Signature Cheesecake

 

   Throughout the years there has always been a "Signature Cheesecake". Each one is my favorite for different reasons, this one is simply my "Go To", impress your eaters, "I worked so hard to get it to be this good", yeah right! Type. It's my Saturday breakfast special. Sometimes served as individual baby Cheesecakes, sometimes fruit topped, pudding topped and sometimes perfectly plain.

What You'll Need:
Makes One 9' Cheesecake.
Serves 6 Generously.

For Crust:

• 1 1/2 Cup Crushed Graham Crackers
• 1 Tbsp Sugar
• 3 1/2 Tbsp Softened Butter
• (OR... Just use a ready Graham Cracker Shell Crust that you can buy in many if not most supermarkets)

For Filling:

• 2 Cups Cream Cheese 
• 2/3 Cup Sugar
• 2 Eggs
• 1/2 Cup Sour Cream 
• 1 Tsp Vanilla Extract

Preheat Oven to 350 Degrees F.

Crust: If you decided on making your crust, either crumb your crackers in your food processor, or crumb them by placing them in a big zip lock bag using your rolling pin. However you do it, just try to make sure they are as crumby as possible. Place the crumbs into your baking pan with Butter and Sugar. Combine and set your crumbs by flattening and covering the walls of your pan into a neat shell. Place Graham Cracker Shell into the refrigerator until your filling is ready. (We want our butter to chill in order to keep everything in place.) 

Filling: Using stand or hand mixer, were going to whip our Cream Cheese until nice and fluffy, about a minute. Add Sugar slowly while mixing on medium speed, one Egg at a time (30 seconds apart) while still mixing, now the Sour Cream and lastly the Vanilla. 

Pour your filling into baking pan, and into the oven for about 25 minutes. Depends on the oven, but the Cheesecake should look firm, even crack on the sides, but the center should still wobble when moved. Cool your Cheesecake on counter top until it reaches a nice room temperature, cover and place in the refrigerator for a few hours or overnight before serving. 

IMAGINATION:

Top with anything you like. White Chocolate Ganache and Strawberries? Vanilla Cream Cheese Pudding? Fresh Fruit? Really.. Anything. Have Fun!

Dough-Ka; [The crazy daughter of Mr Babka and Madame Donut]

 There is this one memory that is etched into my brain; the first time I ever "experimented" in the kitchen. I was about seven years old. I found a can of small potatoes in the pantry, I thought to myself, "wow! This is cool, baby potatoes in a can". I opened the can, put the potatoes into a pot with some cumin, paprika, too much salt and probably no oil because I clearly remember them being super dry. My father came into the kitchen surprised at what he was seeing and with excitement said, "You made that for me? Wow! These are the best potatoes I ever tasted". Only years later did I realize that he was lying. They were not the best potatoes he had ever tasted. He is just the best father and because of his love and support I was able to serve many horrible dishes that got 5 undeserved stars, which gave me the confidence to continue experimenting. So, thank you Abba for always believing in me. And thank you Imma for your support and allowing me to use your kitchen as my own private culinary school.

Now, back to Dough-ka. My cousin Sarah from Canada honored me with a challenge, which I oh, so appreciate, because this dessert is a delight! She sent me an article about a bakery somewhere [forgot where *embarrassed face*] that makes a crazy hybrid between Babka and Doughnuts. You heard correctly. Crazy. Mr. Google is my best friend, we have a special relationship, so the first thing I did was search, "BEST DOUGH-KA RECIPE", nada. Ok, "DOUGH-KA RECIPE?", NADA.

That is why I brought up the can of baby potatoes, time to experiment. 

That's when Dough-ka was born into my life. 

Please introduce this delight to your life. It's a Doughnut without frying and its a delicious, soft Babka for Babka lovers. 

