Matzoh Ball Soup

I had my own Seder for Passover this year. It was potluck style, but I provided the matzoh ball soup and the dessert. I made my own broth and matzoh balls. To make the broth, I put a whole chicken in a pot, along with the detritus of various vegetables that I've been collecting. Make sure that you remove the innards from the chicken. You can put them back in, but you want to make sure you get rid of the paper that they're wrapped in. Also, whenever you prepare veggies, you should set aside the parts you don't use, like the carrot peels, onion peels, ends of the celery, etc. Put them in a bag in the freezer, and then when you need to make broth, you're all set! For the broth, add salt and pepper to the water, and then let it simmer for a few hours. Once it's done, throw out the vegetable detritus, put the chicken aside (it should basically be falling apart), and pour the broth into tupperware.

If you're going to eat the broth immediately, try and skim off as much fat as possible; otherwise, put the tupperware in the refrigerator to cool. The fat should solidify at the top, and then you can just skim it off. Make sure to save it! You'll need it for the matzoh balls.

To make the matzoh balls, I followed the recipe from Smitten Kitchen, but instead of refrigerating them for 30 minutes I let them sit out for 20. I doubled it, which made 15 decent sized matzoh balls.

I would suggest waiting until the water is ready before shaping them, because letting them sit in the bowl while I waited for the water to boil meant that they stuck together a bit.

CHOCOLATE COVERED STRAWBERRIES

I brought my favorite last-minute dessert to a function this week and someone asked for the recipe.  I was just going to refer them to this blog but I was surprised that I had never actually posted this.  So, here it is.

Ingredients

Fresh strawberries
Molding chocolate

The most important part of this recipe is the "tricks".  They are easy enough to follow, but if you don't know them you can possibly be disappointed with the results.

1.  Fresh strawberries - Ideally you do this on the day you buy the strawberries.  But let's get real - who ever does that?  So you can wash them and store them in an airtight container in between paper towels.  The longer you wait to use them, the worse the results will be.  So I try to use them no later than the next day.  Bring the strawberries to room temperature for the best results.
2.  Chocolate - The better the chocolate the better the results.  Molding chocolate has some kind of "emulsifier" that makes it more waxy.  If yours is too thick and is not coating the berries the way that you like, just add some solid shortening to it until it is the way you like it.  Start with a tablespoon.  If it gets too runny, just add more chocolate.
3.  I buy chocolate in bulk.  Although your initial outlay may seem a lot ($30-80), that can last for years and it is at your fingertips when you need to make something at the last minute.  If you have a choice, get it with 3 "drips" (marking on the package).  If it is not available locally, you can get it online from Surfas (www.culinarydistrict.com).  The molding chocolate is Callebaut.  Store in a cool place.  If it separates (areas of paleness) you can still use it.  It is not bad and the color becomes even when you remelt it.

4.  Use a double boiler to melt the chocolate.  If you don't have one, then make one by putting a smaller pot in a larger one.  Just make sure that the water does not touch the bottom of the smaller pot.  Don't be skimpy with the amount of chocolate you melt.
5.  Put them down to dry.  Parchment paper works best, but you can use wax paper or tinfoil.  It takes 30-60 minutes to dry in a cool room.  Better not to put them in a refrigerator because the chocolate can be uneven.
6.  Take the leftover chocolate in the pot and put it in a container to harden.  Yo


Now, just dip the strawberries.  Do it with no one around otherwise you will find that they will never make it to your function.

Thanksgiving

Thanksgiving is my favorite holiday which shouldn't surprise anyone, since it is all about food! But in actuality, for me, it is more than that. It is the one holiday that is about getting together to celebrate with each other. There are no expectations about gift-giving, which so many other holidays include. There is no place that you need to go to see anything. And it is a time for me to reflect about how privileged and blessed my life is. As a physician I see so many people whose lives are difficult; whose families have devastating illnesses, who have financial troubles, emotional troubles and so many stresses. I do have my problems, but I always feel that they are solvable and I often say to myself, "there, but for the Grace of God, go I". So every year at Thanksgiving, I give thanks for my many blessings and plan to try to give to others throughout the year who are less fortunate than I. For what goes around, comes around!

And at my house this year, what is going around is a heritage turkey. Everyone has their own recipe for turkey. I have been tweeking mine for years, and have been lifting from many recipes that I have read from a variety of sources over the years. But this is what I have been doing the last few years, and I have no plans to change it.

HERITAGE TURKEY
First you have to buy a heritage turkey(www.heritagefoodsusa.com). This may mean that you have to sell your first born, or at least rent him out as they average $12/lb including shipping. And yes, I know, you can get a turkey for free this time of year. This was pointed out to me by my husband when he saw the charge on our credit card. But I'd rather spend my money on delicious food than other forms of entertainment. And you do have to figure in the amount of time you will spend with this bird. With stuffing, cooking, eating, cleaning, and eating leftovers, it really comes down to less than a $1/person/hour. And really, what else can you do for entertainment at that price????

STUFFING
Ingredients

seasoned corn bread stuffing (I use Mrs. Cubbison's)
Broth (see below)
Butter (NOT margarine)
1 onion/bag
1/2 cup celery/bag
1/2 lb sweet Italian sausage/bag
1-2 eggs/bag

Broth
Take the neck, gizzard and heart. (I throw out the liver because I hate liver.) Throw it in a pot with the tops of the celery, an onion and a couple of carrots, a few garlic cloves and some salt. Put in some water and cook for about an hour to make some broth. You will also use this for gravy, so make sure you don't boil it all away.

