Dinner At Sheila's

A reader recently commented that she loved my Mom’s Banana Sour Cream Cake and was hoping I would post more of her cakes, specifically her apple cake for Rosh Hashanah, the Jewish New Year.

As I am in the midst of cooking and baking for the holidays I decided to post this now for those looking for a delicious holiday cake…my Mom’s Viennese Apple Cake.  Layers of apples and cinnamon are suspended in a moist cake fragrant with the scent of orange juice and vanilla.

As I mentioned before my mother could produce a prize worthy cake faster than anyone I know and with less drama.  Her recipes were simple and to the point, and for the most part she omitted any details of technique. 

To show her “less is more attitude” I am posting Mom’s Viennese Apple Cake  below just as she had given it to me.

I will aslo give some additional pointers as some guidance especially for the more inexperienced bakers. 

And for all those novice bakers who become discouraged at times my best advice is if you like to bake keep baking, even if at times you are disappointed with the result. 

It’s in the doing that we learn by our mistakes and gain the confidence and skill to produce that prize worthy cake.

I’m sure in her past my mom must have had a cake that fell or a meringue that flopped, but by the time I came along she had learned her lessons well…I  knew her only as the remarkable baker she had become…and that should be an inspiration for us all!

 Mom’s Viennese Apple Cake

Ingredients:                                

3 c. flour

2c. sugar

4 eggs

 3 t. baking powder

4 apples, sliced thin, separate

2 and 1/2 t. vanilla

1 c. oil

1/2 c. orange juice

Mix together:

2 t. cinnamon

5 T. sugar

Directions:

Grease and flour 10inch tube pan.  Put in half batter, layer apples, sprinkle with sugar and cinnamon.  Add rest of batter.  Bake at 350 degrees for 1 and 1/2 hours.

Some additions to the above recipe:

4-5 apples, good for baking such as Braeburn, Macintosh, Rome, peeled and sliced thin

I added 1/2 teaspoon salt to dry ingredients

I increased the cinn-sugar mixture  to 2-3 t. cinnamon and 1/2 c sugar (you may not need it all)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Grease and flour a 10inch tube pan.

Combine the sugar and cinnamon, and sprinkle over the sliced apples and let sit.

Combine the flour, salt and baking powder together.  Set aside.

In an electric mixer beat the eggs and sugar well.

Add the flour mixture alternately with the oil, beginning and ending with the flour.

Add the orange juice, then the vanilla extract.  Beat til smooth and thoroughly mixed.

Pour 1/3 of the batter into the prepared pan.  Top with 1/3 of the apple slices.  Sprinkle with extra cinn-sugar mixture if you want.

Repeat with 2 more layers ending with a layer of apples on top.  Sprinkle any extra cinnamon sugar mixture on top.

Bake at 350 degrees for 70 to 90 minutes, until a cake tester inserted in the middle comes out clean.

Cool in pan for at least 10 minutes before removing carefully to cool completely on a wire rack.

This cake may be wrapped well after completely cooled and stored in the freezer if you want to bake it in advance.

Brisket …Two Ways

At sundown on Wednesday, September 28 Jewish families worldwide will usher in the New Year 5772 with the observance of Rosh Hashanah, beginning with a holiday dinner that evening.

In addition to apples and honey, it has become customary to serve sweet foods at this meal in the hopes of ushering in a sweet year.  Among these are sweet kugel (a noodle pudding),   tzimmes ( a sweet stew of carrots, sweet potatoes, and dried fruit),       honey cakes, and apple cakes to name a few.

But for many the star of the feast will be the brisket.   Brisket is a cut of beef that comes form the breast or lower chest.   It responds well to a slow cooking method such as braising. 

The traditional way of cooking this “Jewish Pot Roast” originates from Eastern Europe, with many variations over the years.  The delicious flavor defies the simplicity of the preparation.  It is one of the dishes than improves with reheating so it is even better to make it ahead.  And because it freezes well with no loss of flavor, you can make it a week ahead of your dinner allowing you to focus on the rest of the meal.

Brisket can be made either sweet or savory depending on your preference.  I have prepared it both ways over the years.  Being that we’re expecting a good number on Wednesday evening I’ve decided to make both.  So here are my recipes for Brisket… Two Ways.    Sweet or Savory…you pick, or do like me and make them both!   

Leftover brisket sandwiches  on rye bread…always a good thing!

Pot Roast of Brisket  (makes 8-10 servings)

 (The Jewish –American Kitchen, Raymond Sokolov, recipes by Susan R. Friedland)

2 cloves garlic, mashed through a press (or more if you like)

Salt (kosher)

Freshly ground black pepper

5 pounds first-cut brisket

2 large onions, peeled and cut into eighths

2 pounds carrots, scraped

1 cup dry red wine

Preheat the oven to 500 degrees.

Make a paste with the garlic and salt and pepper; rub the paste into both sides of the brisket.

Put the meat in a roasting pan, fat side up, and roast until the meat is very brown, 15-20 minutes.

Lower the heat to 350 degrees.  Remove the brisket and strew the onions over the bottom of the pan.  Replace the meat and put the carrots on top.  Pour the wine into the pan.

Cover the meat with aluminum foil and roast for 2 to 2 ½ hours, until the meat is tender.  Remove the meat and carrots to a plate and pour the liquid and onions into a bowl.   Refrigerate or freeze briefly until the fat rises to the surface and can easily be removed.

Pour the liquid and onions in a processor or blender and puree.  Slice the meat against the grain and put it back in the roasting pan for a few minutes to heat with the gravy. *   Serve with the carrots.

*  May be covered well, and refrigerated or frozen at this point to be reheated later before serving.

