Pesach Bourekas???

Rebbetzin Rachel's (Exodus from Pesach) Recipes...

Now this one is for all our readers residing outside of Israel. It's now just a few minutes before candle lighting time, so Israeli's won't get the chance to make this. 

Taken from Wikipedia:

Börek (also burek and other variants i.e., bourekas) is a family of baked or fried filled pastries made of a thin flaky dough known as yufka (or phyllo). It can be filled with cheese, often feta, sirene or kaşar; minced meat, or vegetables. Most probably invented in what is now Modern Turkey, in theAnatolian Provinces of the Ottoman Empire in its early era, to become a popular element of Ottoman cuisine. A börek may be prepared in a large pan and cut into portions after baking, or as individual pastries. The top of the börek is often sprinkled with sesame seeds. Börek is also very popular in the cuisines of the former Ottoman Empire, especially in North Africa and throughout the Balkans.

It seems almost oxymoronic to eat bourekas, the ultimate flakey crumb producing food on Pesach. Here is a recipe that I learned not from a cookbook but by watching a former IDF chef in action. Omer had a virtual military operation going in my neighbors the Frumin’s kitchen today. The occasion was the engagement party of Chemla Frumin and her Chatan - Natan whose parents and brother came down from Carmiel to meet the extended moshav family.

Warning! This recipe requires soaked matzot which are broken in half hence the Yiddish term “gabrocks”. Some people avoid gabrocks like the plague (pun intended) to the extent of eating their matzo out of a paper bag like a wino (some use plastic bags), to avoid any drop of liquid falling on the hand baked delicacy.

The wet halves of matzo are placed in a plastic bag to make them pliable and when softened are rolled around a filling such as mashed potatoes, crumbled salty cheese or sautéed meat or vegetables. The possible fillings are practically limitless and where you can get really gourmet style imaginative.  Then the rolls are dipped in beaten egg and fried in hot oil till brown. Who would have imagined but they were really good and crispy and only half as crumbly as the year round variety. Unless you are Sefardic you won’t be sprinkling sesame seeds on these Turkish delights but you won’t be missing anything, the crunchy taste comes right through to the taste buds.

Chag Kasher V'Same'ach AND Shabbat Shalom!

Two Great Recipes for Yom Tov!

Broiled Eggplant with Veggies and Meat Sauce

Since I have no rhyme or reason (Ask Eden Pearlstein aka EPHRYME– he’s the Rhyme department, and my son in-law) for why this recipe is only for Rosh Hashanah let’s create a new minhag and make it for Pesach too. 

WARNING! This recipe is a “potchke” lots of steps but worth the effort. (Maybe that’s why I make it only once a year for family because to feed this to the Ohr Chadash hordes would keep me in the kitchen for an unexaggerated millennium).

Brush thick rounds of eggplant with olive oil sprinkle with kosher salt and granulated garlic then broil until browned. Prepare thin rounds of potatoes and zucchini while you make the sauce by browning ground meat, I often use turkey or veal, with finely chopped onions and parsley. I add one can of crushed tomatoes and some dry red wine, salt and pepper, and a dash of…  SPOILER WARNING! – SECRET INGREDIENT ABOUT TO BE REVEALED -cinnamon. I start layering with onion rings on the bottom of the olive oiled baking pan then potatoes, then meat sauce then zucchini then more sauce and top it all with the broiled eggplant. 

Over the top I pour some white sauce made by gently sautéing potato starch in olive oil and adding chicken broth stirring constantly until you have a creamy consistency breaking up the lumps as you stir. Bake in 350 degree oven till bubbly and the top starts to brown about an hour.

 Apricot Chicken

This is a much easier and faster recipe. This is my general and preferred style of cooking except for the very few “potchke” recipes I allow through the radar. This one is good for an erev yom tov like the one we’re going to have tomorrow when we plan to galavant off to Jerusalem to enjoy FREE DAY at the Israel Museum and the Botanic Gardens.  Chani (my daughter) and Eden (her D.L.H.) did this with us last year!

Plop some chicken pieces in a baking pan slosh some sauvignon blanc or other white wine over ‘em, shmear on some apricot jam, scatter some dried apricots all around,sprinkle on some salt pepper granulated garlic and paprika and you’ve got easy street! 

Go jump in the shower while it’s baking at 375 degrees till brown and fragrant, about an hour and a half, and you even have time to do your nails and get all gussied up for a really good relaxed Yom Tov.

Happy Tasty and Kosher Pesach Everyone!  

