So, I’ve been making variations of the same Jewish brisket- that I grew up eating and loving- for the last 40 years. My kids love my brisket, my parents loved my brisket, my brother Kenny and his family love my brisket, and I love it. That homey, Jewish flavor is so nostalgic of my childhood. I learned how to make brisket from my mother, but I improved upon her recipe by adding elements from my Aunt Florence’s recipe. As a child, brisket was probably my favorite dish, and every year at Passover, on the first Seder, I awaited the moment my Aunt Florence would carry her glorious brisket from the kitchen over the beautifully set table, hoping she would place the dish in front of me (which never happened). The recipe that I currently make which is easier to make than my Aunt Florence’s original, but comparable in taste is this one: http://judysrecipeconnection.com/judys-best-brisket/ I’ve noticed over the years that while my daughter Randi and her husband Dan really love my traditional brisket, my grandkids, Noah, Ezra, and Hannah, are not too crazy about it. Knowing how much they love the flavor of barbecue sauce, I decided to finally branch out, go out of my comfort zone, and make some barbecue style brisket. Well, to say that it was a success is an understatement. Last week, I delivered a “shissel” of this brisket to their house, and Randi face-timed me to show me the licked clean plates of the kids. In fact, I got to watch Ezra licking the last drops of sauce off his plate. That vision is what I live for! Before I left my house to make the food delivery (we’re in the midst of Covid-19), I allowed my son Benji to eat 3 slices of it, and between his facial expressions and sounds of ecstasy, you could say he liked it! So, I’ll make it again soon for everybody- including Danny (other son)- and even allow Benji to have more than 3 pieces.

Ingredients:

one 3 1/2 lb. to 4 lb. brisket to even a 5 1/2 to 6 lb. brisket

kosher salt, black pepper, garlic powder

1 medium to large onion, sliced (optional)

barbecue sauce: 1 cup ketchup, 1/3 cup white vinegar, 1/2 cup packed dark brown sugar, 16 oz. hot water mixed with 2 teaspoons Better than Bouillon Chicken Base OR 16 oz. chicken broth (I use the 2 teaspoons Better than Bouillon with the 16 oz. water)

Secret Ingredient: S & F Sweet Bay Barbecue Sauce (I’ve only found it at Whole Foods so far)

1. Season both sides of brisket with kosher salt, black pepper, and garlic powder. Place in roasting pan, fat side up.
2. Mix ingredients together in a bowl for the barbecue sauce (above), and pour it around the brisket in the pan.
3. Slice onion (I’ve used it or not used it, and it really doesn’t make much of a difference).
4. Cover tightly with heavy duty aluminum foil.
5. Bake in 325 degree oven for 2 hours. Then take out, uncover, and add the secret ingredient: S & F Sweet Bay Barbecue Sauce (from Whole Foods). Schmear about 1/4 cup of this sauce over the top of the brisket. Then measure 1/2 cup more and pour it into the sauce in the pan- mix a bit to blend. Recover tightly and place back in oven for another 1 1/2 hours. Take out. If fork goes in easily, it’s done. If fork doesn’t, then recover and cook another 30 minutes. If fork still doesn’t go in easily, cook for another 30 minutes. It should be done after 4 hours total.
6. Take meat out of pan, and let cool in fridge. It’s much easier to slice when it’s cool or cold. Take out, cut off fat, and slice against the grain- slices should be about 1/4 inch thick. Place slices either back in the same pan you roasted the brisket, or in whatever casserole dish you plan to heat it up in. If you are using a different dish, then pour the barbecue sauce from the roaster into the pan with the sliced meat.
7. Cover with aluminum foil, and either refrigerate till you plan to use it, or heat it up (covered with foil) in the oven for dinner.
8. Note: If you did use a sliced onion, you may want to discard it before serving. If my grandkids saw those onion slices, that would turn them off to the dish.

For Erev Yom Kippur dinner last night, I made mashed potatoes.  I thought they were good, but my daughter Randi swooned as she ate some and said, “These potatoes are like fluffy clouds, they’re so light!  She asked me if I had done anything different than usual to which I said I didn’t, but I realized I’d better write down what I did do!

