When you think of Hanukkah nosh, you think latkes: delicious fried potato pancakes with dollops of apple sauce or sour cream. But did you know that jelly doughnuts, known as sufganiyot, are a traditional Hanukkah treat in Israel? Follow the recipe below from Judy Bart Kancigor’s Cooking Jewish to make about 3 ½ dozen of these popular pastries:

Pnina Shichor’s Sufganiyot

(jelly doughnuts)

½ cup plus scant 1 cup warm water

(105 to 110 degrees F)

3 packages active dry yeast

½ cup sugar

½ teaspoon salt

½ cup vegetable oil

4 large eggs, beaten

5 to 6 cups all-purpose flour

Canola or corn oil, for frying

Jam (any flavor)

Confectioner’s sugar

1. Preheat the oven on the lowest setting for 15 minutes, and turn it off.
2. Pour the ½ cup warm water into a very large (at least 6-quart) bowl. Add the yeast and stir to dissolve it. Then add 1 teaspoon of the sugar, stir, and set the mixture aside until bubble, 5 to 10 minutes.
3. Stir the scant 1 cup water, salt, oil, remaining sugar, and eggs into the yeast mixture. Add 3 cups of the flour, and mix. Gradually knead in the remaining flour until the dough is spongy and elastic but still feels slightly tacky. Remove the dough and oil the bowl (no need to wash it). Turn the dough in the bowl to coat it all over with oil, and loosely cover the bowl with plastic wrap.
4. Let the dough rise in the turned-off oven until it nearly reaches the top of the bowl, about 2 hours.
5. Punch down the dough and roll it out on a lightly floured surface until it is ¼-inch thick. Using a 3-inch biscuit cutter or glass, cut out the rounds of dough. Place the rounds on a baking sheet and set them aside to rise, uncovered, for 30 minutes.
6. Pour oil to a depth of 1 inch into an electric frying pan (preferred), deep fryer, or large, heavy skillet and heat it to 365 degrees F.
7. Dip your fingers in flour, and lift up a round of dough. Move it back and forth between your two middle fingers to stretch the center of the round quite thin without tearing it. This will be the depression for the jam.
8. Quickly drop rounds in the hot oil, depression side down—a few at a time, without crowding. Cover the pan and fry until the doughnuts are golden brown but not dark, about 30 seconds. Quickly turn them, cover the pan, and fry until the other side is golden brown, 30 seconds more. Drain the doughnuts on both sides on paper towels. Repeat with the remaining rounds of dough.
9. Fill the depressions with jam, and dust the doughnuts with confectioners’ sugar. These are best when eaten warm. They don’t keep well, but no matter. You won’t have any leftovers.

What’s a Rosh Hashanah dinner without brisket? (What’s any dinner without brisket?, you may ask. To which I reply, “A mediocre one.”) Herewith, a recipe for brisket that’s, well, killer. And you know that’s the truth, because it comes straight from Judy Bart Kancigor’s mom via Judy’s scrumptious cookbook Cooking Jewish.

My Mom’s Killer Brisket
with tsimmes*

serves 8 to 10

1 tablespoon vegetable oil
4 to 5 pounds first-cut beef brisket
2 large onions, sliced
2 cloves garlic, crushed
1/2 cup sweet red wine or water
1 cup pineapple or orange juice
1 package dehydrated onion soup mix
2 to 3 teaspoons kosher (coarse) salt, or to taste
1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
1/4 cup honey
1/4 cup plus 2 tablespoons (packed) light brown sugar
1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice
1 1/2 teaspoons grated fresh ginger
1 1/2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
Ground nutmeg to taste
3 cups (1 1/2 pounds) pitted prunes, dried apricots, or a combination
1/2 cup raisins
3 pounds sweet potatoes, cut into 1 1/2-inch chunks
1 1/2 pounds carrots, cut into 1/2-inch-thick slices
Paprika, for sprinkling

1. The day before serving, heat the oil in a Dutch oven or other large, heavy pot over medium-high heat. Add the meat (fat side down first), and brown it well on all sides, about 5 minutes per side. Transfer the meat to a plate.

