Belorussian Gefilte Fish Family Recipe

I have a real treat for you today. It was terribly difficult to not post this sooner but ... we finally got to make homemade gefilte fish with my mother-in-law and we actually were photographed by the Denver Post during the process! Here is the article that they wrote about our process - On Passover, scratch-made gefilte fish carries on ancient tradition.

Now, I must say, I was a bit intimidated to make gefilte fish from scratch. It seems like such a hard and intensive process but after hearing the recipe twice and then making it twice (once under the tutelage of my very talented mother-in-law and once on our own)... it takes time but it's not that hard! The most difficult part of this recipe is, definitely, prepping the fish to re-stuff.Here's where I have some interesting geographic information for you... it turns out that gefilte fish made in Belarus is generally sliced into sections and the sections are not fully gutted but pockets cut out with the spine and ribs still attached. This does create a situation where there are pin bones that you have to watch out for. My father-in-law is from Belarus and this recipe (the one I am about to share) comes from his mother and her communist Soviet cookbook that she brought with her when they immigrated.Ukrainian gefilte is slightly different. This is where you pull the meat out of the fish and then re-stuff it into the skin and cook it inside. I hear stories that my mother-in-law's brother is very talented in this style and we are looking forward to learning with him, how to make it.So here is the recipe for our Haykin Family Gefilte Fish. Please note, we translated this recipe from a pinch here, a toss there, taste the raw fish to see if it tastes right... into a recipe you can follow. I apologize if there are things that are not clear. Comment here and let me know if you have questions!

All pictures in this piece are courtesy of the magnificent Cyrus McCrimmon of the Denver Post... who is not only a phenomenal photographer but also a lot of fun to have around for a couple of hours on a Tuesday afternoon.

Ingredients:

• 5 pounds trout (buy the whole fish, for 2.5lbs it is usually two fish)

• 1 pound cod

• 2 large onions

• 2 large beets

• 2 carrots

• 2 eggs

• 1 tablespoon oil

• 4 tablespoons matzo meal (or 3 slices of bread - dried and crumbled)

• 5 teaspoons kosher salt

• 1 teaspoon sugar

• ¼ teaspoon black pepper

Start with large whole fish, trout in our case, which are scaled and cleaned. Cut the fish into 1-2 inch segments. Using a sharp paring knife, cut the fillet meat out of each section, cutting around the ribs and spine. When you’ve removed the meat, you will have two hollowed chambers on each piece of fish. Combine the trout meat with the cod meat and chop finely (you can put it in a food processor). Remove fish and place in a medium sized bowl.Next, combine ONE whole onion (save the second onion for later) with the oil, eggs, matzo meal, salt, sugar and pepper in the food processor. Process until it becomes a loosely processed paste. Add mix to the fish and let rest while you prepare the vegetables.Next, slice the beets and remaining onion into half circles. Chop the two carrots into rounds. (Keep these vegetables in these shapes for cooking.)Take the fish pieces, which are hollowed out, and pack the fish paste mixture into the gaps on both sides and into the bottom. Pack this mixture into every gap in the fish segment. Do this gently and form it carefully. It can easily rip or ‘smush’ out. Set aside the segments as you complete them. It is very easy for the filling to escape before it is cooked, but afterward it will hold together nicely.Now we are ready to assemble the pot. Start by lining the bottom of a medium to large stockpot with onions. This helps keep the fish from sticking. Now carefully line the bottom of the pot with fish pieces and insert beet slices between each piece of fish, so that nothing touches. If needed add a second level of fish. First, line the top of the fish with a layer of sliced onions, then place the fish in, again separating the segments beet slices. As you go, sprinkle fish segments with carrots slices.Once the pot is assembled, cover the fish and vegetables with water very carefully (trick: we pour water into the pot on the stove slowly from a bottle or measuring cup, letting it run down the side of the pot) to make sure you do not disturb the fish mixture at all. It will still easily come apart before cooking.Turn stove top on to a medium/high heat until it just starts to simmer. Watch this very carefully! A rolling boil will, again, make the fish mixture come apart. As soon as there is a slight boil, turn the heat to the lowest setting and let it cook for approximately 3 hours. It must be the lowest possible temperature. The goal is to cook very slowly on low heat. Any amount of boiling or rolling boil will disrupt the very delicate fish mixture.Once it is cooked, remove the sections and arrange on a platter so it resembles the original fish. Garnish with vegetables from the pot. Traditionally, people put a carrot slice on top. You can use the beets and onions as a bed for the fish. Gefilte is typically eaten cold.

Homemade Prune Filling

It is will great disgrace that I realize I haven't blogged in a year. But it's been a rough year. We know it's been at least a Jewish calendar year since my last post was about Hamentaschen. I just wanted to share again, the amazing Prune Butter recipe I found last year from Tori Avey. You can find her Lekvar Plum Butter recipe in full, with stunning pictures, here.This year, I felt comfortable enough with the consistency and idea of the recipe to freehand it a bit. I also did not remember to get the oranges I needed so I had to improvise... this was a common problem for me this year... being 6 months pregnant, my brain seems to have taken a vacation to Hawaii. I also forgot the lemon juice for the hamentaschen dough recipe (you can find that recipe here). What I learned is that white vinegar can substitute nicely for lemon juice. It gives the acidity but no flavor. It worked fine but (baby brain) I left the dough too long before I baked them (think 2 days) and it dried out so I had to start over. Fortunately then I had lemons and added the juice. It really does give it a nice zing.Anyway, here is my modified Plum Butter recipe that I used this year. My proportions are cut in a quarter from Tori's recipe. That was plenty for me to make half a batch of prune. Last year I had a ton of filling left over. I only make one batch these days but ... maybe I will be making more for preschool classes in the near future B'H!Kosher, She Eats Modified Plum Butter recipe (with ultimate gratitude to Tori Avey!)[ingredients]DON'T LET THESE MEASUREMENTS DRIVE YOU CRAZY! I only had a 1/2 cup of prunes so that informed the whole thing. I just felt it out. It needed a bit more water while it was cooking so I added it. I also used white bakers sugar because I couldn't find my brown sugar.Directions:

