Ode to a Meat Blog - Parshat Mishpatim

After Moses shares a laundry list of rules with the nation in this weeks portion, Parshat Mishpatim, the nation famously responds - "All the things that God has commanded we will do!" This attitude doesn't last for too long during their trek in the desert, but for the time being the nation, Moses and God are in a really good place in their relationship. In celebration of this Moses builds an altar at the foot of the Mountain where he just got the commandments out of 12 pillars to represent each tribe. Appointed spokespeople for the nation come forward to offer up bulls as sacrifices of well being to God.


Things are looking normal when Moses takes the blood from the animals and dashes it against the side of the alter. But after he reads the covenant out loud and the nation again chimes in faithfully " All the things that God has commanded we will do" Moses starts to sprinkle the blood over the nation saying "this is the blood of the covenant that God makes with you regarding these commandments." Not sure anyone saw that coming.



But let's get back to those bulls. It was this time last year that I was exuberantly writing about Oxtail soup in connection to the bull's cousin mentioned earlier in the portion. This fateful blog entry led to a blissful state of free meat for our family from Golden West Glatt - I would blog for them twice a month with recipes that I tried out on the meat that they sent me. I am sad to say that the free meat has stopped, as has all meat from the Golden West site. There are two posts that I wrote for them that never got published so I thought I would share one of them here with you this week. I'll save the other for another week. Enjoy the meat.



Whiskey Molasses Ribs

Both my father and my husband are big whiskey fans, and along the way I've developed a taste for the smooth drink as well. There isn't one brand that I'm a devotee of but I have learned an important lesson about nomenclature when it comes to this drink. The lesson came on a family trip to Ireland in the summer of 2001. We were in a small pub in Ballina (pronounced bah-lyn-ah), a sweet town along the River Moy, about four hours drive from where my mother's family hails from. We were in the middle of our four week adventure, driving all over the southern part of the country to visit family and sites. The printed maps we had were no help in navigating our tiny car along the swerving, hedgerow-lined streets since none of the roads were clearly marked (The Irish immigrants to Boston must have felt right at home with our equally absent street signs). At the end of that particular day my dad wanted more than the Guinness on tap to wind down and approached the bar tender with a request for a nice glass of Scotch. The pleasant but firm response he got was "Well, you be in Ireland now and we call it whiskey here." Right, he didn't make that mistake again. Calling whiskey Scotch is something you can get away with in Scotland and America, but not in Ireland. However, the mistake had the fortuitous outcome of turning my dad on to a whole new genre of Irish whiskeys.

Aside from enjoying sipping whiskey out of a shot glass, I also enjoy adding it to dishes in the kitchen. It enhances certain pies, and truly shines in meat sauces. When I announced the name of the dish I was serving to my guests several weekends ago people got down right giddy. The Whiskey Molasses ribs live up to their name in their sweet and deeply savory taste. I had actually tasted two right after I removed them from the broiler on erev Shabbat and got very close to changing my mind about sharing them with my guests. Gobbling down these Golden West short ribs with Sam before anyone arrived suddenly seemed like a great idea. The truth is this is my third recipe for ribs that I'm sharing with you here at Golden West Glatt (blueberry glazed and Korean style) and I still can't get enough of this tender and aromatic crispy beef, no matter how I dress them. Whether you take the time to craft an intricate sauce, whip up a simple overnight marinade or just brush them with your favorite BBQ sauce, the results are sure to make you, and anyone you end up sharing them with feel special (not to mention very sad once there aren't anymore left to eat). The Whiskey Molasses recipe is somewhere in between an intricate marinade-sauce combo and a bottled BBQ sauce. It's a recipe that has some Southern hallmarks (including southern Ireland) since it involves whiskey and molasses which come together in a thick sauce that looks like a dark ketchup. But is also has a subtle nod to every New Englander, there's beer in the marinade that gets boiled and cooled for the ribs to soak in overnight.

