Shower me in chocolate coins and dip me in oil, it’s Hanukkah! As I wrote in last week’s newsletter, it’s every Jewish kids worst nightmare this year: an early Hanukkah. And not only that; we’ve barely had a chance to clear our fridges of turkey and stuffing but have to immediately head back to the grocery store for potatoes and applesauce. Most of the time, digestive struggles and a copy of The Joy of Yiddish is just about the extent of my Judaism. And food, of course. As far as food holidays goes, Hanukkah decidedly is not my favorite. The tradition foods of Hanukkah are fried: that means latkes, Sufganiyot, and anything else you want to dunk in piping hot oil. Call me crazy, but I prefer to eat my fried food at fast food chains and fried chicken spots, not homemade in my now oil-soaked apartment. That’s why this year, I’ll likely go with this new I-Can’t-Believe-It’s-Not-Fried baked latke recipe. Even more likely though, I’ll stick with my two favorite pillars of Jewish cuisine: matzo ball soup and CHALLAH. That sweet, stringy, golden brown delicacy. Dunk it in honey, toast it and slather with butter, French-Toast it into custardy perfect: it’s gonna be good. And these days the best braided bread days this side of the Hudson comes from Challah Dolly a.k.a. Dolly Meckler. Her challah is some of the moistest and most delicious we’ve had and you can try it yourself by ordering off her website or in person this week at the Union Square Holiday Market, where she’ll have a stand through 12/2. Not in NYC? Scroll to read up on exactly how Dolly bakes (and cooks!) this time of year.
CHALLAH DOLLY’S DINNER PLANS
I need to preface this by saying that I was notoriously very bad in the kitchen, up until quarantine, where I forced myself to learn (and to love?) how to not only cook, but to bake. After a year and a half of getting comfortable in the kitchen and starting a bread company, I'm defffffinintely more comfortable baking (I'm obviously going to share a sweet not-so-little dessert with you), but I must say that I've made some serious strides in cooking. Ok, let's eat!
Sesame Salmon Bowls: Anytime I read a recipe, I often *make it my own* a.k.a. I don't really follow the directions. One night I was really craving sushi but also wanted something warm and stumbled upon this recipe for sesame salmon bowls. I deviate from the recipe at step 2, where instead of steaming the salmon, I pan-sear it on my stove top. I had always been cooking salmon in olive oil, but now I'm obsessed with cooking it in sesame oil, per the recipe. After making this meal, I always feel so good because it’s one of those meals that you could order in, but is arguably more delicious if you make it yourself.
Meatball Soup: Ok, this is my new favorite weekday meal. My cousin actually discovered it by seeing it on a mutual friend from camp's Instagram Story (doesn't it always come back to summer camp...?). We made it together for dinner once and now I've made it a few times on my own. I go through phases with meals if they check all three boxes: healthy, easy, and flavorful, which means that once I find a meal that works, I'll make it often. This meatball soup recipe is so filling and tasty, and I love disguising vegetables in my soup. I've only made it with turkey meatballs, but you can always try it with beef or pork if you're feeling a type of way. And I love that you can make a big batch, store it in your fridge, and have lunch covered for the week.
Giant Challah Babka: So this is a classic story of me not being a natural in the kitchen, paired with not really following recipe directions. I was in the mood to experiment with challah and make some content for Challah Dolly, so I thought to make a challah babka. I didn't realize I was supposed to cut the dough in half to make two loaves, so I ended up making one giant loaf of babka. It was so massive, yet beautiful, and now it's the only way I'll ever babka!!!! For the dough part of the babka, use your favorite challah dough recipe, and for the filling, I used this recipe from Melissa Weller, but substituted the wafer cookies for Oreos. You can watch me make it here!
TAKEOUT:
I have Macaroni Menorah taste, but a Rigatoni Menorah budget.
Hungry for some Sifted IRL? Will you be in NYC next weekend? If you don’t already, give us a follow on Instagram and keep your eyes peeled this week for an exciting announcement about another (baked good-filled) event next Sunday. 🍰🎂🍪🍞🥐