Month: May 2009

Ginny’s Spiced Nuts

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Great for holiday gifts!

  • 1 pound pecan halves and/or almonds
  • 1 egg white
  • 1 tablespoon water
  • 1 cup sugar
  • 1 teaspoon cinnamon
  • 1 teaspoon salt

Preheat oven to 300 degrees.

Cover a cookie sheet with parchment or spray with cooking spray – The parchment makes things a lot easier.

In a large bowl, beat egg whites and water until they get a little frothy.

In a separate bowl, mix sugar, cinnamon and salt.

Roll nuts around in egg white mixture until they are wet, then add sugar mixture and stir to coat.

Put on prepared cookie sheet and bake for 30 minutes, moving nuts around every ten minutes.

Let cool on cookie sheet and then transfer to an airtight container.

Matzoh Crunch

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From A Treasury of Jewish Holiday Baking by Marcy Goldman

  • 4 to 6 unsalted matzohs
  • ½ pound (2 sticks) unsalted butter or unsalted Passover margarine
  • 1 cup firmly packed brown sugar
  • ¾ cup (6 ounces) chocolate chips or coarsely chopped semisweet chocolate

 

Preheat oven to 375°. Line a large baking sheet (or two smaller sheets) completely with foil. Cover the bottom of the sheet(s) with baking parchment – on top of the foil. This is very important since the mixture becomes sticky during baking.

Line the bottom of the baking sheet evenly with the motzohs, cutting extra pieces, as required, to fit any spaces.

In a 3-quart heavy-bottomed saucepan, combine the butter or margarine and the brown sugar. Cook over medium heat, stirring constantly, until the mixture comes to a boil (2 to 4 minutes). Boil for 3 minutes, stirring constantly. Remove from the heat and pour over the matzohs, covering completely.

Place the baking sheet in the oven and immediately reduce the heat to 350°. Bake for 15 minutes, checking every few minutes to make sure the mixture is not burning (if it seems to be browning too quickly, remove the pan from the oven, lower the heat to 325° and replace the pan)

Remove from the oven and sprinkle immediately with the chopped chocolate or chips. Let stand for 5 minutes, then spread the melted chocolate over the matzoh. While still warm, break into squares or odd shapes. (Or you can chill the entire pan and then break into pieces after it’s hard and set.) Chill, still in the pan, in the freezer until set.

Variation: You can also use coarsely chopped white chocolate (or a combination of white and dark) and chopped or slivered toasted almonds (sprinkled on top as the chocolate sets)> You can also omit the chocolate for a caramel-alone butter crunch.

Robust Leg of Lamb

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From Real Simple

  • 3- to 4-pound leg lamb
  • 1 tablespoon kosher salt (or 1 teaspoon of regular salt)
  • 1 teaspoon fresh ground pepper
  • 1 tablespoon crushed dried rosemary
  • 4 cloves garlic
  • 5 shallots, peeled
  • 1/4 cup red wine
  • 1/4 cup vegetable broth
  • 1/2 cup pitted prunes

Step 1
In a large mixing bowl, combine the salt, pepper and rosemary. Roll the leg of lamb in the mixture and rub into the surface of the meat.
Step 2
With the point of a sharp paring knife, create deep,1/2-inch incisions, approximately two inches apart, all over the surface of the leg of lamb. Peel and quarter the cloves of garlic, lengthwise, to create spears. Insert the spears of garlic all over the surface of the lamb.
Step 3
Peel the outer skin from the shallots and place in the bottom of a 4 1/2 quart slow cooker. Place the leg of lamb on the shallots. Sprinkle the prunes and any leftover garlic around the lamb and then pour the vegetable broth and red wine over it. Cover and set cooker to high for 6 hours.
Step 4
Just before serving, remove the bone using tongs (the meat will practically fall off the bone.) Pull meat apart, serve over rice (or with potatoes) and finish with the au jus spooned from the pan.

Serves 8.

Banana Bran Bread

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  • 3/4 cup butter
  • 1 1/2 cups brown sugar
  • 3 eggs
  • 2 cups bran
  • 3 cups mashed bananas
  • 1/4 cup orange juice
  • 3 cups flour
  • 4 tsp. baking powder
  • 1 tsp. salt
  • 1 tsp. baking soda
  • 1 1/2 cups raisins (optional)

Cream butter and sugar, then add eggs and beat until light.  Stir in bran.  Mix bananas with orange juice.  Sift together dry ingredients.  Add dry ingredients alternately with bananas to creamed mixture, beating after each addition.  Fold in raisins.  Pour into greased and floured loaf pans and bake at 350 degrees for 1 hour.

Makes 2 loaves.