2. Add the onions to the pot and cook, stirring often, until they are soft and brown, about 8 minutes. Add the garlic and cook for 1 minute more. Then stir in 3 cups water and the wine, juice, onion soup mix, 1 teaspoon of the salt, and 1/4 teaspoon of the pepper. Bring to a boil. Reduce the heat, return the meat to the pot, cover, and simmer until a fork can pierce the meat but it is not quite done, 1 3/4 to 2  1/4 hours, depending on the thickness of the meat.

3. Remove the pot from the heat and allow it to cool somewhat. Then remove the meat and slice off all visible fat. Transfer the meat, with the gravy, to a large bowl or container and refrigerate it, covered, overnight.

4. The next day, preheat the oven to 350°F.

5. Remove the bowl from the refrigerator and skim off the congealed fat. Remove the meat and cut it into 1/4- to 3/8-inch-thick slices. Set it aside.

6. Transfer the gravy to a Dutch oven or other large, heavy, ovenproof pot and bring it to a boil. Turn off the heat and stir in the honey, brown sugar, lemon juice, ginger, cinnamon, nutmeg, 1 teaspoon of the salt, or more to taste, and remaining 1/4 teaspoon pepper. Return the sliced meat to the pot. Add the prunes and raisins. Arrange the sweet potatoes and carrots on top. Baste the meat and vegetables with the sauce and bring back to a boil.

7. Transfer the pot to the oven and bake, covered, for 30 minutes, basting after 15 minutes.

8. Sprinkle the potatoes and carrots lightly with paprika, and continue baking, uncovered this time, basting every 15 minutes, until the carrots and potatoes are very tender, about 30 minutes. If you like (and if your oven has a broiling mode), turn the oven setting to broil, place the pot on the lowest rack, and broil the potatoes and carrots briefly until crisp.

9. Serve hot.

*For all you Gentiles out there, tsimmes is “a traditional stew for Passover, made from a combination of sweet potatoes and dried fruit.”

My roommate and I moved into our new apartment in late March, but we didn’t throw a housewarming party until last week. Why? First of all, we were disorganized busy. But more importantly, everyone knows that summer is a much better time to throw a party! Back when we schlepped all of our belongings across the city, it was cold and rainy and our cute party dresses were still in storage. Now that it’s July—well sure, it’s scorching hot, but all the more reason to pour a cool summer cocktail and head to the roof. So that’s exactly what we did.

The event was a pot luck, and, being kind of a dud in the kitchen (or at least more of one than my roommate, who is a certified whiz), I decided that my best bet was to take care of drinks. But I didn’t want to just put out a tub of beer and a bottle of Coke and call it a day. Oh no. If I was going to be the bartender, I was going to do it right. So I flipped open my copy of the gorgeous Artisan book Raising the Bar (seriously, have you seen the cover?) and found the perfect punch for the night: a beautiful golden champagne sangria. It didn’t take long to assemble, and the results looked spectacular and tasted even better: sweet and fruity, and very refreshing on a hot July night in New York.

So follow the recipe below and treat yourself to a cool drink. Go on, it’s hot; you deserve it.

Champagne Sangria (page 171 in Raising the Bar by Nick Mautone)
Makes fifteen 8-ounce servings

Yum! Plums!

• 4 plums, pitted and cut in thick wedges
• 1/2 cup superfine or confectioners’ sugar
• 32 ounces apricot nectar or peach, pear, or other nectar, chilled
• 16 ounces plum wine, chilled
• 8 ounces brandy, chilled
• two 750-milliliter bottles sparkling wine (champagne), chilled
• mint leaves for garnish

Plan ahead: Chill all ingredients for at least 30 minutes before serving.

Place the plums and sugar in a punch bowl and stir well to extract juice.

Stirring the sugar and plums to release the fruit's juice.

Add the nectar, plum wine, and brandy. Stir well and refrigerate until ready to serve.

Pear nectar works just as well as apricot nectar.

To serve, remove the mixture from the refrigerator. Add the sparkling wine and stir briefly to combine.

Pop the cork!

Float mint leaves on top and serve immediately. And enjoy!