After eating this dish you won't have much use for a napkin, as you'll want to lick your fingers to hang onto those last bits of flavorful sauce and crispy flecks of charred goodness. The notes of thyme and balsamic vinegar add an interesting complexity that will leave those who weren't in the kitchen with you wondering about how you got those savory notes into a sauce sweet with molasses and sugar. The delicate marbling that you find in the raw ribs adds to the rich flavor after they are cooked, as does the bone itself. Be sure to not remove the meat from the bone for your guests - eating it off the bone is not only fun but helps maintain their marrow-ey flavor. These are not cross cut ribs, which are referred to as flanken, they are individual ribs with the meat on the bone and have been sawed down to manageable sized pieces. The ribs come in square packets from Golden West in a variety of sizes, ranging from from five inches tall and three inches thick to two inches by two inches. Many people like to braise ribs like these in a large pot for several hours but I find that after soaking in a marinade over night they do very well with a few minutes under the broiler on each side. Especially when you get a nice brown/black crisp on them. In the recipe I include instructions to leave the ribs in a warm oven for an hour after cooking, but if you can't wait that long I won't blame you.

Whiskey Molasses Ribs

Inspired by a recipe for Bourbon Molasses Ribs by John Malik which appeared in Bon Appetit in 2003

Make the marinade at night:
1.5 cups water
12 oz light beer
1/4 molasses
5 thyme sprigs
1 tbsp salt
1 tbsp sugar
1 bay leaf
1/2 tsp pepper

Bring all ingredients to a boil in a medium pan over a high flame. Cool the liquid and then place the ribs in a glass baking dish and cover with the liquid. Cover and refregerate over night.

Sauce
1/8 cup whiskey
1/8 cup water
2 thyme sprigs
Olive oil
Onion
1/2 cup of balsamic vinegar
1/4 cup of ketchup
1/4 cup molasses
1/2 tsp salt
Pepper

In a medium-sized pot heat the olive oil and then add in the diced onion and stir for 5 minutes until brown. Add in the balsamic vinegar and boil for 2 minutes. Add in the rest of the ingredients, stirring until thickened.

Heat the broiler and remove the ribs from the refrigerator after they have marinated overnight. Discard the marinade.

Place the ribs on the broiler rack and coat the exposed sides with the sauce. Broil for 6 minutes and then flip each rib, coat with more sauce and broil for 6 more minutes. Turn the oven down to 150 degrees and leave them there for an hour or until you're ready to eat.

Divided We Stand - Parshat Yitro

Raise your hand if you have too much to do but don't know how to ask for help doing it.

Raise your hand if you get annoyed at waiting in line for people who have too much to do and don't ask people for help doing it.

If you raised your hand for the first thing, you're in the same boat as Moses. If you raised your hand for the second, you're in a boat with the nation of Israel. If you raised your hand for both you may want to look into getting a new boat.

In this week's portion, Parshat Yitro, Moses is trying to handle the task of judging every case that arises amongst the nation by himself. His wise father-in-law Yitro, points out that he should restructure and share the work with others.

"But they all come to me seeking God, they bring me a dispute or they ask me a question and I judge between them or I tell them the applicable rules."

"This system is no good." Says Yitro, "You're wearing yourself out, as well as the nation - you're making them wait around all day to get to you. The task is too much for you - you can't do it alone." Here's his advice: find men among the nation who are trustworthy that you can appoint as chiefs over smaller numbers of the nation. They'll judge most of the cases and bring any big ones that are out of their purview to you. Let them share the burden with you and make your job a little easier.

So Moses takes this good advice and things seriously improve for him and the nation when he implements the divide and conquer strategy.

I've been racking my brain for dishes that have this divide and conquer theme. I once had gazpacho divorciados (two flavors of gazpacho served in one bowl, divided).

But I'm not sure that's what I'm in the mood for this week so I thought I'd turn to you my readers. What could we make that's related to this theme this week?

And should it be served on this kind of plate?

