Orange and Rye Honey Cake

 

"Are you sure there are only four Jewish New Years? Because it sure seems like there are a Hell of a lot more than that!"

Rye Honey Cake

Pre-heat oven to 400

Sift together:

6 ounces rye flour

6 ounces all-purpose flour

1 tablespoon baking powder

1/4 teaspoon baking soda

3/4 teaspoons kosher salt

1/2 cup sugar

3/4 teaspoon lightly crushed caraway seeds

Blend or process:

2 mandarin oranges or 1 orange

6 ounces Date honey (Silan)

3/4 cup oil

2 eggs

2 tablespoons rye whiskey

1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla

Pour the orange blend into the sifted ingredients and mix just enough to combine.  Scrape into two mini-bunds or an eight-inch tube pan plus a couple of muffin cups (Or one full-size bundt pan or tube pan)

Sprinkle a few extra caraway seeds on top. Bake for 12 minutes.  Reduce oven to 350 and bake 12 minutes more (This is for the 8-inch pan.  You will need a longer baking time for the Bundts). Test with a skewer and bake a few more minutes in a turned-off oven if needed.

A few years back, I was dictating a Rosheshone recipe and the result instructed folks to marinate tofu in a bottle of forgiveness. I was impressed with how very appropriate an ingredient a bottle of forgiveness is for the holiday season. This year I wished a friend a year full of brokhes and Chad changed it to a year full of brooches. Why not? I wish a heathy year full of brooches to all.

Some Fabulous Honey Cakes and Other RosheShone Delights (Rosh Hashanah)

 

Some Fabulous Honey Cakes 

Orange Rye Honey Cake

Classic Honey Cake With Everything

Sunny Bunny Honey Cake

Date Honey Cake

Pomegranate Mahlab Honey Cake

Date and Tahini Honey Cake Vegan ταχινοπιτα

Universal Honey Cake

Michigan Star Thistle Honey Cake

Chocolate Honey Cake

Honey Pudding

Honey Pecan Pie

Chayale Palevski's Teygelekh and Ingberlekh

Valour of the Pizza Dudes גבֿורה פֿון די פּיצאַיאָלי

מיט 20 יאָר צוריק איז ניו־יאָרק, מיטן גאַנצן מזרח ברעג, אַױנגעהילט געװאָרן אין אַ פֿאַרפֿינסטערניש װאָס האָט געדויערט 3 טעג. אַ פֿאַלנדיקער בוים האָט אָפּגעריסן די דראָטן, אָבער מיר האָבן דאָס נאָך נישט געװוּסט.  די װאָס האָבן ערשט איצט דורכגעמכט סעפּטעמבער 2001 האָבן זיך דערשראָקן, און אַלע פֿאַרשטײט זיך האָבן זיך געפֿילט צעדרײט און צערודערט. װאָס האָט דאָס צו טאָנ מיט פּיצאַ, װילט איר פֿרעגן. אָט דאָס! אַלע געשעפֿטן װאָס זײַנען אָפּגהענגיק אויף דער עלעצטריק האָבן געמוזט זיך פֿאַרשליסן.  ןאָר די פּיצעריעס זענען געבליבן אָפֿן.  די פּיצאַיאָלי האָבן געאַרבעט װי אַ ייִדענע ערבֿ־פּסח צו מאַכן גענוג פּיצאַ פֿאַר אַלע.  נישט געקוקט אויף דעם װאָס דער חשק פֿאַר פּיצאַ איז 

דעמאָלט געװען אומעלאַסטיש האָבן די פּיצאַיאָלי־חיל נישט געהעכערט די פּרײַזן!

