Twice-Baked Potatoes with Labaneh and Za’atar
11/12/19

 

 

I can’t believe this is real but there was a time in my life when I did not like labaneh and za’atar — together or apart. I did not like it. I’m so ashamed to admit this about myself because they are such an integral part of Israeli cuisine and I am 100% on board with all things Israeli cuisine. I distinctly remember once, in 2008, when I was living abroad for the year studying at the Pardes Institute of Judaic Studies, a trip I went on for Shabbat. I cannot remember exactly where I was but I know it was a small Arab village that was known for it’s labaneh and I was determined to give labaneh another try. Folks had raved about this tiny village and their labaneh and by golly, I was going to like it! In case you don’t, labaneh is technically a yogurt only it’s been has been strained to filter or remove the whey. It’s a classic Middle Eastern dairy spread that tastes like if Greek yogurt and sour cream had a delicious, creamy baby. And while I did try that tiny village’s labaneh, I still didn’t like it at the time.

I am happy to report, however, that times and tastes have changed in the last 11 years since I tried that labaneh. I don’t know what happened. Maybe I’ve actually matured in taste palette as well as in life!? Maybe it was all that labaneh I’ve seen on some of my most favorite Israeli cuisine chefs (shalom, Adeena Sussman!). Whatever it is, my new Shabbat morning breakfast is labaneh, roasted cherry tomatoes, Israeli salad, and pita chips. I now have this little breakfast every Shabbat morning; I love labaneh that much.

Therefore, when the folks at Tnuva asked me if I would be interested in partnering on a few recipe posts I was more than happy to be ALL in!

Fun Fact: Since 1926 (almost 100 years!) Tnuva has been the world’s leading premium kosher cheese provider. They’ve expanded to include many other products like puff pastry and harissa, all made in Israel! GIMME ALL THE HARISSA AND PUFF PASTRY!

My first recipe in this dream partnership is a Twice-Baked Potato with my old friends, labaneh and za’atar—a flavor match made in heaven! I don’t want to trigger anyone into an anxiety spiral but the Jewish holidays this year just destroyed me. There was so much cooking and grocery shopping and meat consumption that I decided that for Thanksgiving this year, we would host a vegetarian potluck Friendsgiving and I will FOR SURE be making these delicious twice-baked potato friends for that dinner. Twice-baked potatoes are so creamy, filled with flavor and are the perfect canvas for Tnuva’s rich and delicious 5% labaneh. The creaminess of the labaneh is an easy and scrumptious way to create the smoothness needed for pipping back into the potato skin boat. If you don’t have a star piping tip or piping bags, feel free to just scoop the labaneh + potato mixture back into the potato skins. The piping is just to up the fancy factor.

 

 

 

Twice Baked Potatoes with Labaneh and Za’atar

Ingredients:

1 ½ tsp olive oil

4 6-ounce Russet potatoes, scrubbed

¾ cup Tvuna Labaneh

½ cup half and half

3 tbsp unsalted butter

2 tbsp finely chopped chives

3 tbsp finely chopped dill

1 ½ tbsp za’atar

1.5 tbsp kosher salt

1 tbsp garlic powder

 

Directions:

Position rack in center of oven; preheat to 375°F. 

Rub oil over potatoes. Pierce in several spots with a fork. Place directly on oven rack; bake until very tender, about 45 minutes. Transfer to rack; cool 10 minutes. 

Using oven mitts, grasp 1 potato in hand. Using a serrated knife, cut off top 1/4 of potato. Using a spoon, scoop out potato, leaving 1/2-inch-thick shell; transfer potato flesh to a large bowl. Repeat with remaining potatoes. Mash potatoes until smooth. Mix in labaneh, then half and half, butter, za’atar, dill, and chives. Season with salt and garlic powder.

Spoon about 3/4 of potato mixture into shells, dividing evenly. Transfer remaining potato filling to a pastry bag fitted with a large star tip. Pipe filling atop potatoes. Place potatoes on a baking sheet. 

*All of the above can be done ahead by a day. Just cover loosely with pastic wrap and refrigerate.  

Position rack in center of the oven and preheat to 375°F. Bake potatoes until filling is heated through and tops brown, about 20 minutes.

 

*This post was absolutely sponsored by Tnuva, a company whose products I genuinely love to eat. 