In a Bind - Parshat Beshalach

Last year we talked about this being the parsha of the double portion - so if you're in the mood for some challah baking, go revisit it. As a brief challah update - these days I have been taking the time to make an egg wash to glaze the challah (a combo of one yolk and a tsp of water) and then grinding an herbed salt mix over the top before baking. The crunchy savory outside is a great prelude to the lightly sweet and doughy inside.

But this year we're going to talk about dilemmas. Sure we all come up against them in life and in the kitchen - should I leave out some oil to save my waist but sacrifice on taste ... how can I save my batch of oatmeal white chocolate cookies when I discover that we're out of oats ... should I take the time to chisel away at that brown sugar that has gone hard again or just use white sugar in the recipe? We each have our own ways of reaching a decision in these difficult dilemmas, and in this week's portion, Parshat Bishalach, God has to make His own decisions to save the nation from a few dilemmas.

Pharoh has finally let the people go, but God is a bit nervous that if the newly freed nation sees that they have a hard journey ahead they'll do an about face and scramble back to their Egyptian huts. So, God decides to take them on a longer rout, leading them away from warring nations that they might come upon, and taking them through the wilderness instead, to the Sea of Reeds.

While one crisis is averted another pops right up. Don't you hate that? While the Israelites are camping out near the sea Pharoh gets word and his heart starts to stiffen. He misses his slaves so he leads his warriors on chariots after the nation. But it's all part of God's plan to lead the nation to freedom with some pizazz.

As the Israelites start to hear the thundering of Pharoh's army chariots they started to panic. An army on one side of them and water on the other! They cried out to God to solve their dire situation. But it's not really what God wanted to hear - actually, they say exactly what He was trying to avoid earlier. "Did you drag us out here because there weren't enough graves in Egypt? Take us back, we'd rather have the life of a slave than die in the wilderness."

Moses calms them and says - just sit back and watch this great show God has got in store for you to get you out of this bind. And just them Moses receives word to raise his staff in his hand over the water and split the sea, making a dry passageway, an escape route for the nation. They start scurrying between the two walls of water, fleeing the pursuing army, and again they are sandwiched - but this time in a good way. Acting as a buffer between them and the Egyptian army that's still on their tails is a moving pillar of cloud and another of fire. After a lengthy crossing, when the last souls of Israel make it through to the other side of the sea unscathed, God brings the water of the sea crashing over the Egyptian chariots - and Pharoh finally bites the dust. And that certainly wows the nation - for a little while they're in awe of God, true believers.


Permit me a bit of a stretch this week with the food connection (not unlike the many times you've done so before). This is a case where I've made something yummy that I'd love to share with you, and I'm going to try and fit it into the story. My mom recently sent me a slew of cookbooks for my birthday, and this morning, in honor of a snow day, I cooked up a batch of delicious wheat-corn muffins that have a little surprise sandwiched in the middle. Home made jam (but I won't tell if you buy yours from the store).





OK so what's the connection? These sandwich-esque muffins are reminiscent of the times the Israelites find themselves in a sandwich this week - between the sea and the army, between the walls of water and between protective pillars of clouds and fire. The muffins are quite fluffy, airy and cloud like - and if you use a red jam, like my raspberry peach I made over the summer, it's quite fiery looking. Trust me, you'll enjoy the muffins more than this explanation.


Muffin Jelly "Sandwiches"
Adapted from Cooking Light Annual Recipes 2002

There is no cornmeal in the original recipe, but I was really in the mood for a toned down corn muffin and this hit the spot. I filled 6 of the muffins with a sweet raspberry peach jam and 6 with a tart quince jam that I made right after Rosh Hashana. Both went very well with the taste of the muffins.

1 cup white flour
1/2 cup whole wheat flour
1/2 cup yellow corn meal
1/2 tsp salt
1.5 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 cup brown sugar
1 egg
1 egg white (you can save the other yolk here for glazing your challah)
3 tbsp canola oil
1 cup buttermilk
1 tsp vanilla
1/2 jam or jelly of your choice - feel free to use more than one kind
1 tsp granulated sugar

Heat the oven to 400 degrees.

Mix the flours and corn meal in a large bowl. Add the salt, baking powder and baking soda.