What You'll Need for Dough:

• 2 1/4 Tsp Active Dry Yeast
• 1/2 Cup Warm Water
• 1/4 Cup Sugar 
• 1/4 Cup Warmed Milk - or Almond Milk [Parve]
• 1/2 Tsp Salt
• 1/4 Cup Room Temp Butter - or Margarine [Parve]
• 1/2 Tsp Vanilla Extract
• 1 Egg
• 1 Egg Yolk
• 2 1/2 Cups Flour 

What You'll Need for Chocolate Filling: 

• 1 Cup Chocolate of Choice [Chopped/Chips]
• 1/2 Cup Butter/Margarine [Parve] 
• 1/3 Cup Cocoa Powder
• 1/2 Cup Confections Sugar

Glaze:

• 1 Cup Confections Sugar
• 1 1/2 Tbsp Cocoa Powder
• 1 1/2 Tsp Water [more if needed, in small amounts]

Preheat Oven to 350 Degrees F [15 mins before baking]

Dough:

Set your KitchenAid or stand mixer with whisk attachment. In your mixer bowl, combine your yeast, warm water and 1 Tsp Sugar (from your 1/4 Cup Sugar above), let rise for about 7 minutes. Add your remaining Sugar, Milk/Almond Milk, Salt, Vanilla, Egg, Egg Yolk, Butter/Margarine and half of the Flour mix until smooth. At this point you might need to change from your whisk to hook because the more flour we add, the harder your machine will have to work, and the hook is just made for thicker doughs. If you do not have this setting you can use the best tool G-d gave you, your hands. Slowly add remaining Flour and kneed slowly with machine/hands for about 4-6 minutes, you can add additional Flour if you feel you must, just remember, this is a stickier dough. Transfer your dough to an oiled bowl, cover and let it rise in warm place for an hour and a half. This should, like any great dessert be eaten as fresh as possible, so if you are going to eat this dessert tomorrow, just punch down your dough, cover again and place in refrigerator until next day. If you plan on eating it today, punch down your dough, roll into an even layer on a slightly floured surface to about a 1/2 inch in thickness. 

Filling:

Melt your Chocolate and Butter until unified and smooth. Stir in Cocoa Powder and Confections Sugar. Should form a spreadable paste. [OR...You can use Nutella *wink*] 

Evenly spread your filling onto your sheet of dough, and roll length wise like a burrito and then slice through the middle, like you see in the picture below. [Don't feel discouraged if your Dough-ka doesn't look like that after rolling and slicing, in the photo below it's actually Babka, Dough-ka is stickier which causes it to be a bit messier. Just for explanatory purposes.]   

After we sliced our Dough-ka we're going to make a semi twist-braid.

 

Something like the photo above. Again, this is Babka.

 [Explanatory Purposes]

Place your Dough-ka into an oiled tray of your choice, I used my Bundt Cake Tray.

Let rise for an additional 30-40 minutes.

And into the oven for, I'd say 30 minutes. Its hard to say though because every oven is very different so you will have to keep an eye out. When your Dough-ka is ready it will still be very soft to the touch. Remember it's a Doughnut! Make sure to not over-bake. 

Glaze: 

Combine all your ingredients and stir with whisk until you get a velvety smooth texture. Pour onto Dough-ka right out of the oven. The glaze will create a barrier between the cake and oxygen. Yes, the cause to dry cakes. 

 

That, is the final product. 

Once cool cover to keep moisture, if it's not finished by then;)

THE Quinoa Burger

For some odd reason I was sure I posted this recipe a while ago, apparently I didn't, for that I am sorry because if I may say so myself, this burger is Gold. This recipe was born about two months ago when I was food talking with my cousin in NYC (Alexa, she's awesome, but that's besides the point) when she randomly asked if I had any good Quinoa Burger recipes. To be honest at that point I've heard of and made many different types of burgers/patties but never imagined that Quinoa can be made into a Burger. It would be like making a pony tail with 30,000 fly aways. Unless of course you make a nice cement with flour and eggs to hold everything together, thank you but no thank you. That's not how we roll, right? So, I did what I very often do. Put my hair up into a rubber band, sweatshirt, waltzed into the kitchen and picked up one or my main ingredient and for the rest of the time just listened to my gut. If a flour and egg cement will hold my 30,000 tiny ballies all together....What's better than beans and boiled/steamed sweet potato? Beans contain starch which make them a great substitute for flour, sweet potato's have the great ability of being the "glue"and mind me, also act as Flavor + VITAMINS. So there you go.

