Around the Table

First Light 2008

Today marked the start of a new tradition. Thank you to Lydia of The Perfect Pantry for introducing me to the concept of the First Light. Thank you to my good friends, Joel and Rachael for hosting the perfect New Years Eve and giving me the opportunity to enjoy the First Light from the porch of their magnificent home in Southport, Maine. A special thanks to Rachael for awakening before the clock struck six, putting the coffee on the stove and experiencing the power of nature by my side. You really are my "bud."

Every day's sunrise beckons a new beginning. The First Light of the first day of a new year; even more so. This morning, the sky’s orange and pink light cast a warm inviting glow over the cold, dark blue, black water and the waves lapping on to the snow capped rock known as Brown Cow calmed the soul. As the sun poked its face through the soft, marshmallow-like clouds, I couldn’t help but be filled with optimism. I am energized at the thought of what the world has to offer for me, Evan, my children and grandchildren. 2008 will be a great year for us and I wish my friends and family good health, an abundance of happiness, love and laughter. In the meantime, enjoy some of the images of the First Light of 2008.

Cherished Recipe; Cherished Friend

I have a friend named Willa who lives in Louisville, Kentucky. Willa is a special friend. We didn’t grow up together; we didn’t go to college together; we have never lived in the same city and I have only known her for about five years. But Willa is a kind, gentle, caring soul and although we come from diverse backgrounds and lead different lives, we share similar values. And when I launched my idea for a cookbook exploring the connection between food, family and tradition, Willa was one of my greatest supporters and was the first to respond to a request for family recipes. It seems only fitting to honor Willa and her family’s tradition by posting her Swiss Cake recipe today, as she fondly recalls making these fried cookies a week before Christmas with her grandmother, Lena.

Sharing a little bit about Willa’s family history will bring this recipe alive for you. Willa’s great grandmother came from Switzerland to New Albany on Silver Creek but the details of her family are sketchy as the family bible with birth and death records (along with her house) was destroyed in the Great Ohio River flood of 1937. Her great uncle Ebby and his wife Lorine lived in Louisville not very far from Willa’s house. Uncle Ebby was a cook by trade and enjoyed making these swiss cakes (also known as kekle). The recipe originated in Switzerland and became a family tradition every Christmas in Louisville.

As you will observe, this is a very large recipe. It took great uncle Ebby, great aunt Lorine, grandmother Lena, Willa’s mother, Willa and sometimes Lena’s boyfriend, Roy all evening to mix the dough, roll it into thin sheets and lay it out to dry. Willa explained to me that they would spread the pastry sheets out on her great aunt and uncle’s bed so they could dry overnight. Willa laughingly and fondly recalls that if the pastry was on the bed, where did they sleep? For Ebby and Lorinne lived in a one-bedroom house! The next day Willa would return to her aunt and uncle’s house to fry the dough and put the cookies in large tins to eat throughout the Christmas holidays.

Willa hasn’t made this recipe in years, but perhaps with the arrival of a new granddaughter, I suspect she sought to rediscover the joy, comfort and love of her much cherished and treasured family tradition. Judging from the pictures she sent me, the three generational culinary experience will be one that will be repeated for years to come.
Thank you Willa for understanding the importance of family traditions, supporting my project, and sharing your family’s history, stories, traditions and recipe with me and my readers. I only wish they had the opportunity to taste the finished product. Evan and I were the lucky recipients of one of those beautifully adorned Christmas tins, filled with lots of lightly browned kekle, topped with powdered sugar- perfect fare for sitting by the fire with a cup of tea. A cherished recipe; a cherished friend.

This post is being submitted to Susan at Food Blogga; Christmas Cookies from Around the World

Merging of Traditions

I am one very lucky girl. My husband and I live in a beautiful home which overlooks the Gulf of Mexico. It is 7:00 PM; the temperature is 58 degrees, which for this time of year is cold. I know… you are not feeling sorry for me right about now. The sun is sitting low in the sky and I am anticipating the beautiful sunset that we often see from our decks. I have a fire going in our southwestern style chiminea and I am typing this post fireside, with the breeze blowing.

The only thing missing is my husband, who had a previous commitment. You see, he is a member of something called the Temple of Fitness. It sounds religious, but it isn’t at all. It is a fraternal group of guys committed to keeping in shape. Good mission, no doubt. The founder of this group is a soulful Italian American who commands a tremendous amount of respect from all who know him, for he is a leader, a mentor, and for our narrow purposes, a wonderful foodie. Everyone calls him Coach.

So, my husband planned to leave our home this magnificent evening to attend his annual “Godfather” meeting with his Temple of Fitness buddies. Yes, they watch the Godfather movies at this event but they also cook great pasta, Italian sauce and other wonderful Italian specialties. You will meet Coach, his son and some of the other members of his wonderful Italian family in a future post.