In a separate bowl beat the egg, egg white, and brown sugar. Then add in the buttermilk, vanilla and canola oil.

Add the wet ingredients to the flour mixture and stir until moist - don't over stir.

Let is sit for 5 minutes to fluff up.

Prepare 12 muffin holders (I like to use silicone) on a baking sheet. Spoon 1.5 tbsps into the bottom of each muffin cup. Then add 1 tsp jam to each cup. Finally, top with 1 tbsp of batter, smooth the batter nicely to cover over all the jam.

Sprinkle each muffin with some of the granulated sugar.

Bake for 20 minutes, allow to cool and enjoy.

The Finger of God - Parshat Vae'ira

Did you know that the Pharoh of the Exodus story was a pretty hygienic fellow? Each morning he would bathe in the Nile - and in fact that is where Moses often has his confrontations with him during the period of the plagues. And did you know that Moses was 80 years old when he goes to confront Pharoh and his brother Aron is 83? In this portion the two of them team up with God to bring seven out of the ten plagues to bear on Pharoh's court and country.



Moses's first demand of Pharoh is to just let his nation go on a three day road trip to sacrifice to God. But Pharoh isn't even cool with that. So then come the plagues. The first happens right as Pharoh is bathing in the Nile - it turns to blood and he is grossed out when dead fish start to surface around him. Pretty soon all of Egypt is smelling pretty putrid and there's no potable water. But, since Pharoh's magicians were able to do the same to the water with their spells, Pharoh is unimpressed.


Next, Moses threatens Pharoh with a frog infestation so bad they'll be in people's beds, oven and mixing bowls. At first Pharoh doesn't flinch, but he does get irked by the multitude of frogs that Moses summons from the Nile and begs for Moses to reverse the plague. So all the frogs die, making Egypt smell even worse. But Pharoh goes back to being stubborn and refusing to let anyone go anywhere.

It isn't until the third plague rolls around that Pharoh and his assistants finally recognize God's handiwork. When Aron turns all the dust of the earth to lice with a flick of his rod the little creatures crawl over every Egyptian human and animal. Try as Pharoh's magician's might they can't produce the same effect with their wands, nor can they reverse Aron's plague. The magician's declare, "This is the finger of God." But of course this revelation is short lived as Pharoh again refuses to let the people go. And even after Moses, Aron and God bring on swarms of insects, a blight on livestock, blistering skin boils, and deadly flaming hail, Pharoh is unmoved.

Not to gross you out but I've got a recipe that combines the first and third plague. There will be no actual blood or lice, but this savory rice dish is colored bright pink from beets which results in a well seasoned and visually pleasing bite. I had never thought to add beets to rice but when I saw the recipe in my Italian Jewish cookbook I knew it would probably be as good as everything else I've made from it. And indeed, it's made repeat appearances on our Shabbat table and will likely leave you wanting double portions..

Beet Rice
This recipe is adapted from Classic Italian Jewish Cooking by Edda Servi Machlin

3 large beets, washed and peeled
1 cup basmati rice
2-3 cups water
Pinch of salt

Place the peeled beets in a medium pan and cover with water. Boil for 15 minutes, until you can easily poke a fork 1/2 an inch into the beets. Remove the boiled beets from the water and measure out 2 cups of beet water. If you have less than two cups add regular water to get two cups total.

Lay the beets on a cutting board to cool down and place the 2 cups of beet water into a clean pot. Add one cup of rice to the liquid and a pinch of salt. Bring to a boil and then simmer for 20 minutes. Fluff with a fork.

Dice the beets and mix the pieces into the cooked rice and serve.

New Year

Lot's of blogs that I read are doing a year in review this week, highlighting some of their favorite posts from the last year. I'd actually like to take an opportunity to share some things from the last year that never made it to the blog because I couldn't make a portion connection. Mostly, they're things I ate around town and want to share.