5 lbs. organic Idaho potatoes

2 sticks Whole Foods salted butter

about 1/2 cup whole, organic milk

salt (not kosher)

about 1/4 teaspoon ground black pepper

Peel potatoes.  Cut into largish pieces and put in large pot and cover with cold water.  Bring to a boil (uncovered), and simmer over low boil till you can put a fork into potatoes easily.  Drain in colander.  Put your sticks of butter back in pot to melt over low flame.  Add potatoes back in, and mash.  Add salt to taste and pepper too.  Then add milk, and mash till nice and fluffy.

I’ve been making this spinach pie for years for my daughter and my grandkids.  During dinner tonight at my daughter’s house, my grandson Ezra said, “Safta, this is my favorite dinner!”  Noah chimed in his agreement.   They each had at least 4 or 5 pieces.  My daughter said, “This is the perfect comfort food.”  She commented that  it’s her favorite meal too.  She wasn’t too happy when I set aside a piece to bring home to my son Benji.  When I got home, Benji wasn’t too happy that I only brought one piece home for him. Updated comment from Feb. 24, 2021. Randi’s family came for dinner tonight, and she requested that I make this, especially since Ezra has just become a vegetarian (he used to loves meat, but he cares about animals). This came out so, so perfect. Ezra had 4 pieces, Noah had 3 (he held back due to lactose intolerance, Dan had 2 big pieces, Randi had 2 or 3, Benji had 4, I had 1, and Hannah had none (she ate the chicken with the crumbs). Ezra commented, “I really love this and I don’t really like Spanikopita at restaurants.”  I feel so happy!

• 1 box Pepperidge Farm puff pastry sheets
• 2 10 oz. boxes frozen chopped spinach, defrosted and drained and squeezed pretty dry (hint- let it defrost overnight in the boxes sitting in a bowl. The liquid will seep into the bowl. Then I just unwrapped the spinach boxes, and squeezed the boxes to get rid of any more liquid! Then I squeeze the spinach dry by hand or press paper towels into the spinach to get the excess liquid)
• 3 extra large eggs
• 8 oz. shredded mozzarella cheese (Sargento whole milk is best)
• about 8 oz. chunk feta from Whole Foods (It comes in a big box with 16 oz. of feta in brine- just cut half of the block for one recipe)
• about a heaping 1/3 cup Whole Foods grated parmesan
• about 1 tablespoon Litehouse dill
• about 1/2 teaspoon pepper
• pinch salt

Place frozen puff pastry in refrigerator to defrost.

In mixing bowl, put mostly dry, drained spinach, eggs, parmesan cheese.(not the mozzarella – wait till later to put that in.)  Break apart the feta into small crumbles  and add to mixture.  Add the dill, pepper, and salt.  Mix gently with a rubber spatula or wooden spoon until all ingredients are incorporated. It will take a good few minutes. Then gently fold in the shredded mozzarella.

Grease aluminum pan that’s about 9 x 13 in. (sides are less than 1 inch deep).  Place parchment paper that’s a little longer and wider than the bottom of the pan, pressing it down into the corners. Then grease the parchment paper fully on the bottoms and up the sides.

Take 1 sheet of the puff pastry out of fridge and roll it out so that the size matches the bottom of your baking pan (about 9 by 13.  Sprinkle flour on the counter as necessary to roll out the pastry.  Fold up into thirds and Transfer to parchment lined pan and unfold.  Spread entire filling evenly over pastry,  all the way to the edges of the pastry.  Then roll out second sheet of pastry.  Place it over the filling, and turn the edges of the pastry over the filling and crimp it with the bottom layer of pastry.  Then make an egg wash of 1 small egg with 1 teaspoon half and half, light cream, or milk, and brush it generously over top of pie. Cut a few slits in the top.

I usually stick it in the freezer uncovered for at least 45  min.  or up to an hour before I bake it. If I’m going to leave it in the freezer longer, then I take it out after an hour or so and put a layer of parchment over it and cover the whole pan with aluminum foil (so the puff pastry doesn’t dry out in the freezer).

