For this week’s Friday
Night Dinner Project, we made the Nostalgia Dinner. This week, at least for me, it was all about
the challah. More on that later. This is a wonderful dinner, featuring both
Sephardic and Ashkenazi dishes. It is
the perfect meal for the cold, snowy day we are having here in Ontario.
Before I dive in – if you
do not have a copy of
Friday Night
Dinners you can purchase one
here.
Whiskey Sours
The first thing on
this menu is a drink, which I actually did not make. I do not drink whiskey, and I cannot imagine
how to make a non-whiskey Whiskey Sour….so I cannot comment on this recipe.
Lentil Soup with
Caramelized Onions
This soup is quick andeasy to make. It is flavourful (thanks
to the onion, garlic, and cumin) but not hot which is just how I like it. The soup pairs wonderfully with the challah.
Friday Night Brisket
This recipe reminded
me of one of the truly special things about this book – Bonnie Stern’s
thoughtful commentary which is woven into each recipe. She provides excellent tips to help the
reader as he or she works through the recipes, she offers great suggestions for
using leftovers or substitutions.
However, the thing I like the most is reading her memories of family
dinners with everyone from friends, to children, to parents and grandparents. Any regular readers of my site know
how important the family meal is to me.
This was my first time
cooking a brisket. I am pretty sure it
was also my first time eating one. I
have to confess that my husband actually cooked this recipe (I prepped
everything for him but then my little one had to go to bed. My husband stepped in and finished the
recipe, he did a great job. He’s not a
cook – at all – but he followed the instructions as written and it turned out
wonderfully.)
With regards to the
brisket – whenever I need a special piece of meat and I am downtown Toronto, I
go to Carnicero’s in the St. Lawrence Market.
Unfortunately I was not able to get there this week, so I purchased our
brisket at Costco.
Our dutch oven was not
big enough to hold the brisket (now I know what I need for Christmas!) so we
cooked the stovetop portion in a large skillet, and then transferred everything
to a 9x13 stone dish for the oven portion.
Bonnie Stern suggests cooking this a day or two ahead, so my husband
cooked this the night before we ate it. We reheated it (as instructed in the
book) the next day and served it with salad and mashed potatoes (the potatoes
were the only dish not actually in this menu, but I just love them). We also made the roasted broccoli to have
with leftovers.
The brisket was
delicious. The meat was so tender and
the sauce poured over it as well as the potatoes made it the perfect meal for a
winter day.
Pierogi with Potatoes
and Caramelized Onions
Well, this is my first
Friday Night Dinner Fail. It was not the
fault of the recipe though. It was the
cook. I had the pierogis all prepared,
lined up beautifully on my parchment lined baking sheet, about to go in the pot when….CRASH!!! Someone (not naming
names) knocked it off the counter and they went all over the floor. I tried to piece them back together, but I
did not have enough time to do it properly, so many of them leaked in the
pot. I still ate them (not wasting
food!) and even took a picture of them with the salad, but they were definitely
not as they should be. I am hoping to
make them again sometime soon as I still have leftover wonton wrappers and the
filling was very easy to whip up.
At least they look good in the picture!
Roasted Broccoli
So simple. So good.
Not much to say about this recipe - straightforward and good. Somehow salt makes everything (including broccoli) taste better.
Anna’s House Salad
One of the most
pleasant surprises of my project so far is all these great homemade salad
dressing recipes. There are so many
salads in this book that I had not made before, and every time I am really
impressed with the dressings. I have
made my own dressing before, but the variety of different dressings in this
book is great. I am never going to buy
pre-made salad dressing again – except for Ranch because I love it.
The sweet Asian style
dressing (
recipe here, scroll down) that tops this salad is great.
I served it plain on green leaf lettuce, but it would be wonderful on a
salad topped with cashews, chicken and peppers or snap peas.
Jenny Soltz’s Challah
This recipe begins
with a beautiful introduction Bonnie (can I just call her Bonnie? I don’t
actually know her…) wrote about her grandmother who raised eleven children and “kept
her family in bread all winter by winning first place in the county fair with
her amazing challahs” (Stern 94). Bonnie
says she likes to think this was her grandmother’s own recipe.
This challah is amazing. It is hands down the best challah recipe I
have tried. I have made this challah,
many, many times and it is always loved by anyone who tries it. (Note: There is also a sidebar here which
includes a recipe for French Toast Casserole, made using the challah, which I
have made numerous times topped with a raspberry sauce. It is divine and always gets rave
reviews. It is wonderful for a
brunch. I digress…)
If you are not a bread
baker do not feel intimidated, the instructions are very clear and easy to
follow. You need time to allow the dough
to rise (twice) but it is not a complicated recipe. The other thing I love about this recipe is
that it uses all purpose flour – no special bread flour kneaded. Ha!
Get it, kneaded instead of needed.
Sorry, I know I am the only one laughing. Anyway, this is a beautiful bread. I usually add about 5 ½ cups of the recommended
flour in the bowl, then take it out and start kneading, adding flour as necessary. Oh it is so, so good. Do not take my word for it – make it for
yourself.
 |
First rise |
 |
The three sticks, as I call them |
 |
The braid |
 |
Brushed with egg |
 |
Done! |
Patti’s Apple Cobbler
This
apple cobbler is
sort of a cross between apple cobbler and apple crisp. At least that is what it reminded me of, the
topping has sort of a crispy cake like texture.
If ever there was a dessert for Nostalgia menu this is it. You can drizzle the top with oil (to keep
your menu Kosher) or butter. I used
butter and I served Patti’s Apple Cobbler with Breyer’s Creamery Style Maple
Walnut Ice Cream. It was excellent and a
wonderful comfort food dessert.
And that’s a
wrap. Until next week.
You can view previous
menus here: