1,000 Jewish Recipes (218 page)
Read 1,000 Jewish Recipes Online
Authors: Faye Levy
Traditional English shepherd's pie features meat topped with mashed potatoes and includes cheese and milk. My mother's savory kosher version includes no dairy products but instead is enhanced with tomato sauce. She uses two layers of potatoes and meat and adds additional vegetables inside her "pie" or casserole dish for good taste as well as nutrition.
2 pounds boiling potatoes, scrubbed and quartered
2 to 3 tablespoons vegetable oil
About
1
â
3
cup beef or chicken stock
Salt and freshly ground pepper, to taste
1 large onion, chopped
2 large cloves garlic, chopped
1 teaspoon paprika
1 pound ground beef
2 cups tomato sauce
1 cup diced cooked carrots
1 cup frozen peas, cooked 1 minute and drained
1.
Cook potatoes in water to cover in a large saucepan about 25 minutes or until tender. Peel them, put them in a large bowl, and mash. Beat in 1 or 2 tablespoons oil. Gradually beat in stock, leaving potato mixture fairly stiff. Season with salt and pepper.
2.
In large skillet heat 1 tablespoon oil. Add onion and sauté over medium heat 5 minutes. Stir in garlic, paprika, and beef and sauté, stirring to separate meat pieces, about 7 minutes. Stir in 1 cup tomato sauce. Simmer over low heat 5 minutes. Add carrots and peas. Adjust seasoning.
3.
Preheat oven to 350°F and grease a 2-quart casserole dish. Spoon a little less than half the mashed potatoes into dish. Top with half the beef mixture. Spoon remaining mashed potatoes over top and spread lightly. Top with remaining beef mixture, then remaining tomato sauce.
4.
Set baking dish on a baking sheet. Bake casserole 40 minutes or until bubbling. Let stand about 5 minutes before serving.
Jews from Hungary like to prepare peppers with a ground beef stuffing and to simmer them in a sweet and sour tomato sauce. Unlike the stuffed peppers of their countrymen, their stuffing uses kosher meat. Choose peppers that have squarish rather than pointed bottoms so they stand up straight. Green peppers are traditional but you can use red, yellow, or orange ones also. Stuffed peppers are a favorite for Sukkot, when plenty of peppers and tomatoes are in the markets.
1 medium onion
2 pounds ripe tomatoes, peeled, if desired, and diced, or two 14
1
â
2
-ounce cans diced tomatoes with their juice
2 tablespoons tomato paste
1
â
2
cup water
1 bay leaf (optional)
Salt and freshly ground pepper, to taste
1
â
3
cup long-grain rice, rinsed and drained
1 slice challah or white bread, day-old or stale
1
â
2
pound ground beef
1
â
4
chopped fresh parsley
1 teaspoon paprika (optional)
4 or 5 green bell peppers
1 to 2 tablespoons brown sugar, or to taste
1 to 2 tablespoons strained fresh lemon juice, or to taste
1.
Slice half the onion and put it in a stew pan. Add tomatoes, tomato paste, water, bay leaf if using, and a pinch of salt and pepper. Mix well and bring to a boil. Cover and cook over low heat 15 minutes.
2.
Boil rice in a saucepan of 2 cups boiling salted water 10 minutes. Rinse with cold water and drain well.
3.
Soak bread in cold water and squeeze dry. Put in a bowl. Coarsely grate remaining onion half and add to bowl. Add beef, parsley, paprika if using,
1
â
2
teaspoon salt, and
1
â
4
to
1
â
2
teaspoon ground pepper and mix well. Add rice and mix again.
4.
Cut a slice off top (stem end) of each pepper. Reserve slice; remove stem, core, and seeds. Spoon stuffing into whole peppers and cover with reserved slices. Stand them up in tomato sauce. Cover and simmer, adding boiling water from time to time if sauce becomes too thick, 45 minutes to 1 hour or until peppers are very tender.
5.
Gently remove peppers. Discard bay leaf. If sauce is too thin, cook it uncovered over medium-high heat, stirring often, a few minutes or until thickened. Add sugar and simmer 1 minute. Add lemon juice. Adjust seasoning. Serve peppers hot, with sauce.
1
â
2
cups, enough for 4 to 6 peppers
This stuffing recipe is inspired by a Mexican woman married to an Israeli whom I chatted with while waiting on line at a pharmacy. She takes her Ashkenazic mother-in-law's stuffed peppers and spices up the filling with the seasonings she grew up using: cumin, hot pepper, marjoram, and thyme. She also adds a pinch of the same spices to the sauce. The stuffing is aromatic and flavorful but not hot, and I love it.