When you’re ready to bake it, preheat the oven to 375 degrees. Uncover it if it’s covered, and place in middle rack of oven. bake about 20 min. Then raise the temperature to 400 degrees. Check after 10 min. to make sure it’s starting to puff. If it is, just bake another 20-25 min. If it isn’t starting to puff after 10 min at 400 degrees, just raise oven temperature to 425 degrees and it will definitely puff up and brown. It all depends on how hot your oven is. When I make this at home, I usually have to raise the temperature to 425 degrees, but when I make this at my daughter’s house, I only need to raise the temperature to 400 degrees because her oven is much hotter than mine. It’s ready when it’s all  puffed and browned perfectly all over.  Serve immediately!

I tried a new recipe for buttermilk pancakes that’s very similar to my other ones.  I was very happy with the result and so was my own personal Alex Si Hente (from the old Savarin Coffee commercial), my son Benji.  I also made them for my mother’s best friend Adele, and she enjoyed them as well, commenting that she loved my pancakes, but no others!

adapted from ohsweetbasil.com melt in your mouth buttermilk pancakes:

• 2 cups organic King Arthur brand unbleached flour
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 2 tablespoons sugar
• 2 extra large eggs- fresh from the farm, separated
• 2 cups Friendship 1.5  percent fat (make sure you shake before using) 
• 2 tablespoons melted and cooled butter (either salted or unsalted- I happened to use salted)  

First, melt butter in small microwave-safe dish and set aside to cool.  Put dry ingredients in large mixing bowl.

Measure buttermilk in pyrex glass cup measurer.  Then add egg yolk to the buttermilk.  Add melted butter and mix till well blended.

In separate glass bowl by hand with wire whisk or using a hand-held mixer (I did this by hand), mix egg whites till almost stiff, but not quite.

Add buttermilk mixture to dry ingredients and fold in with rubber spatula till almost smooth- but batter still has some lumps.  Then fold in egg whites gently.

Heat non-stick griddle.  Then coat very lightly with butter. Do not let your butter brown! Scoop 1/4 cup spoonfuls onto hot griddle.   Leave alone till you have the idea that the undersides are brown, use a spatula and peek under.  If sufficiently browned, carefully flip with a wide spatula.  Cook till browned nicely on other side.

Serve immediately with butter and pure maple syrup.

This is one of my favorite summer dinners to eat and make.  When my parents were alive, I loved to make this for them (with french fries, too) because they loved it to the nth degree.  And what I loved was how much they loved the meal and how they commented with almost every bite about how delicious everything was.  My mother Shirley Fried’s comment would be, “How do you make everything so perfect, dolly?”  My daughter Randi loved the meal too, and she recently asked me to make it.  I invited her father in law and his wife, because I really have fun with them- they are great people- and because they like my food.  As my daughter says, “They are good customers.”

I bought the fish at Whole Foods and it was super fresh. The only other place I’ve bought fish that’s been this fresh has been at the Keyport Fishery.  The corn I bought at an amazing farmstand in Pennington, NJ called Kerr’s Kornstand. The corn is brought right in  from the field while you are there- and it is perfect corn- there is none fresher or sweeter!  I also got my tomatoes there, and they were sweet, dark red, and juicy.

for the fish (tilapia, flounder, or other mild white fish):

My recipe for the fish harkens from the recipe used at Klein’s Fish Market in Belmar, NJ.  I once asked them for their recipe, and they readily gave it to me, I think because they sell the coating mix right there in the market. For the coating they use 1 part McCormick Golden Dipt Tempura Seafood Batter Mix  to 2 parts McCormick Golden Dipt Fry Easy All-Purpose Breading Mix. What a breeze to make.  Simply put the mix into a 9 by 13 baking pan and whisk together to get any lumps out.  Put some cold water in a separate mixing bowl.  Dip each fillet into the water on both sides of the fillet, then dredge the fillet through the coating mix on each side of the fillet, using your hand to sprinkle some extra coating over the fish to cover the fillet completely.  Then heat your oil (about 1/2 inch deep)  on a high flame in a nonstick frying pan till it’s really hot.  Fry about 2-3 minutes till underside is beautifully browned.  Flip with spatula and cook till underside is browned.  No need to drain- the fish doesn’t pick up excess oil if it’s hot enough to start.

For each pound of fresh fish fillets, use about 1 cup of the all purpose breading mix and 1/2 cup of the tempura mix.