The Fifteen Steps of the Hagadah

An excerpt from Seeds and Sparks by Rabbi Avraham Arieh Trugman

The Hagadah of Pesach and all the rituals and mitzvot of the night are ordered according to fifteen steps. These fifteen stages in which the Seder unfolds are also referred to as “signs.” Our Sages tell us that signs and symbols have great significance (Kritot 6a). For example, we begin the year on Rosh HaShanah night by eating all sorts of foods, each one symbolic of certain blessings we hope for at the beginning of a new year. The steps of the Seder likewise have great significance and symbolize the process of personal, national and world redemption. There is a custom of calling out the name of each step or  “sign” at the Seder as if announcing a lost object which needs to be reclaimed and redeemed (See The Chassidic Haggadah by Rabbi Eliyahu Touger).

     The fifteen steps of the Seder also relate to the fifteen physical steps in the Holy Temple, on which the Levites stood while singing praises to God. King David wrote fifteen “songs of ascent” to parallel the fifteen steps of the Levites in the Temple. The correspondence of the fifteen steps of the Seder and the fifteen steps of the Temple gives us the feeling of rising from one level to the next during the Seder, as if being carried on the wings of song to ever greater heavenly heights.

     Fifteen is the numerical value of the Hebrew letters yod and heh, the first two letters of the four~letter name of God, and a name of God in their own right. This name significantly appears in the book of Exodus in the story of Amalek, the arch enemy of the Jews, when God figuratively puts His hand on His throne and promises war with Amalek in every generation (Exodus 17:16). Rashi points out that only the first two letters of the name of God are written and the word for throne is also written missing a letter. This, Rashi explains, indicates that until Amalek, the embodiment of evil, is wiped out, God’s name and throne are, as it were, incomplete.

     The recital during the Seder of Pesach of the words: “ In every generation they rise up against us to destroy us…” reflects the same archetypal reality as expressed in the story of Amalek. The primordial energy of good versus evil, as expressed first in the story of Adam, Eve and the snake, and their final confrontation in the prophesies of the “end of days,” is very relevant to the energy surrounding Pesach and our present situation in Israel.

     There are “signs” all around us as Israel and the world confront the terrorist threat so prevalent today. But, as in every sign or dream, much goes after how we choose to interpret it. We are most certainly being challenged and are being spoken to by God through the events around us.

     As much as we need to react to evil and deal with the perpetrators, a more fundamental spiritual accounting is called for. We are told that the month long search and cleaning process for chametz, unleavened products,  preceding Pesach must be accompanied by the realization that physical chametz is but a reflection of the inner spiritual work we need to do to truly prepare for Pesach. Each person, community and all of Israel needs to look deeply within to see what we can do to rectify the present situation. There is certainly a need for a renewal of commitment to personal spiritual growth. To increase Torah learning and observance, to integrate sound Jewish morals and ethics, to increase our love of our fellow Jews and humanity, to give greater support to the land of Israel, and to recommit ourselves to Jewish collective responsibility. Let no one be oblivious to the fact that if Israel is seriously weakened (God forbid), every Jew in the world will be affected in a very negative way.

     The Ba’al Shem Tov taught that every Jew contains a spark of the Messiah deep within his soul and that the ultimate arrival of the Messiah depends on each and every person activating his greatest spiritual potential, thus creating a critical mass of redemptive energy. This then will be transformed into the figure we call the Messiah.

     In Egypt, when the slavery became so unbearable, we cried out in unison from the weight of our burdens and God heard and acted. Once again, we as a people need to feel the suffering and danger surrounding us and shake off our numbness and complacency in order to cry out to God to deliver us. There is no more auspicious time for us all to do this than on Pesach. We as a people have suffered enough - We Want Redemption Now!! 

It's So Delish!

This is a recipe that I only make for Pesach and I don’t know why, because it’s so delish. Maybe it’s the extra steps like double boilers and egg separating that puts me off when I’m cooking for our usual Ohr Chadash hordes. However, this year I’m super motivated to make a few of these Lemon Meringue Pies because we have our first real crop of homegrown organic lemons. We’ve tried to grow them before but as we say in Yiddish “geit nisht” loosely translated – “it just doesn’t go”. The trees either got attacked by flighty aphids or persistent voles – mole cousins, or funky weather. But this year it’s a Bumper Crop! So enjoy preparing a yummy pie and be sure to come over for some tea and leftovers after the Seder. PS This recipe is greatly improved by grandchildren helping to squeeze out every drop of juice and practicing the chanting of the “Mah Nishtana” in the kitchen while it bakes.

Prepare a pie crust with 1-1/2 C ground nuts (optionally substitute ½ C matzo meal) a pinch of salt, another pinch or cinnamon, 1/3 C walnut or other oil and enough ice water to make a dough that can be pressed into a pie pan.