Everyone knows that New York is an international city. So it follows that—outside of Paris—it’s the next-best town in which to celebrate Bastille Day, France’s national holiday. Today, among the many opportunities for reveling, Francophiles can get their fix at the Cercle Rouge street fair in TriBeCa. The street outside Cercle Rouge restaurant will host bands, magic shows and face painting for kids, and a pétanque tournament (a game similar to bocce, the objective of which is to throw hollow metal balls so they land as close as possible to a small wooden ball called a cochonnet).

“Quel dommage!” (“What a pity!”) you may sigh. “I reside far from New York. What can I do to maximize my enjoyment of this holiday?”

Well, we have an easy answer: Throw your hat in the ring for a chance to win a Cuisinart Elite Collection Food Processor! All you have to do is cook up one dish from the following menu from Richard Grausman’s French Classics Made Easy. Then blog about it and send us a link to your blog. Even better: The first 100 bloggers to post about their experience will receive a free copy of this exciting new cookbook that teaches home cooks how to master traditional French fare with maximum flavor and minimal fuss. (We’ve already heard from the bloggers at www.BethFishReads.com, www.bookingmama.net, www.davidschiller.com, www.kitchensimplicity.com, and www.thecolorsofindiancooking.com!)

Winning your own copy is as easy as un, deux, trois: Cook up at least one of the recipes from the book (below), write about the experience on your blog, and email LauraF@workman.com with the link to your piece (either on a blog or on Facebook) and your mailing address and phone number. Plus, let us know if you’ll be taking us up on the challenge in our comments section! The deadline for submissions is July 31, 2011.

Richard Grausman himself will judge the posts based on clarity, writing style, and fun had—the livelier, the better! On August 15, we’ll announce the Blue Ribbon winner of the Cuisinart Elite Collection Food Processor on our blog and post links to all the blogs who participated. The first 100 bloggers to send in their post will receive a copy of French Classics Made Easy!

Le menu de French Classics Made Easy:

• Watercress Soup
• Basque-Style Sauteed Chicken Breasts (Vegetarian option: Ratatouille Omelet)
• Lime Mousse

Marie Antoinette once famously said, “Let them eat cake.” We at Workman say, “Let them eat Lime Mousse…and Boeuf Bourguignon…and Quiche Lorraine…and Chocolate-Almond Macaroons…” And all the other sublime delights found in French Classics Made Easy!

In Paris on July 14, 1789, the rebels and upstarts of the Third Estate stormed the medieval fortress/prison called the Bastille, giving a form to their discontent and sparking the French Revolution. That date is a national holiday in France. You’ll find the apotheosis of Bastille Day celebrations in Paris, where the revelry includes a sumptuous parade down the Champs-Élysées and fireworks over the Eiffel Tower.

Que c’est belle!

The upside of all this (aside from the introduction of a French Republic and the birth of the modern era) is that we’re giving up to 100 bloggers a chance to win a copy of Richard Grausman’s magnifique cookbook French Classics Made Easy—and one Blue Ribbon winner will get a Cuisinart Elite Collection Food Processor!

French Classics Made Easy is the New York Times-lauded cookbook that removes the intimidation factor from traditional French dishes like boeuf bourguignon (beef burgundy) and cassoulet. (Said the Times: “For those interested in, if slightly intimidated by, the intricacies of French cuisine, this book will be a balm.”) The pared-down recipes provide simple methods without compromising presentation or that timeless taste. Author Richard Grausman, one of the nation’s premier cooking teachers, conveys recipes with ease, clarity, and an understanding of how home chefs can—and should—cook classic French food.

Winning a copy for your own kitchen is much easier than overthrowing a centuries-old monarchy. Simply cook up at least one of the following recipes from the book (below), write about the experience on your blog, and email LauraF@workman.com with the link to your piece (either on a blog or on Facebook) and your mailing address and phone number. Plus, let us know if you’ll be taking us up on the challenge in our comments section! The deadline for submissions is July 31, 2011.

Richard Grausman himself will judge the posts based on clarity, writing style, and fun had—the livelier, the better! On August 15, we’ll announce the Blue Ribbon winner on our blog  and post links to all the blogs who participated.  Additionally, the first 100 bloggers to send in their post will receive a copy of the book!