 

יעדער אײנער פֿון אונדז האָט דעם חובֿ צו זײַן אַזוי גוט װי די פּיצאַיאָלי. דער טאָג איז לאַנג, די אַרבעט איז שװער, דער לוין איז קלײן און די מיטאַרבעטער זענען פֿויל (אָבער נישט די פּיצאַיאָלי) איך בין נישט מחובֿ צו ענדיקן די אַרבעט אָבער איך טאָר זיך פֿון איר ניט אָפּזאָגן

 

Twenty years ago, New York and the whole East Coast were plunged into blackout.  A tree in Ohio had fallen on a power line, but we didn’t know that yet, and those of us still suffering PTSD from September 2001 were shaken up. Everyone was agitated and confused.  What does this have to do with pizza You are thinking? This has everything to do with Pizza!  Pizzerias were the only businesses not dependent on electricity. They stayed open and the pizza dudes were working like crazy to keep all the hungry New Yorkers fed. And even though demand was just about as inelastic as demand can get, the pizza dudes did not raise their prices.  More crises are coming and some day every one of us will be given a chance to be as strong, fair, and helpful (and maybe even as gorgeous) as a pizza dude.  Wait and listen for this opportunity.  Seize it when it comes.

Photos by Fred Lyon from Waverly Root's Food of Italy.  This might be the most influential book of my life.

Gluten-Free Coconut Dough for Homentashn Hamentaschen Hamantaschen

 

Last year these rice flour homentashn were smashing.  At the time I said the same recipe would probably work with 20 ounces of any flour mix.  I was close. The coconut flour was a little thirstier, so I used a whole egg and a little more water.

The results were not as foldable as I might have liked, maybe more xanthan gum would help.  The picture above is from the last batch, handled and pinched very carefully.

I added some egg wash so they would not bake up too pale.

I filled these with date filling to keep them in the palm tree family.  Just cook and puree dates.  Remember to take out the pits.

Coconut Flour Dough 

11 1/2 ounces coconut flour 

7 1/2 ounces tapioca flour

3/4 - 1 cup (6 1/2 - 7 1/2 ounces) sugar 

3/4 teaspoon baking powder

1/2 teaspoon salt

9 1/2 ounces (1/2 cup plus 3 tablespoons) butter 

one orange, peel, pulp, and pith, pulverized in a processor or blender

2 teaspoons lemon juice

1 egg 

1 teaspoon vanilla

about 1/2 cup water, as needed

Crumble the dry ingredients and butter together.

קאָרן המנטאַשן Rye Homentashn Hamentashen

 

אַלע יאָר זינגען מיר װעגן יאַכנע־דװאָשע מיט איר קאָרן מעל און אַלע יאָר מאַכן מיר המנטאַשן אָן קײן מינדסטן פּיצל קאָרן. זאָל שוין זײַן יושר אויף דער װעלט.   די־אָ המנטאַשן האָב איך גאַמכט לויט שװעדישע רעצעפּטן פֿאַר קאָרן־קיכעלעך.  איך האָב צוגעגעבן אַ ביסל קימל און אויך אַ ביסל קסאַנטאַנ גומע מע זאָל  זײַ קענען בײגן און קנײטשן.

איך האָב זײ אָנגעפֿילט מיט מאַראַנצן מאַרמאַלאַדע, אָבער אַלע געפֿילעכצן װעלן זײ פּאַסן.  זײ זענען געשמאַק װי די װעלט.

Yakhne-Dvoshe famously made her homentashn with rye flour, or at least bought rye flour for homentashn.  To make these I adapted several recipes for Swedish rye cookies that seemed homentashogenic.  I scaled them to use the exact amount of rye flour in the house (5.5 ounces) and added half a teaspoon crushed caraway seeds because how can I leave out the caraway seeds?  I was a little nervous about the foldability of the dough, so I added just a quarter teaspon of xanthan gum.  The dough was wonderfully rollable, foldable, pinchable, and otherwise compliant.  Whether the xanthin gum helped I cannot know, because I can't be doing a Kenji-type double-blind experiment.

Since Swedish rye bread is sometimes flavored with orange juice or zest, I used orange marmalade to fill these.  They are delicious and fragrant, with a little headiness from the caraway.

