Family Recipes

Aunt Dora’s Noodle Kugel

Aunt Dora Alpert Raab was known for many positive things, but certainly something that has lived on is her wonderful recipe for noodle kugel, a traditional Jewish “comfort” food.

1/4 lb margarine

1 package cream cheese (melted)

1 cup sugar

mix the above.

Add and stir in:

1 cup apricot juice (or 2 small cans)

1 cup milk

3 eggs

cook 1 large package wide noodles and drain.

mix in 1/4 lb of margarine with noodles and add to the first mixture.

put in baking dish, 9 x 11

mix 1/2 or 1 cup sugar, about 1 cup of crushed corn flakes and 1/8 to 1/4 lb of margarine.

Bake for 45 minutes to an hour at preheated 350 degree oven.

Grandma Ruth’s Gefilte Fish

Grandma Ruth Friedman Weiland was a force of nature-always in motion and always making new friends. She was also a wonderful cook who immensely enjoyed feeding her family. One of the many recipes Grandma Ruth shared with her family, especially her granddaughters Barb, Jan Frasier White and Jessica Shaw White, was her recipe for gefilte fish, a traditional Jewish food especially made for certain holidays such as Rosh Hashonah and Passover.

Grandpa Tom’s Cheesecake

Grandpa Tom Reed rarely cooked but when he did, he did it with relish. He greatly enjoyed baking cheesecakes for special occasions.

Crust:

1 cup sifted flour

1/4 cup sugar

1 t grated lemon peel

1/2 cup butter or margarine

1 slightly beaten egg yolk

1/4 t vanilla

Combine the first three ingredients. Cut in butter until mixture is crumbly. Add egg yolk and vanilla, blend well. Pat 1/3 of the dough on bottom on 9 inch spring form pan (sides removed). Bake at 400 for about 8 minutes or until golden, then allow to cool. Attach sides to bottom, butter and pat remaining dough on sides to height of 1 and 1/4 inches.

Cheese filling:

5 8 ounce packages of cream cheese’1/4 t vanilla

3/4 t grated lemon peel

1 and 3/4 cup of sugar

3 T flour

1/4 t salt

4 or 5 eggs (1 cup)

2 egg yolks

1/4 C whipping cream

Let cheese soften at room temp for 1-1.5 hours. Add vanilla and peel. Mix next three ingredients; slowly blend in. Add eggs and yolks one at a time, beat after each just to blend. Gently stir in cream. Turn into crust lined pan. Bake at 450 degrees for 12 minutes, reduce heat to 300 and bake for 55 minutes. Allow to cool. Loosen sides with spatula after 1/2 hour. Remove sides at end of one hour. Cool at least 2 hours. Top with your favorite. Serves 12.

Grandma Lora’s Hungarian Cholent

Lora Gold Reed was neither Hungarian nor a fan of cholent, but she made it routinely out of love for her husband, Thomas Weissbluth Reed. Cholent is a Jewish Sabbath dish of baked meat and vegetables, prepared prior to Sabbath and allowed to stay warm by placing it in the cooling baker’s oven and taken home for consumption after the conclusion of temple services. Tom grew up eating cholent routinely as as a child in Hungary as it was easily heated and eaten in accordance with Orthodox Jewish dietary laws. Lora, in her never ending quest to improve on things, accidentally added pork to it and Tom loved the flavor it added, commenting that adding the pork was wonderful but condemned 1000 years of Jewish cooking to hell. As someone who was forced to eat it once, I cannot recommend it for human consumption, but you may feel differently.

Another sin to pray forgiveness for on Yom Kipper…Not a single recipe book came with me!

                                                 Cholent

I  SMALL BAG BEANS (Navy, lima or whatever appeals except ot red beans)

1/2 C pearl barley

2 0r 3 chopped cloves garlic

large onion chopped

pepper, salt, paprika to taste

large matzoh ball (one pkg made into one ball, uncooked)

beef stew or brisket or chuck roast about 2 bs

chicken broth or water to cover at least one inch over ingredients

Soak beans overnight and drain.  Put beans in a large pot.  add barley, garlic, salt , pepper paprika.

