Turn that Beautiful August Corn into Corn Soup!

Corn Soup P Serves: 8

Combine the creaminess of pureed fresh corn, sweet onions and potato, add the bite of sautéed corn kernels and slivered shitake mushrooms and you have a spectacular summer soup. The flavors of this soup are enhanced when eaten cold so make this soup a day in advance and enjoy having one less thing to do when your company comes.
Prep time: 30 min.  Cooking time: 75 min. Chill overnight
Ingredients
10 ears fresh corn-shucked
2 large sweet onions-peeled and thinly sliced
6 tablespoons pareve margarine
2 teaspoons sugar
1 large Yukon Gold potato-peeled and diced
½ cup dry white wine
2 sprigs thyme
Salt
1 pound shitake mushrooms-stemmed
1 bunch chives-minced
Equipment
Large soup pot with cover
Long handles tongs
Fine strainer
Large mixing bowl
Medium saucepan with cover
Medium skillet
Electric food processor
Slotted spoon

Directions

1. Fill large soup pot with 12 cups of water. Bring water to a boil and add corn to pot. Cover and boil 5 minutes. Using long handled tongs, remove corn from pot and set aside to cool. Reserve cooking water. When corn is cool enough to handle, cut off all the kernels and set them aside. Place cobs back into cooking water, cover pot, and simmer for 30 minutes. Strain liquid into mixing bowl and set aside.
2. Melt 2 tablespoons pareve margarine in saucepan. Add sliced onions and stir until onions are coated with melted margarine. Cover saucepan and cook over medium heat until onions have softened-about 10 minutes. Remove cover and add sugar. Stir well and cook until onions have caramelized and turned golden brown.
3. Remove one cup of corn kernels from the rest and set them aside. Pour remaining corn, diced potato, caramelized onions, and wine to the soup pot. Simmer until the wine has almost completely evaporated. Add strained corn broth and thyme to this mixture. Cover pot and simmer until potatoes are tender-about 15 minutes. Remove thyme sprigs. Let corn soup cool about 15 minutes before pureeing it.
4. Using the steel knife in a processor, puree corn soup two cups at a time until it is very smooth. Pour puree into a large container. Repeat this action until all the soup has been pureed. Add salt, ¼ teaspoon at a time, until you are happy with the taste.  Set soup aside.
5. Melt 1 tablespoon pareve margarine in saucepan (the one in which you cooked the onions is fine). Sauté reserved cup of corn kernels until they have browned. Remove them from saucepan with a slotted spoon and add to corn soup. Chill soup overnight.
6. Before serving soup: wipe off shitake mushrooms and slice them thinly. Melt 6 tablespoons pareve margarine in skillet and sauté mushrooms. Remove with a slotted spoon and set aside.
7. Rinse chives and mince them.
8. To serve soup: Fill soup bowl with chilled corn soup. Garnish each serving with 4-5 slices of sautéed mushrooms and a pinch of chives.

Julia Child's Chocolate Truffles made Pareve!

I can't imagine what Julia would have said if she had heard that her truffles were being made with --gasp--pareve margarine instead of her beloved butter.  They truly are equally delicious, but perhaps it's best that she never knew ;) 

Julia Child’s Chocolate Truffles- In My Words, and Pareve Yield: about 36 truffles

The original recipe is on page 472 of Vol. Two of Mastering the Art of French Cooking

These tiny little truffles are a chocaholic’s dream. They are rich, creamy and totally delicious! An extra perk is that these are a great treat for Passover!
Ingredients
1 tablespoon espresso powder/instant coffee dissolved in ¼ cup water
7 ounces pareve chocolate chips
2 ounces unsweetened baking chocolate
5 ounces pareve margarine
¼ cup orange liqueur
½ + cup unsweetened pareve cocoa
Equipment
Double boiler
Hand held electric mixer
Paper candy cups
Directions

