Pondering Shabbat Food

[gnomi]

Yeah, I know it's Wednesday... some of you will say, "That's too early to think about Shabbat food." Some of you will say, "You're just starting now?" Eh, such is the way of the gnomiVerse.

So, here's this week's thoughts. We're having three guests for dinner and being guests elsewhere for lunch. I'm only cooking dinner, therefore, and am playing with menus. My current thought is:

-- Challah
-- Grape juice
-- Some sort of starter (maybe g'fish, maybe cold soup of some sort... still thinking)Cucumber soup
-- Malaysian Chicken Curry
-- Basmati rice
-- Some sort of veggie Honey-glazed ginger carrots
-- Dessert of some type Chocolate Strawberry Shortcake

Yeah, so... not so much a menu as an outline. But this'll give me a chance to ponder without forgetting what I've already come up with.

Comments

[eroticjames.livejournal.com]

Not that I'm up on the whole Shabbat issue... but havimg done a few dinner parties. Go with a soup if you're doing curry. Fish and curry, unless the fish is in the curry don't go great. Maybe like a cold cucumber?? That goes good with curries. And can be made WEEELLLL in advance.

[gnomi.livejournal.com]

Ooh, good idea. Thanks!

Now I have to figure out if I can find a non-dairy cucumber soup recipe.

[xochitl42.livejournal.com]

Take approximately one cucumber per person, and one lime per [i]two[/i] people. Fresh mint, dill and parsley to taste, with a touch of garlic and salt. Blend the living daylights out of it; serve cold, like gazpcho. Garnish with chickpeas, if you feel like it.

Ta-daa!

[eroticjames.livejournal.com]

I may have to make that... sounds wonderful

[gnomi.livejournal.com]

Ooh, yummers. I'm gonna have to do that, yeah.

[xochitl42.livejournal.com]

Let me know what you think of it! I can also share (when I find it) a recipe for Agua de Pepino (literally, cucumber water--it's traditional Mexican cucumber-ade), if you're interested...

[kuroshii.livejournal.com]

ooo! i'll have to try that too. :)

[cbpotts.livejournal.com]

Seconds the cold cucumber soup -- M. bittman has a great one somewhere, I'll rustle it up, it's dead easy.

Dessert needs pinapple. Something tropical and cool.

[gnomi.livejournal.com]

Do you happen to know if the recipe you have is pareve? It's a meat meal, so I need a non-dairy soup, and the ones I'm finding are all dairy.

And pineapple's a good idea. And since beckyfeld isn't among the guests, I can do that.

[cbpotts.livejournal.com]

Cold Cucumber Soup
Serves 4

2 medium or 4 small cucumbers, unpeeled
1 t. salt
2 T. butter
1 small onion, minced
4 cups chicken stock
1 T. fresh herb of your choice [basil would work, or parsley, or the evil cilantro]
Fresh ground black pepper
1 T. fresh lemon juice
2 garlic cloves
2 T. sugar
2 t. ground cumin [depending on the herb you use, you may want to leave this out]
¼ t. cayenne
½ cup plain yogurt

Cut a few thin slices of cucumber for garnish and set aside. Then cut the cukes in half lengthwise and scoop out the seeds with a spoon. Chop them coarsely and sprinkle with 1 t. salt. Set in a colander and let drain while you proceed with the recipe.

Place the butter in a medium saucepan and turn the heat to medium. When it melts, add the onion, turn the heat to medium-low, and cook, stirring occasionally, until soft, about five minutes. Add the stock and the herbs.

Rinse the cukes and add them to the soup. Cook over medium heat for five minutes. Cool slightly, then puree in a blender, along with pepper, lemon juice, garlic, sugar, cumin, and cayenne. Taste and adjust seasoning, then chill.

When you’re ready to eat, adjust seasoning again, then stir in the yogurt. Garnish with reserved cucumber slices and serve.