Use canola or light olive oil  in a large non-stick fry pan, and get the oil nice and hot before putting the fish in.  Fry till underside is brown, flip and brown the other side. This should take about 5 min. altogether.  Serve immediately with tartar sauce and/or cocktail sauce and lots of fresh sliced lemon.

judy’s homemade tartar sauce:

• 1 cup of Hellman’s mayonnaise
• 1 tablespoon fresh or Minute Maid frozen lemon juice from concentrate 
• 1 tablespoon of freshly grated onion
• a few tablespoons of chopped dill pickle (I use Claussen dill sandwich slices)
• a dash of kosher salt 

After you taste, adjust by adding a little more lemon juice or chopped pickle to your liking.

my simple cole slaw:

• • 2 bags dole cabbage for cole slaw
  • about 1 cup of Hellman’s mayo
  • 2 tablespoons whole milk (you could substitute plain Greek yogurt or sour cream)
  • about 4-5 tablespoons of white vinegar

• about 1 teaspoon granulated sugar
• about 1 teaspoon kosher salt
• about 1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
• about 1 tablespoon of the BEST herbs- Litehouse dill 

Mix together in large mixing bowl at least a few hours before serving.  Add more or less of any of the ingredients to your taste.

fresh corn on the cob:

Cover shucked corn in a large pot with water.  Bring to a boil.  Simmer on low boil for 8 minutes.  Serve.

french fries (Be careful with this recipe- although it’s easy, only experienced cooks should make this!)

Heat a large pot of oil (corn or canola) till oil starts to shimmer, but is NOT yet boiling. You don’t want your oil to come to a boil before you put the fries in, because the oil could catch on fire!  Carefully place your fries in and stand back a bit so you don’t get burned if oil splatters a little- I use either Whole Foods Crinkle Cut Fries or Nathans Crinkle Cut Fries.  Leave the fries alone, do not mix them in the oil.  Fry on a rolling boil till fries are browned- the time may range from 15 min. to 25 min.  Drain in paper towels, sprinkle with kosher salt, and serve.

baked stuffed potatoes:

• Idaho organic potatoes
• salted or unsalted butter
• paprika 

Pierce potatoes with a fork.  Bake at about 375 degrees to 400 degrees for at least 1 hour till a fork goes in easily and potatoes are soft inside. Slice the tippy top of potatoes off.  Scoop out the potato being careful not to break the skin and put in mixing bowl.  Add butter to taste, salt to taste, and a little pepper to taste.  Mash potatoes.  Scoop the mashed potatoes back into the potato shells.  Sprinkle tops with paprika.

Note:  I usually make these in advance, so I refrigerate them, covered, and then I heat them up in a baking pan or sheet pan at 375 degrees for about 45 min. to an hour, till piping hot.

I was recently at 2 parties where my cousin Jane made the Magnolia Bakery recipe for banana pudding.  I couldn’t help but notice how everybody was going crazy for it.  So this weekend I decided to make it  as a dessert for my grandson Noah’s afterbirthday party (7 years old).  My daughter told me that it made a big hit.  I don’t see how it couldn’t – it’s rich and refreshing and just plain delicious. My cousin used the recipe on popsugar.com, so I used that as well.

ingredients:

• 1 box Nabisco Nilla wafers (don’t substitute any other brand of cookies)
• 1 14 oz. can Magnolia sweetened condensed milk
• 1 1/2 cups ice water
• 1 pack Jello brand vanilla instant pudding
• 4 large ripe (but not too ripe) bananas 
• 3 cups heavy cream

instructions:

