Ginger Syrup aka Magical Elixir

It's that time again. The "soup sounds awesome for every meal because it's so warm and soothing and outside is chilly" time. The "flannels on the bed" time. The "bye bye tank tops, I'll see you in April" time. And yes, the "I want gingery things all the time in every way possible" time. Not that's ever not the time I'm in.

seltzer+ginger syrup= yum yum yum

Anyway, this syrup is simple (yes, that was a pun. You can laugh or groan as you like) and it's marvelous. Mix it with seltzer and a squeeze of lime for a lovely homemade ginger ale. Stir a spoonful into tea for some extra spice. Combine with bourbon, lemon, and boiling water for a delectable hot toddy. You get the idea. And the best part? All you have to do is chop some ginger and keep an eye on the stove for a little while.

Ingredients

• 4 oz fresh ginger (peel it if you want. You don't have to)
• 2 cups water
• cup sugar (I used sugar in the raw, but feel free to use white sugar if that's your thing)

Procedure

• Chop the ginger nice and small and combine it in a small pot with the water and sugar.
• Bring to a boil and then bring down to a simmer. Let cook for 45 minutes-1 hour
• Carefully strain into a jar or other container that won't, y'know, explode. Let cool and store in your fridge for yumminess!
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  

Chocolate Chip Pumpkin Bread

I'm not sure if any of y'all have noticed, but there's this rather notable obsession with pumpkin in the American sphere these days. And by notable I mean in-your-face-all-the-time-everywhere-you-go-everything-is-pumpkin-and-pumpkin-spice-and-it's-insane-from-September-to-Halloween. I like pumpkin. I like pumpkin spice. I am not nearly as head over heels for the stuff as many other folks.

I do adore pumpkin bread. Apparently I always have. The recipe that I use is one that my mom requested from my marvelous preschool teacher, Harriet, who was my saving grace at the JCC. I was a rather difficult kiddo there. Mostly because I couldn't stay still.  I had my own way of doing things. Like playing with crayons by standing on a table and throwing them around the room instead of, y'know, drawing. One of my earliest memories is having to spend the school-wide shabbat celebration in the hallway instead of in the social hall with all of the other preschoolers, because I got just a little too enthusiastic about the prayers and songs. Harriet could have made me sit quietly and not participate at all in order to reinforce that I needed to follow the rules if I wanted to have fun. Instead, she came out to the hall with me and said "We'll do our own shabbat." We sang the songs. We celebrated. 20ish years later, I decided to become a rabbi. Thanks, Harriet. And thanks for the best pumpkin bread in the world.

Ingredients (modified slightly from the original)- makes 2 loaves

• 4 eggs
• 1 3/4 cups sugar
• 1 cup oil
• 1/3 cup water
• 1 can pumpkin (or about 2 cups fresh cooked)
• 2 1/2 cups white flour
• 1 cup whole wheat flour
• 2 tsp baking soda
• 1 1/2 tsp salt
• 2 tsp cinnamon (or more if you love cinnamon)
• 1 1/2 tsp ground ginger
• 1/2 tsp cloves
• 1/4 tsp nutmeg
• 6 oz mini chocolate chips

Procedure

This is a quick bread, which means that wets and dries are mixed separately and then combined. You'll need 2 loaf pans for this, and I imagine these could also be made as muffins. You might have to adjust the baking time. 

• Grease your loaf pans well and pre-heat oven to 325°F
• Beat the eggs and sugar together and stir in the oil, water, and pumpkin
• In another bowl, mix the flours, baking soda, salt, and spices



ok, ok, so I cheated and put it all in the bowl with the wet stuff. 



• Stir the flour mix into the egg mix, taste (yes, I know there's raw egg-- get over it), and add more spices if you'd like. I almost always end up adding more cinnamon.



before



after

• Stir in the chocolate
• Divide the batter between the two loaf pans, dot the tops with chocolate chips if you'd like, and bake for about an hour and fifteen minutes. A knife should come out clean. Depending on your oven, it may take significantly more or less time. I'd check after an hour. Mine usually seems to take more time than expected.
• Remove from the pans after about 5 minutes, but don't try to slice more than the piece you're gonna gobble warm from the oven. It'll be much easier to slice once it's fully cooled. 
• Try not to eat it all in a day. It's tough. 
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  

Pasta with Burst Tomatoes

So it's fall. And that's great. That's really great. But it being fall means saying goodbye to summer, and, with that, to many wonderful foods. I love little tomatoes. Cherries, grapes, mini heirlooms, whatever. You can still get them in the winter, but the ones in the summer are better on every level. So, normally,  I treat them as a summer-only food.

