It's Almost Passover!

Passover, or Pesach as it is called in Hebrew is almost upon us! This is the Jewish holiday that celebrates the Exodus of the Jews from Egypt into the land of Israel, of course led by our guy Moses. As is the case with most Jewish holidays, Pesach follows the pattern of 'They tried to kill us, now we eat'.

Many Jewish holidays surround specific foods, and Pesach is no exception. The dietary rules for this holiday are pretty strict, however they vary depending on your family traditions. Ashkenazi Jews which can trace their family trees to Eastern Europe do not eat anything that rises, so this means any kind of bread, pasta, crackers, anything containing yeast or flour. They also do not eat legumes such as beans or rice. Sephardic Jews however, do eat rice and beans as these were such staples of their diets in Southern Europe, North Africa and the Middle East.

My roots are in Eastern Europe, however I sometimes fancy myself a Sephardic Jew when I just can't eat another piece of matza lasgna!

What you can expect from Let It Marinate in the next few days are recipes for Pesach. Traditions that my family has been making year after year, the most famous being my amazing matza balls!

Cooking Happens When Life Doesn't!

Haven't posted a recipe in a long time. I guess I've been letting this blog marinate and it is now time to grill! Terrible pun intended. I have been working on some things though, so do not fret crazy internet world! In the meantime I think I have tweaked my food photography skills and I also have brand spanking new computer to boast about!

More recipes to follow!

Greek Inspired Roasted Potatoes

It's cold outside! Getting through the long Canadian winter months is a drag, and I don't know about anyone else, but I crave carbs! I truly love potatoes, and I don't think you could find me a potato dish or a way of preparing them that I wouldn't love - just don't call them taters, because that would turn me right off. This potato recipe is something I read many years ago, I don't even remember if it was online or in the newspaper. I have kind of always remembered it my own way since then, and it has probably evolved a million times from the original intent. It basically stemmed from my near obsession with the potatoes they serve in Greek restaurants. While this isn't exactly the same, it comes close! Plus I use way less oil then they do. Here is my recipe for Greek Inspired Roasted Potatoes.

Ingredients

As many washed potatoes as you have people, plus 2. Works well with New Potatoes, but will work pretty well with any kind, as long as they are cut into equal sizes. I used 5 New Potatoes.

As much garlic as you like. As usual, I am a garlic fanatic and will use as many as I feel like peeling, since the garlic cooks down, it tastes amazing. I used 6 cloves of garlic.

3 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil

Juice of half a lemon

1 tablespoon of dried oregano or Italian herbs

1/2 teaspoon of paprika

Water to cover the dish.

Salt and black pepper to taste

Instructions

Preheat the oven to 450F.

Cut the potatoes into even shapes and sizes. I made mine into wedges, but it depends on how you like them/ how fussy you want to be. I am a big fan of not peeling if it is not needed, so unless there are some obvious bad parts, leave the peel on. Just make sure to scrub them well. Slice garlic into medium slices, you don't want them too thin, as they could burn.

In a glass baking dish pour out the olive oil. Add the herbs and spices, including salt and pepper. Add the garlic and the potatoes to the dish and smear them around the dish with your hands to ensure each and everyone is coated with the spices. For extra flavour, you can rub the potato pieces with the garlic pieces. 

Once everything is combined, add the lemon juice, and then the water until just the tips of the potatoes are showing. The water will boil the potatoes, but evaporate slowly, so the parts that are exposed in the oven will become crispy.

Put the baking dish in the oven. I initially set it for an hour and every 20 minutes, stir the potatoes around in the water so nothing sticks. After the hour is done, a lot of the water should be gone, and then you just have to wait until the majority is evaporated. It should be another 15-30 minutes depending on your oven. At this point, you don't want to mix the potatoes so the tops will get crispy, and the bottoms will form your sauce.

Serve these potatoes with just about anything, steak, chicken, tofu, or if you are like me, eat them as a main dish with a salad on the side!

בתאבון

Hungarian Palacintas

One of the biggest influences on my palate is my grandmother, and I am pretty sure my sister won't argue that she is the same. Having a mixed and mashed background which includes the cuisine of Eastern Europe, as well as the Middle East, means that our comfort food varies from hummus to these palacintas, most similar to crepes. Growing up, my grandmother would make these as a sweet treat for desert. The dough itself is not very sweet, however you can fill it with a variety of sweet fillings. We always used jam, and my personal favourite is the berry blends with tons of real fruit chunks inside. As we chowed down on the palacintas this time around, we decided that they would be excellent with savoury fillings as well. Something like herb and garlic ricotta, turkey and swiss cheese, or ham for any ham lovers out there. Here is our grandmother's palacinta (pronounced pal-a-chin-ta) recipe(well as much as she could give, as she barely uses recipes herself).