Linda Goldstone’s Brisket (serves 8-10)

This recipe for the sweet brisket I received from a Chicago friend I met when my oldest son was in a pre-school program at the Jewish Community Center with her son when they were 2 years old.  I remember being at her home one afternoon while the boys were playing and she was preparing this brisket.

It has become the go to brisket recipe among our family and friends for many years.  It is particularly appropriate for this holiday when all sweet dishes are welcome.

It is a very simple recipe.  If you prefer to brown the meat first as in the above recipe you can.  It is not necessary.  Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.

One 5- pound brisket (first cut)

Kosher salt and freshly ground pepper

4 cloves garlic, crushed (optional)

1-2 large sweet onions, sliced

1 cup brown sugar (light or dark)

1½ cups ketchup

Rub the brisket with the salt, pepper and crushed garlic.  Strew the sliced onions on the bottom of the roasting pan.  Season with salt and pepper.

No, you are not seeing double…yes, I made 2 sweet briskets in addition to the 1 savory. I prefer to err on the side of too much food rather than too little!  The typical Jewish mother!

Place the brisket on top of the onions.Cover the top of the brisket with the ketchup smoothing it a bit.  Sprinkle the brown sugar evenly over the ketchup.

 Add a small amount of water to the bottom of the pan.  Cover tightly with aluminum foil, and roast for 2 and 1/2 to 3 hours.

Remove the meat from the pan.  Allow to cool a bit, and slice on the diagonal (against the grain).  

Remove the pan juices, separating the onion if you want to, and  chill the gravy. When chilled, remove the fat from the top, replace the meat to the pan, cover with the gravy, turning to coat, and reheat.

It wouldn’t be Passover in our family without Chicken Soup and Matzo Balls.  I’m taking the soup and matzo balls to my sister’s this year for our Seder.  Matzo Balls are basically dumplings made with matzo meal.  They can be light or quite dense.  I opt for lightness.

Whenever it comes to the Jewish holidays my mind is filled with thoughts of my mother.  As I mentioned before cooking and baking was her thing, much as it has become mine.  It seems that most of the holidays while we were growing up were always at our home, with much of the extended family and some friends.  My mom did it all, and now that I know what “all “involves, I marvel at how she did it.   But she did, and she did it well.

Her matzo balls were light, yet firm, flavorful and always delicious.  I never knew a matzo ball could be anything but light until the first Seder at my in-laws many years ago when my mother-in-law gave everyone their choice of matzo balls…hard or light…I never did understand why anyone would choose to eat a hard matzo ball!

Aside from being light the perfect matzo ball for me is one that also is infused with flavor.  This is achieved by the addition of some fat in the mix, be it oil, shmaltz (rendered chicken fat), or especially butter (provided that you do not keep kosher).  Mom used shmaltz, I use butter or a combination of shmaltz and butter.

Another trick I learned from my mother was to add chicken broth instead of water to the batter.  Again, it’s all about flavor.

A few years ago at Passover my younger son who lives in San Francisco asked if I could send him some Matzo Ball Soup.  It seems it’s hard to find a good bowl of Matzo Ball Soup there. 

He doesn’t ask for much, and how could I say no to sending my boychik some of Mama’s soup?  Making the soup was easy, figuring the logistics of how to best get it to him a little trickier.

I prepared the soup, prepared the matzo balls, ladled the matzo balls into the warm broth, and carefully froze it in a couple of storage containers.

On the day of departure (we decided on next day air, and I’m not saying what I paid, just let it be known it was a true act of love)…my husband diligently wrapped the frozen containers in a special styrofoam shipping container designed to send medication through the mail.  By the way, when my husband wraps something for mailing, I challenge anyone to try and open it….a roll of clear packing tape in his hands is a scarey thing.

The next morning I was up early and about to track it on the computer when my son called with the horrifying news that he saw on the computer that the package was returned to sender! 

After a few harrowing hours of my son calling his local post office to track the soup, and me calling mine in a desperate effort to prevent the soup from coming back to me, and trying to figure out why it would be returned in the first place  because my son swore he was up early awaiting the matzo ball arrival and there was no way they rang his bell and he didn’t hear… he spoke with another postal worker again who told him she thought she might have seen a package that he was describing.  

They found it, and apparently when it was checked in someone mistakenly hit the button for return to sender on the computer tracking system, but all the while the soup was actually enroute and now at the local office waiting to be picked up for delivery.

My son told them not to deliver it , and that he was on his way over to pick it up himself.  He was taking no chances, and I’ll love him forever for that!

So end of story…the Matzo Ball Soup arrived on time, and in delicious condition, still icy cold, but beginning to defrost a little.  I gave my son detailed directions as to how to heat it so the matzo balls would not be disturbed, and he called later to report that it was the best bowl of Matzo Ball Soup yet!

Matzo Balls (18-20 large matzo balls)

12 extra-large eggs

8 tablespoons butter, melted, or vegetable oil, or shmaltz, or combination

3 cups Matzo Meal

1 tablespoon kosher salt

3/4 cup chicken broth, warmed

In a large bowl blend the eggs with the melted butter using an electric mixer (a hand mixer is fine).

Add the salt  to the matzo meal and stir.

Add the matzo meal to the eggs and blend with an electric mixer.

Slowly add the warm chicken broth to the matzo meal and egg mixture.

Chill in refrigerator for several hours or overnight.

When ready to cook, bring a large 16-20 quart stockpot filled with water to a brisk boil.  Add a small amount of salt to water, if desired.

Remove chilled matzo ball mix from refrigerator and form into  3-inch balls with wet hands to prevent sticking.

Drop balls into the boiling water.

Cover pot, reduce heat to simmer, and cook 30- 40 minutes.

When done, drain the matzo balls in a slotted spoon and place carefully in warm pot of chicken soup.  Allow matzo balls to simmer in soup for at least an hour.