Passover White Chocolate Apple Torte

This isn't exactly my recipe and at the same time it is. I stumbled upon a recipe similar to this one, several years ago on the Internet by searching for a Passover dessert that I could make. This year I could not find it on the net if my life depended on it. I only remembered some of the ingredients and the method of preparing it, so I decided to experiment. One of the ingredients, in fact, was missing in my pantry. From what I remember, the recipe called for chocolate bar that had to be grated. I did not find any chocolate that I can use in my house, so I decided to use what I had in the house, which was white chocolate chips. Ta-dah: an amazing tort was born, even if I have to declare so myself. The rest is fairly straightforward.

6 eggs
1/4 teaspoon of cream of tartar
1 cup of sugar
1/2 cup of matzo meal
1 cup of white chocolate chips
1 cup of walnuts
2 cups of grated Granny Smith apples or other tart apples
Cooking spray
Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Lightly coat an 8-inch spring form pan with nonstick spray. Separate the eggs. In a food processor shred the apples and set aside. Using pulse chop walnuts to pea size pieces and set aside. Repeat the same with white chocolate chips making them half their size smaller and set aside. Using food processor or an electric mixer and a large bowl, beat egg yolks and half of the sugar,  until thick and pale, about 3 minutes. Mix in matzo meal, then add in apples, white chocolate chips and walnuts. In another bowl, or Kitchen Aid  mixer with clean beaters, beat egg whites with cream of tartar and the rest of the sugar, until stiff peaks form, about 4 minutes. With a rubber spatula, gently fold egg whites into apple mixture, taking care not to deflate egg whites. Then, transfer batter to pan.  Bake until golden brown and set in center, 45 to 50 minutes. Let cake cool completely in pan on a wire rack. To serve, run a small knife around edge of pan, remove cake, and slice.

Charlotte or Upside Down Apple Cake

I have not made this cake since I was a kid. In fact, I almost forgot that it exists. My mom reminded me about it when she visited me last winter. This cake is familiar to every Russian. It is so simple to make and it is so delicious I can't believe that I have not made it since I was 14. In Russia it is called Charlotte and I can call it that,  too,  or I can say it is an Upside Down Apple Cake. My mom makes it using the recipe a little bit of this and a little bit of that, so  I have measured everything out here. I made it yesterday since we were invited to a Shabbat dinner and I was requested to bring a parve dessert. Parve means that it's neither dairy or meat. I could not think of anything but Charlotte.

6 eggs separated
1 1/4 cup of sugar
1/4 teaspoon Cream of tartar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 cup of flour
2 Granny Smith apples peeled and sliced
Cooking spray for spring the pan and flour for dusting it.
Prepare your apples first. Spray with cooking spray the baking pan and dust it with flour. Tap on the baking pan to remove excess flour. Separate egg yolks from egg whites. I use both my food processor and my KitchenAaid mixer for the next two steps. In the clean bowl with a whisk attachment whip up eggs whites with cream of tartar and half of the sugar, until egg whites form stiff peaks. In the food processor, mix egg yolks with the rest of the sugar until thick light yellow mixture and ribbons form when you lift the blades. Add vanilla and flour to the egg yolks and mix until well blended. The next step is important, because you must carefully fold egg yolk mixture with about about one third of whipped egg whites without deflating egg whites too much. Then carefully fold the rest of  the egg yolks and whites together. Once you have everything folded together you can fill in the cake mold pouring the cake batter over the arranged apple slices. Place in the pre-heated oven at 350 F and bake until the tooth pick inserted in the center comes out clean, or for about 50 minutes.