I wanted one last gasp of summer cooking, so when I went shopping a couple days ago I bought a box of little tomatoes, and then I burst them. The results were simple and delicious.

Ingredients

• a couple glugs of olive oil
• 3 large cloves garlic, sliced
• 1/2 tsp dried basil
• 1/4 tsp dried oregano
• a handful of fresh basil, if you've got it
• 1/2 lb small tomatoes
• 1/2 lb pasta
• salt and pepper to taste
• grated parmesan, romano, asiago, or any other cheese you like for serving

Procedure:

• Cook pasta according to package directions. Make sure to save a bit of cooking water. While it's going:
• Heat a glug of olive oil over medium heat. Add the garlic and dried basil and oregano and cook, stirring, for a few minutes, until it starts to soften.
• Add in the chopped basil, another small glug of oil, and tomatoes and turn the heat up a bit. Let the tomatoes cook for 5-8 minutes, stirring  until they start to crinkle and burst at the seams. 



Into the Pan



2 minutes in



5 minutes in


• Drain the pasta if you've not already done so and stir about a half cup of the cooking liquid into the tomatoes, letting the tomatoes begin to absorb it.
• Mix the pasta into the tomatoes and give it a minute to all come together. 
• Season with salt and pepper, and pass the cheese please!
• 
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  

Soup's On! (Homemade Veggie Miso-Ramen Soup, that is)

This weekend the Pope came to Philly, and I went to Syracuse. I thought about staying in the area and maybe even trying to join the throngs for a glimpse of Pope Francis waving from his Fiat, but I decided that, on the whole, it wasn't worth it. So instead I had myself a Popecation and went to visit my friend Dan. It was a tiny bit chilly, fall creeping in just enough to make hot soup sound like a plan. So we made ramen. 

When I think of the ideal ramen I think of a hole-in-the-wall in the east village where my dad and sisters and I had the best dinner ever on a frigid night in February a couple years ago. Granted, I think most warm things would have tasted fantastic that night, but there was something particularly marvelous about the steamy, salty, choc-full-of-flavor bowls. Nothing I make could live up to that. Nonetheless, I enjoy cooking up my own soup. It's easy and healthy (except for the sodium of the miso) and, of course, it's delicious. We used ingredients we had around-- feel free to vary up the veggies with whatever you like/don't! We ended up with too much broth and veggies for the amount of noodles we made, but it's easy enough to cook more noodles for leftovers. The broth gets stronger overnight, so leftovers are super delicious!

Also, as a little disclaimer, I have no clue how real ramen and real miso soup are made. I don't know if my cooking methods are as off base from what's authentic as General Tso's Chicken is from what you'd find in Beijing. But I know that what I make tastes good, so I'll take it. Maybe you will too. 

Ingredients 

• 4 oz ramen noodles-- not the instant kind (although perhaps those would work in a pinch?). You may have to go to an asian grocery store for these, although we found them at Wegmans. Soba or udon could also work well for this dish. 
• 1 TBS sesame oil (or regular canola oil, if you don't have sesame)
• 3-5 cloves of garlic, sliced thinly but not diced
• 1 inch piece of ginger, peeled and sliced thinly
• 2 scallions, chopped (whites and greens)
• 1 hot pepper, chopped small (optional)
• 1/3 container of firm tofu, pressed and cubed
• 1/4 cup onion, diced
• 1 cup broccoli, stems and florets, chopped
• 1/2 cup mushrooms, sliced
• 1 bell pepper (ours was yellow), diced
• 1 cup kale, thick stems removed, chopped
• 1/2 cup carrots, julienned
• 1/4 cup miso-- We used red. Each color has its own flavor. Experiment and see what you like!
• 6 cups water
• soy sauce to taste
• 2 eggs 

