A problem with kosher-for Passover cakes

My eldest was born on 17 Nissan, 5759, (April 3, 1999,) so his Jewish birthday is always during Passover (Pesach). In my family we celebrate both Gregorian and Jewish calendar birthdays, and so every year we need a cake that is kosher for Passover. And this is where the problems begin. The ban on leavening is a big problem with cakes.

One year we had an impromptu matzah cake, that was pretty much matzah, chocolate pudding and hard chocolate frosting. That was okay, not counting the fact that my youngest and I can't stand matzah.

Last year we tried a recipe that called for 10 eggs and 1/3 cup of matzah meal (like many kosher for Passover cake recipes on the net seem to) and the result for me was like a big, sweet cylindrical serving of scrambled eggs than cake. As most of the recipes call for an insane number of eggs compared to the dry materials, I am less than enthusiastic to try a new recipe, especially the test run with a recipe Kevin found yesterday resulted in a baking disaster.

So what will we do this year? A three-layer pudding cake, made from two layers of chocolate and one layer of vanilla pudding. It's the old style, not-so-instant pudding (and think Dr. Oetker style rather than what a Briton would call pudding) that we decorate with fresh and canned fruit and serve with unsweetened whipped cream. As my son's birthday is on the Shabbat this year, it is good that this pudding can be prepared in advance and kept in the refrigerator. It can either be served in the glass bowl it will be prepared in, or, if everything wirks out fine, it can be a stand alone creation. Photos of the end product to follow.

A kosher recipe a week 2. Pomegranate chicken

A family favorite, originally a Rosh Hashanah dish of Moroccan Jews.

Ingredients :

1/4 cup or 50 ml of olive oil

1 tablespoon of minced garlic, I usually just put them through my garlic "press"

1 (3 1/2 to 4-pound, 1500 g+) chicken, cut up, we usually cut them into quarters

1 pomegranate, halved

1/4 cup or 50 ml dry white wine

Juice of 1 lemon or about 2 tablespoons of 100% lemon juice

1 tablespoon cinnamon- sugar

Salt and pepper to taste.

Method :

Preheat oven to 375°F or 190°C. In a cup, mix oil and garlic, and let it stand for about an hour. Brush garlic oil over chicken with a brush or feather. Place the chicken pieces in a shallow baking dish. Drizzle any remaining oil over the chicken pieces. Bake in preheated oven for 45 minutes, basting several times with pan juices, until skin is browned and juices run clear.

Remove 1 tablespoonful of seeds from the pomegranate. Set aside for garnish. Squeeze juice from remaining pomegranate through a sieve into a small bowl.

In a small non-reactive saucepan, mix pomegranate juice, wine, lemon juice, and cinnamon and sugar. Bring to a boil over high heat. Reduce heat to low and cook for approximately 5 minutes or till it thickens to taste. Season sauce with salt and pepper to taste.

Put the roasted chicken to a serving platter and pierce each piece several times. Pour sauce over the chicken. Garnish with pomegranate seeds and serve at room temperature.

We usually serve it with mashed potatoes. To keep it kosher, use pareve margarine and/or broth for the potatoes. Grandma serves it with rice, my stepmom prefers fries.

A quick Shabbat dinner

As Matthew and I got home rather late, I had to improvise with the Shabbat dinner. Being a semi decent Jew I managed to bake some challah, and once the oven was all fired up, I decided on utilizing the pre-heated oven.

I got out one of the Thanksgiving turkey baking bags and threw in a 3 lb chicken in one piece, salted and with home made spicy butter under its skin. The butter was mixed with some salt, parsley, a generous pinch of garlic, thyme and white pepper.

In the bag went 5 large apples peeled and cut up, 1 lb canned peaches without the juice--my kids drank that separately--, 3 lbs of potatoes chopped up, two large carrots, and because my kids love it, 1 lb of mushrooms. They stayed in the bag till they were about 98% done, then I removed the bag and let the juices evaporate for an additional 10 minutes.

I served it with challah (of course) and white grape juice for the kids.

A kosher recipe a week 1. Hungarian Jewis Egg Dips

What you need:

4 hardboiled eggs, cut/grated/broken with a fork

1 kosherized chicken liver

2 tablespoons of goose lard, chopped

2 onions, finely chopped

1 teaspoon of salt

some ground pepper

Cook the onion in the lard, then add the chopped liver, salt, pepper. When cooked, mix with the egg. Serve with bread or toast and fresh tomatoes, cucumbers.