The (mouthwatering) Bastille Day menu:

• Watercress Soup (“Ooooh!”)
• Basque-Style Sauteed Chicken Breasts (Vegetarian option: Omelet with Ratatouille) (“Aaaahhh!”)
• Lime Mousse (“……” [faints from sheer pleasure])

This Bastille Day, don’t let the French have all the fun! Get cooking (and blogging)—and remember, there’s a Cuisinart Elite Collection Food Processor in it for the winner. Vive la France!

Having let any plans for the 4^th of July fall by the wayside, my friends and I will likely be heading out to a restaurant this Monday night. But don’t you worry, we’ll still be getting in a good American-sized dose of barbecue. Much to the amusement of my fellow editorial assistants, I will be chowing down at Blue Smoke, my favorite (although considerably out of my budget) barbecue joint here in New York City.

While the menu at Blue Smoke is to die for (insert slaughter house joke here), the salt & pepper beef ribs are by far the most mouth watering item on the menu. For those lucky enough to have a grill themselves, check out the recipe below. It’s just one of the 425 recipes available in Steven Raichlen’s BBQ USA.

Salt & Pepper Beef Ribs

It takes a master to dare to put a dish of such startling simplicity on a menu. Or several masters in this case: Manhattan restaurateurs Danny Meyer, Michael Romano, and David Swinghamer, who redefined barbecue for New Yorkers with their much talked about barbecue emporium, Blue Smoke. Pork ribs are the house specialty, crusty, smoky baby backs cooked in the style of Danny Meyer’s native St. Louis. But Blue Smoke also serves beef ribs, and if you’ve never had these dark, meaty, Brobdingnagian bones, you’re about to have a life-changing experience. The boys keep the seasonings simple, just coarse salt and cracked black peppercorns. That way you get to appreciate the beef in all its smoky glory.

Method:

Indirect grilling

Ingredients:

1 rack of beef ribs

(2 ½ to 3 ½ pounds)

Coarse salt (kosher or sea)

Cracked or coarsely ground black pepper

Your choice of barbecue sauce, for serving

You’ll also need:

3 cups wood chips or chunks

(preferably apple or hickory), soaked for 1 hour in water to cover, then drain

1. Very generously season the beef ribs on both sides with salt and pepper.
2. Set up the grill for indirect grilling and preheat to medium low. If using a gas grill, place all of he wood chips or chunks in the smoker box or a smoker pouch and run the grill on high until you see smoke, then reduce the heat to medium-low. If using a charcoal grill, place a large drip pan in the center, preheat the grill to medium-low, then toss 1 ½ cups of wood chips or chunks on the coals.
3. When ready to grill, place the seasoned ribs in the center of the hot grate, meat side up, over the drip pan and away from the heat. Cover the grill and cook the ribs until dark brown (almost black), very crisp on the outside, and tender enough to pull apart with your fingers, 2 to 2 ½ hours. If using a charcoal grill, every hour you’ll need to add 12 fresh coals and ¾ cup of wood chips or chunks to each side.
4. Transfer the grilled ribs to a cutting board and cut the rack into individual ribs. Serve with your favorite barbecue sauce on the side.

Yield:

Serves 2 or 3

With the long 4^th of July weekend quickly approaching it’s time to plan our holiday barbeques and picnics! After my fiasco of an Independence Day barbeque last year, where everyone showed up with a bag of chips and my grill lost a leg, I admit to dreading this year’s July 4th. Last year I winged it. This year, I had planned on staying in and sulking (just a little) until I recently discovered a foolproof (or me-proof) answer to last year’s holiday disaster: Celebrate! by Sheila Lukins.

With knockout recipes in line with Lukins’ Silver Palate Cookbook, Celebrate! offers 46 menus for entertaining on special occasions, be it a Kentucky Derby-inspired buffet or a Labor Day picnic. As an added bonus, Lukins suggests extra touches to make an event even more special, including music selections, wine recommendations, and decoration tips.

This year, I’m ready to conquer this holiday armed with Lukins’ “Bang-Up Fourth of July” menu, which includes recipes for Glorious Gazpacho, Dazzling Grilled Veal Chops, Outrageous Lobster Salad Rolls, A Decorative Cucumber Salad, Garden Squash Salad, Fresh Peach Cobbler, and Buttermilk Ice Cream.