Slowly cook in a double boiler 7/8 C sugar with 3 whole eggs 1/3 C lemon juice 1T lemon peel grated until the mixture coats a spoon then pour into the pie crust and bake till bubbly about 30 minutes at 350

While baking prepare meringue by whipping 3 egg whites with ¼ C sugar until stiff but not dry peaks form. Heap onto baked crust and filling and bake another 10 minutes till meringue is brown on top and have a “Zissen Pesach” as my mom of blessed memory would always say in Mama Lushen, Yiddish for Mother Tongue. PS I’m the big sister in this homey picture.   

Beshalach and Tu B’Shvat

Every year, the weekly Torah portion of Beshalach is read in close
proximity to the holiday of Tu B’Shvat. There are in fact many
beautiful and deep allusions to Tu B’Shvat (literally, the Fifteenth
[day of the month] of Shevat; the New Year of the Trees) in the
portion. Some of these relate to the healing power of trees and, on
a symbolic level, to the Torah itself and some relate to the process
of rejuvenation that trees undergo, in general, and in this season, in
particular.
After experiencing the miraculous salvation at the Reed Sea,
the Jewish people traveled for three days without water. When
they finally discovered water it was too bitter to drink. God then
showed Moses a tree which he threw into the water, causing it to be
sweetened. Subsequently, God tells the people that if they listen to
His voice all the diseases of Egypt will not befall them for “I am God
that heals you” (Exodus 15:26).
On a peshat level the tree appears to have had healing properties
sufficient to sweeten the bitter waters. On a deeper level, the use of
the tree in this episode and the juxtaposition of God’s blessing led
the commentators to conclude that the “tree” which Moses threw
into the water is a remez, an allusion to the Tree of Life, which in
turn alludes to the Torah. Indeed, the verse in Proverbs teaches
the following: “It [the Torah] is a tree of life for those who grasp
it” (Proverbs 3:18). The curative powers of both the tree thrown
in and the Torah alluded to are made explicit by God’s promise to
heal the people if they follow the Torah. The healing powers of the
Torah are further stressed by the Talmudic idiom, “I have created
the evil inclination and Torah as an antidote” (Kiddushin 30b). Just
as the Torah sweetens reality and has spiritual, psychological, and
emotional healing qualities, trees also provide us with physical and
psychological succor: offering us healing barks, roots, and leaves,
shade, beauty, and sweet, nourishing fruits.
Based on the grammar of the verse, the Ba’al Shem Tov explains
that the water was not actually bitter, it only tasted that way
because the people themselves were bitter. After experiencing the
miraculous redemption at the Reed Sea, they were shocked to find
themselves without fresh water to drink. Perhaps they expected that
the miracles they experienced in Egypt and at the Reed Sea would
never end; that this was not so was a bitter pill to swallow.
Our Sages, who in the Talmud (Bava Kamma 17a) presume that any
reference to water is a remez to the Torah, explain that the people were
still so involved in thinking about the physical booty that washed up
on the shores of the Reed Sea that it distracted them from immersing
themselves in Torah and more spiritual matters. This then lead to
their going without water on the metaphorical and physical levels for
three days, ultimately leading to the bitter state of mind recognized
by the Ba’al Shem Tov. By throwing a tree into these bitter waters,
Moses symbolically reminded them that by immersing themselves in
the wellsprings of Torah, they could reinstate the necessary balance
between the physical and the spiritual in their lives. Learning Torah,
particularly through the lens of PaRDeS, similarly affords us a well-
rounded, holistic view of the Torah that allows us to balance the
physical and spiritual in our lives.
Immediately following this episode, the children of Israel traveled
and camped in a desert oasis named Elim, where there were twelve
springs of water and seventy date palms (Exodus 15:27). Rashi,
drawing on a homiletical derash from the Mechilta, associates the
twelve springs with the twelve tribes and the seventy date palms
with the seventy elders. After learning the lesson of the bitter waters
the people were given the chance to experience the joys of the Torah,
a virtual oasis in the desert that life can become when devoid of
Torah.
The seventy date palm trees further symbolize the seventy “faces”
or aspects of Torah that are revealed to those who eat of its fruit,
and quite literally allude to the PaRDeS system of learning Torah,
an “orchard” of spiritual and intellectual delights. Alluding to the
highest level of PaRDeS, seventy is also the numerical value of
the word sod (secret), the inner Kabbalistic dimension of Torah.
Furthermore, the date palm symbolizes the tzaddik, the righteous
person, of whom it is said, “The righteous like the date palm will
flourish.” (Psalms 92:13) Deep inside their very beings, every Jew
has a spark of the tzaddik, as the prophet states, “Your people are all