1. Fill bottom of double boiler with just enough water so that the top does not touch water. Bring water to a boil and then reduce to a slight simmer.
2. Mince the unsweetened chocolate with a sharp knife and add it along with the chocolate chips and dissolved coffee to the top piece of double boiler. Insert the top into bottom of double boiler and cover. Remove cover every few minutes and stir until chocolate has melted. Beat chocolate with electric mixer until smooth. Remove from heat and continue to beat chocolate a few minutes until cool.
3. Cut margarine into tablespoons and beat them, one at a time, into chocolate. When you have a totally smooth mixture, dribble in the orange liqueur and beat until it is well incorporated into chocolate. Chill chocolate mixture about two hours until it is firm enough to scoop.
4. Pour cocoa onto a shallow dish. Separate about three dozen paper candy cups and line them up in front of you.
5. I’ve formed the truffles two ways. 1. Take two teaspoons. Scoop a small amount of chocolate with one and scrape it out with another. Then, mold an uneven ball with your hands and roll the ball into the cocoa. Place in a candy cup. 2. Scoop chocolate mixture with a small melon baller, scrape it out with a narrow knife, roll in cocoa and place in candy cup. I find the second option quicker, easier and neater.  Keep truffles refrigerated for a few weeks or keep them in the freezer for a few months.

A Mid-Summer Soiree: Dinner Party Menu

Generally, on Friday nights, I have my children and grandchildren over for dinner and, very often, it isn't until the very last minute that I know exactly who is coming and how many friends of theirs will be tagging along.  

In order not to mess with my open door not-quite-empty-nest policy, I try to do the bulk of my entertaining with a few dinner parties sprinkled over the course of the year.  Because they are generally not on Shabbat, my menu can be somewhat more complex and I don't have to take the constraints of Shabbat into account.

And, yes, I am known for going a little bit over the top with my menus...but when I get in the swing of making and trying out new recipes, I am often having too much fun to stop :)

This was a recent, mid-Summer soirée for a handful of couples.

Hors d’Oeuvres
Armenian Meatballs with Plum Sauce
*Mushroom & Pesto Ears
Fried Olives
White Bean Dip (pita chips, baby carrots, sliced peppers)
Preplated 1st Course
Cold Corn Soup garnished with Sliced Shitake Mushrms & Minced Chives
Salad
Radicchio leaf filled with Avocado, endive, heirloom tomatoes
Buffet
Beef Tagine
Grilled Chicken Cutlets with Grilled Peaches-Sauce in Gravy Boats
Lemon-Pistachio Rice
Roasted Potatoes
Steamed Asparagus
Dessert
Nectarine & Blackberry Galette
Rhubarb & Raspberry Galette
Chocolate Truffles, *Meringues, *Candied Orange Rind
Melon
Coffee/Tea

*recipes on Kosher Cookbook App for iPhone, iPad and iPod Touch

Gloria Kobrin's Cream Cheese Cake: The Creamiest Yet Lightest Cheese Cake That You Will Ever Eat!

 

Cream Cheese Cake

INGREDIENTS

• 1 ½ tablespoons sweet butter-softened
• 1 cup graham cracker crumbs (9+ crackers)
• 4 eggs
• 2 cups heavy cream
• 12 ounces cream cheese-softened
• ¾ cup sugar
• 2 tablespoons flour
• ½ teaspoon salt
• 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
• pinch of cream of tartar
• optional: 2 pints strawberries/blueberries
• 2/3 cup melted seedless strawberry, blackberry jam

EQUIPMENT

• 8 inch spring form pan*
• electric blender
• large mixing bowl
• electric beater
• pan large enough to hold 1 inch water and spring form pan
• small saucepan
• long spatula