Procedure

• There are 3 pieces to this: eggs, noodles, soup. 
• Eggs and noodles can be done before you start the broth or while the broth is simmering, whichever is easier
• Soft boil the eggs. If you have a preferred method, lovely. We put them in cold water and cut the heat after 3 minutes of boiling, then rinsed in cold water to stop the cooking process.
• Cook the ramen according to package directions. Rinse in cold water to stop the cooking process. 
• 
• For the broth, begin by heating the sesame oil in a medium pot.
• Add the garlic, ginger, hot pepper, and scallions and cook over medium heat until fragrant.
• 
• Stir in the tofu, onion, broccoli, and mushrooms and cook, stirring occasionally, for about 3 minutes. Add a little more oil if they start sticking. 
• Gradually add in the water and the miso paste and stir. Turn heat to high and bring to a boil, then lower to simmer. 
• Stir in the pepper and kale. Allow the broth to continue to simmer for at least 15 minutes, until the flavors begin to meld. Add the carrots almost at the end so they stay nice and crisp. Taste and add soy sauce or a little more miso if the flavor isn't strong enough. You can also add hot chile oil if you want a spicier soup.
• When the veggies are cooked and the broth is as flavorful as you want it to be, peel the eggs and slice them in half. Place some noodles into a bowl with half an egg and ladle the veggies and broth overtop. Mix, slurp, and try not to burn your tongue.

Breaking the Fast, and Breaking into Autumn with Whole Wheat Millet and Oatmeal Bread

              

Yesterday was Yom Kippur. It's not the easiest day to be a Jew, and it's especially not the easiest day to be a rabbinical student. Most of my classmates, like me, fasted while conducting services or serving in other leadership roles. I actually had a good bit less to do than many of my colleagues. The Hillel where I work only holds Kol Nidre (evening) services. On Yom Kippur morning I song led for a children's service and was then able to go to a synagogue of my choice for a few hours of adult services. Then it was back to my Hillel campus for an afternoon study session, ne'ilah (concluding) services, and break fast. The worst part of my day by far: realizing at 4:30 that we'd forgotten to purchase a few necessary items for the break fast. Y'know what's not fun? Grocery shopping on Yom Kippur. Nonetheless, it was a good day and I feel really awesome going into this new year.

Yesterday was also the Equinox and the First Day of Fall! I adore that the timing lined up like that. It's so cool to have been able to start a new season in the secular calendar at the same time as this new year begins in earnest with the end of the High Holidays.

Fall to me means many things. I love pumpkin spice lattes as much as the next person, but fall also means that it's legitimately time to bake. Summer baking always feels a little less awesome than autumn baking. Feeling a slight, crisp chill in the kitchen as I pre-heat the oven makes stuff taste better. It just does.

I grew up with parents who baked fresh bread. Not all the time-- we had plenty of store-bought-- but enough that it wasn't a rare occurrence. My folks had (and still have, I think) a falling-apart copy of the Tassajara Bread Book. They grew up in the Bay Area, not far from the monastery where Edward Espe Brown lived and baked. The original edition made huge recipes-- 4 loaves at a time-- and my parents did the same. I have strong memories of my dad punching down what seemed an impossibly large amount of dough in an impossibly large ceramic bread bowl.

The year that I graduated from college, the book, which had been difficult to find in stores for some time, was published in a new edition, and my parents bought me a copy. It was the beginning of my love for bread-baking, and even though I've ventured into many a sort of loaf since, I always find myself coming back to Tassajara. It's simple and wonderful, and everything about it feels like home.

Mr. Brown provides an excellent base recipe (cut down in the new edition from 4 loaves to 2) for yeasted whole wheat bread, but he also provides an amazing assortment of variations on that theme. I don't typically follow a straight-up recipe anymore. Instead, I riff off of it. This isn't a task to undertake on an "out of the house from dawn til dusk" day, but it's perfect for a "I need to do a few small things that take an hour or less each" day.  So, basically, this won't have you standing in the kitchen for hours, but it will have you standing in the kitchen for 5-20 minutes several times over the course of 5-6 hours.