Cook the celery and the onion in the butter. Don't brown it, but cook it until it is soft. Add the sausage. Discard the excess grease and then when it is cool enough to handle, add it to the corn bread. Add 1 cup melted butter, broth and mix together. When not too hot, add the eggs until fairly moist.

STUFFING THE TURKEY
This is when it is helpful to know a surgeon. I learned the proper technique to separate layers from going to a lot of Cesarean sections. When you are a pediatrician, there really isn't much to do until the baby is born. So you watch the ob's technique. Now, I've watched quite a few over the years, and I've got to say, Dr. Laurie is the one who is responsible for my expertise with a turkey. She really cares about her patients and tries to minimize trauma to their bodies during surgical procedures. She gently blunts dissects between tissue layers and I always try to emulate her technique. Clearly, it is not nearly as important to do this as well when cooking as during surgery, but why not imitate the best? So Laurie is one more person I give thanks to!
Anyway, I put my stuffing underneath the skin and above the breast meat. This accomplishes 2 things - it keeps the turkey very moist and imparts a delicious flavor to it. I do take incredible care in the separation of the layers and since I make a lot of stuffing I extend the separation and put it in the spaces between the legs and the wings and any where that I can.
I then put celery, onions, carrots, salt, sage, parsley and peppercorns loosely in the cavity.
I grease the turkey completely with olive oil, put it in a roaster with a cover and into an oven at 400 degrees

COOKING
I cook this turkey much faster than recommended for turkeys. It usually takes about 2 to 3 hours for a 20 pound turkey.

I hope that your Thanksgiving is wonderful and that you find much in your life to give thanks for.

Dorm Food

This is a quick post to go with a quick recipe. I visited a college student friend this evening. We were discussing the blog and he offered me a recipe. Here it is:

1 box of cake mix
12 ozs of soda
Mix, put in a greased 13 by 8 pan. Bake at 350 degrees for 30 mins (less if you want it less cakelike and more pudding like)
Cool
Serve by itself, or with ice cream or whipped cream.

I stopped on the way home, spent $4 at a convenience store and bought a Devil's food cake mix and black cherry soda. 35 min after I got home, I had finished baking the cake. 15 min later, while still warm, I served it.

Serves 12; each serving cost 35 cents and was 195 calories.

My friend likes the combination of Sprite and yellow cake mix.

THANKS, E!!!!!!!!!!!

Suicide Prevention and Food

Yesterday I participated in a community walk, Out of the Darkness. It was sponsored by the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention. As I was walking with hundreds of others I started thinking about if food could be part of suicide prevention. (Somehow, I think everything relates back to food for me.) Food is more than nutrition - it is a very social part of life. We all have busy lives - if you are a student, you've got classes to go to, studying, Facebook, etc. If you are parent, you've got car-pooling, play dates to arrange, etc. If you just started a job you've got your career to plan; I could go on and on. But we all have to EAT! So look around you and if you don't have a "family" to eat with daily, make one. Don't eat alone, or in your car or at your desk for every meal.
When I was growing up with 2 working parents, we still sat down as a family and ate together almost every night. When I went to college I had my friends that I ate dinner with every night and felt sad for those students who took their dinner back to their room. What I should have done is invited them to join us. I suspect some of them might have been depressed, and depression often is a precursor to suicide.
In my adult life, even though I am a doctor, I make sure my family sits down and eats dinner together. It is a way to connect, to keep in touch with their daily lives, to enjoy their company.
So, if you have been eating alone, find someone to share meals with. If you already eat in a group and know someone who is alone, have them join you. Maybe, if we include others we can help someone who is going through a difficult time and we don't even know it. I have no proof that this social "recipe" will prevent suicide, but I know it can't hurt.
It seems I can't end a post without a recipe. There are those that believe dark chocolate has natural substances that boost your mood and is good for your health. As much as I love chocolate, I'm not willing to consider it a health food quite yet. But I do know that one to two pieces of the following recipe a day will bring a smile to anyone lips!

CHOCOLATE TRUFFLES
Make a chocolate ganache. (The one I use is below)
1 cup whipping cream
12 ounces dark chocolate (56-70% - the higher the percentage, the less sweet it tastes. You can also use semi-sweet chocolate chips.) Break them up into small pieces
2 tbsp sweet butter (that means no salt)
2 tbsp sweet stuff - white sugar, brown sugar or honey. Each one of these will give it a slightly different flavor(I got told I was pretentious when I spelled this word the British way in a different post.)

Put the broken-up chocolate in a bowl
Put the cream, butter and sugar in a pot with a good bottom so it won't burn. Stir it constantly until it is boiling.
Pour the mixture over the chocolate.
Let it stand for 2-3 minutes and then stir until it is smooth. (A whisk or 3 chopsticks works best.)
Wait for it to return to room temperature (about an hour)

Now comes the MESSY part.

CHOCOLATE TRUFFLES
Ingredients
ganache
cocoa powder
Take your ganache. Refrigerate it for 15 mins, stirring every five. Line a pan with wax paper or parchment paper. Put a tbsp of individual ganache mounds. Roll in your palm to make round. (I coat my hands in cocoa powder so I don't have to wipe my hands so much.)
Roll the truffle in cocoa, nuts, coconut, sprinkles, or whatever you like. Put in individual small "cupcake paper holders"
Serve at room temp, but you can keep them in the refrigerator for a few days.

If you get tired of making these and you still have ganache left over, you can use it as frosting, or heat it up and put it over ice cream.