קאָרן טײג פֿאַר המנטאַשן

קאָרן מעל, 5.5 אָנצן

ראַזעװע געבעקס מעל , 5.5 אָנצן

קסאַנטאַן־גומע, 1/4 לעפֿעלע

קימל, 1/2 לעפֿעלע

שמירקז, 5 אָנצן

פּוטער, 5 אָנצן

צוקער, 5 אָנצן  

 כּשר־זאַלץ 3/4 לעפֿעלע

Rye Dough for Homentashn

5 1/2 ounces rye flour

5 1/2 ounces whole wheat pastry flour

1/4 teaspoon xanthin gum

3/4 teaspoon kosher salt

1/2 teaspoon lightly crushed caraway seeds

5 ounces cream cheese

5 ounces butter

5 ounces sugar

Stir together flours, caraway, salt and xanthin gum.  Cream together butter, cream cheese and sugar.  beat in the flour mix until just combined.  Dust the counter with flour and knead to form a dough.  Chill for a few hours or overnight.

Roll the dough 1/8 inch thick and cut circles.  Re-roll the scraps and cut out as many circles as possible.  form the scraps of the scraps into walnut-sized balls and roll each ball individually into a circle.  Fill the circles with a orange marmalade or the filling of your choice and bake at 350 for 15 minutes.

 rye flour קאָרן מעל

  xanthan gum קסאַנטאַן־גומע

Round-up of previous Homentash recipes:

Cream Cheese Filling for Hamentashn

Prune Filling (povidl) English

Prune Filling (povidl) Yiddish

Apricot Filling

 

Carrot Filling

 

Pumpkin Filling

 

Black Poppy Seed Filling

 

White Poppy Seed Filling

 

Hemp Seed Filling

 

Pumpkin Seed Filling

 Or 

Radish Filling

Yeast Dough

RiceFlour Dough

(gluten-free)

Coconut Tapioca Flour Dough

(gluten-free)

Carrot Dough

Chocolate Dough (English)

Vegan Gluten-Free Hamentash Dough (English)

Vegan Gluten-Free Hamentash Dough (Yiddish) װעגאַן טײג

Chocolate Dough (Yiddish)

װעגאַניש גלאַזור פֿאַר חלות און בולקעלעך Vegan Glaze for Challah and Buns

 

Right: flax broth glaze, left: bean broth glaze

A while back I posted a couple of recipes for vegan challah and vegan burger buns.  The vegan challah, enriched with mashed potatoes, sweet potatoes, and squash, has just about taken over as my favorite challah recipe of all time.  In the original post, I made a glaze with agar, which was fine as a medium for attaching poppy seeds, but did not provide the high-gloss finish that sends our endorphins into overdrive when we lift the challah cover.

I think I am much closer with these.  On the left broth from cooking beans (inspired by all the hubbub about "aquafaba" in the veganosphere), but even shinier is the flax broth on the right.  I think it is indistinguishable from 

Flax Glaze for Challah and Everything

1 tablespoon flax seeds

3/4 cup water

Cook the flax seeds in the water for about ten minutes.  The liquid will become gloopy.  Strain out the seeds.  You can mix the seeds into the dough, sprinkle them on top, add them to granola, or whatever.  Allow the glaze to cool and brush onto shaped loaves before baking.

אַמעריקאַנער מאַלװע Mallow Soup Caldo de Alaches

 

 

I had lots of greens already, but could I walk past these beauties from Grandpa Farm?  They are called alaches. They have beautiful purple flowers, arrow-shaped leaves and woody stems.  The farmer suggested cooking and blending them to make a green soup.

 

Alaches are Malva Alcea (Moose Mallow, hollyhock, cut-leaf mallow) or אַמעריקאַנער מאַלװע

The name "mallow" rang a bell. They are from the same family as Jew's mallow and the original marshmallow.  They do not have the familiar round leaves of those mallows, but arrow-shaped leaves.

I found some recipes in Spanish and tried as best as I could to follow this one. The recipe calls for Alaches leaves, green squash, corn, and an herb with long skinny leaves called pipicha.