I’m especially excited about the Garden Squash Salad below, since there is an amazing farmer’s market close to my apartment!

Garden Squash Salad

Summer squash, both zucchini and yellow, are crisp and delicious when served raw and very thinly sliced in a salad. Dressed with plenty of lemon juice and Parmesan cheese (look for the finest Parmigiano-Reggiano), it matches up well with peppery arugula and some fine ripe tomatoes.

4 small zucchini, ends trimmed

4 small yellow squash, ends trimmed

½ cup fresh lemon juice

¼ cup extra-virgin live oil

Salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste

8 ounces Parmesan cheese, shaved or cut into thin slivers

2 large bunches arugula (12 ounces total), stems trimmed, leaves washed and patted dry

2 large ripe tomatoes, cored

¼ cup chopped fresh flat-leaf parsley

1. Cut the zucchini and squash into very thin slices on the diagonal and place them in a bowl.
2. Whisk the lemon juice, olive oil, and salt and pepper together in a small and toss with the squash. Let the squash rest for 10 to 15 minutes. Then add the cheese.
3. Place the arugula in a salad bowl. Cut the tomatoes in half lengthwise, and then into very thin wedges, and scatter them over the greens.
4. Just before serving, spoon the squash and dressing over the arugula and tomatoes. Sprinkle with parsley and season with salt and pepper to taste. Serve immediately, tossing the salad at the table.

For the full menu, including this Garden Squash Salad from Sheila Lukins’ “Bang-Up Fourth of July” menu, see the excerpt below, via Scribd:

Celebrate Pp132 137

When plans to escape the city fell through on a sunny Saturday, my friends and I did what any backyard-deficient New Yorker would do and headed to Central Park. Packed in our bags were the essential staples of a summer afternoon—a frisbee; a baseball and gloves; salads of the egg, fruit, and potato variety—and the bible of the season, Suzanne Brown’s Summer: A User’s Guide, a book packed with tips for making the most of a warm afternoon.

Like Ms. Brown, I am madly in love with summer—the smell of Coppertone is enough to get my heart racing—so in honor of the first day of the season, I bring you one of her tips for living life to the fullest in the upcoming months:

How to Play Beach Volleyball

Scout out a quiet place away from the water and sunbathers, then draw lines in the sand that measure approximately 30 feet wide by 60 feet long.

The serving player must hit the ball over the net and inside the court lines within three attempts. If the server fails to successfully place the ball within three serves, the opposing team gains control.

Players rotate positions clockwise whenever their team gains control of the ball (Thus, each team has a new server at that time.)

Once the ball is hit over the net to the opposing team, a player cannot contact the   ball twice in a row unless the first touch is off a block at the net. A player cannot grab the ball, allow it to come to rest in his hand, or touch the net. If he does so, he forfeits the ball to the opposing team.

A point is earned when the serving team wins a rally, or an ace is served.

The first team to reach 15 points wins. A match is played in sets of three or five games.

* * *

This summer (which officially starts TODAY!), before you head off to your beach bungalow, pack a picnic for the park, or spend a day in the shade, pick up Summer: A User’s Guide and make the best of this short and sweet season.

It’s true that the bruschetta I whipped up to take to a friend’s barbecue look fabulous—thanks to the recipe for Jan’s Bruschetta in Anne Byrn’s What Can I Bring? Cookbook. (Humility has never been my strong suit.) But, seriously, can we just forget about the food for a second and check out my hair? I mean, it’s not very often that the Coiffure Gods smile with such magnanimity upon a mere mortal. Just look at that mane! Every strand is in place! It’s softly shining in the late-afternoon sun that’s streaming through the window! For this one brief moment in time, my hair was, I believe, worthy of an Annie Leibovitz portrait. (Annie, are you reading this?)

For the record, the bruschetta were consumed quicker than I could pile the topping onto the toasts. (But, really—let’s talk about the hair! Here it is from another angle, next to my hunky friend Andrew.)

P.S. If, after reading this far, you still care more about the bruschetta than my follicular supremacy, check out Jan’s Bruschetta in the What Can I Bring? Cookbook.

Ah, summer!

