Mock Chopped Liver
Gussie's Yapsik
Makes: 6 to 8 servings
Total Time: 2 hours and 30 minutes
Ingredients
5 lbs Idaho potatoes (about 8 to 10 potatoes), peeled
1 large onion, peeled
1 cup + 1 tablespoon vegetable oil
4 ½ tablespoons breadcrumbs
2 teaspoons salt
¼ teaspoon ground black pepper
Method
1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
2. Grate the potatoes and onion into a large bowl.
3. Pour 1 cup of vegetable oil, breadcrumbs, salt and pepper into the potato and onions. Mix to combine well.
4. Grease a 9 x 13 inch casserole dish with 1 tablespoon of vegetable oil.
5. Evenly place the yapsuk mixture into the casserole dish. Cover the dish with aluminum foil and bake for 40 minutes. Remove the yapsuk from oven and raise the temperature to 400 degrees. Uncover the yapsuk and transfer it back into the oven for 1 to 1 ½ hours until the potatoes are cooked through and the edges of the yapsuk are a deep golden brown.
6. Serve hot with a side of gravy.
Mock Chopped Liver
Rice Pudding: Arroz con Leche
Recipe Adapted from The Mexican Cookbook by Barbara Norman
½ cup raisins
¼ cup sherry
½ cup rice
3 cups milk
½ cup sugar
Cinnamon to taste
Good piece of lemon rind
Pinch salt
Method
Cover the raisins with the sherry and set aside.
Soak rice in enough hot water to cover for 15 minutes.
Rinse in cold water and drain.
Place rice in pot with lemon rind, a pinch of salt, and 1 cup of water.
Bring to a boil.
Reduce heat, cover, cook over low heat until all the water has evaporated.
Remove rind. Add milk, sugar and cinnamon.
Cook, uncovered, over low heat until all the milk has been absorbed.
When done, stir in raisins and sherry.
Cook a few minutes longer.
Eat!
Mock Chopped Liver
Healthy Veggie Chopped Liver Look-alike
Recipe by Sandy Toback, eaten with gusto by Rabbi Irwin
Mock Chopped Liver
1/2 C lentils
1/2 C walnuts (chopped) – in processor
1 large onion (diced)
2 hard-boiled egg whites (chopped)
1 package or cube of vegetable broth
Pepper to taste
Method
- Cover lentils with 1 & 1/2 cups of water and simmer until tender, and then drain well.
- In separate pan, sauté onion until somewhat browned.
- Mix all the ingredients together and use food processor to obtain desired
Cheese Blintzes for Shavuot
Cheese Blintzes
From Phyllis Spector, CTI’s Immediate Past President, Current Ritual Chair
For blintzes, we need to make the wrapper — it’s like a French crepe — and the filling.
Then, we roll the filling into the crepe. The blintzes can then be refrigerated, frozen or fried in butter or vegetable oil, and enjoyed immediately.
For the Wrapper
4 large eggs, beaten
1/2 C water
1/2 C milk
1 C all-purpose flour
1 C butter or oil (for frying)
1 TBS vegetable oil
½ tsp salt
1 TBS sugar
Method
Mix everything in a blender, except the butter.
Let the batter rest at room temperature for at least 30 minutes.
Melt the butter (or heat oil) in an 8” skillet.
Pour about 1/4 cup batter into the pan and swirl it around, pouring off excess.
DO NOT let it brown.
Flip and cook the other side for a few seconds.
Then, turn the blintz out onto a plate.
Repeat with remaining batter and butter (or oil), staggering the crepes on top of each other.
For the Filling
1½ C ricotta or farmer's cheese
½ C whipped cream cheese
1 large egg yolk
1 tsp vanilla extract
¼ C sugar (or more to taste)
Pinch of salt
Method
Mix well.
Spread 2TBS of filling on each crepe.
Fold
Refrigerate, freeze or fry in butter or oil.
Top with cinnamon, sour cream, berries (optional)
Recipe of the Month
We recognize the 6 million who perished in Nazi concentration camps.
Despite the harsh conditions, the undernourished and starving women in Terezin, the Czechoslovakian concentration camp, managed to write recipes from memory.
The crumbling, faded pages have been collected and published in In Memory’s Kitchen – A Legacy from the Women of Terezin. They represent fantasies, memories and hope for the future.
Here is a sample:
Pachter’s Pirogen (p. 47)
Make a noodle dough and roll it out. Now take boiled grated potatoes, chopped cracklings and browned onions. Fill the pockets [squares], press the edges together and boil them [the pockets]. Pour hot fat and a lot of browned onion [over the pirogen].