The yogurt is rather integral, however, so it's not going to work for Shabbat. I'm racking my brains for a non-dairy alternative, but so far am striking out.

[magid.livejournal.com]

There's certified pareve soy yogurts available (though many are certified dairy, so it's good to check).

Thank you!

[cbpotts.livejournal.com]

I did not know such a thing existed. (I've only recently learned of veggie cheese, I am a little behind the culinary curve!)

Re: Thank you!

[magid.livejournal.com]

They're not always easy to find; so far I've found it most often at Whole Wallet Foods.

[gnomi.livejournal.com]

Oh, yummy. Definitely a recipe to be considered for a non-meat meal.

[kuroshii.livejournal.com]

remember to omit the chicken stock if you're going non-meat.

[gnomi.livejournal.com]

I can get pareve "chicken" stock, so it's all good. :-)

[kuroshii.livejournal.com]

oh! cool. (by chicken in quotes, do you mean it's artifically flavored? or were prayers said over it to make it no longer spiritually meat? am clueless.)

[gnomi.livejournal.com]

It's totally artificially flavored. Nothing vaguely chicken-related has ever come near it.

And you remind me of an old joke:

An old Jewish man lived next door to the church for years and one day he decided to become a Catholic. So he went to the priest and said "I vant to convoit". So the priest said, "You're an old man, you've been happy your whole life being a Jew, you don't need to convert". But the old man insisted. Again, the priest tried to put him off. The old man came back yet again and said "I vant to convoit". At this point the priest was fed up with him and said, "Okay I'll make you a Catholic, but remember, Mass every Sunday and NO MEAT ON FRIDAY!".

So the priest raised his hands over the old man's head and intoned "Once a Jew, now a Catholic. Once a Jew, now a Catholic. Once a Jew, now a Catholic". The old man went home and was very happy.

Some months later the priest dropped in to visit him on a Friday, and the delicious scent of chicken soup filled the man's apartment. "Irving", he cried, "You are a Catholic! NO MEAT ON FRIDAY!"
to which the old man replied "it's not meat" and he raised his hands over the pot and chanted "Vonce ah chikn, now ah fish!"

Seriously, though, there's no way to transform anything that is meat into not-meat. Something that is meat is meat no matter what. There's a widespread misconception that kosherness involves food being blessed by a rabbi, but in fact no such blessing occurs in the process. At some point, I should do a post about this.

[michelel72.livejournal.com]

Seriously, though, there's no way to transform anything that is meat into not-meat. Something that is meat is meat no matter what. I'm curious about this one, because I rely on ... hechsherot? ... when checking if foods are vegetarian. Gelatin is a real headache; the Jell-O people mark their products with an unadorned "K", and when I called the representative just read that the product "is kosher under the rules of the Jewish faith" from a script. I'm pretty sure they're using animal bone-and-hoof derivatives, and I thought I saw something about products being rendered "non-food" not counting as meat products ... but then they didn't say precisely that their gelatin was pareve, either. Confusing. So I'd be interested if you do work up a post on the general subject.

[gnomi.livejournal.com]

Most people who keep strictly kosher don't consider the K on Jello to be at all reputable. The plain K is put on by the company making the product, not any rabbinical board or authority.

As Judaism 101 (http://www.jewfaq.org/kashrut.htm) says:

The most controversial certification is the K, a plain letter K found on products asserted to be kosher. A letter of the alphabet cannot be trademarked, so any manufacturer can put a K on a product, even without any supervision at all. For example, Jell-O brand gelatin puts a K on its product, even though every reliable Orthodox authority agrees that Jell-O is not kosher. On the other hand, some very reliable rabbis will certify products without having a trademark to offer, and their certifications will also have only a "K." Most other kosher certification marks are trademarked and cannot legally be used without the permission of the certifying organization. The certifying organization assures you that the product is kosher according to their standards, but standards vary.

