Recipes Blog

Passover Matzoh Brei (Fried Matzoh)

From Andrea Watman

Matzoh brei is delicious as a midnight snack or when served for brunch or breakfast.

At my house we serve it with applesauce on the side – but you can serve it sprinkled with cinnamon-sugar, or accompanied by orange marmalade.

Don’t worry about leftovers, if there are any – just wrap them in plastic wrap and microwave when hunger hits.

Andrea's Turkey Gravy

Ingredients:

Stick of Sweet Butter
¼ Cup All Purpose Flour
4 - Cups Turkey Drippings or Chicken Stock
Salt & Pepper

Note:
I take the turkey drippings from my overnight turkey and refrigerate them – this makes separating the fat easy and any crunchy bits from the pan will settle to the bottom – so that you do not have to strain the gravy. Remove the fat layer and use the clear drippings only.

If you do not have enough drippings you can add some chicken stock

In a heavy sauce pan (ON LOW HEAT) soften the butter and add the flour (this is called a roux). Continue to cook and stir until all the flour is incorporated and the mixture begins to turn a golden color. REMEMBER TO KEEP STIRRING – you can use a whisk or a wooden spoon.

This should only take few minutes, but you really have to keep stirring. This will cook off the starchiness of the flour and add color to your gravy.

DO NOT ALLOW BURN.

Slowly add the drippings (approx. 3 cups – leave some in case you need to thin the gravy) and keep stirring. You do not want any lumps- so add the liquid slowly making sure it has totally incorporated. If there are lumps just keep stirring with a whisk- the gravy will thicken as it cooks. Remember that all the flavors you used to season the turkey will be evident in the gravy. You do not want gravy that is too thick –  you can use the remaining drippings to thin as necessary.

Salt & Pepper to taste.

I like this gravy because it is clean, rich and tasty.

Simple Sweet Challah for Rosh Hashanah

 

By Andrea Watman

Rosh Hashanah begins on Sept 4th | Yom Kippur begins on Sept 13th

There's something about holidays that inspire us to bake. It's the time in our homes, the feeling of feeding our families, the wonderful aromas filling our kitchens that give us that sense of pride in putting our own fresh baked bread on the holiday table.

This wonderful recipe for sweet Challah Bread from Andrea is one nearly every baker will have success with. Regardless of how new you are to making breads, this recipe is forgiving, and should yield you a perfect Challah Bread. You might even want to consider making two loafs, one for right away, and one for the best French Toast ever the next morning.

Raspberry & Goat Cheese Salad

with Raspberry Citrus Vinaigrette
From Andrea Watman 

Since we're about to enter Raspberry season here in the northeast, it's time for this delicious sweet, tangy and beautiful salad. It's great for Memorial Day picnics, cook-outs, neighborhood parties and perfect for dinner any night!

Raspberries will delight you on this salad - at least until tomato season is here!

Passover Matzoh Balls

by Andrea Watman

The Passover Seder includes four questions...

But the one question that is the most important (at least at my house) is: heavy matzoh balls or light as air matzoh balls? (if I am to be totally honest at my house we call them knaidlach).

My Grandma Bertha loved her matzoh balls to be light and airy so that "they could float over the seder table" my father, Nathan* wanted them heavy and dense like dumplings.

It was a family feud – but Grandma always won.

I am sharing her recipe with you in the hope that this year your matzoh balls will "float" over your Seder table...

Enjoy!

Apricot Glazed Salami

This week’s recipe is brought to us by Sam and Joy, Andrea’s nephew and sister. Joy recently rediscovered this recipe and remembers it as one that everyone enjoys. It is full of flavor, sweet and savory, and just perfect for a party, for warming up on a cold day, or would make a perfect football game watching snack!

Enjoy and thank you Andrea!

Apricot Glazed Salami
By Andrea Watman

My father would pick my mother, Pearl, up from work at Zabar’s on Fridays. He would arrive early, she was always late.  My father enjoyed the time to catch up with the “guys” at the counter and get a “schtickle” of salami from the Deli Counter – a schtickle is a Yiddish term for a 3 or 4 inch “piece” of kosher salami, cut from one of the dozens of hand-picked salamis hanging from the ceiling.  Some fresh and plump, the more cherished salamis were dried to perfection by the skilled hands of the experts. The connoisseur customer knew this was the choice. This snack would hold him until dinner.  In honor of the salami, the following recipe brings salami into the main stream as a great football snack or hors d’oeuvre.

Try it!  You’ll love it!

Post Notes from Andrea –
“A Nickel a Schtickle” --- Schtickle = Piece
A Recipe to warm your kishkes! 

Mother's Day Recipes

Mother's Day falls at a truly wonderful time of year. Spring is here, the flowers are blooming, everyone seems to be out and about and enjoying themselves. It's really a lovely time to celebrate and thank the Moms in our lives. We've compiled a grouping of simple, delicious brunch ideas any mom would enjoy. Maybe try breakfast in bed this year!

 

Mother’s Day Stuffed French Toast
"I hate going out on Mother’s Day – it’s crowded, expensive and you never really get a chance to sit and visit with your family and friends. Since Zabar’s has always been a part of my life Sunday brunch usually involves Bagels, Cream Cheese and Nova.  But on Mother’s Day I love to make French Toast and serve it with hot real maple syrup and fresh strawberries.  

