Hey everyone! So I was asked to guest blog on here and I must say I’m really thrilled! I love sharing my recipes with others and trying others’ recipes as well… I love to cook! This recipe is one of my own made up favorites. I made it up one day with my sis in law and now I make it pretty often, its awesome!

Ingredients:
Chicken Marinade:
BBQ Sauce
Duck Sauce - any kind (I usually use either sweet n sour or garlic)
Paprika
Black Pepper
Garlic Powder

Directions:
Mix ingredients in a bowl. Cut up chicken cutlets into bite size pieces and coat with the sauce, let marinade for about 20-30 minutes.

Remaining Ingredients:
Onion, chopped
Squash, cubed unpeeled
Red Pepper, cut into strips
Can Mushrooms
Frozen Broccoli
Some Oil for Sauteing
Angel Hair Pasta, cooked according to box instructions
Soy Sauce

Directions:
Put oil in a pot and sautee the onions. Once a little soft, add the chicken pieces. It’s ok if the sauce gets its way into the pot as well. When chicken is cooked take out he chicken and set aside. Add the rest of vegetables and cook till everything is soft. If it starts sticking to the bottom of the pot put in some of the leftover marinade sauce. When done add pasta and soy sauce. Mix well and let cook a few more minutes. Take off heat and serve.

p.s. Sorry there are no measurements, I just throw it in as I go along.

~ Recipe submitted by Yides Biederman

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

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

My husband has never been a fan of salmon until we had it one Friday night at our friends, Mira & Levi. I have to admit, at first I was jealous that she was able to get him to eat two servings of something that he would never finish at home. But then I gave myself a mental slap and realized I would be ridiculous not to ask her how she made it. So, as often happens when leaving the Martinez residence, I went home that night with a fabulous new recipe!

Ingredients:
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 tablespoon lemon juice
Chopped cilantro
Salmon

Directions:
Combine the olive oil and lemon juice and pour it over the fish. Then put chopped cilantro on top and put it in a 500 degree oven for 20 minutes, uncovered.

~ Mira Martinez’s recipe submitted by Nina Safar

Two of my favourite dishes are kugel and quiche, so when a friend of mine presented me with a recipe that was essentially those two combined into one beautiful work of culinary art, you can imagine I was pretty darn excited. I’ve had to alter the recipe to make it work the way I’d like, but with these changes, it comes out very nicely. This is another dish that my two children will eat without complaint which automatically turns it into one of my favourites. Aside from tasting great when it’s first made, it is also quite tasty the next day, even served cold. For this reason, we’ve found this is a great dish for Shabbes or any Yom Tov.

Ingredients:

Crust:
2-3 medium Potatoes, peeled and grated
1 large egg, lightly beaten
1/2 tsp Salt

Filling:
1/2 lb Broccoli, sliced thinly
2 Cloves of Garlic, minced
1/2 cup Onion, chopped
3 Large Eggs
1 cup Milk or Cream
1/2 Cup Grated Cheese
1/2 tsp Salt
1/2 tsp Basil
Paprika for dusting

Directions:
Combine ingredients for crust in a large bowl. When thoroughly mixed, form into a crust in a 9 inch pie dish, pressing down the bottom but not the sides. Bake at 400F for 30 minutes. Cover and continue baking for another 10 minutes. While crust is baking, prepare the filling; Saute onion, garlic, salt, pepper, and basil until translucent. Add broccoli, stir and cover, cooking about 5 minutes, or until tender. When the crust has finished baking, spread half of the cheese on the bottom of the crust. Spread cooked vegetables on top, and sprinkle remaining cheese on top. Beat eggs and milk together and pour over top. Dust with Paprika. Bake uncovered at 375F for 35 minutes.

~ Recipe submitted by Moishe Callow of Stay At Home Tatty

My husband has been in school for the past 6 1/2 years. Just this week he finished. It’s the most unbelievable feeling for me, even though it is his accomplishment. He was doing the work and getting the straight A’s, while I was home taking care of our home. Not only will he have more time to himself, but he will also have more time to spend with us without reports and finals on his mind. Because of this huge occasion, we hosted a little get together with his classmates. We wanted it to be the one last hurrah to get his class together before they were to take the next steps in their lives.

I had many meal ideas planned out in my head for this event when my husband informed me that two of his classmates were vegetarian. It was not a big deal until I realized the majority of the dishes I was thinking of, were made of chicken and meat. I had to come up with something that was filling and tasty. I wanted to make something that also resembled the other foods I was making so as not to single anyone out. One of the dishes I made were a variety of wraps. So I figured one of the variety could be vegetarian. But then I had to think of what to fill the wrap with. I wanted it to be hot and have the same tasty flavors as some of the other wraps. And so I came up with this spinach vegetarian wrap.