I had my second kosher hot dog at Fenway this year. The first time I had one I kept our seats warm while Sam procured the hot dogs. But this summer, on a small work outing, I got to see the workings of the kosher hot dog machine myself. The machine is located under a large Kosher Food sign and you get a glimpse into it's working mechanism. Digital messages narrate the process - "Your Bun is Warming" sent Emily and I into a laughing fit. Sadly, they were a bit more exciting than the hot dogs themselves. The bun and the hot dog were both rather limp and I was wanting for some sour kraut.



On a tastier note, Sam and I discovered new bourekas at Cafe Eilat (the Brookline Pizza Shop) and one tasted like a kosher croque monsieur in a triangular crispy puff pastry packet, with muenster cheese, tomato and instead of ham, some black olives. Yum.


Around Chanukah time I finally made it out to Donuts with a Difference in Medford, an off-the-beaten path kosher shop with a small window of operating hours. Holiday jelly donuts seemed worth the early morning pre-work venture and indeed they were the best jelly donuts I've eaten outside of Israel. The dark blueberry/strawberry jelly was well distributed inside of each donut - half of the ones I bought were covered in thick gooey sugar glaze and the other half we're powdered (Sam favored the latter and I the former). Every bite was thick and doughy, giving me a good teeth sinking experience, and while at first my Hebrew College coworkers stayed away claiming necessary diets, there were soon chunks missing from donuts and a family trip planned to sample the plethora of other different donut flavors.

Parshat Shemot

Last time around for Parshat Shemot, we talked about the trepidatious beginning of Moses's life. This time, let's take a look at how the guy turns out. Despite having grown up in the palace of Pharoh, his allegiance doesn't lie with the Egyptian king. When he witnesses an Egyptian task master beating one of the Hebrew slaves he's unable to stand by and watch such a ghastly act. Moses confirms that the coast is clear before he knocks off that Egyptian task master and buries him in the sand.

Moses continues on this valiant path and next reproaches two Hebrews for fighting with each other. They do not take kindly to this feedback and ask Moses "So, what are ya gonna do about it? Kill us like you did that Egyptian?" That's when he realizes he's in trouble and soon Pharoh sets out to kill him so Moses flees. And like the good Israelite that he is, he ends up at a well outside of the Kingdom of Egypt. It's evident that Moses is a descendant of Jacob when he flexes a little muscle well-side and saves damsels in distress from some harassing traveling herdsmen. The impressed women bring Moses to their father, the king of Midyan. Grateful for Mose's bravery he gives him his daughter Tziporah's hand in marriage.

Now a family man, Moses lives in Midyan until the Pharoh with the vendetta against him dies. It is after this that he encounters God in the form of a burning bush while tending his flock. God calls on him from amidst those branches, to be the leader that will take the Hebrew nation out of Egypt. But despite the fact that he's already stood up to power in three situations, this makes Moses nervous.

His self confidence gets put to the test when he finally makes it back to Egypt, and together with his brother Aron goes to face the new Pharoh. Despite Moses' cry to let his people go, Pharoh is unmoved. Instead he decides to make the Hebrew nation's work even harder; from now on, he orders, we won't provide the slaves with straw to make bricks, they'll have to go and collect the straw themselves. And they'll still have to meet the same daily quota for brick production. The nation blames Moses for this harsher situation they find themselves in, which isn't much of a confidence booster for Moses. But God assures Moses that He's on his side and that soon Pharoh will bow to a greater power and let them go. But you'll have to wait till next week to see how that gets resolved.


In the mean time, I've got the idea to make something related to the straw in the story. Not that straw itself is a particularly delicious ingredient, but a dish that looks like straw could actually be quite tasty. Especially if that dish is puff pastry strips twisted into sticks (or straws if you will) and dusted with zaatar. Sounds delicious and easy right? Zaatar is a Middle Eastern spice that has a green color and is made up of sesame seeds, thyme, marjoram, and sumac. It's musky flavor is used in falafel balls as well as Israeli cheeses and salad dressing. Most pizza shops in Israel will also have some zaatar in a glass salt shaker next to the requisite garlic salt and red pepper flakes. You can buy zaatar in specialty or kosher supermarkets and I promise that after you use it in this recipe you'll find many other ways to enjoy it (it's great over eggs, baked with chicken and labane yogurt with pita).

