Home Made Cheese Crackers ("goldfish")

Followed THIS recipe
Seasoned half to taste with oregano, cayenne and garlic powder

NYC Cart Food

Home made gyro meat: THIS recipe

1lb ground beef + 1lb ground lamb, spices and onion (juice squeezed out)

Blended meat packed into bread pan, arranged for baking

Almost baked "loaf" sliced for frying on griddle

Chicken/rice/sauce: THIS recipe

Chicken marinating in a baggie

Chicken and rice cooked, ready for assembly

Pita/bread: we used garlic naan, toasted and sliced

Garnish: chopped parsley

Assembled meal

Delicious!

Matzo Ball Soup

Veggies for soup: potato, parsnip, turnip, carrots, celery

Stock ingredients: chicken drumsticks, celery, onion, carrot, peppercorns 

Matzo balls recipe (we made 1/2)

Final product - strained stock, drumsticks were cleaned and separated into smaller meat pieces, garnished with chopped parsley and dill

Served in a bowl :)

Cinnamon Rolls

Home made dough:

melt 1/2 stick unsalted butter

heat 1/2 cup milk to room temp

get 1/4 cup sugar

1 teaspoon dry active yeast

combine yeast with milk in large bowl and add sugar + pinch of salt

add one egg to bowl and melted butter, mix

add enough flour to get dough (~1.5-2cups, shouldn't stick to hands)

cut dough in half, use wine bottle to flatten it out to be ~1cm thick

spread a layer of extra melted butter, extra sugar and cinnamon and roll into tube

cut tube into ~3-4cm thick pieces, pinch bottom, and place on non-stick surface 

let dough rise for 1.5hrs at room temp

prehead oven to 350F, slather uncooked buns with beaten egg (brush), bake for ~30min

Glaze (optional)

3/4 cup confectioner's sugar, 2tbsp milk, 1/4 tsp vanilla

microwave a little to help sugar melt

grate fresh orange rind on top

Asian Dumpling Soup

To make ANY kind of dumplings more interesting, put them in a soup! 

Combine chicken broth (1:1 with water), celery, soy sauce, sesame oil, "Chinese Grandmother Sauce" and fish sauce (pic) in a pot and bring to a low boil. Add head of broccoli (chopped), 1 cups cabbage and cook for 5-8 min (broccoli will become bright green in color). Add dumplings and simmer for as long as dumplings take to cook. Prepare a beaten egg or two and pour into soup as soon as it's taken off the heat.

Homemade Bacon

4lbs of pork belly (remove skin)

Spices: 4TBSP non-iodized salt, 2TBSP thyme, 2TBSP black pepper, 1tsp curing salt

Can't forget the garlic! (4-5 cloves)

Day 0

Day 1

Day 2

Day 3

Keep flipping it daily for 10 days. Then smoke. Then fry. Then eat.

Came out a bit too salty but we added it to garlic soup (look for a separate post)

Homemade Caramels

Used THIS recipe exactly

Recipe as follows:

1 vanilla bean - cut in half and use knife to remove seeds

1 cup heavy cream

5 tbs butter - cubed

1 tsps salt

• mix ingredients in sauce pan
• bring to boil over medium heat
• immediately turn off burner and let sit for > 10 min - letting it steep longer is better

1/4 cup light corn syrup

1/4 cup water

1 1/3 cup sugar

• combine in a second sauce pan (keep sugar in the middle so it doesn't stick to the side of the pan)
• heat over medium-high heat until sugar dissolves and begins to have a light brown color
• when temperature reaches 300°F (7-12 min), bring to medium-low and gently swirl the pan periodically
• mixture will turn to amber and reach 350°F (2-3 min, look for small bubbles), remove from heat
• add cream mixture to sugar mixture and return to low heat and continue stirring
• when temp reaches 248°F (~5 min) you're done - transfer to cooling dish and smooth with spatula
• allow to sit for 10-15 min, then transfer to fridge

Where we added the cream/vanilla mixture

Right after pouring hot mix from stove

After standing in fridge for ~1hr

• Didn't bring sugar mixture exactly to 350F
• Didn't let the combined mixture get to 248F (stopped around 240F)
• Caramel turned out softer than expected

Rhubarb Pie

Followed THIS recipe exactly

Baked Oatmeal

For 3 small ramekins:

1 cup old fashioned rolled oats

<1/4 cup brown sugar

<1/4 tsp baking powder

handful crushed walnuts

1 egg

1tbsp melted butter

3/4 cup milk

1/2 banana

handful berries (fresh or frozen)

Mix all above ingredients, divide between ramekins

Bake at 375F for 18-20 min

Take out, sprinkle with more brown sugar, broil for <1min

Scavenger Meal: Savory Oatmeal

Steel cut oats in chicken stock

Hebrew Nationals hot dogs, broccoli, onions, garlic - fried up separately

Pine nuts, peas and chopped cilantro

Enchilada verde sauce (leftovers from enchiladas)

Thyme and black pepper for extra flavor/spice

Grated sharp cheddar

Diced pickle - oddly enough, this complemented everything else and distracted from the blandness of oatmeal

Combine everything, top with cheese, broil pot so cheese is melted and golden brown



Salmon Puffs

THIS base recipe with some alterations

Saute chopped spinach with onions and garlic for ~15min to remove extra moisture. Add lemon juice.

Cut up fresh salmon into squares

Thaw puff pastry dough and cut up into squares (larger than salmon)

Arrange: 1st dough square, spinach mix, feta cheese crumbles, salmon, fresh dill, 2nd dough square

Wet dough edges with extra spinach juice, pinch dough pieces together all the way around. They'll look ugly but will straighten/fill out during baking, and will taste great.

Brush tops of pastry puffs with beaten egg to help surfaces become golden brown (use brush). Bake for 20-25 min at 375F (no need to poke with fork, salmon will cook through for sure too)

Cross-section view. Tartness of lemon juice combined with feta complimented the fish nicely.