Happy Purim - Black Currant, Walnut & Chocolate Hamantaschen

Happy Purim! Purim is often referred to as the Jewish Halloween or the Jewish Madri Gras. It's the time to put on your costumes, celebrate Esther and eat Hamantaschen!

To the kitchen I went, armed with a Hamantaschen recipe by Joan Nathan, a very well known author of many Jewish cookbooks, and someone I had a pleasure of meeting at the Hazon Food Conference.

Never one to follow the recipe to the t, I added a zest of one lemon. By mistake, I used baking soda instead of baking powder. I realized this after the dough was already chilling in the refrigerator. On top of using the wrong ingredient, I used only half the soda amount. With fingers crossed, I kneaded the baking powder into the dough, and let it chill for another few hours.

Usually, Hamantaschen are made with a poppy seed filling. I decided to go a different route. My filling was a combination of my mom’s homemade black currant jam, toasted chopped walnuts and semi-sweet chocolate chips. Once the cookies were filled and formed, I lightly brushed the outside with milk and sprinkled poppy seeds.

Make sure to pinch the edges of the cookies tightly to prevent the filling from spilling out and forming lovely pools on your baking sheet. Chilling the formed cookies in the refrigerator prior to baking will also help them to keep the shape and spread out less.

As hard as it might be, do wait for the cookies to cool slightly before eating. Pour a glass of milk, and enjoy!

Blowing Off Some Steam - Pork

It's been a stressful few days, weeks, months. I'm sure there are many ways of dealing with stress, but today I chose pork. Curious? I thought so.

A pile of boneless pork chops are sitting in the refrigerator. They are removed, and placed next to a meat mallet. "What's that?" think the chops. Little do they know! The chops are going to be a part of my healing process.

So off I go to get a cutting board (you should have a separate board for poultry/meat/pork that is not used for vegetables, fruit, and any other ready-to-eat items). Next, I cut a few pieces of plastic wrap. Heavy duty plastic wrap or freezer bag would work best, but I don't have either, so instead, I double up my plastic wrap. The size should be approximately the size of the cutting board.

Now, place one piece of the plastic on top of your cutting board. Sprinkle with just a few drops of water. And then comes the pork chop. A few more drops of water to follow, and the pork chop is covered with the second piece of plastic wrap. Time to get that aggression out!

With the meat mallet, start pounding the pork chop, gently, from the center, slowly moving your hand outward to the edge of the pork chop. Continue to do so, turning the pork chop over if necessary, until you reach the desired thickness (or thinness to be more precise).

Now, beside the therapeutic remedy, why would you want to pound your pork chop (or chicken breast as it may be?). Pounding, obviously reduces the thickness of your protein, it also breaks down the fibers of the meat, and therefore tenderizes it, making the final product more tender, less chewier. Your meat will also cook quicker.

Why the plastic wrap? It keeps things cleaner, keeps your meat protected from the mallet (gentler beating).

What's next? Season, bread, and pan saute or fry, or bake. Don't you feel better already? I know I do.