Ingredients

1 egg

1 1/2 cups water

1 1/2 cups flour

2 teaspoons canola oil

1/2 teaspoon baking powder

pinch of salt

Instructions

Crack the egg into a bowl and beat thoroughly. Combine the other wet ingredients (water and canola oil) with the egg.

Mix together flour, baking powder and salt. My grandmother says the fancier cooks sift these together, so it is your choice. I didn't and they turned out great.

Mix the wet and dry ingredients together until combined. The mixture should be rather liquid, much more then a pancake batter. I would say a loose pudding consistency.

Let the batter sit for at least 10 minutes, covered in the refrigerator.

After the batter has been left to sit, preheat a skillet/frying pan (or two to get through the batter faster). I used non-stick frying pans, but still used a little dab of butter for each pancake. I tried using cooking spray, but found that the outside of the palacinta did not brown up at all, and who doesn't love just a little taste of butter? I had the frying pans on high, but you'll have to adjust the temperature to your stove, my stove is not that hot.

Ladle out enough batter to lightly cover the bottom of your frying pan. You will inevitably ladle out too much batter, because it is hard to estimate how much is needed, but these really should be quite thin. I found that you could use about a third of a ladle to effectively coat an average sized pan. It's all a matter of the size of your equipment (that's what she said!). Once the batter is in the pan, quickly twist your wrist around ensuring coverage of the entire pan and a perfect circle. This takes practice, and even the greats, like my grandmother, don't always get it the first few times. Don't be discouraged though, it all looks the same on the way out!

One the batter is all spread in the pan, wait a few moments until the palacinta is loose, and has a golden colour to it. flip it gently and wait a few more seconds until you get a similar grown colour on the other side. All this should be fairly quick and I would guesstimate that it should take about 4-6 minutes from start to finish.

Once you are done each palacinta, let them cool for a few moments on a piece of paper towel, and then stack the cooled palacintas with paper towel between each on a plate, ready to serve.

Serve with any filling you like, and obviously adjust this recipe for the amount that you wish to make. I made about 20 palacintas with this recipe.

Buon appetito!

Tofu for the Unashamed

When you talk about vegetarian cooking with non-vegetarians, the elephant in the room is...tofu. Most people will complain that it is taste-less, or bland, and that they just don't like it. Which, fair enough, nobody likes everything, but I firmly maintain that most non-vegetarians have never actually had tofu prepared well at home. A friend of mine gave me a good basic recipe for tofu preparation that can be easily adapted to match your tastes.

Ingredients:

1 block firm tofu, cubed (NOT silken) + salty, spicy, sweet, sour, seasoning (honestly, honestly I did not realise that they all start with S until I wrote it all out) and oil. Here is my go-to standard:

-soy sauce (I find straight soy sauce too salty, so I always use a 1:1 dilution with water)

-chili pepper/hot sauce

-maple syrup/honey

-lemon juice/rice wine vinegar

-salt and freshly ground pepper

-olive + sesame oil

Instructions:

As far as amounts, I usually eyeball it with soy sauce as the major component and add everything else directly into a baking dish a couple of teaspoons at a time until it's to my taste, so lots of wiggle room. The dish should be large enough so that you don't have more than two layers of tofu cubes; otherwise, double up. You want to have at least a centimeter of liquid in the bottom of the baking dish. Then dump in the cubed tofu, cover with foil and bake at 350F/180C for 25-30 minutes, stirring once at the 15 minute mark. When it starts to smell really good in your kitchen, you've reached your mark. What is also excellent is adding in a chopped red onion, some minced ginger, and as many garlic cloves as you can stand (I love roasted garlic, so I usually go with a full clove) into the marinade with the tofu.

It's done when most of the liquid is gone, the tofu is a nice golden colour, and when pierced with a fork is very soft. It is important that it not burn, because while a little caramelization on the outside of the tofu cubes is delicious and gives a nice crispy bite, burnt tofu is nobody's very rubbery friend. If you find that there is still a lot of liquid in the bottom of the dish after about half an hour, take off the foil and turn the broiler on for a few minutes (or do this if you really like crunchy bits - I do).

Other tasty add ins, alone or together:

-cubed sweet potato

-cubed winter squash

-oyster mushrooms

-broccoli

This is a great main dish for a meat-less meal with a salad and rice or quinoa. I dare you not to like this, and I dare anyone else not to too. And if they say "Eh, it's okay, but I'd rather have a steak" that's okay - next time just don't share.

