Cooking With The Kosher Butcher's Wife is like no other cookery book. Johannesburg’s Sharon Lurie has kindly shared three delicious recipes for “Shtetlers” to try over the High Holidays.
We have a great African salad to start, a beef roast to tantalise the taste buds and a parev chocolate mousse to die for. Read on.
AFRICAN SUNDOWNER SALAD
You don’t need a wooden sun deck and the subtle sound of water running beneath you to enjoy this salad – but it would help! So let’s use our wonderful transportation system called the imagination to take us there! Have fun with this salad by creating a large, round, visual platter of an African sunset, using all our magical-coloured fruit and vegetables.
- 1 head butter lettuce, roughly broken up into bite-size pieces
- 400 g smoked turkey breast (ask your butcher to cut it slightly thicker than cold meat)
- 1 large red onion, cut in half and finely sliced into rings
- 1 pineapple, peeled, cut in half and sliced into semicircular rings
- 2 oranges, peeled andsegmented
- 2 red or pink grapefruit, peeled and segmented
- 1 large mango (or 1 x 450 g tin mango slices), peeled and thinly sliced lengthwise
- 1 small pawpaw, peeled, cut in half, seeds removed and sliced
- 1 small papino, cut the same way as the pawpaw
- 1 sweet red pepper, cut into fine strips lengthwise (to represent shimmering rays!)
- pomegranate seeds (when in season) or granadilla pips
ASSEMBLING THE SALAD:
Arrange the butter lettuce on a platter. Slice the smoked turkey into thin strips and place on top of the lettuce, followed by the onion.
Now this is where the fun comes in because all the ingredients need to be placed in a circular fashion around the plate working from the middle outwards, trying to achieve a round, sunshine look!
Start with the pineapple as the inside circle, and gradually work your way outwards with the oranges, grapefruit, mango, pawpaw and papino (when in season, spanspek and watermelon can also be used).
Arrange the strips of red pepper from the centre outwards and finally add a few more turkey strips. Sprinkle with pomegranate seeds or granadilla pips. Stand back and admire your work. When ready to eat, pour over the salad dressing.
SUNSET SALAD DRESSING:
- 2 pieces ginger preserve
- 2 cloves garlic
- 1/2 cup sugar
- 1 cup fresh strawberries
- 1/2 cup orange juice (freshly squeezed or bottled)
- 1/4 cup lemon juice (freshly squeezed or bottled)
- 3/4 cup mayonnaise
- 1/2 cup vinegar
- few drops hot chilli sauce
- salt and pepper
Blend the ingredients until smooth.
SERVES 6–8
BRONZED BAG OF BEEF
This healthy looking meal in a bag is one of those tasty, loyal, never-let-you-down kind of recipes. Although the meat and vegetables are in a bag, the bag doesn’t act as a ‘sunblock’. The transparency of it allows the meat and vegetables to ‘tan’ to a perfect shade of dark brown. They say there’s nothing quite like a bronze-tanned piece of oiled beef!
- 4 parsnips, cut into 5 cm chunks
- 8 baby beetroot
- 2 red onions, cut into quarters
- 250 g baby onions
- 1 head garlic
- 3 sprigs thyme
- 1/2–3/4 cup oil
- 1 Tbsp brown sugar
- coarse salt
- 1 large cooking bag
- 2 kg roll of beef, spiced
Place all the vegetables with the thyme in a bowl and coat with the oil. Sprinkle with the sugar and coarse salt. Place the vegetables into alarge cooking bag together with the meat. Roast for 2 hours at 180°C.
Don’t turn or touch the meat as it may squash the vegetables. Serve with rice and peas.
Notes: Ask your butcher to spice the roll of beef with barbecue spices.
Carrots, cubed butternut and baby potatoes can also be added.
SERVES 8
WARM, STICKY CHOCOLATE MOUSSE CAKE
This is absolutely divine, absolutely simple, and absolutely geshmak!
- 1 x 400 g packet chocolate cake mix (Moir’s™ is kosher)
- 150 g dark, non-dairy chocolate
- 2 cups boiling water
Preheat the oven to 180 °C. Make the chocolate cake according to the directions on the box, using water or soya milk instead of milk. Pour into a well-greased, round ovenproof dish.
The cake mixture should not go more than halfway up the sides of the dish, as the melted chocolate liquid still has to be poured over the cake batter before baking.
Melt the chocolate in the boiling water. Pour the chocolate liquid evenly over the cake batter and bake for 45 minutes.
It will still look uncooked and soft on the top, but this is a self-basting pudding (makes its own sauce) and needs to have this sauce.
Serve warm with vanilla ice cream.
SERVES 8–10
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