righteous, they shall inherit the land forever” (Isaiah 60:21).
It is interesting to note that dates are among the very highest
fruits on the glycemic scale, which measures natural sugar content.
Dates only grow in hot climates with abundant sunlight. The process
of photosynthesis, by which a plant takes the light of the sun and
converts it into energy and eventually fruit, teaches us how we can
take the light of God and Torah and, transforming them deep within
us, yield the fruit of inspiration and understanding.
The Hebrew word for date (tamar) has the numerical value of 640,
the same numerical value of the Hebrew word for sun (shemesh)!!
When we receive the light of God and Torah and are devoid of ego
and ulterior motives, we become transparent vessels that convert
the light into the very blood that flows in our veins. Like a date
tree, which is a pure conduit for transforming the sun’s energy into
unadulterated sweetness, when we are pure we too can transform the
light of God and Torah into inspiration and understanding.
Another subtle connection between this portion and Tu B’Shvat
relates to the underlying spiritual essence of the holiday itself.
According to tradition, the sap begins to once again ascend in the
trees on Tu B’Shvat. This sap is the life force that culminates in
the spring and summer with buds, leaves, and fruit. Therefore,
on a symbolic level, Tu B’Shvat represents the time when new
redemptive energy begins to well up from beneath the surface. This
understanding of the holiday, incidentally, provides an answer to
the perennial question of why we read the story of the ten plagues
and the exodus from Egypt in the winter and not in the spring at
Pesach time: Tu B’Shvat actually symbolizes the flow of redemptive
energies instrumental in the Pesach story.
This welling up of redemptive energy is reflected in the consecutive
cycle of three holidays that fall on the full moons’ of Shevat, Adar,
and Nisan. These holidays – Tu B’Shvat, Shushan Purim (the
additional day of Purim celebrated in walled cities), and the first day
of Pesach – symbolize both the transition of winter into spring and
the welling up of the forces of redemption. The Jewish people’s exodus
from Egypt and transition from slavery to freedom is analogous to
nature’s transition from hibernation and inaction to rebirth and
rejuvenation. The sap rising in the trees on Tu B’Shvat represents
the beginning of the redemptive process that climaxed in the Jews’
personal and national redemption from the narrow confines of Egypt
on Pesach. Therefore, from a deeper perspective, it is no surprise that
this portion is always read around Tu B’Shvat, for in this portion
Israel is redeemed from slavery and leaves Egypt.
Another connection between Tu B’Shvat, Purim, and Pesach is
that the drinking of wine is central to all of them. The Tu B’Shvat
seder, created by the Safed Kabbalists, is organized around drinking
four cups of wine, just like the Pesach seder. Drinking wine is also
central to the festivities on Purim. Indeed, the Talmud states that
“when wine goes in – the secret [sod] comes out” (Eruvin 65a). This
connection between wine (yayin) and sod is also reflected in both
Hebrew words having the numerical value of seventy (a number also
alluded to by the seventy date palms mentioned above.) Delving
into the inner dimensions of Torah on these holidays, a process aided
by the drinking of wine reveals deep concealed secrets and releases
redemptive energy into the world, just as the sap rising in the trees
on Tu B’Shvat culminates in new growth and life.
Rabbi Leibel Eiger in his commentary Torat Emet reveals another
deep connection between Tu B’Shvat and the redemption that occurs
in the month of Nisan. He notes that Tu B’Shvat falls forty-five days
before the new moon of Nisan, that is to say, forty-five day before the
world was actually created (see the portion of Vayikra for an in-depth
discussion of on what day the Sages believe the world was created).
He explains that the Hebrew word for “thought” (machshavah) can
be permuted to read “thinks of what”; and the word “what” has
the numerical value of forty-five. Thus, according to Leibel Eiger,
on Tu B’Shvat, forty-five days before the new moon of Nisan, God,
as it were, began to focus His thought on creation. This archetypal
Divine act of thought parallels the sap rising in the trees in the lower
world.
“Who is the wise one? He who sees the nolad” (Tamid 32a). The
word nolad comes from the root “to be born” and denotes the sliver of
the new moon. The wise person divines from the initial appearance of
a situation what will ultimately transpire. Just as one cannot detect
from the exterior the sap rising from the roots to the trunk of a tree,
so too the arousal of new spiritual energy on Tu B’Shvat is concealed,
beginning from the point of pure potential deep inside an individual’s
soul and slowly ascending till it is fully revealed as new spiritual
energy ready for actualization on Pesach. (See Seeds and Sparks for
more insight into the holiday of Tu B’Shvat, pp. 142-151.)