What You'll Need:
Serves 5-6 Generously.

• 2 Cups Dry Quinoa
• 1 Can Black Eyed Peas
• 1 Sweet Potato (Medium Sized)
• 1 Tsp Cumin
• 1 Tsp Crushed Garlic
• Salt+Pepper to Taste
• 1 Tbsp Olive Oil (for baking)

Preheat Oven to 375 degrees F.

Follow the instructions on the box to cook two cups of dry Quinoa, simultaneously boil/steam your Sweet Potato so that all your ingredients will be ready at the same time. Beans, we need our beans to be nice and smooth, they can have some texture but a nice unified blend is what we're looking for. You can use your food processor, I used my hand blender that comes with a tall cup like bowl that makes blending super easy and mind you, less dishes, less mess.

Once your Sweet Potato is boiled/steamed, put them on a plate or in a bowl (without any water) and give them a nice "smoosh" with a fork. I don't advise blending the Sweet Potato's because we actually want them to have some body. Blending would turn them into puree.

Incorporate your Sweet Potato's, Beans, cooked Quinoa, Salt and Spices in a bowl. (In the picture below its just the beans and sweet potato)

Drizzle some Olive Oil on your baking sheet. (For easier clean-up Parchment Paper to the rescue) Using your hands (hence the gloves) form generous sized patties/burgers, place onto sheet. 

 Drizzle some more Olive Oil, some cracked Pepper and into the oven for about 30 mins, or until nice and golden.

Depends on your oven, but you might or might not have to flip over at half time, I prefer to no matter what that flavor and consistency is unified.

I served it with a Cherry Tomato Salsa type Salad and a Tahini Sauce. 

And... There it is... Cement FREE Quinoa Burger.

Vegan. Gluten-Free. Flavor-FULL.

And... Easy. 

Duckless Duck Sauce

Duckless Duck Sauce. Duh! It's Duckless.
Not the greatest feeling; being the last to know... Well, not really the last, but who wants to pour a jar of oozy gooeyness called, "Duck Sauce" onto anything, let alone a Duck without actually knowing its FREE of actual Duck. *embarrassed face*
If you are an even LATER bloomer than me, Duck Sauce is a yummy sauce that I never actually tasted bought, because sometimes jars scare me, BUT have no fear it is one of the easiest homemade sauces. Duck Sauce can be used as a sauce over rice, as a marinade for chicken, fish and even certain meats, altered a tiny bit, it makes a great salad dressing. Its a Chinese Style condiment and now I present you my version.

What You'll Need:
Makes Nice Size Jar.

• 1 Cup Apricot Preserves (You can make your own if you have extra fruit and time)
• 3 Tbsp Soy Sauce
• 1 Full Tbsp Minced Ginger 
• 1 Tbsp Honey
• 4 Tbsp Rice Vinegar
• 3 Cloves Crushed Garlic
• 1 Tbsp Lemon Juice
• 2 Tbsp Olive Oil
• 1/2 Tsp Crushed Chili (For Picante' Lovers)

For those of you have hand blenders, I use them for almost all my sauces, so practical. Place all your ingredients in a bowl and Mr. Hand Blender will do the rest. If you don't have one, totally OK just use your regular blender or food processor to give it a smooth unified consistency. Your done. How easy?

If your making chicken, fish or meat I highly recommend marinading everything for a nice hour before cooking. 

For the Drummettes below, In the morning I just poured my sauce over a bowl of Drummettes, quickly massaged this sauce onto the wings, covered my bowl and totally forgot about them until about half an hour before dinner, Preheated the oven to 375 degrees F, placed the Drummettes on a baking sheet covered with parchment paper (to prevent the wings from sticking onto my sheet, plus makes clean up time so much easier) and into the oven for a nice 30-40 minutes. Side with some Rice, Vegetable Stir Fry or some Fresh Salad. 