1. In the bowl of a mixer, beat sweetened condensed milk and water for about a minute with paddle attachment. Add the pudding mix and beat for about two more minutes. Transfer to a smaller bowl, cover, and refrigerate for at least 4 hours or overnight. By that time the mixture should be nice and firm.
2. In a large bowl on medium speed, whip the heavy cream until stiff peaks form (I put my large metal mixing bowl and whisk mixer attachment in the freezer for 15 minutes. I also put the cream in the freezer for 5 minutes before beating.) Beat till stiff peaks form. Using a rubber spatula, gently fold in whipped cream to the pudding mixture in thirds until fully incorporated and no streaks of pudding are visible.
3. I like to use a glass trifle dish.   Start out by putting a shallow layer of whipped cream in bottom of dish. (This is different than any recipe I looked at for the Magnolia banana pudding) Then put about a layer of cookies (about a third of the box of Nilla wafers) on top of cream.  Layer about one third of the sliced bananas over cookies, then about 1/3 of leftover cream.  Then put second layer of cookies, then 2nd layer of bananas, then 1/2 of leftover cream.  Then put last layer of cookies, last slices of bananas, and rest of cream over bananas.  Cover tightly with plastic wrap and refrigerate for about 8 hours before serving.

Note:  I recommend you watch the video on popsugar.com at least once before you begin making this banana pudding.

Whenever I go out for a breakfast or a brunch, I always think about ordering the quiche, but I usually don’t make that selection because I’m usually disappointed.  I’ve had a yen for the perfect slice of quiche, and my son Benji put in the request, so I obliged.

Wow.  I put together a bunch of recipes and came up with this.  The result was quiche heaven. The consistency was creamy but light like a soufflee at the same time!

ingredients:

• 1 Oronique deep dish pie crust (very important to use a deep dish crust.  I have found this crust to be the best tasting.
• 5- 6 oz. swiss cheese, grated by hand (you can substitute gruyere)
• 1 3/4 cup heavy cream
• 4 extra large eggs
• 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
• scant 1/2 teaspoon black pepper
• no nutmeg (to me that ruins the recipe!) 
• about 10 -11 oz. crispy bacon, broken into bite sized pieces, not crumbles! (I use Nature’s Promise, which I bake on a foil lined sheet pan at 425 degrees, till crispy, then I drain on paper towels) 

First, take crust out of freezer, use a fork to prick bottom and sides.  Bake for 10 min. at 350 degrees. Take out of oven while you prepare the filling and raise temperature to 375 degrees.

Cook your bacon as described above in list of ingredients. Drain and set aside.

Grate the cheese by hand.

For filling, mix eggs and cream well with a fork.  Add salt and pepper. Place pie crust on a sheet pan lined with foil.

Spread cheese on bottom of crust.  Then spread bacon evenly over cheese.

Ladle the custard over bacon and cheese.  You may not be able to use all the filling because it will overflow, but save it for a few minutes later after the quiche has started to cook.

Begin to bake on middle rack of oven.  After about 15 min., pull oven shelf out with sheet pan carefully and spoon any remaining custard into the quiche.

Bake for about 45 to 55 min. until entire pie is puffed nicely.  Let sit on counter for about 15 min. before serving.

I’ve made many different recipes for corn bread and corn muffins.  I happened to have on hand a mix from Stonewall Kitchen for cornbread which I used for corn muffins.  Although I usually am pretty negative towards mixes, I have to admit that this one was great.  The muffins had that perfect taste between savory and sweet, slightly reminiscent of the sweet Thomas Toaster Cakes I loved when I was a kid.  My daughter in law really enjoyed them, and she requested I make some for her to take back to Vietnam with her.  I didn’t have another of that mix, so I had to choose from one of the many recipes I’ve used in the past.  I settled on one I haven’t made for years from my old Fannie Farmer Cookbook.  The muffins came out great.  The second batch I made, I divided the batter in half and I added 1 cup of fresh blueberries to the one half.  I actually added an extra tablespoon of sugar the second time I made the muffins, and I liked the end result.

Adapted from the Fannie Farmer Cookbook recipe entitled, “Rich Corn Cake” :

• 1 cup yellow cornmeal  (I used Quaker yellow cornmeal)
• 1 cup organic unbleached flour (I always use King Arthur Flour)
• 4 tablespoons sugar (I used 5  the second time)
• 2 teaspoons baking powder (original recipe calls for cream of tartar)
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• 3/4 teaspoon salt
• 1 cup sour cream (I use Daisy because it is the purest brand of sour cream)
• 1/4 cup whole milk
• 2 extra large eggs
• 4 tablespoons melted butter (I used salted) 
• optional – blueberries-  about 1 cup for half the batter if you want to do half muffins plain and half with blueberries.

