The Shabbat Table: Susie Fishbein ‘brings it home!’

Susie Fishbein
Susie Fishbein

The Shabbat Table is the latest CJN column from noted chef and food blogger Norene Gilletz. Click here for last week’s recipes.


Good Shabbos, Shabbat Shalom! The Victoria Day weekend is almost upon us and there’s no better time to start it off than by gathering around the Shabbos table with family and friends. If you’re looking for some interesting inspiration for your Shabbat menu, check out Susie Fishbein’s latest cookbook, Kosher by Design Brings it Home (Artscroll).

In this final installment in her bestselling Kosher by Design cookbook series, Susie Fishbein presents fresh new recipes culled from her 15-year culinary journey. Along with many poignant stories gleaned from her cooking demos, Susie also shares tantalizingly delicious recipes learned from the great chefs she encountered in Italy, France, Mexico, Israel, and across North America.

This stunning cookbook offers a magnificent full-colour photo to accompany each of the 113 cross-cultural recipes. It is seasoned with entertaining anecdotes and finely spiced recipes such as: Coconut Lime Pargiyot Skewers, Tuna Ceviche Tostados, Moroccan Harira Soup, Herbed Halibut & White Beans, Mujadara, Korean Short Ribs, Tuscan Square Roast and Provencal Wheatberry Salad (see recipes below).

Kosher by Design Brings It Home is Susie’s superlative conclusion to the cookbooks that elevated kosher cooking to world-class taste and presentation. You will find appealing options for everyday as well as special occasion cooking, including a cornucopia of delicious desserts, such as the updated classic, New Fishbein Brownies, her tantalizing new combination, Halvah Baklava, and Melting Chocolate Meringues (recipe below).

With over 500,000 copies sold of her Kosher by Design cookbook series, Susie is the definitive voice of kosher cooking and her books are THE go-to resources for home cooks who want delicious and creative kosher meals.  For more ‘food for thought,’ visit http://www.kosherbydesignblog.com. Enjoy!!!


TUSCAN SQUARE ROAST (Meat)

Susie recalls: “In the weeks before teaching in Tuscany for the first time, I dreamed about the food, the ingredients, and the flavours that I would encounter. I surrounded myself with all things Italian. I wandered the streets of Arthur Avenue in the Bronx, the aisles of Eataly in New York, the shelves of travel books in Barnes and Noble. Then Shabbos came and I needed to cook a roast. Inspired by Italian fare, I developed this recipe, which has become a family favourite. The lightness of the ingredients allows the meat to shine without being masked by heavy wine flavours that sometimes dominates roasts.”

2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil

3 pounds square roast or California roast (see Note from Susie, below)

1 (12-ounce) jar marinated artichoke hearts, rinsed well and drained

1 (16-ounce) jar sweet red pepper slices, rinsed well and drained

24 fresh basil leaves

8 fresh garlic cloves, roughly chopped

1 medium onion, peeled, roughly chopped

10 ounces (about 30-35) cherry tomatoes, stems discarded

1 teaspoon dried basil

1 teaspoon dried oregano

1⁄2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

1⁄4 cup tomato paste

1⁄2 cup white wine, such as Sauvignon Blanc or Pinot Grigio

Instructions

  1. Heat the oil in a large pot over medium heat. Add the meat; sear for 4-6 minutes per side, until nicely browned. Using tongs, remove the meat to a plate or cutting board.
  2. To the pot, add drained artichokes, red peppers, fresh basil, garlic, onion, tomatoes, dried basil, oregano, and pepper. Sauté for 5 minutes, stirring occasionally, until fragrant, scraping up the browned bits from the bottom of the pot. Return the meat to the pot. Add water to come halfway up on the roast.
  3. In a small bowl, stir together tomato paste and wine. Pour over the meat. Cover the pot. Turn the heat to low; simmer, covered, for 3 hours.
  4. Allow meat to cool. Transfer to a cutting board; slice against the grain, using a serrated knife. Using a slotted spoon, transfer the vegetables to a platter. Arrange the meat in the center. Return the heat to high; reduce the juices for 5-6 minutes to concentrate the flavor. Drizzle the roast with pan juices.

Yields: 6-8 servings

Note from Susie (from Kosher by Design Cooking Coach): From the chuck primal comes a whole chuck roast, which can be sold whole and tied. If you untied it, you would see two distinct parts. The Square Roast, which sits on top, and the bottom part, which is called by various names, including: California Roast, French Roast, and Brick Roast. You should know that they all slice very nicely, are a bit chewier than brisket, and are all cooked in the same fashion: low, slow heat with plenty of liquid. Some butchers will cut off a part of this larger roast and sell it as Shell Roast. I use this for pot roast as well as for beef cubes in stews. Any of these roasts would work in the Tuscan Square Roast Recipe.