I went tearing back to the market for corn and squash.  I did not imagine I would find pipicha, but thought I could make do with a bunch of cilantro.  I went to the farmstand and caught sight of these:

 

"Is this pichipa?" I asked breathlessly.

"Pipicha" she answered, with kindness and patience I hope to deserve. 

The leaves are very fragrant with flavors of cilantro, caraway, pine cone, parsley, and freshly mown grass.

Pipicha is Porophyllum linaria. It is not listed in Plant Names in Yiddish, so for now I will call it פּיפּיטשע

The flavor of the soup is a little herbal and a little mineral, but for me, the strongest taste and the greatest surprise was  a very big potato kind of energy.  For folks who can't or won't eat potatoes for various reasons, this soup could be a deeply satisfying and comforting dish. In fact, it will be deeply satisfying and comforting even to folks who eat potatoes all the time, like me.

Alaches Soup

1 bunch Alaches (mallow), about 1 pound

2 medium zucchini, about 1 pound

1 small onion, peeled

1 clove garlic, peeled

2 ears sweet corn, cut into 1-inch disks

1 small bunch pipicha or cilantro

Remove the alaches leaves and flowers from the stems. It is nice to have some company to do this.  I got about 9 ounces of leaves from a 14-ounce bunch. cover the leaves with water and soak and wash until they are clean. Keep the flowers cool and dry.

Add about two quarts of water to a soup pot or large saucepan. drop in  the zucchini, onion,  garlic, and corn disks, and bring to a simmer.  Add the leaves and two teaspoons salt.  Pull the leaves off the pipicha, and add leaves and stems to the pot. Cook for about another twenty minutes or until everything is quite tender.  The cook to whom I linked above cooke thw soup in a tall clay pot and purees the greens with a long wooden pestle.  This is beautiful, but I felt just removed the corn and stems and blended everything in a blender.  Taste for salt and add more water as needed. Serve with corn and flowers.

The Boss of All Honey Cake פֿאַניאַ לעװאַנדאָס האָניק־לעקעך מיט קאָרענע מעל

 

 

If you have a shuf at the recipe below, and if you are familiar with some of the honey cakes I have made over the last 18 years, you might be able to imagine how difficult it was for me to follow this recipe. No fresh or dried fruit? No citrus zest or juice? No coffee or tea or liquor? No spices save a bit of cloves (cloves of all things?)?  Hardly any fat? All that baking soda? Won't this cake be plain, dry, and unremarkable? No, no, and no.  This is honey cake to which all others aspire.  At first you think it is not sweet or moist, but then, just as you finish your first bite, the dark flavors of the rye and buckwheat sneak up you and you need another bite, and then another. I should have known any recipe from The Vegetarish-Dietishe Kokh Bukh would conquer all.

 

 

Rye and Buckwheat Honey Cake

2 eggs

250g (9 ounces, 1 cup) buckwheat honey

250g (9 ounces, 1 1/4 cup) sugar

1/2 teaspoon cloves 

1/2 teaspoon salt

75g  (3 1/2 ounces) oil (I used sunflower oil)

1 1/2 tablespoons (20g, 3/4 ounce) baking soda

 200g (1 3/4 cups, 7 ounces) rye flour

200g (1 3/4 cups, 7 ounces) all-purpose flour
 

Prepare a quarter-sheet pan, a nine-inch cake pan,  or an eight-inch tube pan, and heat the oven to 350f (mark 4). Beat the eggs and add the sugar and honey.  Continue beating, adding the cloves and oil. Sift together the flours and baking soda, and mix into the batter.  If the mixture is too dry add just a little water.

Scrape into prepared pan and bake 25 minutes for the quarter-sheet or 35 for the cake pan, or until a tester comes out clean.  for best results, allow to rest one day.

Cantaloupe Seed Milk

 

Well, how did I never think of this before? I fear I will have to account for every melon seed I ever discarded.  Cantaloupe seed milk is very silky and creamy.  It is a bit on the bitter side, but you can always add a drop more sugar.

