Russian Potato Salad (Оливье)

Boil the following ingredients in same pot: 2 large potatoes (Russet or red, skin intact), 3-4 eggs, 3-4 carrots (peeled), 4 hot dogs (optional, can substitute with any cooked meat like brisket or kielbasa, or leave meat out)

• Cool above ingredients until room temperature, then peel potatoes and eggs, and chop into bite size chunks
• Dump canned peas into mix (~1 small can, strained)
• Add 2-3 chopped pickles (whichever flavor you prefer)
• Add 2-3 tbsp mayo to dress the salad
• Garnish with a heaping handful of finely chopped parsley or dill  
• Salt and pepper to taste
• Optional variations: add hot banana peppers and spice with paprika in addition to black pepper

Fresh Squeezed Juice

Simple Mixture: apples, carrots, celery, parsley and ginger

(Add beet for a deep red color for your juice!)

Beef Brisket

Preheat the oven - 325F
Prep onions/carrots/potatoes/garlic 

• carrots/potatoes into bite-sized chunks
• garlic should be whole(ish) - doesn't matter if it is broken up a bit, the only thing we care about is that the shell has been removed 

Take out the roasting pan and layer it with a lot of onions/garlic (lets say 3/4) and some of the potatoes/carrots (closer to 1/3)

·      If this doesn't cover the bottom of the pan pretty thoroughly, we need more onions

Prep the sauce for the brisket - 3 parts bbq sauce/2 parts beer/1 part ketchup

• Go for a saucy consistency, not a watery one
• Should be enough to cover the entire brisket, but not so much to turn the pan into the soup

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