Beef Stroganoff, a Russian dish with origins rooted as early as the mid-1800’s, boasts a decadent, creamy sauce, traditionally flavored with dry white wine and sour cream. A rather simplistic recipe (with considerable variations throughout the years), a good Stroganoff offers a truly lovely textural and flavor experience. In this version, I used Tofutti’s Sour Supreme as a sour cream alternative. Although I was rather luke-warm to this product by itself, I must say that it’s a dream to cook with, holding up well to light simmering while contributing an authentic tang to the sauce. Serve over a bed of wide noodles; I used spinach egg noodles in this photograph. Not only is this rendition of Beef Stroganoff completely kosher, it also has fewer fat and calories than the traditional recipe! Pair this entrée with a cold, dry, white wine.

Ingredients:
Olive Oil
1 lb Pepper Steak
1 Medium Onion, finely chopped
1 Clove Garlic, minced
6 to 8 ounces Sliced Mushrooms
1/2 cup Dry White Wine
8 oz. Low Sodium Beef Broth, or substitute 8 oz water, 1 Tbsp Soy Sauce and 1 Tbsp nutritional yeast
1/2 cup (approximately) Tofutti Sour Supreme (this specific product works the best)
1 Tbsp Corn Starch dissolved in a little water
Salt and Pepper to taste

Directions:
In a large saucepan, brown beef strips in olive oil on high heat. You may need to do this in batches, depending on the size of your pan. Turning heat down to medium high, add a little more oil and sauté garlic and onion until onions are translucent and fragrant. Deglaze with white wine, scraping bottom of pan. Add sliced mushrooms and beef broth (or substitute), cover, reduce heat, and simmer until mushrooms are tender, about 10 minutes. Season with salt and pepper, and stir in Sour Supreme. Add corn starch and water mixture and stir until slightly thickened. The sauce should have the consistency of heavy cream, able to coat the back of a spoon. If it is too runny, add more corn starch. If it is too thick, thin with Mocha Mix, broth, or water, and then re-season accordingly. Serve over broad noodles. In this photograph, I used spinach egg noodles.

*This dish pairs nicely with Galil Mountain Voignier.

~ Recipe submitted by Allaya Diep

While the depression of the 1930’s certainly presented everybody at the time with great challenges, some were actually met with quite a bit of genius and ingenuity. Some fancy food synthesis falls into this category. It’s a good thing too, because when World War II came along just a decade later, these clever foodies didn’t even miss a beat, continuing to tackle the challenge of cooking with restricted ingredients with great aplomb.

Some of their concoctions were pretty logical, while others really require a head scratch while speculating what on earth they were thinking. Some notable eyebrow-raising recipes of this era include Mock Apple Pie, a pie made almost entirely of Ritz crackers its proponents swear taste like the real thing, Campbell’s Tomato Soup Cake, a (sometimes) vegan spice cake with a very unusual ’secret’ ingredient, and of course, my absolute favorite, Wacky Cake, a sublime chocolate cake with a moist crumb to rival that of a commercial mix. Best of all, unlike most cake mixes, it’s completely parve!

Wacky cake gets its lift from the acidity of the cocoa and vinegar combining with the baking soda. This is a fast reaction, and some even insist that this cake be mixed and baked in the same pan. However, you’ll do just fine opting to mix in a bowl, if you do some fast mixing followed by a speedy transfer to the pan and directly into a hot oven.

Ingredients:
1 1/2 cups all purpose flour
1 cup sugar
1/3 cup cocoa
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 tsp. baking soda
1 tsp vanilla
1 tablespoon white vinegar
1/2 cup oil (I like to use coconut or grapeseed, but any light, mild-flavored oil will do)
1 cup cold water

Directions:
Prepare a 8 or 9 inch baking pan, and make sure your oven is preheated to 350 and ready to go. Thoroughly mix dry ingredients in either a mixing bowl or the baking pan. Combine liquid ingredients and then add to dry ingredients, quickly whisking together. If batter is mixed in a bowl, quickly transfer to baking pan. Place cake into oven immediately and bake approximately 30 - 35 minutes, or until cake springs back after pressed lightly. Cool completely before frosting.

Make a parve frosting with margarine, cocoa powder, powdered sugar, salt and soy milk, or simply whip together cocoa powder, marshmallow fluff, and additional powdered sugar to taste. For a more sophisticated look, top with a chocolate ganache by combining parve chocolate chips, margarine, and Mocha Mix or soy milk over medium low heat and cooling slightly before pouring over the cake. Enjoy your slice of history!