Preheat oven to 425 degrees.  Put 12 paper muffin cups in muffin tin.

In mixing bowl, combine flour, cornmeal, baking powder, baking soda, salt.

Mix milk, eggs, sour cream with a whisk.  Then pour in melted butter (but slightly cooled).  Mix with whisk. Add wet ingredients to dry.  Mix quickly with rubber spatula just till combined and you can’t see any streaks of the flour.  Scoop into muffin cups.

Bake 20 minutes, just till tops are starting to brown.

Eat hot with lots of butter!

For my new granddaughter’s baby naming party, I wanted to make one more spectacular hot brunch item. I’ve made my french toast bread pudding recipe a few times to rave reviews, but there’s something I don’t like about it, and that’s the syrup that’s on the bottom.  It’s too sweet for me, mostly. I found a recipe on Kitchen Treaty called Cinnamon Blueberry Overnight French Toast that I mixed with my own recipe. So I pretty much kept the custard part of my recipe, added a sprinkling of blueberries, and sprinkled the top with a mixture of cinnamon and sugar.  Most importantly, when I took the masterpiece out of the oven, I drizzled the entire top of it with pure maple syrup.  Oh my gosh, I can’t express how delicious this was.  Everyone who ate it loved it and commented on the absolute perfection of the dish.  My daughter called me to tell me that I need to make one entire casserole for her family because she did not get enough of it and because her husband got none.  This is an outstanding recipe, and what makes it even better is that you can prepare it a few hours ahead, or the night before, as I did, and bake it off the next day.

for the custard:

• 1 challah (I use Zommick’s 15 oz. challah, which I buy at Stop and Shop
• 8 extra jumbo eggs
• 2 cups light cream
• 2 tablespoons granulated sugar
• 2 teaspoons cinnamon
• 1 teaspoon vanilla
• pinch kosher salt
• 1 1/2  to 2 cups of blueberries (optional, but I used them)

for the topping:

• 2 tablespoons granulated sugar
• 1 teaspoon cinnamon 

essential ingredient for serving:

about 4-6 oz. pure maple syrup- medium grade

Directions:

1.  Cut the challah into slices about 1 inch thick.  Then cut the slices into pieces about 1 to 1 1/2 inches big.  Let them sit out to get a little stale.  If I don’t have the time for that, I put them on a cookie sheet and stick them in a 200 degree oven for about 15-20 minutes (I did this for baby naming party).

2.  Grease sides and bottom of large oval or rectangular 9 by 13 pan with butter.

3.  Place the pieces of challah in so they fit like a puzzle.  If you have to squeeze a few in, that’s fine, but use the entire challah.

4.  Sprinkle the blueberries on top of the challah pieces; you can push some of them down a little into some crevices.

5.  Whisk the eggs, light cream, sugar, cinnamon, salt, vanilla in a mixing bowl. Ladle the custard evenly over the bread.

6.  Refrigerate over night or for a few hours till you are ready to bake.

7.  Before you put into the oven, sprinkle the topping evenly over the top, using all of it.

8.  Bake at 350 degrees for about 1 hour to 1 hour and 15 min. until top is puffed (even the center) and a toothpick comes out clean.

9.  Take out of the oven, and immediately drizzle the maple syrup all over the  top of the casserole.

10.  Serve immediately!

I tried a recipe for chocolate chip cookies that includes a bit of cornstarch in it.  I also used unsalted margarine instead of butter since my grandson may have a dairy allergy.  The cookies came out soft and fluffy and delicious.

• 3/4 cup (1.5 sticks unsalted Fleishmann’s margarine, softened to room temperature
• 3/4 cup packed light brown sugar
• 1/4 cup  granulated sugar
• 1 extra large egg, at room temperature
• 2 scant teaspoons vanilla extract
• 2 cups unbleached organic flour
• 2 teaspoons cornstarch
• 1 teaspoon aluminum free baking soda
• 1 teaspoon kosher salt
• 12 oz. semi sweet chocolate chips

Mix margarine in mixer till quite soft.  Add sugars and beat till fluffy.  Add egg and vanilla and mix till fluffy.  Add dry ingredients just until blended.  Add chocolate chip cookies.

Bake at 350 degrees till just beginning to brown around the edges.