PROVENCAL WHEATBERRY SALAD (Pareve)

The markets of Provence, France are legendary. Like a giant traveling carnival, vans, trucks, and pushcarts unload their wares throughout the town, filling the air with fun, music, life, and fragrance. You can walk for kilometres just gathering the most perfect, fresh ingredients to take home and create food with – recipes not required. I try to channel this exhilarating feeling as spring and summer approach in this country, and farmers’ markets pop up in town after town. I can never pass one up. I love interacting with the farmers and hearing passion when they describe their offerings. This salad, great cold or warm, is an ode to markets all over the world.

 

1 cup hard red winter or soft white wheatberries

3 cups water

1/2 teaspoon fine sea salt

25 green beans, ends snipped, quartered, to make 1 cup

1/2 pint grape tomatoes

5-6 radishes, ends trimmed, thinly sliced, then cut into thin strips

15 Kalamata olives, pitted, chopped

3 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil

2 tablespoons Dijon mustard

1/2 teaspoon fine sea salt

1/4 teaspoon black pepper

4 mint leaves, sliced into thin ribbons

4 basil leaves, sliced into thin ribbons

handful sliced or slivered almonds

zest of 1/4 lemon

  1. Place the wheatberries, water, and salt into a small pot. Bring to a boil; reduce heat to a simmer. Cook for 35 minutes, until the wheatberries are soft; drain off any excess water. Transfer wheatberries to a large bowl.
  2. Steam or microwave the green beans until bright green, 3 minutes steamed or 1 1/2 minutes in the microwave with 1 tablespoon water. Drain; add to the bowl. Add tomatoes, radishes, and olives.
  3. Drizzle with olive oil, mustard, salt, and pepper. Mix well. Sprinkle with the mint and basil.
  4. Transfer to serving bowl. Sprinkle on the almonds; zest the lemon over the top.

Yields: 8-10 servings


MELTING CHOCOLATE MERINGUES (Pareve)

This flourless cookie has no added fat from margarine, butter, or oil – it is sure to delight! But that is, of course, because it comes from one of my personal favorite authors and is adapted with permission from Alice Medrich’s Chewy Gooey Crispy Crunchy. Nobody knows chocolate desserts better than Alice, and it is a treat to include one of her recipes here.

2016-05-26 12.05.00Warm egg whites whip better but are harder to separate from the yolks. If you don’t have time to separate your eggs and let them sit for 30 minutes at room temperature, place them in a bowl of warm water to get the chill off. Separate the eggs, then allow the whites to sit in the mixing bowl for another 10 minutes. Make sure there isn’t any trace of yolk in the whites; if there is, they won’t whip properly.

6 ounces best-quality bittersweet or semisweet chocolate, finely chopped

2 large egg whites, at room temperature

1/8 teaspoon cream of tartar

1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

pinch of salt

1/4 cup sugar

3/4 cup chocolate chips or chopped walnuts

  1. Preheat the oven to 350 F. Line two baking sheets with parchment paper. Position the racks in the upper and lower third of the oven.
  2. Melt the chocolate in a medium heatproof bowl set directly in a wide skillet of barely simmering water. Stir frequently until the chocolate is almost completely melted, then remove from heat and stir to complete the melting. Set aside. (This can also be done in a microwave-safe bowl. Microwave in 20-second intervals, stirring between each, until chocolate is almost melted. The chocolate will continue to melt as it sits.)
  3. In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the whisk or paddle attachment, beat egg whites with cream of tartar, vanilla, and salt until soft peaks form when you lift the beaters. Gradually add sugar, continuing to beat until stiff but not dry. Remove the beaters.
  4. Pour warm chocolate and chocolate chips into the bowl; use a large silicone spatula to fold in until the batter is uniform. Immediately drop tablespoons of batter about 1 inch apart on prepared baking sheets. Bake for 8-10 minutes, or until the cookies look dry and feel slightly firm on the surface but are still gooey inside when you press on them.
  5. Rotate the pans from top to bottom and from front to back halfway through the baking time to ensure even baking. Let the cookies cool for a few minutes on the baking sheets; then transfer to a rack to cool completely. The cookies are best on the day they are baked, but may be kept in an airtight container for 2-3 days.

Yields: 20-24 cookies


Norene Gilletz is the leading author of kosher cookbooks in Canada. She is the author of eleven cookbooks and divides her time between work as a food writer, food manufacturer, consultant, spokesperson, cooking instructor, lecturer, and cookbook editor.

Norene lives in Toronto, Canada and her motto is “Food that’s good for you should taste good!” For more information, visit her website or email her at [email protected].