Zaatar Straws
I found this delectable recipe at recipes.com

1/2 cup flour
1 package of puff pastry
2 tbsp olive oil
4 tbsp zaatar
1 egg
2 tbsp water

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees. Set the puff pastry dough onto a floured surface and roll the dough out with a rolling pin to an perfect 8 x 12 inch rectangle.

Brush the olive oil all over the dough and sprinkle one half of the rectangle with zaatar. Fold the clean half over the zaatar covered half. Sprinkle with flour and roll out to an 8 x 12 rectangle again. Again brush with oil, sprinkle zaatar over one half of the rectangle and fold the clean half over the zaatar half. Roll with a pin a few times and then slice with a sharp knife into 1/4 inch long strips aka straws.

Take each straw one at a time and twist a few times. Lay the twisted straws on a baking sheet. Mix the egg with water and paint the mixture over the straws.

Bake the straws for 12 minutes until golden brown. Let cool for a minute before loosening from baking sheet. Serve alone or with a dip like hummus or tatziki.

Bless You - Parshat Vayechi

Did you miss me last week? Sorry about that - with Chanukah celebrations, a trip to visit family in Florida and adjusting to the new job (which is going very well!) I didn't make it over to Double Portion. But I'm back for the final portion in the Book of Genesis, Parshat Vayechi.

We loose two of our trusty Biblical characters in this portion and learn of the legacy they leave behind. At the age of 147 Jacob passes away surrounded by his family and at the end of the portion his son Joseph passes at 110. But before either of them expire Jacob leaves Joseph with a double portion of inheritance for his two sons Ephrayim and Menasheh.



These two boys are the first Jacob wishes to bless when he is ailing. He announces that these grandsons will be like actual children to him. "Ephrayim and Menasheh shall be mine no less than Reuven and Shimon." Grief and a feeling of loss are what motivates him - since his beloved wife Rachel was taken before she was able to have more children. We know that her two children we're Jacob's favorite, and the fact that they have healthy children of their own is a blessing to Jacob "I never expected to see you again Joseph, and here God has let me see your children as well."


These words must have made Joseph swell with pride, but a moment later he is confused by his father's actions. As Jacob stretches out his hands to bless his grandchildren, he puts his right hand on the younger Ephrayim. However, the right hand is typically used to bless the older child and Joseph tries to correct his father. But it becomes clear that Jacob wasn't experiencing any confusion himself. He explains that though the older son Menasheh will become a great people, the younger one will be even greater.



The blessing that he gives them are now lyrics to the children's lullaby "Hamalach Hagoel" (which translates to the redeeming angel) -
The God in whose ways my fathers Abraham and Isaac walked
The God who has been my Shepard from birth till today
The angel who has redeemed me from harm, bless these boys.
In them may my name be recalled and the names of my fathers Abraham and Issac and may they be teeming nations upon the earth.


Jacob concludes the blessing by stating that all parents of Israel will bless their children to be like Ephrayim and Menasheh and indeed, to this day parents bless their sons before Shabbat Dinner with "May God make you like Ephrayim and Menasheh. May God bless you and guard you ..." (daughters get blessed to be like Sara, Rivkah, Rachel and Lea). Sam's father calls each week before Shabbat to give him this blessing over the phone lines, and my father does the same for me and my brother when we aren't together for Shabbat. But in our families we are strict about giving these blessings in birth order - I get mine before my brother gets his. However, Jacob does just the opposite with his grandchildren and succeeds in switching the status of Ephrayim to that of the older and Menasheh to the younger. This flip flop reminds me of the way Jacob stole the rite of the first born from his brother Esav and got his blessing from his dad. I guess that old habits die hard for Jacob.