My mom used the same recipe when she made a birthday cake for me when I was a kid. She made it for my youngest when she visited this winter. Here are some pictures of the cake. To make it in to colors, before folding the yolks and egg whites she divided the egg yolk mixture in two, then to half of the mixture about a tablespoon of cocoa was added. This way she would have two batters one chocolate and one vanilla. The egg whites would also be divided in two and once folded together baked in separate baking pans. That way you would have to layers of the cake or four if you cut the individual cakes in two after baking. Another option is to pour the chocolate batter into the vanilla batter once it's in the baking pan, this creates a marble effect in the cake once it's baked. The icing for this cake was also quite simple. Soft and unsalted butter was whipped with sweetened condensed milk and once more adding a tablespoon of cocoa powder creates a chocolate flavor icing. Simple and very delicious just as the best childhood memory can be. "Mother knows best",-thanks for reminding me of that, Mom.

Potato Gratin with Yams

I have made this dish few times now and feel that it is time to share. In the past I have only done it with regular  potatoes but then I decided to mix it up a little. I like the look and the taste.

3 garlic cloves
2 tbsp butter
2 large baking potatoes
1 yam same size as regular potatoes
8 oz milk
1 egg
1 cup shredded cheese (Mexican blend or mozzarella - your choice)
1 red onion (optional)

Slice on the mandolin or by hand the yam and potatoes and onion if you wish to use it. spread butter on the bottom of the baking pan and add crushed garlic to the bottom. Layer the potatoes and yam alternately like the roof tiles. Even though the onion is not present in this picture, I have made it with red onion slices in the past and it makes a beautiful and delicious addition to the dish, just place the slices through out the dish. Mix milk and egg and pour it over the potatoes. Salt and pepper and place in the oven that has warmed up to 425 F. When the potatoes are fork tender, about 30-40 min, add the shredded cheese over them. If you like it cheesier add more, it does not hurt the dish at all. when the cheese is melted, in about 5 min the gratin is done.

Baba Ganush

Back in March during Purim carnival I was in charge of Middle Eastern meal and Baba Ganush was apart of it. I was planning on making it from scratch, instead it turned into an adventure, where I had to search all stores for eggplant and ended up ordering it in bulk from Persian store. For some reason searching for eggplant left a mark on my mind, so when I walked in to my local oriental market and saw eggplants for 89 cents each, I had to buy a bunch and make something.
There are several spreads that are made from eggplants in Russia. As usually it is baked and pureed with something in addition to flavor it. Tahini was not very popular in may family and in fact not really known. When I was growing up usually garlic and mayonnaise or sour cream were added to flavor the cooked eggplant.

I learned to make Baba Gaush in the States and it is simple but takes time.
Eggplant is sliced in half and liberally salted, then allowed to rest to release the juice for up to 30 min. Then he juice is rinsed off and eggplant is roasted in the oven for about an hour at 375F. Once it is ready it is cleaned from skin before it is placed in food processor where it's pulsed and pureed with the rest of the ingredients.


3 medium eggplants
garlic about 5-6 cloves
parsley about 12 sprigs
1/2 c tahini
1/2 lemon juice
1/4 c olive oil
salt and pepper
This is a great spread with pita, or crackers and goes great on sandwiches.

Two Vegetarian appetizers

These are simple and versatile vegetable dishes that can be easily used as side dish or an appetiser, as I did at a party. One is baked tomatoes and the other is grilled eggplant. These are really easy to make and go really well with goat cheese as well as on their own.

Several pounds of Roma tomatoes and cut in half and placed on the oiled baking sheet cut side up. You can clean and scoop the seeds out, but the seeds do not bother me, so I left them in. I sprinkled the tomatoes with salt and pepper and Herbs de Provence. Then I tried different ways of cooking these. I have done it the slow method for about 3 plus hours in the oven at 200F. They dry out very much like sun dried tomatoes. The other method is faster and leave the tomatoes little more juicier if you cook them at 350-375F for about 1 hour or even less. After they are cooked they could be placed in a container and covered with olive oil for storage in the refrigerator. You  will need 

• Roma tomatoes
• oil for baking sheet and for brushing eggplant
• salt
• pepper
• Herbs de Provence

These do not really need to be packed in oil, it is just an option for you and the tomatoes are better if they are reheated in the oven the next day.
The other appetiser is not very complicated either. The eggplants are sliced length vise, brushed with olive oil and broiled for few minutes. Once the eggplants are done, they get filled with mixture of garlic and cilantro.

