Jewish flavors 101

Cooking with Masha

Dear Cooks!

We are in the middle of 9 days when we cannot have any meat or chicken except on Shabbos. Our dinner options become a little more limited and we, in turn, become a little more creative. There is always pizza and macaroni and cheese options for those who do not have the luxury of time. I actually have a child who does not like macaroni and cheese or dairy options in general. Pizza and ice cream are the happy exceptions. So, I tend to do more parve options for 9 days than dairy ones.

Pickled zucchini

4 green zucchini, diced into thick rounds or cut into spears

1 orange pepper, diced

1 bunch Italian parsley, roughly chopped

2 cloves of garlic, sliced

Marinade:

2 tablespoons salt

3 tablespoons of sugar

3 bay leaves

1 teaspoon of peppercorns

2 cloves of garlic chopped

¼ cup plus a tablespoon rice or apple cider vinegar

2 tablespoons of any flavourless oil

Prepare the marinade. Pour 4 cups of water into a medium wide pot. Bring it to a boil and add marinade ingredients. Boil for a minute and add the zucchini. Let cook for 2-3 minutes and take it out. Mix diced peppers with garlic and parsley in a small bowl. Place zucchini into a glass jar or container, alternating layers of zucchini with pepper mix. Pour hot marinade over the vegetables. Cover the jar and let it stand on the counter for 6 hours or overnight. Keep refrigerated. garlic and fry for another 2 minutes. Mix in flaked salmon pieces and lower the temperature to medium. Add pomegranate molasses with teriyaki and soy sauce and give it a couple more minutes. Garnish the dish with chopped green onions and if you have some sprouts in your fridge, that would be a great addition also.

Variation:

-I used marinated zucchini from a previous recipe for this dish which gave it a whole new level of flavour. If you are using marinated vegetables, add them after the fish.

Fish with vegetable

This is a great fridge cleaning dish. When there is leftover fish after Shabbos and nobody is interested in eating it as is, this is what I would do. Old pickled vegetables are a great addition to this dish. You are more than welcome to improvise and substitute whatever you have in the fridge that is begging to be saved.

4-5 large filet pieces of baked salmon, flaked

1 red onion, sliced into half circles

1 small can of garbanzo beans (chickpeas), drained

½ tsp cumin

½ tsp paprika

1 small pepper, diced

2 small zucchini, diced

1-2 cloves of garlic, minced

2 tablespoons pomegranate molasses

2 tablespoons teriyaki sauce

2 tablespoons soy sauce

¼ cup green onions, chopped

In a medium frying pan with high walls or a wok, add a little bit of oil and warm it up on a medium high flame. Place onions and fry for 2 minutes, stirring often. Add the beans together with spices, zucchini,

-If you like it hot, add a ½ teaspoon of hot sauce together with other sauces.

-if you do not have pomegranate molasses on hand but have pomegranate juice, simply pour a cup of juice onto a skillet you are planning to use for this dish and cook it down till it becomes syrupy and significantly reduced (it should take 5 minutes or less on a medium high flame)

-if you do not want to use pomegranate juice, substitute any tomato sauce for pomegranate molasses and teriyaki sauce. It would also be delicious.

Until next week and happy cooking!