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Mitzvah Monday + Mama’s Glorified, Vegetarian Hamburger Helper
03/23/14

Jewhungry kosher mac n cheese vegetarian

Good morning and happy Monday to you.  I hope you had a great weekend. I’m gonna spare the boring details of my weekend (summary: hubby outta town, lots of begging Siona to nap on Shabbat and me staying up way too late watching reruns of Friday Night Lights) and get right to the point.  My ladies over at 4 Bloggers Dish and I had an idea when we launched our Passover cookbook that we should do something for someone else.  We felt it was our obligation to give back.  So, when we launched the book 2 weeks ago, we linked up with Mazon to give them 50% of our profits from the first 5 days of selling.  It felt amazing to support an organization I’ve admired for years and it felt even better giving Mazon a plug just in case folks out there didn’t know about them.  Working with Mazon and raising awareness for their organization while also talking about delicious food was an amazing way to connect both of my passions, social work and cooking.  It also gave me an idea.  I have a little audience here thanks to this blog. Granted, it’s not the biggest audience in the world but it’s an audience no less and therefore, I feel like I have a responsibility to use this gift of an audience for some good.  Thus, Mitzvah Monday was born.

The idea is as follows:  Every Monday I’ll post a recipe.  Aside from a delicious and mouth-watering recipe, I’ll also be posting about an organization, person, and/or idea that needs a shout-out or recognition and a little boast of awareness.  My goal, or hope rather, is that you’ll not only share this recipe but also the message of whatever organization, person or idea that is featured on that Monday’s Mitzvah Monday post. I hope that you’ll join me in helping educate, raise awareness and/or money on behalf of somebody who’s working their tushy off to fulfill their dreams.

My Favorite Part

My Favorite Part

For the first Mitzvah Monday feature, I want to share the story of Zak the Baker. Zak the Baker is my friend, Zak Stern.  We met while we were both working at a Jewish camp in Georgia.  I was fresh from a year in Israel and he was stopping in while in between world travels.  He tended the camp garden, which meant he had to deal with me hanging out in his garden space and reading at every free moment I could get.  Anyway, long story short, we both found our way back to Miami where we’ve reconnected as friends and foodies. Currently, Zak is raising money via a Kickstarter fund to open his very own bakery in the ever beautiful and trendy Wynwood neighborhood in Miami.  To read a little more about Zak, you can read my interview with him and his wife, Batsheva, HERE.  You can also read a short bio below: Zak The Baker, born and bred in Miami, bowled at Don Carter’s, played t-ball at Red Barry’s, and banned from Bet Shira. Left to study science, traveled a bit afterwards, learned how to bake bread along the way, ran out of money traveling and returned home to shower. Put an oven in Sandy’s garage, got some goats, moved to Ken’s commissary, got hitched, and now opening in Wynwood!  Let me just say this,  Zak is living his dream.  He sacrifices everything for his dream.  It’s truly been a pleasure and a blessing to witness him get that much closer to fulfilling his dream. You can be a part of it by donating whatever you can to his Kickstarter campaign by clicking HERE.

jewhungry kosher hamburger helper vegetarian

I hope you will join me every Monday and check-in not only for the recipe but also the feature of the day.  I also hope you share organizations/people you think should be featured on a Mitzvah Monday.  So please, email me, send me a Tweet, comment on this post and/or send me a message through the Facebook Jewhungry pages to let me know of someone or some place that needs a Mitzvah Monday shout-out. 

jewhungry kosher hamburger helper vegetarian

Print
Mama's Glorified, Vegetarian Hamburger Helper

Ingredients

  • 1/2 Box of whole wheat corkscrew pasta
  • 2 Cups of soy crumbles, cooked
  • 1/4 Cup of green onions, diced
  • 1/2 Cup canned yellow corn
  • 1/2 Cup of tomatoes, diced
  • 1 Bunch of cilantro, diced
  • 4 tbsp Unsalted butter
  • 1/3 Cup all-purpose flour
  • 2 1/2 Cups milk, heavy cream, or half-and-half
  • 6 oz Shredded Monterrey Jack cheese
  • 8 oz Extra shredded sharp white Vermont cheddar
  • 1 tbsp Dijon mustard (adjust according to your tastes)
  • 1 tsp Kosher salt
  • 1 tsp pepper

Instructions

  1. Cook pasta according to directions and set aside.
  2. While the pasta cooks, melt the butter in a 4-quart sauce pan over medium heat. When the butter has melted and has started to bubble, whisk in the flour; cook for 1 1/2 minutes whisking constantly.
  3. Gradually whisk in the milk until no lumps remain.
  4. Reduce the heat to medium-low and cook milk mixture, whisking frequently, until it thickens and bubbles, about 8 minutes.
  5. Remove saucepan from the heat and by the handful, stir in the cheeses allowing all of the cheese to melt into the sauce before adding more.
  6. Stir in the mustard, salt, pepper.
  7. Once sauce is complete, pour the sauce over the pasta. Be sure to stir up the sauce from the bottom of the sauce pan and thoroughly coat all of the pasta with sauce.
  8. Stir in all the veggies and soy crumbles to the pasta and cheese mixture.
  9. Serve in bowls and garnish with a little more cilantro.

