Hello Everyone,

Sundays with Marlena Spieler

We are so happy to have moved to this new website of ours which is a labor of love, a gift from our  dear sister and 12 year old niece. It is weird, but it feels like having moved from a rental property to your own home .

Moving on, Our Jewish Cooking project is a fun ride. We are learning, cooking and tasting new dishes that we may have generally drooled over, but not cooked at home. And that is precisely why we wanted to do this and we are thoroughly in for a gastronomical treat.

The flu had found us and when we recovered we craved for warm soups and something deep fried. We did not want to over indulge- latkes and tomato soup with couscous fit the bill for us. Latkes were served with apple cranberry sauce, which had just the right balance of sweet and tart and lemon zest  gives it the oomph that we like.

The only specialty ingredient you need for Latkes is Matzo meal that we easily found at Whole Foods. When we called Trader Joes, they said they only carry it during the holiday season. Hmm haven’t we started seeing advertisements asking us to get ready for the holiday season? Sorry we  digressed a bit

Latkes adapted from Jewish Cooking by Marlena Spieler

Idaho Potatoes- 3 medium sized ( About 2 cups)

Grated white onion- 3/4 cup ( about half an onion)

Egg- 1, lightly beaten

Matzo meal – 2 T

All Purpose Flour- 1 T

Baking powder- 1/2 tsp

Sugar- 1/4 tsp

Salt- to taste

A dash of Tabasco

Vegetable oil for shallow frying

• Peel, wash and grate the potatoes. Put the grated potatoes in a colander and squeeze the water off the potatoes as much as possible.
• In a large bowl, combine the grated onions, potatoes with the rest of the ingredients and stir well to combine.
• Heat a non stick pan and drizzle about a tsp or more oil into the pan.
• When the oil is hot, ladle about 2-3 tablespoons of the batter on the skillet.
• Cook over medium high heat. Flip the latke when you see the edges browning. Cook approximately for a minute or two on each side, remember this depends on the type of stove you have).
• Remove from pan and drain on a paper towel.

Serve hot or keep them warm in the oven.

KCRA3 News segment on 12.16.09

Serve this Apple Cranberry sauce or sour cream/yogurt.

Apple Cranberry Sauce

Granny Smith Apples- 2, peeled and roughly chopped

Cinnamon Stick- 1/2 inch piece

Lemon Zest- of 1/2 a lemon

Lemon Juice- 1 tsp

Sugar- 4 tsp or more per your taste

Fresh Cranberries- 1 cup

• Peel, core and roughly chop the apples and place them in a pan over medium heat along with the cinnamon, lemon zest and juice.
• In Marlena recipe, she says not to disintegrate the apples, but mine just got that way and no complains, we loved it.
• Add the cranberries and sugar in the pan and let it cook on low covered until you finish hearing all the cranberries popping.
• Check for seasonings and serve with latke.
• Next time, we might add a wee bit of ginger powder.

Like this was not enough we also made tomato soup with couscous, recipe is here

Please don’t forget to check Eileen and Mel’s blogs who are also cooking some delicious dishes from Marlena’s Cookbook. More about Marlena and her cookbooks can be found here.