[kuroshii.livejournal.com]

there's no way to transform anything that is meat into not-meat

i didn't think so, honest, but felt compelled to double-check. i was thinking more along the lines of...oh, i don't know what i was thinking.

and that is a very funny joke.

[betra.livejournal.com]

You might want to think about a cucumber dill soup or maybe a melon and cucumber salad...yummmmm.

[gnomi.livejournal.com]

Oh, I like the melon and cucumber salad idea. And should be relatively easy to make pareve. Thanks!

[betra.livejournal.com]

Oh yea, it is easy to make, and goes with almost anything.

Now I want some. o0

[530nm330hz.livejournal.com]

Does "playing with memus" mean you're going to start a menu meme?

Help me plan my Shabbat menu in the comments. Then post your Shabbat menu outline in your own blog....

[cbpotts.livejournal.com]

That is not a bad idea. Two points for you.

[gnomi.livejournal.com]

Grrrrr. Stupid quick-typing fingers.

::edits post::

But I like your meme. :-)

[gnomi.livejournal.com]

Alternatively, menus for emus. :-)

[michelel72.livejournal.com]

See, this is where I was going to go with it, except to ask if you were going to play with your (animal-beginning-with-m)/emu hybrid pet, but I couldn't come up with a suitable m critter and I thought I might as well be nice because you'd fix it eventually. Feh. :>

[magid.livejournal.com]

Want some outlines of Shabbat meals?

[gnomi.livejournal.com]

Thanks! You are way more organized about this than I ever am.

[magid.livejournal.com]

You're welcome. Actually, not so organized; I'm missing a lot of the earlier stuff.

[magid.livejournal.com]

I went to dinner at friends' a couple of weeks ago, and was served a wonderful cold pea-based soup, that perhaps had some potato in it as well, garnished with some chunky salsa and pine nuts. No idea what was in it, but they've also served me a cold fresh pea (not dried) soup with mint at meals past.

Or there's always vichyssoise.

[gnomi.livejournal.com]

That sounds tasty. I should hunt down recipe.

[saraphina-marie.livejournal.com]

I have to say from a total goy gal...I am now desperately in love with gefilte fish.

As for cucumbers...you can make an Italian salad and make a dressing like a pesto with some dill (or some other herb) and a little oil and moosh into a paste to sprinkle over sliced cucumber that have been rinsed with a mild vinegar.

[mabfan.livejournal.com]

I was impressed with your love of gefilte fish. Most non-Jews I know who try it eat it once, and then never again.

[saraphina-marie.livejournal.com]

I am not overly fond of cooked fish, but I was willing to give it a try. And it turned out to be quite a good thing. I am not sure if Mrs. Cappell's gefilte is better than most, but I'd eat at her house any Friday night!

[gnomi.livejournal.com]

Gefilte fish not from the jar is a most excellent thing.

Some jarred ones are decent, too, but I have a preference for the ones from the loaf.

And thanks for the suggestion regarding the cucumbers!

[saraphina-marie.livejournal.com]

Let me know of some good jarred brands. Because I know I am going to get to craving one of these days. I liked the texture and the balance of sweet, savory, and some saltiness.

My grandmother makes a cucumber salad like that...she also tosses in tomatoes and sweet red onions. Tasty stuff, so refreshing and light!

[zsero.livejournal.com]

The only brand of jarred gefilte fish that I like is Noam.

[llennhoff.livejournal.com]

Can you post the recipe for the Malaysian curry chicken?

[gnomi.livejournal.com]

The recipe is here (http://www.cooks.com/rec/doc/0,1739,153164-231204,00.html).

I got it from beckyfeld.

[mabfan.livejournal.com]

Narf!

[gnomi.livejournal.com]

Narf!

chocolate strawberry shortcake

[lucretia-borgia.livejournal.com]

If I had better Gimp skills, I'd work this up properly, but this was where my brain went. Fill in the chocolate yourself.