https://jewhungrytheblog.com/mitzvah-monday-mamas-glorified-vegetarian-hamburger-helper/

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Sweet Potato Fries w/Za’atar Ranch Dip
03/06/14

fries 3

There I was, Wednesday morning, all red-nosed from the cold I’ve had for roughly 2 weeks,  standing in line at my local Starbucks when, at roughly 7:30 in the morning, I was approached by a sweet young woman.  She apologized for bothering me but she wanted to say ‘hello’ because she follows the blog and is a ‘fan’.  Then she introduced me to her mom and we kibbitzed a bit until it was my turn to order.  When I left that Starbucks, with my bucket of coffee in hand, I had regretted not letting her know how much it meant to me that she came by to say ‘hi’.  That, as corny as it sounds, I think maybe Gd brought us together at that moment, at 7:30 on a Wednesday morning because I needed her.

It sounds a bit selfish, and maybe it is, but I needed to run into Michal.  Recently, I’ve been lacking the motivation to cook and to blog.  I’ve lost some of my love for the process. My ‘mojo’, as it were. Between work, the kiddo, finalizing details of the forthcoming Passover cookbook I’ve been working on with my girls, Sarah, Liz and Amy, I haven’t had the strength or even desire to cook.  It was bringing me down a little bit. I just invested all this money into this new site. How can I now be feeling like I want to back off of this food blogging thing for a while?  I’ve become a little too obsessed with checking my stats and I’ve been having the feeling that I’m pretty sure the only folks who actually read this blog are those I’m either related to or have known my whole life.  I’ve been frustrated because the BlogHer Food Conference is going to be in Miami this year and I can’t attend because it’s over Shabbat and the powers that be won’t let me buy a ticket for one day so I can attend on Friday.  I’ve been wondering if folks in the food blogging world get scared when they see a blog called, “Jewhungry”? Like maybe I’m ‘too’ Jewish and it’s alienating.  I’ve been questioning my purpose for doing this and wondering if I really want to keep at it.

Pre-cooked

Pre-cooked

But then I met this ‘fan’ and she brought me hope and a little bit of validation; two things I didn’t know I needed so badly until they were there. I am so grateful she wasn’t shy and she just came on over and introduced herself.  I hope she reads this post so she knows how grateful I am.  Next time, coffee’s on me.

Dip - The good stuff's in there.

Dip – The good stuff’s in there.

 

Now, for this recipe.  As a Southerner, I often look for ways to incorporate, mayonnaise and/or buttermilk into, um, EVERYTHING I EAT.  And, in an effort to be a little bit more ‘homemade’, I’ve been making my own dressings lately.  This za’atar ranch is a cute little blend of who I am–beautiful unique za’atar (hyssop) from the Middle East; a flavor I fell in love with while living in Israel combined with creamy, tangy buttermilk (a shout out to my Southern roots).  I recommend using this as a dressing on salads or a dip for sweet potato fries or veggies.  Feel free to play with the thickness until you get the consistency you like.  My measurements recommended below are for a creamier dip. Enjoy!

Don't be shy now . . .

Don’t be shy now . . .

 

When I dip, you dip, we dip.

When I dip, you dip, we dip.

 

Messy is good.

Messy is good.

 

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Sweet Potato Fries with Za'atar Ranch Dip

Prep Time: 15 minutes

Cook Time: 30 minutes

Total Time: 45 minutes

Serving Size: 4 ( or 2 really hungry people)

Ingredients

  • 1/4 cup olive oil
  • 3 large sweet potatoes, peeled and sliced into 1/4-inch long slices, then 1/4-wide inch strips
  • 1TBSP kosher salt
  • 1/2 TBSP pepper
  • 1/4 TBSP paprika
  • 2/3 cups buttermilk
  • 2/3 cup sour cream
  • 2/3 cup mayonnaise
  • 2 TBSP chopped fresh parsley
  • 1 clove garlic, minced
  • 1/2 TSP sea salt
  • 1/2 TSP ground pepper
  • 1 1/2 TBSP of za'atar

Instructions

  1. Preheat oven to 450 degrees. Let heat while cutting up your sweet potatoes
  2. Toss sliced sweet potatoes in a large bowl with olive oil.
  3. Add the olive oil, kosher salt, pepper and paprika to the bowl and mix well.
  4. Place fries on a large baking sheet making sure that fries are not overlapping.
  5. Baker for a total of 25 - 30 minutes.
  6. For dip/dressing --- Combine all dip ingredients into a food processor and process for 30 seconds.
  7. Can be refrigerated for up to 10 days.

Notes

Is SUPREMELY delicious as a salad dressing.

https://jewhungrytheblog.com/sweet-potato-fries-wzaatar-ranch-dip/

Top with chives. Enjoy.

Top with chives. Enjoy.

 

 

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