Make a hole in center for matzoh ball mix  chunks of meat into beans and barley .

Tricky part – how to get the smoked taste?    Well, as you know, I committed the ultimate sin of using ham hocks.  I’d suggest asking your neighborhood kosher butcher, (or smoked salt.)

Bake over low heat 235 more or less for 24 hours, again more or less..  Check to see if getting dry.  If your guests seem hesitant, you can offer the ketchup bottle or barbecue sauce.

Good luck and Bon Appetit!

The Weiland and White families (the Lois and Gray Marcus family as well when they lived in Cincinnati) used to gather every Friday night at the home of Grandma Ruth Weiland and Grandpa Fred Weiland for Shabbos dinner. Minnie, the housekeeper, was well known and well thought of, due in part to her impressive cooking skills. Her fried chicken was amazing and her beef tenderloin, rack of lamb, lemon meringue pie and matzo ball soup were always in demand. Thanks to Jeanie Weiland, we have the recipe for Minnnie’s Matzah Ball soup.

Minnie’s Matzah Ball Soup      

Ingredients (for 12 – 14 people):

8 boxes (8 cups/box) of chicken broth

2 chicken breasts

2 boxes of Manishewitz Matzah Ball mix

4 large carrots, peeled and cut into 2 inch pieces

4 large stalks of celery, cut into 2 inch pieces

3 small to medium turnips, peeling and quartered

2 yellow onions, peeled

8 cloves

Salt

Seasoning Salt

Pepper

Onion Powder

Garlic Powder

Celery Salt

Dill (dried or fresh)

Parsley

Supplies: Large soup pot, peeler, knife, spoon, ladle, food mill

Instructions:

Preheat oven to 350.

Season chicken breasts with salt, pepper, garlic powder, onion powder and seasoning salt

Bake for 30 minutes or until internal temperature is 165 degrees. 

Cool after cooking, then dice into very small pieces.

Pour chicken broth into pot.

Stud each onion with 4 cloves, spread evenly around the middle of the onion.

Add carrots, celery, turnips and onion to broth.

Add (no idea of amounts!) Salt, Pepper, Onion Powder, Celery Salt, Dill and Parsley (taste later and add more if needed!) Do not add garlic or seasoning salt to soup.

Turn on medium low heat and allow to simmer until the vegetables are easily pierced with a fork or cut with a knife.

Remove veggies a few at a time and grind in the food mill into a bowl. Be sure you remove the cloves from the onions before grinding. Once all veggies around ground, pour them back into the soup. 

Taste and add more spices as needed.

Add diced chicken to the pot.

Refrigerate the soup overnight.

The next afternoon, mix the matzah balls per directions on the packet and refrigerate at least 15 minutes.

Put soup on cooktop on medium high to high and bring to a boil.

Once matzah ball mix has been refrigerated 15 minutes, remove from fridge and roll into golf ball size balls.

Drop one at a time into the boiling soup.

Return soup to a simmer and keep like this until serving.

Be sure to taste again and add more seasonings as needed. The dill and salt are key!

PS – You can also cut up some carrots and celery into ½” – ¾” slices and add to the pot on day 2 and serve.

Enjoy!!!!

Jeanie is married to Jay Moskovitz, whose mother was no slouch in the kitchen either. Jeanie and Jay were kind enough to share one of her many recipes with us.

Tootsie’s Matzah Torte

Ingredients:

6 pieces of unsalted matzah

2 containers of dark chocolate or chocolate fudge icing

Manishewitz blackberry wine

Decorations for top (sprinkles, nuts, mini chocolate chips, whatever!)

Supplies:

9×9 baking dish

Icing knife

Large platter

Non-stick Saran Wrap

Instructions:

Pour wine into the baking dish so it’s about ½” to an inch high

Dip a piece of matzah into the wine and be sure it is fully covered with wine

Let any wine drip off, then place on the platter

Ice the top of the matzah with the icing (however you like – thick, medium or thin layers of icing!)

Continue this process until you have iced all 6 pieces.

Ice around the sides of the torte.

Decorate the top.

Cover with Saran Wrap.

Refrigerate until serving.

Serve small pieces because this is very rich and sweet (and yummy!)