This is one of my favorite Sunday Brunch treats. 

It is easy to make and really yummy. Prepare it the night before – and refrigerate. In the morning bake and enjoy!"

 

Our (new) Favorite Banana Bread
"Banana Bread is my go to treat when company pays a surprise visit, as a simple hostess gift or when we just need something delicious to snack on. Recently we held a bake-off in my house. My husband swears by his mom’s recipe so we compared her recipe to a new one I’ve been working on to an old standard from a tried-and-true cook book. 

And here is the one that won across the board. We all favored it, even my mother-in-law! ..."

 

Spinach and Goat Cheese Quiche
"Here is a recipe for the easiest, most adaptable quiche ever. I have made this for dinner parties, afternoon luncheons, breakfasts and brunches and it always meets rave reviews. What’s so great about preparing a quiche is you can fill it with whatever ingredients and cheeses you have on hand, making it the perfect dish for last minute meals. And this time of year, it’s just wonderful to make because it’s absolutely appropriate to serve quiche at room temperature. So cook one up while the morning is still cool and have a terrific brunch later that day."

 

Hazelnut and Orange Blossom Shortbread with Dried Cherries
"Last year on Mother’s Day, I made these light, pillow-y hazelnut shortbread cookies (well, sans Orange Blossom Water or dried cherries) and brought them to my Moroccan sister-in-law as a small token for her always put-me-to-shame, ridiculously generous hospitality.  Upon tasting them, she was absolutely certain that I had somehow gotten the family recipe from one of her sisters, and then proceeded to describe to me the almond cookies her mother used to make.  They were apparently quite similar in style to mine, but were enhanced with the essence of Orange Blossom Water, an ingredient, along with Rose Water, that she herself often uses in her amazing Moroccan repertoire of everything from salads to tagines and couscous to desserts..."

Happy Mother's Day!

Oven Roasted Asparagus

A recipe by Andrea Watman

I have to admit it – I love asparagus. Growing up we rarely had asparagus – they were expensive and difficult to cook. My mother finally came up with the idea of cooking them in our white 12 cup corning percolator. She would stand them in the coffee pot – add water, put the cover on and boil them until they were done – actually over done! Then she would drain them by pouring the water out – and the cooked asparagus were served.

This procedure always led to a fight, my father, Nathan, loved hot strong coffee and felt that his favorite coffee pot should be reserved for brewing coffee. My mother, Pearl, felt asparagus were elegant and that there was nothing wrong with multi tasking.

Working at Zabar’s she certainly could have purchased as asparagus steamer. But, our kitchen was small, storage space was an issue, and she really enjoyed the fight over the corning coffee pot. Both my parents are gone – but the corning coffee pot has survived – so, I guess my mom was right. Sorry dad.

There are such beautiful green asparagus in the market – I hope you’ll give this recipe a try. Enjoy!

Andrea’s Overnight Turkey Recipe

By Andrea Watman

The very best part of Thanksgiving is sitting down at a table crowded with my family and friends - the worst part is having to cook a big meal in my apartment size oven. 

There were many years that I would get up at 6 in the morning to start the turkey – and I would be exhausted by the time we sat to dinner. I began to dread the holiday.

I am a night person and had to come up with a solution. One year my father, Nathan, recommended that I stay up all night and cook. I knew he was joking – but why not cook and sleep at the same time!

So be brave and try my overnight turkey – you will awake to a house that smells divine, an oven that is perfectly warm and ready to be filled with stuffing, yams and pies.

This recipe works best with a large bird.  I prefer a turkey that is 20 – 22 Lbs. You will also need an instant read thermometer so that you can be totally convinced that the turkey is fully cooked.  I start at 11:00 pm – so that by midnight the kitchen is cleaned and the turkey is cooking all by itself. When I awake I have a fully cooked turkey and empty oven.  

Since this turkey is going to be cooked slowly at a fairly low temperature, do not stuff the turkey cavity.  Cook your stuffing separately. 

Grandma Bertha’s Sunday Tuna Casserole

by Andrea Watman

With great sorrow and deepest affection, Zabar's announces the passing of our creative director, Andrea Watman. Read Andrea's obituary. We're republishing her wonderful and popular recipe and story for "Grandma Bertha's Sunda Tuna Casserole". We miss you Andrea.

My sister Joy and I spent summers with our grandparents in Long Beach, NY. We had a four bedroom bungalow on Georgia Avenue (four bedrooms, an indoor toilet, outside shower, no closets and just a few termites).

It was in that kitchen I learned to cook by watching my Grandma make dinner. Sunday’s were always exciting. Our relatives would journey out to “the beach” from the Bronx – actually they never went to the beach, but they did breath in the ocean air.

Now – most families would barbecue – but not at my house. My grandmother hated the barbecue – it was never clean enough, she hated the flavor or the charcoal and lighter fluid and yes, she knew sooner or later we would set the house on fire.

She would crack out the Kraft Macaroni & Cheese Dinner, in the trusted blue box, and make the best Tuna Casserole ever. She baked it in the afternoon so that the kitchen would cool before we ate. She would slice cucumbers and fresh tomatoes – and dinner was served.

I no longer use the blue box – but this is her recipe, just slightly updated.

Enjoy!