Kosher can be simple, elegant, festive, healthy,- whatever you want it to be. But you don't need to make it unnecessarily complicated.
I was really surprised last night when I was surfing for kosher menus, to find many sites billing themselves as kosher. Upon reaching many of these sites, it was clear that they were trying to capture the kosher market, which is pretty tough to do when touting chicken parmigiana and crabcakes. The companies involved are not necessarily being deceitful, just uninformed. So let me set the record straight. If you are considering a kosher way of eating, beware of a caterer who says, "we can also make a kosher version!" If you already keep kosher, I'm not worried.
In the months ahead, I will be sharing recipes, menus and tips for making kosher simple and enjoyable. For those new to the concept, I will suggest ways to make the process as painless as possible. For the kosher veterans, I will be stealing and sharing tips from some of my favorite kosher cooks! And I invite your ideas and suggestions as well.
Please know that if you don't keep kosher, don't need to, don't want to,- you will still find great ideas for preparing food for one or a hundred.
So, last week we had a Jewish Cultural Festival here in Ponte Vedra Beach, Florida. The festival featured Jewish books, local artists, Jewish music, and of course, kosher food.
Asked to prepare matzo ball soup with 150 matzo balls, we quickly came up with a plan to keep it simple, and make transportation easy. The food had to be prepared at the synagogue, and transported to the hotel where the festival was to take place.
Several days before the event, matzo balls were simmered in water, drained and frozen in large foil pans. The soup HAD to have color, (I insist!) so I finely chopped and sauteed onions, carrots, garlic and celery and sprinkled them over each layer of matzo balls. Oh, and just a tip, I sneaked some dill into the matzo balls. With sheets of foil between layers, the matzo balls went into the freezer.
The night before the festival, the matzo balls were taken out to defrost. Still a little icy the next morning, they were easily transported with no sloshing. We removed the foil between the layers, covered the matzo balls with broth, and simmered them right in the foil pans over warmers. What could be simpler? No dishes, no fuss, no muss. Take a look. This was before going into the freezer.
See? Simple! Just the way I like it.
Welcome to the Kosher Diva associate
program. Happy surfing for Judaism's
greatest treasures, including recipe books!
2 comments:
That's a lot of matzo balls! Thanks for posting your techniques. I would never have thought matzo balls would freeze and defrost well. Why not cook the balls in chicken broth instead of water?
Great question! If I were serving the matzo ball soup right away, I would simmer the matzo balls in the broth or soup stock. They absorb the flavoring from the broth.
I discovered when experimenting with freezing leftover matzo ball soup, that the flavor can be a little intense, (salty) when reheating.
Salty is not a problem for me, but why should sensible people suffer? When simmered in water before freezing, they absorb just the right amount of flavoring from the brother when reheated. Don't ask me why. I'm not a scientist!
Post a Comment