Baked Falafel Wrapped in Mini Laffa's

  Being that half my life is in Israel, Falafel became more than just a stuffed Pita. It's love. It's that boy feeding his leftover fries to a stray cat, it's that soldier stuffing his mouth after being on base for a month straight, it's the generosity of the Falafel fryer giving out free Falafel balls to the patient hungry customers waiting to be served. Falafel is Israel. 

  On a less dramatic note, it's also extremely healthy; baked. 

Garbanzo Beans like all legumes, are packed with protein and a whole bunch of other great things that I would love to share (since I am a nerd), but then this would be a blog about properties behind food and not actual recipes. So, we will save that for another time, BUT Garbanzo Beans=Good for you. EAT THEM.

Generously Serves 6.

What You'll Need:

        For the Laffa's:
        Makes 16 Mini Laffa's.

• 1 Tsp Dry Active Yeast
• 2 1/2 Cups Tepid Water
• 5-6 Cups Flour 
• 1  Tbsp Salt
• 1 Tbsp Olive Oil

For those of you that are afraid of yeast, don't be. It really is simple once you get the hang of it.
In a large bowl stir your water and yeast with a spoon (I like using a wooden spoon) stirring in one direction. Now we're going to add half of our flour (2 1/2 cups) one cup at a time while you continue stirring in one direction for about 3 minutes. Your mixture should look smooth and silky. At this point your mixture should be left to rest covered in plastic wrap in a cool place for a minimum of 30 mins up to 8-9 hours. The more you let it rest, the more flavor your Laffa's will have. (secretly I rarely have time for resting myself, so why should my dough?;)) Once your dough has rested stir in your Salt and Olive Oil. Stirring in one direction add the rest of your flour one cup at a time. Once your dough is too stiff to stir with a spoon put on some floured gloves and let your hands do the rest of the work. Knead until nicely smooth and elastic. Place dough into oiled bowl and let dough rise in room temperature for 2-3 hours. Once risen separate into equal parts and shape dough into tight balls. Heat up your skillet (you might need to wipe down with a tiny drop of oil). Flatten your dough and place on skillet one at a time for about 3 minutes on each side.

         For the Falafel Balls:

• 3 Cups Dry Garbanzo Beans (Soak in water overnight)
• 1 Cup Fresh Parsley 
• 4 Cloves Garlic
• 1 Tbsp Cumin
• Salt + Black Pepper to Taste (to your liking)
• Water
• Olive Oil
• TIP: 1 Small bag of Falafel flavored BISLI (optional, it's a trick I learned from my friends Mom when I was about five years old. If your looking for something more diet friendly, omit. 

Preheat Oven to 375 degrees F.

Once your Garbanzo Beans have been soaked, place in a large bowl with the rest of your ingredients. We are going to split the ingredients into 3 parts so that your food processor doesn't heat up and get stuck. Process until blended but not pureed. (I had to add about half a cup of water to mine, go with half a cup, if you see you need more, add a bit more. It should have a consistency that is manageable) You can taste a bit before cooking in case you are missing anything. The joy of cooking Vegan :) Prepare two baking sheets (I use a sheet of parchment paper on top), spread some olive oil onto your sheets, and start forming (1' thick and 2' wide) and placing your Falafel balls onto sheet. 

Into the oven they go, once the bottom is golden you can flip the balls so the other side gets equal loving. (Some ovens don't need flipping)  Bake for about 30 mins or until nice and golden. 

Serve with light Israeli Salad and Tahini.

In the photo above, I served my Falafel with a Tomato Salad and a Cabbage Slaw using the same dressing as written below. The Israeli Salad is more traditional, both yummy, Your choice :)

         Israeli Salad:

• 6 Cucumbers
• 4 Tomatoes
• 1/2 Purple Onion 
• 1/3 Cup Chopped Parsley/Cilantro (optional)
• 1 Clove Garlic
• 1 Tsp Olive Oil
• Juice of 1 Big Lemon
• Salt + Pepper to Taste

Chop your vegetables nice and small, add your Salt, Black Pepper, Lemon and Olive Oil, combine. 

