LIFE&STYLE | food & drink
L’Chayim!
San’s Sour Cream Coffee Cake
by Spencer Nessel
Add eggs, one by one, then the sour cream and vanilla. 1 stick butter 1/2 cup brown sugar Sift the dry ingredients to1 cup sugar 2 tablespoon butter gether and add them little by 2 eggs 2 tablespoon flour little at a time to the batter. 1/2 pint sour cream 1 teaspoon cinnamon Make sure the ingredients for 1 teaspoon vanilla 1/2 cup nuts, chopped extract the streusel are all blended to2 cups flour gether properly—use a blend1 teaspoon baking soda er if necessary. 1 teaspoon baking You can use a powder Bundt cake pan or 1 teaspoon salt a regular bread pan. Grease it with butter My grandand pour about half mother Sandy’s to three quarters coffee cake is the of the batter in the perfect way to end pan, then add half any meal. It makes the streusel on top. Sour cream cake provides a sense for this parTake a knife and light finish to a heavier meal. ticular meal as the swirl it through to preceding dishes are spread the streusel not very light, so the sour-cream cof- a bit more throughout the cake. Then fee cake works well as the finale. Sandy add the rest of the batter and then the is the best baker I know, and I always remaining streusel on top of that. Bake treasure her recipes—this one is straight for 40-45 minutes on 350 degrees. Let from her collection! it cool before you take it out of the pan Start by creaming the butter and and serve with vanilla ice cream and a sugar together in a standing mixer. nice cup of coffee.
For Cake
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'RANDSON´S "RISKET WITH #ARA MELIZED 3HALLOTS AND #ARROTS
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Spiced Salmon Paté
Smoked salmon, cream cheese and bagels are not unfamiliar to my family. When I visit my grandparents, the classic Jewish mainstay is my breakfast every morning. This salmon paté will bring Spiced salmon pate is an modern some familiar flavors but in a different twist on a Jewish favorite. form. It also needs to be refrigerated at least a few hours before you serve it, preferably overnight to build the flavor. The classic way to do salmon is with mustard, dill and lemon—and it’s fine if you want to stick with those flavors for this dish, but my recipe branches out of that for a warmer, more seasonal approach. Start the dish by putting the white wine and slicing half a lemon into a saucepan. Salt and pepper the salmon. Wait till the wine has come to a boil, and put the salmon in the pan. Cover it and reduce the heat. Let it poach for about five minutes, or until medium rare. While the salmon cools down, lightly toast the coriander and fennel seeds in a pan until they are fragrant, then blend them in a spice grinder or mortal and pestle them. Once the salmon has cooled down, put it in a food processor along with the cream cheese, sour cream, mustard and spices. Squeeze half a lemon in, and use the “pulse” setting to lightly blend it. Do not let it blend repeatedly; just get it to a smooth consistency and cut it off. Salt and pepper it to taste, and refrigerate. Serve cold with crostini and a few slices of avocado underneath.
Grandson’s Brisket with Caramelized Shallots and Carrots Brisket is a mainstay for Jewish holidays and feasts. It’s the ultimate comfort food for me, and the smell of it takes me straight to memories of my family at the dinner table for the High Holidays. As traditional as brisket is, my family’s recipe is ever changing. My grandmother’s recipe is drastically different from my mother’s, and mine has bits and pieces of each of theirs, along with a few additions of my
COURTESY SPENCER NESSEL
1 pound fresh salmon, without the skin 1/4 cup cream cheese, whipped 1/8 cup sour cream 1 lemon 3/4 teaspoon fennel seed 1/2 teaspoon coriander seed 1/2 teaspoon chili powder 1 teaspoon Dijon mustard ½ cup dry white wine
Rosemary Latkes with Garlic and Chive Sour Cream For Latkes
Canola or vegetable oil 1-1/2 pounds Yukon gold potatoes 1-2 medium-sized shallots 2 teaspoon fresh rosemary 1/4 cup fresh parsley 2 large eggs 2/3 tablespoon flour or matzo meal
A classic Hanukkah tradition, latkes are eaten all throughout the holidays and typically always served with sour cream (sometimes even applesauce). The perfect latke is somewhere between a tater tot and potato chip. My recipe calls for a few, simple, hearty ingredients that bring a little winter flare to the latke. Make the sour cream first so you don’t make the latkes wait. Simply mince the garlic, almost into a paste, chop the chives and mix with the sour cream. Zest or juice a little bit of the lemon into it for a little extra brightness. Remember that the longer you let the sour cream sit in the fridge, the more the garlic flavor will build. Fill up a large bowl about halfway with water and squeeze half a lemon in it—this will prevent the potatoes from
For Sour Cream 1 cup sour cream 2 cloves garlic 1/4 cup chives 1 lemon
turning brown. Grate the potatoes into the water and then take the potatoes out of the water and put them into a few heavy-duty paper towels or a thin kitchen towel and squeeze out the excess moisture. Let the potatoes continue to drain for about 10 minutes in the bowl. While the potatoes drain, mince the shallots (or grate them), chop the herbs and beat the eggs. Then pour out most of the liquid, but leave a bit of that white starch at the bottom. Add the flour, eggs, shallot, herbs, and salt and pepper. Heat up about a quarter inch of oil in a frying pan—once the temperature reaches about 350 you can start frying. Be sure to mold the latkes relatively thin. Fry them for a few minutes on each side, until golden brown, and then drain the excess oil on some paper towels.
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COURTESY SPENCER NESSEL
C
ooking for the family can be a stressful endeavor for many different reasons, but for me it is simply about impressing those I love most. I want to honor my Jewish traditions while putting my own original spin on family recipes, but not completely dismantling them. My goal is simple: Make sure each dish has a strong point of reference for my family while lending part of myself to it. Each dish in this meal represents different memories for me and times in my life, all of which have shaped my culinary point of view.
For Streusel
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