Jewish Family Institute

THE JFI IS COOKING!!

Over the last few years the Jewish Family Institute has hosted many wonderful Family Friday night Shabbat dinners. These dinners have a terific atmosphere and delicious food mainly because they are “self-catered” On the Thursday evening before the dinner, a group of women (and some kids too) gather in the Shul kitchen and prepare the meal for the next night. We bake challah, make vats of chicken soup, lots of delicious salads, and cook enough for 80-120 people! It’s fun and the food has that real home-made quality.
The JFI also often offers professional cooking demonstrations by talented chefs in our community. A favorite class is Challah-making and for anyone who has not yet conquered the “yeast-beast” and would like to learn to make delicious challahs for Shabbat, we can arrange a class for you and your friends any Friday morning – just let us know when and we’ll set you up with a teacher. From all this cooking we have collected a Cookbook of delicious dishes. Here are two great recipes from our growing collection – enjoy!

challa

Faigy Hoch’s Challah Recipe

Ingredients
8 cups of flour
2 oz. fresh yeast or 2 tblsp. traditional dry yeast
¾ cup sugar
2 tsp. salt
4 eggs
¾ cup oil
2 cups water

Set aside one cup warm water and mix with 1 tblsp. sugar and 2 oz. of yeast. In large bowl place flour, sugar, salt. Form a well and add eggs, oil and second cup of water. By this time yeast mixture should be bubbling. Add to large bowl. Knead for approximately 10 minutes. Add flour or water as necessary to produce a somewhat sticky but manageable dough.
Place the dough in a large greased bowl (turn dough so that it is greased on both sides). Cover with damp tea towel. Allow to rise for about 2 hours or until it has doubled in size. Punch down the dough. (The separation of the small piece of dough is done at this time, without a blessing if you are using only 9-10 ½ cups of flour, and with a blessing if you are using 12 cups of flour or more).
Shape the dough into desired loaves. Flour your hands if necessary. Allow to rise for 1 ½ hours. Brush loaves with egg and sprinkle with poppy seed or sesame seed.
For special Rosh Hashanah challahs you can use sugar topping.
Bake at 350 degrees for about 40 minutes or until brown (depending on the size of the loaves). Let cool on wire racks and enjoy!

Sugar topping
1 ½ sticks of margarine (4 tblsp)
1 ½ cups flour
1 ½ cups sugar

Mix with pastry cutter and put on top of formed challahs washed with egg.

Nancy Weisbrod’s
Roasted Quinoa with Fruit

Serves 8

Ingredients
2 cups quinoa
2 ½ cups water
1 cup orange juice
1 teaspoon salt
1 Tablespoon honey
1 Tablespoon olive oil
freshly ground pepper
dried fruit such as chopped apricots, dried apples
and pears, cried cranberries, raisins, etc.
2 Tablespoons seeds or nuts

Preheat oven to 375.
Rinse quinoa very well (2 changes of water may be needed).
Spread in a large (9x13) pyrex baking dish.
Add water and orange juice, salt, pepper, honey and olive oil.
Roast in oven for 20-30 minutes.
Stir once and then roast for a further 15 minutes, so that all the liquid is absorbed and the grain in the corners of the baking dish is a little crusty.
Spread in serving dish and garnish with fruit and nuts or seeds.
Alternatively, you can cook the dried fruit for the last 15 minutes with the quinoa, so that the fruit plumps up a bit and takes on that roasted look.
This dish can be served hot or at room temp. or can be mixed with a little vinaigrette and served as a salad the next day. It's very versatile.

Click on banner to download Recipe Booklet!