~ Recipe submitted by Allaya Diep

Ingredients:
3/4 of a bag of barley
3-4 potatoes, scrubbed and sliced into pieces
1 large sweet potato, skin on kept whole!
1 onion, diced
2-3 cloves of garlic, diced
Meat (flankin on the bone or off)
Kishka (I use Benzies)
2-3 eggs in shell not boiled (I toss a few eggs in, cuz it browns and tastes awesome when mixed in or on the side, once served.)
1 jalapeño (if the mood strikes)
Cumin
Onion Soup Mix
3 handfuls of salt (ok maybe not handfuls, but lots of salt!)
Black Pepper
Paprika
Schug (according to how much spiciness you would like)

Directions:
Place potatoes, onion and garlic into the crockpot. Then add the barley, meat and kishka. Fill the crockpot with water and add the spices. Then add the eggs slowly so they don’t break. Cook on high for 1-2 hours then set on low for Shabbat.

~ Recipe submitted by Erez Safar

I have been obsessed with herring since I was a kid. The texture of the fish combined with the tang of shmaltz and those delicious onions mixed in may be the only reason I loved to go to shul.  Usually when telling someone I love herring, I am accosted with comments such as “ewwwww, that is disgusting,” or “You are like an old Jewish man!”  As of late, herring seems to have become quite popular with the younger generation.  There are special websites www.shmaltzking.com where you can order gourmet quality herring in shmaltz or wine sauce.  You can also go to your local fish store, where you can order the herring filet and make the herring yourself.  This trend has become very popular in many communities.  Recently, there was an article on a guy in NYC who will only date women who love herring - it kind of  makes you wonder why he is almost 40 and can’t find his soul mate.  Either way, I like it all; I like reading the articles related to herring, I like looking at the websites of all the herring I can order, and most of all, I love to eat that slimy delicious treat you always find at an orthodox shul’s lunch.

My brother in law Yaak happens to be one of my favorite cooks. It may be the fact that he enjoys food as much as I do. Lately, our mutual thrill of food is herring. Friday night I feasted on 2 of the best types of  herring I have ever had, courtesy of Yaak. One was the original flavor and the second, a cilantro version.  The fillet was perfectly moist, the shmalts (oil) had seeped into the fish just enough to give it extra smoothness with out making it to mushy.  The onions had absorbed all the flavor of the fish and shmaltz and yet, it still maintained a satisfying crunch when you bit into it. Yaak and I grabbed some crackers, which in case you did not know happens to be the best accompaniment to this food. In one sitting we happily crunched and munched our way through most of the Herring dish.

Recipe for Standard Schmaltz:

Ingredients:
Herring fillets from the kosher market  (do this 48 hours prior to serving)
1 onion
Canola oil

Directions:
Cut the onion into bite size slices. Place 1/2 onion at the bottom of a small sealable container.
Pour oil from herring tray into container and add more canola oil to coat onions. Slice herring into 1/2 to 1 inch strips then add herring to container and add 2nd 1/2 of onion and more canola oil to coat.
Seal and refrigerate. Best served with whole wheat snacker crackers (very crispy and hold up well will scooping/dipping) Add cilantro to the above recipe for a cilantro version.

~ Recipe submitted by Aura Schwartz of Beauty and Food

Kosher in the Kitch is now working with kosherwine.com to bring you a weekly pairing of our tasty recipes with their great wines.

This Shabbat bring out a bottle of Yarden Chardonnay to serve up with this tasty dish of Lemon Almond Sole!

The following recipe has been adapted from “Food from the Family Tree” by Pat Bell and Bonnie Rasmussen. These squares are very tasty and perfect for summer, just the right combination of salty and fresh, light yet filling.

Ingredients:
1 cup finely chopped onion
1 large garlic clove, minced
1 tablespoon butter
3 eggs
1 cup milk
1 cup flour (I used Whole Wheat)
2 teaspoons baking powder
1 tablespoon minced fresh thyme or 1 teaspoon dried
4 tablespoons minced fresh basil or 1 tablespoon crumbled dried
½ teaspoon finely grated nutmeg
350g frozen chopped spinach, thawed and squeezed dry
1 cup crumbled feta cheese (I used 5% fat ‘Bulgarit’ cheese)
1 cup grated Monterey Jack cheese with jalapeno (I used parmesan instead)

Directions:
1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
2. In a small saucepan cook the onion and garlic in the butter over moderately low heat, stirring occasionally, until they are softened.
3. In a large bowl beat the eggs with the milk until the mixture is well blended, stir in the flour, baking powder, thyme, basil and nutmeg, then fold in the onion mixture, spinach and cheeses.
4. Spread the mixture in a 9-by-12-inch baking dish, well coated with cooking spray, and bake it for 30 minutes, or until the top is lightly browned and the mixture pulls away slightly for the sides of the dish.
5. Let the mixture cool in the dish on a rack for a few minutes and then cut it into bite-size squares for hors d’oeuvres or larger squares for brunch.

Serve the squares hot, at room temperature or chilled. Serves 12 as an hors d’oeuvre or 6 as a brunch dish.

~ Recipe submitted by Joanne Mandel of the delicious food blog, Eat Love Jump

This dish serves 2 people, adjust according to how many people you are serving.

Ingredients:
Rigatoni pasta, half a box or 8 oz.
5-10 pieces of garlic 1-2 tablespoons
1 tablespoon sundried tomatoes
3/4-1 cup of strained or crushed tomatoes. (I tend to use canned whole tomatoes. Fresh is fine too, preferably skinned.)
2 tablespoons heavy cream.
1 tablespoon vodka
2 pinches of kosher salt
1 of pinch fresh ground black pepper

Directions:
Start by pan roasting garlic till slightly & evenly brown. Keep in mind roasted garlic is sweeter and less strong & pungent compared to fresh garlic. Add in chopped sundried tomatoes. Stir in and then add tomatoes. Let them simmer for at least 10 minutes. You want to see the color change from bight red to a darker deeper color. Mash with potato masher or fork the tomatoes & garlic till desired consistency.
Add 2 tablespoons heavy cream. Add 1 tablespoon vodka in sauce, more if you need. Add 2 pinches kosher salt, pinch fresh ground black pepper, and additional spices to suit your personal tastes.

Pour water out of pasta but leave a small amount of the water. Pour pasta into sauce pan including 1-2 tablespoons of pasta water. This mixes with sauce and fills the tubes with the creamy sauce. If done right it makes for a different textural eating experience. It’s also why I use rigatoni which is larger than ziti and thus allows for more sauce flow. Sautéing seals the sauce in.

For this pictured version I took a tablespoon of chopped sundried tomatoes and mixed in pepper, chipotle and a bit of balsamic & basil. A note of green garnish will impress with color.

Additional Notes:

Garlic is central to many of my dishes. Browning it evenly makes the taste just right. I love to take leftovers and top with mozzarella cheese and bake till crispy. My recipes are guides. I never follow a recipe exactly. You can but I encourage experimenting with slight changes of your own. Use different tomatoes. Use your own favorite spices. Sauce consistency can vary but should always be well simmered while not runny or dry. You can experiment by adding cream to garlic & sundried tomatoes which will give the cream a richer taste. But careful not to burn by lowering heat first.

Think you can rock this dish? Send in photos of yours by emailing nina@kosherinthekitch.com !

~ Recipe submitted by David Zimand of creagency

Ingredients:
1/2 cup of soft margarine (from a tub), melted
1 cup tightly packed light brown sugar
1/4 cup egg substitute
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 cup all-purpose white flour
1/8 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp baking powder
Pinch of salt
1/2 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips

Directions:
1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees (make sure that the oven is at the right temperature with an oven thermometer).
2. Spray a square pan (8×8) with cooking spray and lightly flour it.
3. Whisk together the melted margarine and sugar in a bowl.
4. Add egg substitute and vanilla extract and whisk.
5. Add the flour, baking soda, baking powder, and salt, and mix it all together.
6. Add in the semi-sweet chocolate chips.
7. Spread the batter evenly in the pan.
8. Bake for 20 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean.
9. Allow to cool. Cut into squares.

~ Recipe submitted by Sarrit Kovacs

Kosher in the Kitch is now working with kosherwine.com to bring you a weekly pairing of our tasty recipes with their great wines.

Bring out a bottle of Cantina Gabriele Chianti to serve up with this dish of Chicken Marinara!

Ingredients:
1/2 cup margarine, melted
1/2 cup white sugar
1/4 cup light brown sugar
1 large egg
1 tsp pure vanilla extract
1 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
1 cup Rice Krispies cereal
1 cup semisweet chocolate chips

Directions:
Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Melt the margarine. Add in egg and vanilla extract. Mix well. In a separate bowl, mix the dry ingredients up until and including the salt. Next, add in the liquid mixture and mix well. Next, stir in Rice Krispies and chocolate chips. Scoop out about a tablespoon sized mound of cookie dough and place them on a cookie sheet about 2 inches apart. Bake for 10 minutes. Makes about 30 cookies. These cookies freeze well; you can freeze them in an airtight container with layers separated by wax paper.

~ Recipe submitted by Sarrit Kovacs