We celebrate its arrival this Memorial Day weekend, when the grills of America are lit with unbridled glee. From sea to shining sea, grillmasters and barbecue aficionados will offer up the standard fare: hot dogs, hamburgers, ribs, maybe Texas-style brisket if they’re feeling adventurous.

But for the maestro who wants to knock the socks off of family and friends, there’s a mind-boggling dessert that will confound, amaze, and impress them—and make their taste buds sing. It’s as American as apple pie—and often served with it, as a matter of fact. But here it gets the live-fire treatment. I’m talking about grilled ice cream.

Yes, ice cream. But isn’t that an inherent contradiction? you ask. Isn’t putting a frozen dessert over hot coals a bit like mixing oil and water? Perhaps, but in the ambitious, able hands of America’s master griller, Steven Raichlen, grilled ice cream becomes not only doable, but delectable, too! Read on for the how-to.

Grilled Ice Cream
from Planet Barbecue! by Steven Raichlen

The Scoop

Where: Azerbaijan (the easternmost of the Caucasus Mountain republics, bordered by Armenia, Russia, Iran, and the Caspian Sea)

What: Coconut-crusted ice cream balls grilled shish kebab-style over blistering hot charcoal

How: Direct grilling on a grateless grill

Just the facts: Because of the delicate nature of the ice cream and coconut coating, you’ll need to grill these kebabs on a grateless grill; suspend the skewer between two bricks positioned at opposite sides of the grill. You can use any flavor of ice cream for this recipe—Chef Mehman favors vanilla. Stateside, I’m partial to Häagen-Dazs’ crème brûlée; its burnt-sugar flavor reinforces the taste of the flame-charred coconut.

The Method

The strangest thing I’ve ever grilled? It’s a question I’m asked often. So is Azerbaijan’s most famous grill master and TV chef, Mehman Huseynov, and the hyperkinetic chef has a ready answer: ice cream. Yes, ice cream. Skewered on a slender ribbon of steel, crusted with beaten egg and shredded coconut, and seared over the fire. The secret to grilling ice cream is to dip the frozen balls in egg and coconut several times before grilling. The hot fire cooks these ingredients into a hermetic crust, which seals in the melting ice cream. It’s essential to work quickly and over a very hot fire to sear the exterior before the ice cream has a chance to melt.

Makes 8 to 12 balls; serves 4

1½ pints of your favorite ice cream

2 large eggs

1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

2 cups grated or shredded dried coconut in a shallow bowl

You’ll also need
Flat metal skewers, at least 12 inches long

Advance preparation
4 to 6 hours for refreezing the ice cream

1. Using a large ice cream scoop, scoop the ice cream into 2-inch balls. Place them in a baking dish and return them to the freezer to freeze the balls solid, 1 to 2 hours.

2. Place the eggs and vanilla in a shallow bowl and beat with a fork. Dip each ice cream ball in beaten egg, turning it with forks to coat it all over, then in the coconut, turning it with forks to coat it on all sides. Return each ball to the egg to coat it again, then coat it in the coconut again. Return the balls to the baking dish and freeze them again until solid.

3. When the coconut-covered ice cream balls are frozen solid, skewer them on flat metal skewers and freeze them again.

4. Set up the grill for grateless grilling, following the instructions below and preheat the grill to as hot as it will go. Arrange 2 bricks on the grate at opposite sides of the grill.

5. Place the kebabs on the grill, resting the ends of the skewers on the bricks. Grill the ice cream balls until the coconut is browned on all sides, 1 to 2 minutes per side, 4 minutes in all. Work quickly; the idea is to sear the coconut without melting the ice cream. Slide the ice cream balls off the skewers into bowls or onto plates and serve at once.

Note: Grateless grilling

In many parts of the world, from Turkey to Japan to India, grills do not have grates and the food is cooked suspended directly over the fire. The method is particularly good for grilling skewered ground meat kebabs, tofu, and glazed foods that would otherwise stick to the grate. The easiest way to do grateless grilling on an American-style grill, either charcoal or gas, is to place two flat bricks, paving stones, or pieces of metal pipe on the grate, one at the front and one at the back. Position them just far enough apart so that the ends of the skewers will rest comfortably on them as supports. The food will be suspended over the grate and will be fully exposed to the heat.

For more sizzling recipes, check out Planet Barbecue!