• 2 large eggplants
• bunch of cilantro
• 1/4 c garlic cloves or less if that is too spicy for your taste
• 1/4 c olive oil (Extra virgin if you want extra flavor)
• additional oil for brushing the eggplants
• salt and pepper

Slice eggplants and salt generously the slices. I do not peel the eggplants so the end product looks nice. Let the salt draw out the water from the eggplants for up to 30 min. While the eggplant sits with salt, in small food processor make eggplant filling -cilantro pesto by blending cilantro, garlic, salt pepper and oil. The filling should not be too liquid but well blended paste, so add oil just enough for the ingredients to chop well together. Rinse and blot dry the slices with paper towel. Arrange eggplants on the oiled baking sheet you can try a non stick spray on foil, works to. Brush the top of the eggplant sliced with oil. This vegetable will absorb almost as much of the oil as you will give it, so do not overdo it, oil here is more for the flavor then cooking. Broil about 2/3 up from the bottom of the oven and not immediately under the element. I then closely watch the eggplant as it broils, for It can easily burn and cooks really fast. If you feel the need you could flip it over, but I usually do not. When it looks slightly brown and wilted it is ready. Send the next bunch in. Depending on the size of the eggplant, 2-3 baking sheets will get the job done.  Once the first batch is done fill the eggplants with cilantro paste while they are still warm, so that the flavors merry well. Spread about 1 tsp over the eggplant slice and roll it on itself and arrange the rolls on the serving plate.
I was told that these go great with vodka shots. But I like them by itself and with small piece of cream cheese or goat cheese, just do not plan on kissing without mint gum later on. Other then that, enjoy!

One Can Never Have Too Many Latkas

Since I love latkas and welcome the opportunity to make some I also try to come up with different varieties of latkas. These recipes have come out great.

3-4 large potatoes
3 eggs
1/4 c flour
2 tbsp of  subziash (Persian mix of dried parsley, leek and spinach)
1tsp slat and pepper
Potatoes are shredded on small shredding blade in a food processor and drained of excess liquid. I keep the starch that comes out with the liquid and put it back in the batter. The rest of the ingredients are mixed well with the shredded potatoes and subsequently fried in oil and drained on paper towel. Best when served hot with sour cream.
I love potatoes and pumpkin so I thought these  would go good together. See if you like this combo.
Here it was hard to approximate how much I was putting in, since pumpkins come in different sizes so after shredding the potato and pumpkin I weighed both. By volume shredded vegetables seemed to be the same. Here how they measured out to be.
2 large potatoes (approx 2 lbs)
1/2 of med pumpkin (approx 1.2lbs)
3 eggs
1/4 c flour
salt and pepper
After shredding with small blade both pumpkin and potato are drained and mixed well with the rest of the ingredients. The latkas are fried at slightly lower temperature of oil, to allow the pumpkin to cook through. Additional salt and pepper may be needed to taste. After I was done with half the batter, I decided to add something to it. I mixed in
1tsp of sumac and
3/4 tsp of paprika.
That added little more flavor to these and this version came out delicious, too. My kids and husband loved it and enjoyed for lunch with sour cream.

Latkes, Draniki, Deruny, Kartoffelpuffer, Bramborák etc.