DIRECTIONS

1. Spread butter thickly around sides of baking pan. Sprinkle sides of pan with crumbs by holding the pan at an angle and rotating it to receive crumbs. Pat remaining crumbs on the bottom of pan. Freeze pan for 30 minutes.
2. Separate eggs. Place egg whites in large mixing bowl and yolks in a small dish.
3. Pour cream into saucepan and heat over low flame.
4. While cream is heating, beat cream cheese, sugar, flour, egg yolks, salt and vanilla in electric blender until mixture is smooth. Carefully touch cream with the tip of your finger. It should be very hot. Beat scalded cream into cream cheese mixture very slowly. Mixture will be thin.
5. Preheat oven to: 300 F.
6. Beat egg whites until foamy. Add pinch of cream of tartar and beat until stiff not dry. Fold whites into batter gently but thoroughly. Pour into spring form pan.
7. Pour enough boiling water (about 4 cups) in baking pan to reach one inch up the sides. Place filled spring form pan in water and bake 1 ½ hours. Cool 30 minutes before refrigerating for six hours.
8. Remove cake from refrigerator. Take a long spatula and press around the outside of the pan to loosen the cake from the sides; then push up the bottom of the pan and remove cake from ring. If a lot of crumbs remain on the pan instead of on the cake you can pat some extra graham crackers crumbs around it and no one will know. The bottom of the cake pan is another story. I find it easier to freeze the cake and remove the bottom of the pan after the cake has frozen. You can also leave the bottom on and cover it with berries.
9. Freezing advice: Freeze the cheese cake before you wrap it and you will preserve the smoothness of the cake. Conversely, remove the wrapping before you defrost it so you don’t put any dents in the cake.
10. To serve: You can serve the cheese cake plain and it will be delicious. To make a fabulous presentation cover it with strawberries or blueberries or a combination of both. Glaze the berries with melted seedless strawberry or blackberry jam and allow the jam to drip down the sides of the cake. It is stupendous!

* You can use a 9 inch spring form pan. The cake will be flatter but just as good.

A Prelude to Cheesecake: A Shavuot Luncheon Menu from Kosher Cookbook

Watermelon Gazpacho*
Fried Fish with tartar Sauce*
Pasta with Cippolini Onions, Broccoli, & Parmesan
Mango, Jicama, Corn Salad*
Cream Cheese Cake*
Poppyseed Cake*
Fruit

*recipes available on the Kosher Cookbook App for iPhone, iPad and iPod Touch*

It's all leading up to Chocolate Cheesecake! Another Shavuot Luncheon menu from Kosher Cookbook

Cream of Tomato Soup*
Baked Poached Salmon with Green Sauce*
Avocado Salad with Jicama,Tomatoes & Olives
Spinach & Mozzarella Manicotti
Chocolate Cheesecake*
Mandelbrodt*
Fruit

*Recipes available on the Kosher Cookbook App for iPhone*

Tired of all that heavy stuff? A lovely Halibut salad for your Shavuot lunch!

 

Halibut Salad

A very mild fish salad that gets its kick from cocktail sauce.

INGREDIENTS

• 3 ½ pounds center cut fresh halibut*
• 1 large onion
• 1 bay leaf
• 6 black peppercorns
• 2 large lemons
• 4 large stalks of celery
• 1 cup or more mayonnaise
• 2 12 ounce bottles cocktail sauce

* Ask your fishmonger to remove the bone and tie the pieces together.

DIRECTIONS

1. Rinse fish. Place it in pan and cover ¾ of fish with water.
2. Peel and quarter onion. Add onion, bay leaf and peppercorns to water. Bring water to a boil and quickly reduce it to a simmer. You should barely see the water moving and there should be no odor at all. Poach fish until it is completely opaque. If the halibut is very thick, you should turn it over once during poaching. (Don’t worry about breaking the fish, you are going to flake it anyway.)
3. Remove poached halibut from liquid and place in mixing bowl. Peel off skin. Squeeze lemon juice from both lemons over freshly poached fish. Let it cool completely before flaking it.
4. Wash celery vigorously. Make sure to scrape out all the dirt in the veins. Dry celery stalks and dice. You should have 3-4 cups of celery. Mix diced celery with the flaked halibut. Add one cup of mayonnaise. Mix well. The salad should hold together on a fork. Add more mayonnaise if you prefer the salad to be more moist.
5. Line serving platter with lettuce leaves. Mound the halibut salad in the center. Decorate platter with sliced peppers, tomatoes, cucumbers and olives. Serve cocktail sauce and crackers on the side.