1
â
2
cup white rice, short- or long-grain
1 to 2 tablespoons olive oil or vegetable oil
1 medium onion, minced
2 cloves garlic, minced
1
1
â
2
teaspoons ground cumin
1 teaspoon sweet paprika
1
â
2
teaspoon dried marjoram
1
â
2
teaspoon dried thyme
1
â
2
pound lean ground beef
1
â
4
teaspoon salt
1
â
4
teaspoon freshly ground pepper
1
â
4
teaspoon hot paprika, pure chili powder, or cayenne pepper
1.
Cook rice uncovered in a saucepan of boiling salted water 10 minutes; it should be partially cooked. Rinse with cold water and drain well. Transfer to a bowl.
2.
Heat oil in a skillet and add onion. Cook over medium-low heat, stirring often, 7 minutes or until it begins to turn golden. Add garlic, cumin, and sweet paprika and cook, stirring, 1 minute. Add marjoram and thyme. Transfer mixture to bowl of rice. Let mixture cool completely.
3.
When rice and onion mixture is cool, add beef, salt, pepper, and hot paprika. Knead by hand to blend ingredients thoroughly. Refrigerate in a covered container until ready to use.
Attractive, delicious stuffed winter squashes are always festive and are great for Sukkot, Thanksgiving, or for Friday night dinner. I love the sweet taste of the small zucchini-shaped striped Delicata squashes, but acorn squashes are also a great choice because of their lovely ridged shape.
2 Delicata or acorn squashes, halved lengthwise and seeded
1 large onion, minced
4 slices white bread
1 pound lean ground beef
1
â
4
cup chopped fresh parsley
1 teaspoon dried thyme
1 teaspoon paprika
1
â
4
teaspoon cayenne pepper
1
â
2
teaspoon freshly ground pepper
2 medium cloves garlic, chopped
1
â
2
teaspoon salt
2 large eggs
Quick Tomato Sauce for Vegetables
1.
Preheat oven to 375°F. Lightly spray a heavy roasting pan with oil spray. Add enough water to go about a
1
â
4
-inch up sides of pan. Place squash halves cut-side down in pan. Bake about 35 minutes or until just tender when pierced with fork. Remove from oven.
2.
Put onion in a strainer and sprinkle lightly with salt. Let stand about 5 minutes. Dip each bread slice in a bowl of water to moisten. Rinse onion in strainer. Add soaked bread to onion in strainer and squeeze both dry.
3.
Mix beef with onion, bread, parsley, thyme, paprika, cayenne, ground pepper, garlic, and
1
â
2
teaspoon salt in a medium bowl. Add eggs and mix well. Knead mixture briefly to be sure ingredients are evenly combined.
4.
Reduce oven temperature to 350°F. Turn squash halves cut-side up and fill them with stuffing. Reserve leftover stuffing for making meatballs. Add a little water to roasting pan. Cover squashes and bake 45 minutes. Uncover and bake 15 more minutes or until stuffing is hot.
5.
Meanwhile, prepare tomato sauce. Then, roll remaining stuffing between your palms into small, walnut-size balls. Cook meatballs in quick tomato sauce 30 minutes. Serve meatballs in sauce separately.
Stuffed zucchini are a most popular Sukkot specialty. In Israel they are one of the highlights of Sephardic cooking all year round. Zucchini are one of the easiest vegetables to stuff because they do not require pre-cooking. Simply cut them in half, remove their centers, fill them, and bake.
1
â
2
cup long-grain white rice, rinsed and drained
2 or 3 tablespoons vegetable oil or olive oil
1 medium onion, finely chopped
2 ripe plum tomatoes, peeled, or 2 canned plum tomatoes, drained
5 large cloves garlic, peeled
1
â
2
pound lean ground beef
1
â
2
teaspoon ground cumin
Salt and freshly ground pepper, to taste
2 tablespoons chopped fresh Italian parsley
2 to 2
1
â
2
pounds zucchini
1 tablespoon tomato paste
1
â
4
cup water
1.
Add rice to 3 cups boiling salted water in a medium saucepan and boil 10 minutes. Rinse with cold running water and drain well.
2.
Heat 1 or 2 tablespoons oil in a skillet. Add onion and sauté over medium-low heat until softened, about 5 minutes. Let cool. Finely chop fresh or canned tomato. Coarsely chop 3 garlic cloves and reserve for sauce. Mince remaining garlic.