Tassajara Yeasted Bread (with Emily's modifications)

Ingredients:

Yes, King Arthur is better. There, I said it. 

Stage 1:

• 3 cups wrist-temperature water
• 1 1/2 TBS active dry yeast
• 2 TBS honey
• 1 TBS maple syrup (you can also use 3 TBS of one or sub in some brown sugar or molasses)
• 1 cup dry milk (omit for a vegan loaf)
• 3 cups whole wheat flour
• 1 cup unbleached all-purpose flour
• 1 1/2 cups millet + 3/4 cup hot water

Stage 2:

• 4 TBS salt
• 1/3 cup oil
• 1 cup whole wheat flour, plus an additional 1-2 cups for kneading
• 1/2 cup oats

Stage 3:

• (optional) sunflower seeds or nuts to sprinkle on top of the loaves

You'll also need a large bowl for mixing, a counter space for kneading, and 2 loaf pans. While these loaves probably could be baked free-form on a baking sheet, I've never tried it. If you do, let me know how it goes!

Procedure:

Stage 1: (approximate hands-on time: 5-10 minutes)

• Put the water into your large mixing bowl and sprinkle the yeast on top
• Mix in the sweeteners and the dry milk
• Add the flour one cup at a time, stirring briefly after each. You can use more white flour or all whole wheat. I find that using a little white flour helps the dough come together a little more without sacrificing any of the delicious whole wheat flavor.
• After all 4 cups are in, beat vigorously for about 100 strokes.
• Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and set aside to rise for 45 minutes. The dough will likely get very very bubbly.

• Place the millet into a bowl and pour the 3/4 cup of hot water on top. Let soak until stage 2.

Stage 2: (approximate hands-on time: 10-20 minutes)

• Fold in the salt and the oil, followed by the soaked millet. Try not to add any of the water that the millet didn't soak up!
• Stir in the oats and 1 cup wheat flour. 
• Dump the dough onto the counter top and dust liberally with flour. 
• This is where the fun begins. Kneading this is not like kneading challah or pizza dough. There are no eggs to make this supple. There is very little white flour. Whole wheat flour takes work. You will dump a shaggy mess onto the countertop. It will soak up flour by the handful. It will fall apart. It will get everywhere. Yes, you will have to sweep your floor. And possibly mop. There will be millet and flour on the stovetop, under the toaster, and quite possibly in your hair. Keep kneading, feeding the dough as much flour as it needs but not any more than that. Small little finger handfuls are best. In maybe 5 minutes, the dough will begin to behave as though it's entertaining the possibility of becoming a cohesive unit. You should be able to ease up on the flour input, although you'll still need to feed it a little. Keep kneading for another 5 minutes or so. At some point, the dough will stop being sticky and become merely tacky, digging into your hands without coming along for the ride when you move your hands. The dough will begin to smooth out and take direction. 
• Oil the bowl and place the dough into it, turning it so that all the surfaces get oily. Cover the bowl with plastic-wrap (you may want to also oil the side of the plastic wrap that will be in contact with the bread) and a dishtowel, and place somewhere nice to rise. 
• In 50-60 minutes, or when it's doubled in size, uncover the bowl and punch the dough down. 



That's only one punch. What will a couple dozen do??




Ohhh it'll do that. 



Not so pretty, but it did its job!

• Re-cover the bowl and let rise for 40-50 minutes, until it's doubled again. 

Stage 3: (approximate hands-on time: 10-15 minutes)

• Cut the dough in half and shape it into loaves. To do this:


• Cut the dough in half, shape each half into a ball and let it sit for about 5 minutes



I said "try." I realize that this looks more like a mountain than a rectangle.

• Take one half of the bread and knead it for about a minute, flattening it out slightly towards an ovular/rectangular shape. If it's still quite sticky you can add a tiny bit of flour, but try not to. You don't want to dry it out. 
• Roll the dough into a log shape, placing the "seam" on the bottom. Use the back of your hands to flatten out the top and even out the ends into square-like shapes. 
  