To remember this Ephrayim and Menasheh switch we're going to take an item that appears at the beginning of the meal and bring it back at the end - to serve challah for dessert. I've found a bread pudding recipe that you can make in a crock pot! Now I love to cook in the crock pot, but I have never ventured into the realm of slow cooker desserts. I got the idea from a cookbook that I recently added to my collection - Jewish Slow Cooker Recipes by Laura Frankel. So far I have only tried one recipe from her book because I'm finding that the recipes call for a bit too much hands on attention for a cooking method that is praise for the fact that one can throw a bunch of things in and come back eight hours later to a savory dish with well developed flavors. But I guess I should trust this kosher chef who worked for Wolfgang Puck.

I can't share pics because my plan it to put it in the crock pot about an hour before Shabbat and then keep it on warm until dessert time - which is sounding like a perfect idea after seeing that the temperature is going to drop to 22 degrees here in Cambridge!


Slow Cooker Bread Pudding
Adapted from Jewish Slow Cooker Recipes by Laura Frankel

2 tbsp shortening (like buttery sticks, see image below)
1 lb challah loaf
4 eggs
4 cups full fat soy milk
1 cup brown sugar
1/2 sugar
1/4 maple syrup
2 tsp vanilla extract
1/ cup chopped toasted pecans
1 tbsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp nutmeg

Optional Sauce
1.5 cups maple syrup
1/2 cup honey
1 tbsp cinnamon

Grease the bottom of the slow cooker insert with some shortening. Slice the challah into 1.5 inch slices and lay them in the bottom of the insert.

In a bowl whisk the eggs, soy milk, sugars, syrup, vanilla, pecans, cinnamon and nutmeg. Pour this mixture over the bread and cook on high for 3 hours. Keep on warm until ready to serve.

If you would like to make the sauce, bring the syrup, honey and cinnamon to a boil in a small saucepan and simmer for 10 minutes. Serve this drizzled over your plated dessert.

Parshat Miketz and Chanukah Roundup

Up till now Joseph's life has been like a roller coaster ride full of ups and downs. But that ride finally starts to slow down and keep an even keel (though at a high altitude) in this week's portion, Parshat Miketz.


That roller coaster ride started with a steep ascent when Joseph was doted on by his father and then took a real dive when he was beat down and almost killed by his brothers then sold into slavery. His ride took an upturn when he was sold to a man who was the chief steward of Pharoh, who treated Joseph with respect and gave him a good deal of responsibility.


But the ride plummets again when that man's wife falsely accuses Joseph, a pretty handsome guy, of unwanted advances and he is thrown into jail. The ride starts to slowly chug up an incline when he successfully interprets the dreams of two of Pharoh's stewards who he meets in jail. In return Joseph asks that they try and get him out of jail. But they forget all about him and Joseph's ride races downhill.


In this week's portion one of his former jail mates finally remembers Joseph when Pharoh is seeking some explanation for his own dreams. In Pharoh's first dream sickly sheaves of wheat swallow fat sheaves but don't look any fatter - in the second the same thing happens with skinny and fat cows.


They bring Joseph out of jail and spiffy him up so that he'll be presentable to Pharoh - the ride is slowly chugging upwards. He tells Pharoh that the two dreams mean the same thing - they're a sign of the next 14 years to come. First there will be seven years of plenty, followed by seven years of famine.


Joseph suggests Pharoh appoint someone to oversee the years of plenty and put some wheat away into a silo savings account to dole out during the years of plenty. Pharoh deems that here is no better person to do so than Joseph and at the age of 30 he is made Pharoh's second in command. His ride is no longer in danger of dropping after this ascent.

Pharoh pimps Joseph's ride - giving him a kingly signet ring, a gold chained necklace, royal robes and his own chariot to ride in. He also gives him an Egyptian name - Tzafnat Panea- and a wife named Osnat.


Joseph becomes a successful family man and his smooth ride continues. He has two children, Ephrayim and Menashe, and he collects so much grain in the time of plenty that he can't even measure it. When the famine hits, the people of Egypt complain to Pharoh for bread and Joseph rations out grain to all the Egyptians. And when people start coming from far and wide because the famine had spread all over Joseph is able to help them all too.