1. Combine all of the ingredients in a saucepan except for the brown sugar. Stir and bring to a boil for one minute.
2. Reduce heat to medium low so the mixture simmers slowly and constantly. Cover the pot. Let the mixture simmer covered for 20 minutes, stirring every few minutes.
3. Remove the lid from the pan. Let the prunes continue to simmer for 3-5 more minutes, stirring frequently, until most of the liquid has evaporated/absorbed. Keep a close eye on the pan to make sure the prunes don't burn. When there are about 3 tbsp of liquid left in the pan, remove from heat.
4. Stir the brown sugar into the prune mixture till brown sugar melts and dissolves.
5. Mash the prune mixture with a potato masher till a smooth puree forms. Run a fork through the mixture to break up any pieces the potato masher missed. You can also use an immersion blender for a smoother puree, if you want to.
6. Let cool to room temperature before using. Store in a sealed, airtight container in the refrigerator. Refrigerating the filling to chill completely will make it easier to work with when filling hamantaschen.

These are Tori's instructions. They work pretty darn well. I was using a tiny saucepan since it was a small batch. We got a 0.5 quart all-clad butter warmer for our wedding. It was the best gift ever (thanks Joan!) because Dan uses it to warm his cream up in the mornings and I use it for tiny projects like this. Only downside is, it doesn't have a lid. So I did the recipe uncovered. It would have absorbed better covered but it worked just fine. So if you lost your brain (like me) or are in a rush (like me) you won't ruin it if you don't cover it. I also didn't let it cool fully before I used it and didn't mash the prunes enough. I tossed it in the fridge while I did the poppyseed filling and then used it. It was fine but she is right, it will work better cooled. As for the lack of mashing... it didn't seem like enough to use an immersion blender. And the pot was too small for a potato masher... so I violently attacked it with a fork. If I had more time, I might have used two forks. As people have been eating them, there are larger chunks of prune than I would prefer.Regardless of all of my shortcuts and changes, it's a tasty recipe and is now permanently in my arsenal. Now I need a homemade poppyseed filling... anyone have any good ones? 

BR: Sponge Cake For Passover

This is the first in a new series we are calling Baboushka's Recipes (BR for short). Baboushka, or ба́бушка in Russian, means grandmother. In this series we will explore and save the recipes our grandparents brought with them or inherited from their parents. Kosher Hubby's family is from Ukraine and Belarus and my family is from Poland, Ukraine, and Germany... so Baboushka seemed pretty appropriate.Okay! Here we go, our first vintage recipe. This is my great-grandmother's Passover sponge cake recipe. I dug it out today (yes, Sunday, the day before Erev Pesach) for our dessert for the first seder. These instructions are verbatim, in my grandmother's handwriting from her mother. I will add my commentary in italics and parentheses. Ingredients:

• 8 eggs, separated
• Pinch of salt
• 1 1/4 cup granulated sugar
• 1/3 cup cold water, to which you add
• 1 tsp. lemon juice (you can easily fresh squeeze this!)
• 1 tsp. orange juice (you can easily fresh squeeze this!)
• 1 tsp. vanilla extract
• 3/4 cup matzah cake flour, sifted
• Grated rind of 1/2 lemon and 1/3 orange

Preparation:  In a large bowl (she really does mean large...), with an electric mixer, beat egg whites, adding salt, until stiff, but not dry. Set aside.In a small bowl, with electric mixer, beat yolks, add sugar, then liquids, and continue  beating for five minutes.With a spatula gently pour the beaten yolks on the stiff whites. Add 1/4 cup of sifted flour and fold in carefully. Continue to add 1/4 cup of the flour, carefully folding in until all is used.(She neglects to tell us what to do with the lemon and orange zest. I added it to the yolks before I added them to the whites. Worked great.)Pour batter into an un-greased angel cake pan (we tried to use a 7x11 pan but it was too much batter... we used a 9x13 glass casserole dish in the end and it worked great). Place in a 350 degree oven and bake for 55 minutes.Invert to cool, and cut out of pan when cool. (Oops... didn't do that. Planning to cut it tomorrow at the seder.)I tasted it, of course... had to right? It was delish. Just like anything else that is Pesachdik, it tastes like matzah meal but it's going to be a great, parve dessert tomorrow. With a tiny corner cut out. Don't judge. It's a family seder. :)This recipe is by my Nanny - Mrs. Abraham Cronbach (as she is credited on the recipe)... Rose Hentel Cronbach.CHAG PESACH SAMEACH from the Kosher, She Eats kitchen! Look for our adventures with Vegan cooking after the chag. We review Mayim Bialik's new cookbook - Mayim's Vegan Table.