  
  
• Place seam-side up into a well-oiled loaf pan, flatten the dough with the back of your hands again, tip out of the pan, flip so that it's seam-side down, replace in pan, and flatten the dough again. 
• Repeat for 2nd loaf. I know this sounds confusing, but don't worry too much about it. Even if you don't follow these instructions to the letter, you'll likely end up with an attractive and delicious loaf. :)
• Cover the loaves with plastic wrap and a kitchen towel and let rise 20-25 minutes. Pre-heat the oven to 350°F
• Make 3-5 half-inch deep slits in the top of each loaf to let steam escape.
• Sprinkle the loaves with sunflower seeds (you may have to press them very lightly into the loaves for them to stay)
• Bake for 50-60 minutes, until tops are golden brown and the bottom of the loaf sounds hollow when rapped. 
• Remove carefully from loaf pans (a butter knife slid around the edges of the pan can help to loosen the loaves) and let cool on a wire rack. You shoooould let the loaves cool for at least an hour before cutting in order to get clean slices. But you could also cut a slice or two right away and douse them with butter and it might be the most delicious thing ever. Just a thought. 

This bread is fantastic plain, makes incredible grilled cheese, works nicely for PB&J, and really I'm sure would be quite delicious in a variety of circumstances. Go bake and see! Fasting is over and autumn awaits!

What? Of course I didn't cut into the loaf as soon as I took it out of the oven. How silly would that be?

Granola! You Should Make it!

 


This is less a recipe than a PSA. No, really. You should make your own granola. You need to make your own granola. No granola you buy at a store will be as good as the granola that you make in your own oven. You might think it looks good in the box, or even in the local co-op bulk bin, but what you make yourself will be better.

Doesn't it look better?

You get complete control over what goes in it, for one thing. Hate raisins? Don't put 'em in! Can't decide whether you want almond or pecan granola? Add both! Concerned about fat and sugar? Use less! Granola is versatile and forgiving. Each batch is a little different and delicious in its own way.

And it really is easy. It's one of those things that seems like it might take some effort because there can be so many ingredients, but the hands-on time is 10 minutes max. And that's if you pour and measure real slow. So, I won't offer you a recipe. Instead I offer you a template. Go. Make granola.


Ingredients: 

• 4 cups oats (GF if that's your thing, not if not)-- old fashioned work best, but quick will work too. I'd stay away from instant
• 3-4 cups dry mix-ins. This is where the fun begins. Nuts, seeds, dried fruit, etc. Some possibilities (with asterisks next to what I used for the pictured batch):
• walnuts
• almonds*
• pecans*
• cashews
• macadamia nuts
• hazelnuts
• flax seed*
• sesame seeds
• sunflower seeds*
• millet*
• quinoa (raw, not cooked! gives nice protein and crunch!)
• wheat bran
• oat bran
• raisins
• dried cranberries*
• dried apricots (I like to slice these up)
• dried coconut*
• dates
• dried mango
• candied or crystalized ginger
• dried cherries
• anything else that sounds delicious!!
• 2 TBS brown sugar (this is optional but it does something good to the texture to have that tiny bit of solid sweetener in there)
• spices of choice-- cinnamon, nutmeg, ginger, etc. I also like to add a 1/2 tsp of vanilla extract to the wet ingredients
• 1/4 cup vegetable oil
• 2 TBS water
• 2-4 TBS liquid sweetener (honey, agave, maple syrup, etc) 

Procedure:

• Pre-heat the oven to 325°F
• Put your oats in a big bowl
• Mix in your dry mix-ins EXCEPT for the dried fruit! 
• Crumble in the brown sugar and add spices
• Stir together the oil, water, vanilla (if using) and liquid sweetener. (I like to use a liquid measuring cup where it's easy to see how much you've put in and mix at the same time).
• Add the liquid ingredients to the dry and mix well.
• Dump the granola onto a large baking sheet with raised sides (so you don't get granola all over the oven floor.
• Bake for 20 minutes, then pull out, stir around the pan, and add the dried fruit. Bake for 20 minutes more. Let cool.
• The granola may not be crisp at the moment it's removed from the oven but it will crisp up as it cools. If you like crazy crispy granola, bake it til the oats start to turn ever-so-slightly brown.
• Mix into yogurt or ice cream, top with milk, eat by the handful-- it's up to you. :)