Category: Pesach

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Clean All The Things

Spring cleaning. Pesach cleaning. Just all the cleaning.

So far since last Friday we have done the following:

  • Cleaned Aaron’s room.
  • Cleaned Faith’s room.
  • Sorted out Aaron’s cupboard.
  • Sorted out Faith’s cupboard.
  • Cleaned out both pantry cupboards.
  • Swept, vacuumed and steam mopped all the floors (which will have to be redone on Friday).
  • Deep cleaned my oven and stove top (which caused me heart failure when the gas hobs stopped working because they got wet, they now work just fine).
  • De-calking the kettle.
  • I’ve done at least 8 loads of laundry since last weekend including, blankets, duvets, linen, clothes, towels and kitchen cloths & mop cloths.

Still to be done this afternoon and tomorrow morning:

  • Cleaning the fridge and freezer.
  • Cleaning all the kitchen surfaces.
  • Cleaning the microwave.
  • Deep cleaning the bathrooms.
  • Dusting.
  • Sorting out my cupboard.
  • Sweeping, vacuuming and steam mopping all the  floors again.

And after all the cleaning is done, I have to pack away all my day to day crockery and cutlery and kitchen things and unpack all the Pesach things and wash what needs washing before it can be used.

And then the great Pesach cooking can commence.

I already need a nap...

I need a nap already!

 

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Shakshuka

On Thursday I was given a bag of tomatoes. They were almost too ripe.

I asked online for some suggestions of what to do with them and shakshuka jumped out at me. 

 

Shakshuka
Serves 4
I love shakshuka. Its one of my favourite Israeli dishes. And its an all in one pan cook and serve recipe so very little washing up!
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Prep Time
15 min
Cook Time
30 min
Total Time
45 min
Prep Time
15 min
Cook Time
30 min
Total Time
45 min
Ingredients
  1. Oil for frying
  2. 1 x onion, diced
  3. 1 x red pepper, diced
  4. 8 x tomatos, diced
  5. Garlic
  6. Spices (usually cayenne pepper or something a little spicy)
  7. Salt and pepper, to taste
  8. 6 x eggs
Instructions
  1. Heat the oil in a large, heavy pan. You can split the ingredients into two smaller pans if you want to serve the shakshuka in personal servings.
  2. Throw in the onion and saute until golden.
  3. Add the red pepper and simmer for 5 minutes.
  4. Add the tomato and garlic and stir until its all mixed together. Simmer on medium heat for 10 minutes or until the mixture starts to reduce.
  5. Add spices.
  6. Once the mixture is cooked through crack eggs directly into the sauce and cook through.
  7. Serve with fresh bread or pita to mop up the sauce.
A Bit of This A Bit of That https://gnatj.com/
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Roast Turkey Breast

I picked up a 1.2kg turkey breast the other day. After asking the internets for their favourite recipes I decided to make a roast.

Roast Turkey Breast
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Prep Time
5 min
Cook Time
1 hr
Total Time
1 hr 5 min
Prep Time
5 min
Cook Time
1 hr
Total Time
1 hr 5 min
Ingredients
  1. Skinless, boneless turkey breast
  2. Oil
  3. Red wine (I used a merlot that had been given to us as a gift)
  4. Spices, whatever you have in the rack (I used a shishkebab seasoning, since its all I had that was pesadich)
  5. Tomato paste
  6. Hot water
Instructions
  1. In a roasting dish place your turkey breast and sprinkle with the spice(s). Use as much or as little as you like, this is to your taste.
  2. Drizzle a little bit of oil over the top of the breast.
  3. Splash a little of the wine over the breast.
  4. Cover with foil and place in the oven for 20 minutes at 180°C.
  5. While the turkey is in the oven, mix the tomato paste, a bit more wine and some hot water in a bowl to make a sauce. The more sauce you make the more sauce you will have when its done cooking.
  6. After 20 minutes remove the roasting dish from the oven and uncover the turkey.
  7. Pour the sauce over the turkey and return the roasting dish to the oven, uncovered.
  8. Baste the turkey with the sauce every 10 minutes or so for another 40 minutes.
  9. The hour of cooking time above is perfect for a 1kg breast. Add 5 – 10 minutes cooking time per 100g over 1kg.
  10. Remove from the oven and cover loosely with tin foil. Allow to sit for 10 minutes.
  11. Remove the turkey from the roasting dish and carve like you would a meat roast. Return the slices to the sauce and keep warm until you are ready to serve.
  12. Serve with rice or quinoa. I used black quinoa and it was delicious
Notes
  1. This amount of turkey served with grains and a salad was enough to feed 8 people.
  2. We had leftovers and ate them warmed up the next day for lunch, it was even better than the night before!
A Bit of This A Bit of That https://gnatj.com/
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Pesach Chocolate Brownie Cake