Cantaloupe Seed Milk

3 ounces (3/4 cup) cantaloupe seeds (seeds of 2 cantaloupes)

1 1/4 cups water

1fat pinch each sugar and salt

Blend seeds with water.  Strain through a few layers of cheesecloth or a nut-milk bag.

Use in any recipe calling for milk or vegan milk.

 

 

 

Cantaloupe Seeds דינקע קערן

 

 

 

 

The good news is I made these delicious roasted, salted cantaloupe seeds.   The other news is, from this day forward,  whenever I eat cantaloupe and don't cook the seeds I will feel like a disorganized criminal.

 

Roasted Cantaloupe Seeds

Remove seeds from the melon and remove as much cantaloupe fiber as can be easily done.  Don't worry if you don't get it all at first.  

Put the seeds in a saucepan and cover with liberally salted water.  Bring to the boil and cook for five to ten minutes.  Skim off the remaining melon bits.  

Drain the seeds (save the salty seed stock for soups, beans, grains, or pasta).  Roast the seeds on a sheet pan at 350F (177C, Mark 4) for about ten or fifteen minutes to your desired shade of golden-brown.

Re-salinate your poor, parched cells.

Cassavekoek A Passover Cake from Suriname

 

I am very excited to be trying this recipe, for which I am grateful to my brilliant colleague Eli Rosenblatt.

 

The word "cocosnoot" will never cease to delight me

 The recipe comes from “Teroenga” April 1942, the Jewish journal of Paramaribo Suriname.  While I have been arguing for years that cassava (yuca, manioc) is perfect for peysekh, I have not come up with any recipes other than yucas fritas.  This year I am making at least two yuca-centric preparations, this cake, and a vegan sancocho for a  Seder Caribeño or Caribische Seder .

If you have time, Prepare the cassava a day ahead so you can freeze the grated cassava overnight and thaw it out before baking.  Remember to thaw the cassava.  I almost skipped this step.

Cassavekoek (Cassava Bojo)

1 Cassava (about 1 pound to yield about 2 1/2 cups pulp)

1 ripe coconut

1 cup milk

8 ounces ( 1 cup) dark brown sugar (or any sugar, more or less, to your taste)

2 ounces (4 tablespoons, 1/4 cup) butter

5 eggs

1/8 teaspoon cinnamon (I had no cinnamon this time, but 1/8 teaspoon would be good)

6 ounces (1 cup) raisins, soaked in 1/4 cup slivovitz, if desired

butter for the pan 

Heat the oven to 350F /180C, and butter a nine-inch cake or pie pan, and six muffin cups or a nine by thirteen pan.

Peel the cassava. You will need a sharp knife because the skin is tough and probably coated with wax. Cut the cassava lengthwise and remove the woody core. 

Grate the pulp or grind it up in a processor. If you have time, freeze the pulp (remmeber to thaw before baking).

 

Pierce the coconut and drain the water.  Bake for about 20 minutes. Smash open, and pry out the pulp.  You need not peel off the brown membrane for this cake. Grate the coconut pulp or grind it in a processor.  While the processor is running add the milk (water would probably be fine).

 

Melt the butter over low heat, and continue cooking a few minutes until it becomes deep brown and smells like the best bakery.

Beat the eggs, beat in the sugar, and drizzle in the brown butter. Fold in the coconut and cassava and the raisins. Scrape the batter into the prepared pans.  Bake for forty minutes until the surface is golden and a knife emerges clean

 Some notes on the original recipe and my adaptations

1. I do not know any Dutch

2. The recipe calls for a sweet cassava.  Fortunately, all the cassava available in the United States is sweet cassava.

3. I browned the butter, because brown butter.

4. Yes, even without knowing Dutch, I can sort of see that the original recipe calls for only three spoons of sugar, but I just have a strong feeling that they are large English-style dessert spoons, about four teaspoons 1 1/3 tablespoon each. Maybe even larger.

5. Traditionally you might soak the raisins in rum, rather than Slivovitz

6. This might be prettier in a cake pan, but one leniency I allow myself is to make all Peysekh cake in aluminum pie pans.