It's a no-brainer that this week's recipe needs to involve some kind of grain or bread. I've decide to share a corn bread recipe with you. It's completely dairy free but, in my opinion, tastes just as good as the versions that contain butter and milk. I've had a Southern friend challenge me but it's true, I've just got to get him to taste some. I think you'll appreciate this dish whether you're famished or not.

P.S. Thanks to Sam for all the transportation shots. What you can't see in the shots is me in the background tapping my foot and looking at my watch and wondering when he's going to stop taking pictures of the train/bus/car etc and let us get onto the next site. But now I can appreciate this habit of his as these shots are a great addition to this post and quite artistic when I look at each one on its own.

Corn Bread
This recipe is adapted from Cooking Light’s Annual Recipes 2004 Cook Book
1.5 cups flour
1.5 cups of cornmeal
2 tbsp sugar
1.5 tsp salt
1.5 tsp baking powder
5 ears of corn
1 and 1/4 cup of water
4 tbsp of oil, divided
2 eggs
Pre-heat the oven to 450 degrees. Place a 9 inch round cast iron skillet into the oven.
In a medium bowl mix together the flour, cornmeal, sugar, salt and baking powder.
Shuck the 5 ears of corn and then cut off the tips of the ears. One by one balance the ear on the cut off ends and slide the knife down the sides of the cob to remove the corn kernels. After you have done this with each ear divide the corn kernels in half.
In a food processor, blend half the corn, 2 tbsp oil, and water for a minute and a half. Add the eggs and process until combined. Add this wet mixture to the dry flour mixture. Add the rest of the corn kernels and stir until incorporated.
Using an oven mitt pull the cast iron skillet out of the oven and add 2 tbsp of oil and swirl while it melts to cover the bottom and sides of the skillet. Add the corn bread batter to the skillet. Bake for 25 minutes.
Serve warm.
Chanukah

Have you noticed that this year there is more to retail Chanukah than shiny gelt and gilded menorahs?

On a recent shopping trip to Target I noticed three end caps devoted to new and cool Chanukah paraphernalia like candle counter place mats that rotate to reveal another lit candle each night. At Bed Bath and Beyond they've got silver colored mats to place under your menorah flecked with star bursts and the blessings in Hebrew.


CVS also had, in my own estimation, 50% more Chanukah cards to choose from than ever before. I was drawn by the humor and art on many of them that I ended up buying a whole bunch to send out - and I am not much of a card sender.

I'm also feeling a greater devotion of cyberspace to the Festival of Lights. Target's website has returns 12 pages for a "hanukah" search - I'm loving the woman of valor recipe card holder and the ballet menorah. And if you're looking for more menorahs check out Apartment Therapy - they rounded up their favorite "modern" menorah's in a post today.


If what you're really after though is food, visit Bon Appetit's website and dig through their Chanukah menus from the last several years. There are some great choices that go well beyond golden latkas: chickpea latkas with harissa, latkas with zucchini and sage and porcini paprika latkas.

This year Chanukah starts on Wednesday night.

Aside from all the traditional fried food, there's also a tradition to eat dairy foods on Chanukah. This comes from the story of Yehudit, a woman who lived in the time of the Maccabees and had access to a Greek army general. She fed him some salty cheese to make him thirsty and then gave him plenty of wine to quench his thirst, and he promptly fell asleep. Yehudit then killed him which threw the Greek army into a state of panic and they fled from their posts.


Suggested Double Portion Recipes for Chanukah

Appetizers
Fried Goat Cheese and Roasted Beet Salad
Lox and Cream Cheese Roll Ups
Crostini with Fig Spread and Chevre
Date Stuffed with Goat Cheese and Pistachios

Main Course
Green and Red Onion Latkas
Garden Vegetable Lasagna
Smoked Salmon and Swiss Chard Quiche

Drinks and Dessert
Winter Sangria
Key Lime Cheesecake



Have a Happy Chanukah!

And Happy Roni V'Simchi Abba!