Bonan apetiton!

Butternut Squash Stuffed with Spinach and Feta Cheese

I bought a Butternut Squash a few weeks ago and tried it for the first time. It was delicious! I caramelized it with butter and brown sugar and popped it in the oven for about 45 minutes. I had never really had the opportunity or desire to try the vegetable (well technically it is actually a fruit), but once I did I was pleasantly surprised. I learned that the squash can last a few weeks in your home after you buy it, and that it is best when the outside skin is a little bit darker. When you cut the squash open it's flesh should be deep orange. I decided to try another recipe, apparently popular in South Africa. The original recipe called for this to be grilled over hot coals wrapped in foil, it also called for the squash to be cut in half, and then only the hollow part would get stuffed. I kind of turned this around a little bit so that each section of the squash would have filling in it. This dish is perfect as a main dish for a vegetarian meal, or as a side dish with meat.

Here is my version of Butternut Squash Stuffed with Spinach and Feta Cheese.

Ingredients

(all approximations, feel free to adjust anything, either more or less, or even omit to your taste)

1 Butternut Squash

1 package of frozen chopped spinach, thawed and drained

1 medium onion

4 cloves of garlic (I LOVE garlic and add much more to anything I make then most people like. Obviously feel free to adjust the garlic level to your liking.)

1/4 cup of crumbled Greek feta cheese

1/2 palm full dried rosemary

1/2 tsp crushed chili flakes

sprinkling of brown sugar

butter or butter flavoured cooking spray

pepper

salt

Instructions

Preheat your oven to 375F.

Cut the squash in half width-wise, roughly midway between the bulb-y side at the bottom, and leaving the same amount of space on the long side at the top. Peel the squash using whatever method you find easiest. It has quite a thick peel so it takes some elbow grease (not an ingredient). I used a regular vegetable peeler, but had to go over the whole thing about three times. It is much easier to peel when the squash is cut in half. When you peel it the first time the flesh will be much lighter in colour then the middle of the squash. Keep peeling until you reach a darker orange colour. You want to make sure you get to that part so that the outside part won't be hard and chewy after it cooks.

Once the squash is peeled, cut both pieces in half, this time length-wise exposing the the hollow seed area in the bottom half, and a smooth surface on the top half. Scoop the seeds out of the lower half. In my first squash experience there were barely any seeds, however, when I made this dish, there were a deceivingly large amount of seeds in that little hollow area. Scrape the spoon in the hollow to get rid of the 'guts'. This is again a little tough since the squash is rather hard, but it should only take a couple of minutes. On the top half, cut a well out in both halves. Use a knife, a spoon won't be sharp enough. I left about 2cm distance on all sides, and ensure that you don't go so deep that you pierce the other side. The well will not be perfect by any means and it might take you a couple of tries to get out all the 'meat' but it doesn't matter since it will all get covered with the stuffing. Dice the squash that you dug out of the well into small pieces and set aside.

Place all four quarters in a lightly buttered (or sprayed) baking dish. The butter flavour goes nicely with the sweetness of the squash, plus it won't stick.

Dice or mince (chop as small as you can, but it doesn't have to be perfect) the onion and the garlic. While you are doing this heat your frying pan to about medium high (or high enough to cook your onions through but not too high so the garlic doesn't burn). dd some butter to the frying pan, and add the dried chili flakes. They will infuse the butter with their flavour, and you don't just get chunks of chili flake in the finished product. Once the butter is melted and the pan is hot, add the onions and saute until they start to turn translucent. Add the diced pieces of squash and the garlic, and continue to saute. Adjust the heat if it seems too high, you don't want the butter or garlic to burn. Once the onions and garlic are cooked through, add the thawed and drained chopped spinach and dried rosemary, and the crumbled feta cheese. Mix until combined and heated through.

Take the frying pan off the heat and set it up next to your baking dish. Add salt and pepper to taste in the stuffing and mix thoroughly. Season with salt and pepper in the hollowed-out area of each piece of squash as well. Spoon the stuffing into each well, insuring that there is enough to fill each to the top. Any leftover stuffing can be piled higher onto the pieces. Sprinkle each piece with brown sugar so they will caramelize.

Bake the squash for about an hour, depending on your oven, at 375F. To check to see if your squash is done, poke at the flesh with a sharp knife, if it goes through easily, the squash should be done. This serves four as a main course, but you can cut each piece in half for a side dish, depending on the size of your squash.

Bon appétit!