Pesach Chocolate Brownie Cake
Pure decadence! This cake comes out with a soft gooey centre and a thin crispy top. It is very very rich and very very delicious.
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Prep Time
10 min
Cook Time
15 min
Total Time
25 min
Prep Time
10 min
Cook Time
15 min
Total Time
25 min
Ingredients
  1. 250g dark parve chocolate
  2. 1 large egg, beaten
  3. 1 cup potato flour
Instructions
  1. Break the chocolate into pieces and slowly melt it over a low heat.
  2. Once the chocolate is almost completely melted, take it off the heat.
  3. While continuously, briskly, stirring the chocolate, add the beaten egg. Make sure to stir fast so that the egg doesn’t cook!
  4. Add the potato flour and combine.
  5. Transfer the ‘dough’ into a small, low sided pan.
  6. Bake for 12- 15 minutes at 180°C.
Notes
  1. Serve with cold custard or vanilla ice cream.
A Bit of This A Bit of That https://gnatj.com/
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Carrot and red onion soup

We landed up with two bags of carrots, way to much to eat before they went off, so I decided to make a carrot soup.

Ingredients

  • Carrots, peeled and chopped into medium chunks
  • Red onion, peeled and chopped into chunks (I used two small onions)
  • Stock powder (I used chicken stock powder, you can use vegetable stock or maybe even mushroom soup powder)
  • Oil for frying
  • Water
  • Walnuts, toasted (I used about half a cup.  Also walnuts in their shells are far cheaper than ones already shelled, also its fun to use a heavy bottomed pan and go all HULK SMASH on them, although its quite messy)

Method

  • Add carrots, onions and a tablespoon or two of dry stock powder to a large pot.

IMG_0509

  • Drizzle with a bit of oil and lightly fry the veggies until the stock powder is dissolved.
  • While frying, bring a kettle of water to the boil.
  • Cover veggies with water, just above the veggies should be enough.

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  • Bring the water and veggies to a boil and then cover and turn down the heat to simmer.
  • Simmer until carrots are soft.
  • While the veggies are simmering, toast some walnuts.
  • Once the carrots are soft, add half the toasted walnuts.
  • Blitz the veggies for a smooth, thick soup. (Its ok if its not completely smooth, it still tastes delicious!)

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  • Roughly chop the remaining walnuts and add to the top of the soup as a garnish.

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  • Enjoy!
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Free* Banana Bread

*Free from eggs, gluten, milk, sugar.

So its Pesach, that means no flour and since Paul is diabetic I cant use sugar either.

I found {this} recipe on a FB food forum and I have tweeked it a little to suit us.

Ingredients

  • 1 large bunch of (over)ripe bananas
  • 2 cups chopped walnuts (I bought walnuts in their shells, my kids said they are not REAL if they are already shelled, I dont have a nut cracker, I improvised with a heavy bottomed pan and went all HULK SMASH on the poor walnuts, it was fun!)
  • 2 cups potato flour
  • 1 cup chopped dates
  • pinch of salt (I forgot about the salt, oh well)

IMG_0358

Method

  • Peel and mash the bananas.
  • Chop up your shelled walnuts, I blitzed them in a small food processor.
  • Pit your dates and cut or shred them into small pieces.
  • Add bananas, potato flour, walnuts, dates and salt in a bowl.
  • Mix until just combined.
  • Place in an appropriate sized loaf tin.
  • Bake for 35-40 minutes at 180ºC
  • Enjoy hot with butter slathered on!

IMG_0359

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Pesach Rolls

Pesach, a time of matza, horseradish and lots of yummy food.

We decided to have cold meat for lunch today but the kids wanted rolls.

So I grabbed some matzo meal and made the yummiest rolls.

Ingredients

2 x cups matzo meal
1/2 x cup oil
1 and 1/2 cup boiling water
Teaspoon salt
Teaspoon sugar
4 x eggs, beaten

Method

Heat oven to 190C and grease a baking tray.
Add all dry ingredients to a mixing bowl.
Add the boiling water and the oil and mix.
Allow to cool.
Once cool add the eggs and mix.
Divide into six portions and place on baking tray.
Bake for 40 minutes.

And that’s it. They were very light and fluffy and went well with the cold meat and horseradish.

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