Serves 4

Ingredients:
4 large flour tortillas
3 tbl. Olive oil
3-4 cloves garlic
5 white button mushrooms
1 bag fresh baby spinach
Schwarma spice + a little olive oil
2 roma tomatoes
1 avocado
thousand island dressing

Directions:
Heat up the olive oil in a medium sized frying pan on a medium flame. Chop the garlic and add to the pan. Saute till you smell the garlic or when it begins to sizzle. Slice the mushrooms and add to the garlic. Saute until mushrooms absorb a lot of the oil. Then add the bag of spinach a little at a time. Cook all together in an open pan until spinach begins to wilt. It should not become too soggy. Remove from heat. Take 1 1/2 tbl. of the shwarma spice and add to a little bit of olive oil until becomes thick. Pour over the spinach and mix until it’s entirely covered. Chop the roma tomatoes and avocado and pour thousand island on top until mixture is covered. Take flour tortillas and put a little of the spinach mixture onto the bottom middle. Pour tomato and avocado mixture on top. Roll it together like a burrito. Slice in half and serve hot or room temperature.

~ Recipe submitted by Becky Brownstein of Spits & Giggles

There aren’t many kosher Thai restaurants out there, are there? After The New York Times published a recipe that seemed much easier than we thought making pad thai was, we decided to give it a try, only slightly differently. Using bits and pieces from other recipes around the internet, we decided upon this recipe, tasting and adding ingredients when needed. This better-than-a-restaurant meal was a satisfying dinner for four hungry people, with enough left over for one of us to pack for lunch the next day. After “marinating” in the fridge overnight, the flavors intensify, making tomorrow’s lunch extra flavorful.

Our version wasn’t vegan - we used eggs. Nor was it gluten-free - we used soy sauce. But these two ingredients can easily be omitted or substituted to make your pad thai vegan and/or gluten free! If you know where to buy kosher fish sauce, use that instead of the soy sauce (and let us know where to get it!). Or use tamari; either way, this can be an awesome gluten-free Passover dish.

(This recipe has been adapted from New York Times)

Ingredients:
1 (13.2 oz) package of rice noodles
1/4 cup peanut oil
5 tablespoons tamarind concentrate
4 tablespoons honey
2 tablespoons rice vinegar
1/4 cup soy sauce
1/2 teaspoon red pepper flakes
1 bunch of scallions, chopped
3 cloves garlic, minced
3 eggs
1/2 head cabbage, thinly sliced
1 package extra firm tofu, drained and sliced
1/2 cup roasted peanuts, chopped
handful of cilantro, chopped
lime, cut into wedges

Directions:
1. Cook noodles according to package directions. After draining, drizzle with one tablespoon peanut oil to keep from sticking and set aside.
2. Meanwhile, put tamarind, soy sauce, honey, and vinegar in a small saucepan over medium-low heat and bring to a simmer. Stir in red pepper flakes and set aside.
3. Put the rest of the peanut oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat; add scallions and garlic and cook for about a minute. Add eggs and scramble until just done. Add cabbage and cook until it begins to wilt. Add tofu.
4. When the tofu begins to brown, add the noodles and sauce to the pan. Toss until everything is evenly coated with sauce.
5. Serve, sprinkling each dish with peanuts and garnishing with cilantro and lime wedges.

Wasn’t that much easier than you thought? Most of the ingredients are probably already in your pantry. Look for tamarind in Indian or Middle Eastern markets.

~ Recipe submitted by Stephanie and Jessica of The Kosher Foodies

Ingredients:
Broccoli (frozen or fresh)
Spinach (frozen or fresh)
Mushrooms
4 eggs
2 tablespoons mayo
salt and pepper to taste
1 tablespoon of onion soup mix
a hanful of cornflake crumbs for the topping
Pie crust

Directions:
Cook the broccoli & spinach. Then add the remaining ingredients and mix it so it’s combined fully. Pour into pie crust and sprinkle on the cornflake crumbs then bake it uncovered for an hour on 350.

~ Recipe submitted by Tova Berger

Growing up in an Ashkenazic household I was exposed to the following spices: salt, pepper, garlic and paprika. I honestly did not realize that there was more to season with. Then I married my husband and he wanted more flavor. His mother is Yemenite and cooks with cumin, turmeric, chawaig and an assortment of herbs that I had never tasted before such as cilantro and mint. I will never forget the silence at the table the first time I asked for ketchup with my turkey. It was over a Thanksgiving meal and not the best way to introduce myself to my future mother in law. I soon realized that ketchup is an ashkenazic staple for a reason, you need it to add some kick to the mostly bland food being prepared. Eager to fulfill my role as wifey I ran out and stocked up on all the spices I had seen in her kitchen, not knowing what most of them were for. It’s been a slow process but I now know that cilantro is a great addition to corn salad and salsa and that turmeric goes great with eggs. Oddly enough it was my Ashkenaz sister who gave me the following recipe for chicken soup. You can serve this as soup or prepare some rice in a separate pot and pour some of the liquid on top of the rice along with the chicken pieces and it’s a full meal. (trust me, this will score you points with anyone who wants some flavor other than just salt and pepper!)

Ingredients:
carrots
sweet potato
zucchini
1 whole tomato with the top cut off
1 onion diced
1 onion whole
garlic, diced
chicken (I use 2 dark pieces and 2 white pieces)
cilantro (chopped up)
dill (keep in bunch whole)

Directions:
Saute the diced onions and garlic. Then add the remaining veggies along with the dill and cilantro, leaving some cilantro to add before serving. Place the chicken in the pot then fill with water. Spice with salt, pepper, paprika, onion powder, garlic, some chicken soup mix (I use the one without msg) and some chawaig

~ Recipe submitted by Nina Safar