It is Hanukkah time again and that means fried food. The holiday that celebrates the miracle of oil lasting for eight days even though there was only enough for one. So, oil is celebrated and it is the key element in the kitchen this time of the year, and the preferred food for frying is latkes. Latkas are not uniquely Jewish, in fact they seem to have been adopted. According to Wikipedia

Potato pancakes are commonly associated with traditional cuisines of Luxembourg (gromperekichelcher), Latvia, Lithuania, Austria, Belarus (as draniki), Germany (f. ex. as Kartoffelpuffer), Poland (as placki ziemniaczane), Ukraine (as deruny), Ashkenazi Jewry (as latkes or latkas (Yiddish: לאַטקעס, Hebrew: לביבה levivah, plural לביבות levivot)), Hungary, Slovakia, Persia and the Czech lands (as bramborák or cmunda), although other cuisines (including those of India and Korea) have similar dishes, such as Gamjajeon. It is also the national dish of Belarus. In Ukrainian, Belarusian and Russian cuisines, potato pancakes are commonly known as deruny (Ukrainian: деруни) or draniki (Russian: драники, Belarusian: дранікі). Throughout Germany, potato pancakes are also very common under the names Reibekuchen or Kartoffelpuffer, and they are eaten either salty (as a side dish) or sweet with apple sauce, sugar and cinnamon; they are a very common menu item during outdoor markets and festivals in colder seasons; a traditional favorite in southern Indiana during holiday festivities.

Note that more traditional latka is much thicker.

I think that this dish is more like hash browns then pancakes. The exception is my mom's recipe.
Most recipes I come across have all the liquid squeezed out of them, with adds to the crisp and crunch of  the final latkas. My mom's recipe is different. It still has the crunch but the texture and thickness is different. These come out very thin and soft in the middle with lacy and crispy edges and take very little flour. As a kid I remember, it was a long process of grating the potatoes by hand on fine grate and inevitably your hands would be scraped. The Russian name of latkas is draniki, roughly describes what happens to your hands in the process of preparing it. My grandma said if your hands are not scraped you did not make latkas, because it was not possible to came away undamaged.  It would also take some time to go through all of the potatoes, so by the last potato is done, the grated potatoes would have oxidized and turned purplish gray. I thought that was the right color.

These days my food processor gets the job done in no time. Before Hanukkah I get those huge baking potatoes at Costco and with that supply I get though latkes week just fine. For this recipe I use fine blade. Labeled A. 

1 very large potato
1 egg
1 tbsp of flour
1/2 tsp salt and pepper
Mix all ingredients after the potato is grated and cook in hot oil. You may need more salt and pepper after they are done. Once the edges turn golden brown I flip them and in about another minute they are ready. I place cooked pancakes on the paper towel, to drain excess oil.  
Latkas #1
Other more traditional latkas are done in much similar manner except that the potato is drained after being grated on blade A
3 large potatoes
3 eggs
4 tbsp flour
1 tsp salt and pepper.
Additional salt may be needed after cooking. I use large metal mesh colander to drain potatoes before mixing in eggs and flour in the batter. When they are fried they are thick and sometimes I try to level out the latkes on the frying pan so they are not so thick and high.  Drain cooked draniki on the paper towel. They are best  hot of the pan with a dollop of sour cream. Yes, it has become tradition in US to eat them with apple sauce, but growing up I never heard of such thing. It is blasphemy to me, this dish is best with sour cream!

Latkas #2

Another traditional latkas are done with exactly same recipe but shredded on a different blade and the potato again is drained after being grated on Blade C. That gives these latkes different texture and bigger crisp. This is much closer to hash browns then to pancake.
3 large potatoes
3 eggs
4 tbsp flour
1 tsp salt and pepper.
The process of cooking is much the same as in the previous recipe.

Latkas #3
Yet another classic recipe calls for addition of an onion to the mix. But the rest of the recipe is almost the same.
3 large potatoes
1 large onion
3 eggs
4 tbsp flour
1 tsp salt and pepper.

I first use the Blade B or C to shred the potato, then transfer it to drain. While that is draining, I switch the blade to regular double edge blade and blend together the onion and the rest of the ingredients. Once the batter is ready I transfer it to the bowl and add the drained potatoes then mix well. The rest of the cooking process is the same as in other recipes.
Eating same thing for a week will get boring even if you love potatoes and anything fried. So, to keep things interesting I think up different ways a recipes that I will add in the next post.