         Tahini:

• 1/2 Cup Tahini Paste
• 1/2 Cup Fresh Lemon Juice
• 1/2 Tsp Salt (or to taste)
• 1/2 Tsp Cumin
• 1 Tbsp Finely Chopped Parsley/Cilantro or both (optional or just use flakes)
• 1/4 Cup Cold Water
• 2 Tbsp Olive Oil
• 1 Clove Crushed Garlic

In a large ball combine all your ingredients until you get a nice smooth texture. (Add water if needed)

Rosemary Chili Baked Fries

French Fries. A weakness, a past time, a luxury and extremely fattening and unhealthy. I am not by any means saying that I don't eat fried French Fries, that would be hypercritical of me since, they are the first thing I order outside. Fries with Steak, Fries with Pizza, Fries with Milkshakes, Fries alone. But at home I try my hardest to keep frying at bay. To be honest I place Baked Fries and Fried Fries in the same category in spirit, but to be honest, Baked Fries are much more flavorful.
I side these Baked Fries with almost anything at home. For Italian dinners I just replace the Rosemary with some Basil, for Mediterranean dinners I just add some Paprika and Cumin. Oh the endless  things you can do in the kitchen. Imagination my friends, use your imagination. Sometimes imagination goes wrong, and that's OK. That's how we learn. Some of my favorite dishes were born from trial and error.

Serves 6 Generously.
What You'll Need:

• 10 Idaho Potato's Unpeeled Thinly Sliced (Vertically)
• 1 Tsp Dry Rosemary (Or a stem of fresh)
• 1/2 Tsp Crushed Chili
• 1/2 Tsp Crushed Black Pepper
• Kosher Salt to Taste
• 2 Tbsp Olive Oil

Preheat oven to 375 degrees F.

Place all your sliced Potatoes in a large bowl, add your Spices and Olive Oil. Make sure everything is well combined. Pour onto baking sheet, I like to cover mine with parchment paper first, and into the oven. They should bake for about an hour, it really depends on your oven. Once they are half baked, grab a spatula and carefully flip them over, so they don't burn. They should be golden on the outsides and soft in the insides. 

Voila! Enjoy!

The Turkey Burger

                    

    Burgers and Fries, the number one cliche of what today's society heartlessly named, "Fast Food".
Ok, calm down for a second, why the insult? The only reason I would name these Burgers & Fries, "Fast Food" is because they are "Fast" to make and "Fast" to eat.
I like using Turkey instead of Beef when I can, just feels lighter on the stomach and it's simply much leaner. I served this burger with Spicy Mayo, Caramelized Onions, Sliced Avocado and Baked Fries. (Baked Fries Recipe in next post)

Generously Serves 6.

What You'll Need:
          For the Patty: 

• 1 1/2 lb Ground Turkey Thigh
• 1/2 Cup Chopped Parsley
• 4 Cloves Crushed Garlic
• 1 Tbsp Crushed Ginger
• 1 Tbsp Soy Sauce
• 3 Tbsp Ketchup
• Black Pepper + Salt to Taste (Don't forget Soy Sauce and Ketchup contain Salt)
• Tad of Crushed Chili (optional)
• Oil for Pan - Or just use oven or grill.

For the Caramelized Onions:

• 3 Large Onions sliced diagonally (I like to use a combo of Golden, White and Purple Onions)
• 1 Tsp Brown Sugar
• 1/4 Tsp Salt
• 1 Tbsp Oil (I use Canola)

Combine all your patty ingredients in a fitting bowl. I find that just combining the ingredients makes a perfect light burger, over mixing or pressing with your hands can make a denser+heavier burger (From personal experience). Without too much pressing, shape 1' thick 5' round patties. Heat up skillet with about a tbsp oil, once hot, place your patties with a little bit of space in between so that when you have to flip the patty, you don't injure the one next to it. Each side needs about 5-6 minutes or until nicely golden. (Make sure they are cooked thoroughly, Turkey contains salmonella when eaten raw)

Caramelized Onions-
Heat up your skillet with some oil, add your sliced onions and salt, sauté for a few minutes on a low flame, add your sugar. They are ready once they are nice and golden.