NEW TAKE ON TRADITIONAL

This review is a guest post by my wonderful aunt-in-law, or rather my sister's wonderful aunt-in-law A.C.  Enjoy!
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Late in the summer, I volunteered to review a cookbook for Double Trouble Kitchen Edition.  The book is titled: 

"Modern Jewish Cooking. Recipes & Customs for Today's Kitchen".

I was interested in reading the book, as I was about to be going to an Arts/Music camp in the Laurentians, where the book's author, Leah Koenig, was to be giving a cooking demonstration.  It turned out to be a delightful experience.  Leah is young, warm, enthusiastic, and creative.  Her credentials as a food writer are sound.  She has written for The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, Saveur, CHOW, and Every Day with Rachel Ray. Her first cookbook, "Hadassah Everyday Cookbook", (2011)

was named one of the Best books of 2011 by Library Journal.  Visit her at: www.leahkoenig.com

The book is full of beautiful photographs by Sang An, whose work has appeared in many magazines, including Martha Stewart Living and Real Simple.

The recipes in the book cover marvelous range of "Jewish Cooking".  You will find so many treats, from well-known Ashkenazi favourites like "Chicken Soup", "Kugel" and even "Gribenes" (crispy chicken fat renderings), an excellent recipe for "Bagels", to exotic Sephardic dishes, many of them vegetarian.  The Middle Eastern inspired recipes range from "Matbucha Salad", "Roast Chicken with Fennel and Orange", Leah's creative "Tahini, Roasted Fig and Pistachio Sundaes", to a tasty "Spinach Shakshuka".  As well, there are Jewish Italian recipes, and a superb "Ethiopian Chicken Stew".  Everywhere there are Leah's innovations and interesting new takes on the traditional. 

I had one criticism of the book.  In the recipe for the classic dish "Kasha Varnishkes", Leah neglected to brown the kasha (buckwheat groats), first, after coating it in beaten egg, before adding the boiling water (better to use broth) to cook the kasha.  Browning the kasha makes a big difference to the taste when added, along with fried onions, to the bow tie noodles (Varnishkes). 

And I would make one suggestion, if you buy the book, and decide to try the delicious "Potato Latke" recipe  - rather than squeezing the starchy water out of the grated potato/onion mixture in a tea towel (messy and onerous), you should try using a salad spinner.  It works perfectly. 

After the demonstration in August, Leah autographed the copy of her book for Eleanore.  It's taken me several months to test some of the recipes,  copy my favourites, and write this review.  Now it's time, sadly, to turn the book over to Eleanore!

"Happy cooking!"  (the dedication Leah wrote in Eleanore's book)

A.C.Dolgin

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*Disclaimer: the book was provided to me by Raincoast Publishing for the purpose of testing and review.

Giveaway # 2 winner

and the winner of Huckleberry, by Zoe Nathan is.. Agnes!

Congratulations!

Please get in touch for details.

Blueberry Brioche from Huckleberry

So I made my first ever brioche on the weekend! It is the one featured on the cover of the Huckleberry cookbook by Zoe Nathan. Don't forget to enter our giveaway, it ends tomorrow!

Giveaway #2

As promised, we are back with our next giveaway.



Huckleberry: Stories, Secrets and Recipes from our Kitchen, by Zoe Nathan.

Huckleberry Bakery and Cafe is an artisan bakery located in Santa Monica, California, and is owned by Zoe Nathan and her hubby, Josh Loeb.

I love this cookbook already! I have just had it for a few weeks now and have tried a couple of recipes, including the Farro Porridge and the blueberry brioche, which I will share with you soon.  It has a wide range of recipes, ranging from healthy and easy weekday breakfasts to fancy indulgent weekend brunches.

As a new baker, I really appreciate all the photos! It makes it so much easier to follow the recipes.

For your chance to win a copy of this book, enter a comment below or on the Facebook post about this giveaway- or both and double your chances of winning!

Tell us, brunch: at home or out on the town? where do you like to go for brunch? What do you order? If you prefer to eat at home, what is your favourite dish to make? 

The giveaway is open to Canadian residents only (or those with a Canadian mailing address) and ends Friday December 12, 2014, 11:59pm EST. The winner will be announced on Saturday December 13, so check back to see if you won! 

Farro Porridge with Blueberries and Toasted Walnuts

I woke up early and decided to whip up this farro recipe for breakfast. I discovered farro not too long ago, and had it as a side-dish with dinner here. I was intrigued when I saw it as a breakfast dish in this cookbook- Huckleberry: Stories, Secrets, And Recipes From Our Kitchen, by Zoe Nathan. Stay tuned to the blog, as it may just be part of our give-away series! This cookbook has so many great breakfast and brunch recipes. It has some more elaborate and decadent brunches that I can't wait to try over the holiday season. In the meantime, I am glad it also has some simple and healthy recipes.

The recipe is easy but does take a little while to cook- 25 minutes. I cut the sugar and butter down a lot, and it still tasted great. The toasted walnuts really add a lot.  Here is my adapted version

Ingredients:
- 1 cup farro (200g)
- salt
- butter (it calls for 2 tablespoons but I used less than 1)
- 2 cups water + 1 Tablespoon
- 1 cup blueberries (mine were frozen)
- 1 teaspoon brown sugar
-3/4 cup milk ( I am all out so I used vanilla almond milk)
- 1/4 cup walnuts

Instructions:
- preheat oven to 375F to toast walnuts
- In small saucepan over high heat, melt half the butter.  Add salt and farro and toast farro, 1-2 minutes, stirring it around a bit so it gets coated, until it starst to smell nutty and delicious. Add 2 cups of water. Bring to a boil and then reduce heat and simmer for 25 minutes, until liquid has evaporated
- In the meantime bake walnuts for 5-7 minutes. Be sure to check them often so they dont burn.
- In another pan, melt other half of butter, add blueberries, brown sugar and a pinch of salt- saute 2 minutes.
- Add milk to blueberries and saute for 5-10 minutes until most of the liquid is absorbed.
- portion farro into 2 bowls, top with blueberries and walnuts.

Enjoy!

Can be kept in the fridge up to 3 days. Add some milk when reheating.