Throughout the afternoon, I was perplexed. What would a good Jewish man do on Passover when all of this wonderful pasta was to be served? Would he remain true to his heritage? Would he succumb to the temptations of the scrumptious, aromatic sauce on the stove that would soon grace the perfectly al dente pasta? Being the good Jewish wife that I am, I didn’t want to give him the choice. So I baked a Matzo Lasagne! I had seen recipes for this dish in various Jewish cookbooks, but had never attempted to make it. As my friend often says, the juice wasn’t worth the squeeze. But tonight seemed like the perfect occasion.

So, I made a bought some wonderful buffalo mozzarella, made a quickie tomato sauce from San Marzano tomatoes, sautéed garlic, onions and ground beef; layered it just like a traditional lasagna noodle casserole and voila (or should I say alora) matzo lasagna was ready for my husband to take to his dinner.

Only one more detail to negotiate. He was going to ride his Harley to his friend’s home. Alas, where would he put the Matzo Lasagne? Never fear; when a true HOG wants to ride, he can find a way. He put it on its side in the saddle bag!

Good thing I really didn’t care about the integrity of the dish. It really was all about preserving our religious tradition and at the same time, giving him the opportunity to participate in this sacred, male bonding experience. We will have to wait until the comments to this post come in to determine if the culinary experience was worthwhile.

PS. The sun has set and it is a another beautiful night in Paradise!

Tsimmes: AKA A Big Deal

Tsimmes is a Yiddish word for a dish (sometimes served as a side and sometimes served as an entree with meat) of mixed, slightly sweetened cooked vegetables and fruits. Every good Jewish girl grows up with her family’s Tsimmes, served at holiday dinners including the Passover seder. Undoubtedly, there are as many recipes for Tsimmes as there are for an Italian spaghetti sauce.

My mother’s tsimmes was not very memorable (sorry Mom!) and she never made it with meat. I assumed that this was the case because flanken (also a Yiddish word, meaning flank) was one of the worst cuts of beef you could eat, but often was the only one which the Eastern European Jews could afford. Who would want to remind themselves of this condition? I never really liked Tsimmes, always finding it too sweet and mushy. But some 30 years ago, my former mother in law, Rita, introduced me to flanken tsimmes, which she made every Passover. I loved the combination of the sweet vegetables and the somewhat salty meat. I have been making it ever since, changing an ingredient or a part of the process every few years. I only make it on Passover, after my once a year trip to the kosher butcher to buy the flanken (more on that in another post) and proudly serve it to family and friends.

Historically, since making tsimmes took time and various mixings, the Yiddish word came to mean: a prolonged procedure, an involved business or a BIG DEAL. Often people will say; “Don’t make such a tsimmes out of it!”

SO WHAT’S A BIG DEAL?

A BIG DEAL is making a Passover seder for 31 people;

A BIG DEAL is when your high school friend and her husband come to visit from Indiana to experience their first seder and she is your cooking side kick and moral supporter for three straight days;

A BIG DEAL is when the tsimmes tastes so good that a proclaimed vegetarian for the past twenty five years is compelled to eat the flanken because the savory smells, the vibrant orange color of the carrots and sweet potatoes, and the wide strips of browned meat evoke such fond memories of his Jewish heritage and family traditions;

A BIG DEAL is when you are fortunate that even though you have so few relatives still living, your friends honor you with their presence and make you feel like you have a large family;

A BIG DEAL is honoring long standing traditions and creating new ones for the years to come.

The first night of Passover was this past Monday night but since Passover lasts an entire week, I am going to take the liberty of making a few more posts about this wonderful holiday-its meaning and its traditions. Check back in a couple of days!

FLANKEN TSIMMES

Yield: 1 large roasting pan full!

4 pounds carrots
8 large sweet potatoes
20 strips of bone in flanken
1 pound pitted prunes
1 cup orange juice
brown sugar, honey, maple syrup
salt and pepper to taste

Peel carrots and cut into 1 inch chunks. Peel potatoes and cut into 2 inch chunks. Set aside.
Place flanken in a large pot. Cover with water and bring to a boil. Add salt and pepper. Cook covered on low for 25 minutes. Remove flanken and place in a large roasting pan.
Put sweet potato chunks into pot and cook covered on low for 10 minutes and add carrot chunks. Cook an additional 10 minutes.

Remove carrots and sweet potatoes with a slotted spoon and place in the roasting pan with the flanken. Reserve the liquid. Add prunes and drizzle with honey and maple syrup and sprinkle with brown sugar, all to taste. Add orange juice and a cup of the reserved liquid.
Cover the roasting pan and bake for three hours or until the meat falls off the bone. Be sure to turn the mixture every hour so that the meat becomes evenly browned.

Ronnie’s notes:

• Flanken can only be purchased from a kosher butcher but you could substitute beef short ribs if you don’t have a kosher butcher nearby.
• I have found that the enamel roasting pans (remember those blue and white speckled ones) work best as they brown the meat just perfectly.
• The quantities of maple syrup, honey and brown sugar is something you need to come up with on your own. Cooking is an art and not a science!