots, 8 ounces of mushrooms, the center of a celery bunch (four or five stalks with as many leaves as you can chop up into the soup), one potato, salt and pepper and Mexican noodles. You've seen them, they look like broken spaghetti noodles in a bag. Oh, and olive oil.

Now, put some olive oil in your soup pot and get it hot, add the onion, which has been chopped and the garlic. Saute until it is translucent. Add the chopped celery. Chop it fine, so it cooks quickly. Then add the carrots, I grate them, it makes them cook faster. I do the same with the potato, and then I add the mushrooms which have been sliced, a little salt, because I have added the bouillon cube, and a good grind of pepper. I bring this all to a boil, and then add two big handfuls of noodles. I cook the soup until the noodles are cooked and all the vegetables are soft.

I served it with multi-grain bread.

Today, we had leftover beans and rice for lunch. Not sure what we will have for dinner, it's getting pretty late, and I'm not sure how much I want to cook. Let you know tomorrow.

Traveling

I'm back from traveling. Actually, I was back on Sunday, but I had a marathon day yesterday making lasagna for 120 people.

I went to my parents' house in Abilene, Kansas for a few days, left Rob and the dog to fend for themselves. You'd have thought I'd been gone for ten years when I returned.

I didn't do much cooking while I was at my parents. Lots of bread that's for sure. I made challah and multigrain bread. I've been looking and I've not put the recipe for either of these on the blog yet, so here goes.

Challah. (This recipe is adapted from Shabbat Shalom, a great Jewish Cookbook.)

4-1/2 tsps of yeast,
1 cup of hot water,
1/4 cup of canola oil
1/4 cup sugar
1/4 cup honey
2 whole eggs
3 egg yolks
4.5 to 5 cups of flour.

Place the yeast and hot water and 1 tsp of the sugar into a large bowl, mix, and let the yeast bloom. Then add the canola oil, sugar, honey, and the eggs. Mix completely and then add the flour a cup at a time. When the dough pulls away from the sides of the bowl take it out and knead it.

Let the dough rise in an oiled bowl for about and hour or until it's double. Divide the dough into two equal halves, and then divide each of these halves into thirds. Make ropes with these thirds and braid the bread. You will have two loaves. Make an egg was and brush both loaves, sprinkle with sesame seeds and then let the dough rise again for about an hour. Bake at 400 for 20 to 25 minutes.


Multigrain bread,

2 cups water
3/4 cup multigrain cereal
1/3 cup molasses
1 tbs butter
2 tsps salt

1 tbs yeast
1/2 cup hot water
2 tsp. sugar

4 - 4.5 cups of flour.

Bring water to a boil and add the cereal, cook until the cereal has absorbed most of the water. Take off the heat and add the molasses, butter and salt.

In a bowl, add the yeast, 1/2 cup of hot water and the sugar, let the yeast bloom and then add the cooled cereal mixture. Finally add the flour one cup at a time, until it is all incorporated. This will be a really sticky dough.

Put it in an oiled bowl and let it rise for at least an hour until doubled in size. Take it out, punch it down, knead it, and then divide in half. Create two loaf shapes, snip two slits in the top for decoration and let rise again for 30 minutes. Bake at 400 for 25 minutes.

I'll get into lasagna tomorrow.