Pesach wrap-up:
I covered the counters this year with an opened laid-flat cardboard box from a printer. It fit the counter perfectly in all of its dimensions except for being about 8 inches too short; I added a few more pieces from some other box, and my entire long counter was covered in a material that wouldn't move around, shred, or get holes from moving things on top of it! Huzzah! I also used a box on its side to designate space by the stove; therein rested the frying pans when not in use, the cutting boards, and the stovetop utensils.
I bought more food than I ended up using, so there's plenty of meat in the freezer. What I did make:
- Half a recipe of chicken soup with knaidelach; it lasted through the week. This was already the smallest possible division of the largest recipe. I kept the other half of the matzah ball batter in the fridge, thinking I'd make it later, but when I took it out it smelled weird and I realized I'd left uncooked egg stuff in a not-perfectly-sealed container for a week, so I pitched it. Good idea, poor execusion; try again next time.
- I roasted 2 whole chickens (~4 lbs each) for 1:45 at 350; I timed it right so they were ready just at dinner time. The white meat was super juicy and delicious; Carmen liked her dark meat. I had rubbed safflower oil with salt, pepper, garlic, onion, and tarragon under the skin, and stuffed onion and parsnip inside. We didn't finish one whole chicken amongst the 6 of us at the seder; the two chickens lasted well past the holiday. However, I do think I undercooked it a little. Next time: same idea, but keep in the oven for 2-2:15 instead.
- Roasted root veggies: I cubed carrot, parsnip, and beets, but the beets were slightly larger cubes than the others and didn't cook nearly as much. They all went in the roasting pan under the chicken, and were tasty. Next time, slightly smaller cubes, and additional time will probably help.
- Saffron rice: tasted awesome, and even though I accidentally used 1.5 c diced onion instead of .5 c, the only one displeased was Benito and he'll get over it. (Also, I didn't rinse the rice and I never do; don't know if that actually matters much.)
- Charoset: I made a recipe from the Encyclopedia of Jewish Food for Georgian charoset. The recipe as written said in the book that it makes 4 c of charoset using 4 apples and 4 pears, which was a lot more than I wanted, so I used 3 large honeycrisp apples, ~2 Barlett pears, somewhere around half the clove water, unmeasured but smallish amount of honey, no walnuts due to a guest's allergy, so more of the hazelnuts and almonds. I would make this again using the actual recipe. I would also love to try other recipes.
Macaroons: I bought 5 different boxes of macaroons, because I am just not that smart. There was a new-to-me flavor, carrot cake, that I wanted to try, plus 2 chocolate types for Rick to enjoy, plus straight coconut and also chocolate chip for Benito's enjoyment. Of course, I am diabetic, so a serving for me is 2 macaroons. The first time I had 2, a little while later my excema acted up and hurt, splitting the skin at the edge of my thumbnail. Huh, I thought, wonder what did that? The next night, I had 2 more of a different flavor; within an hour, another finger had an excema outbreak. Huh, I thought, this sucks. I looked at the ingredients: yadda, yadda, yadda, potato starch. DAMMIT. Next year: make my own, finding some other starch/no-potato recipe. This will involve making them a few times before then. Oh no. /sarcasm
Supplies in the Pesach boxes:
green plastic bin; not sure what to use it for if we just use the stainless steel sink.
1 open but sealed container sunflower oil
1 roll tinfoil
1 dairy sponge, 1 dairy cleaning wand thing
Salt, pepper, tarragon, cinnamon, ginger, whole cloves, saffron
2 empty spice shakers (garlic and onion)
1.5 containers of honey (1 sealed, 1 open)
1 oven mitt
rubber gloves
Dairy plates: 2 small, inside the dairy frying pan, and 1 large
2 coffee mugs (1 big, 1 smaller) and coffee mug plates
1 travel mug
French press individual size
meat (3 sizes) and dairy (2 sizes) tupperware
2 sets of measuring cups and spoons
3 wooden (bamboo?) trivets
1 sheet tray (not actually ideal for matzah crack as it isn't entirely flat, but has a little depression on the outer edge. Perfect for home-made macaroons!!)
2 sets of serving/cooking utensils
M&F pans, 1 size only
1 stainless steel medium-sized pot with large and small strainers built-in
4 plastic cutting boards for M,F,Pareve,(extra)
medium-sized strainer
paper lunchbags (didn't get used this year but could be for composting)
1 can of hearts of palm, 2 cans tomato sauce (expire in 2019 or 2020)
GF panko flakes - includes potato but could be used for others' consumption.
Needed: granulated garlic & onion, fresh dill
brown sugar for streussel topping if making it
pareve chocolate chips, new small bottle of Frangelico for mousse
fleishig sponge
This entry was originally posted at https://avivasedai.dreamwidth.org/703318.html. Please comment there using OpenID.
I bought more food than I ended up using, so there's plenty of meat in the freezer. What I did make:
- Half a recipe of chicken soup with knaidelach; it lasted through the week. This was already the smallest possible division of the largest recipe. I kept the other half of the matzah ball batter in the fridge, thinking I'd make it later, but when I took it out it smelled weird and I realized I'd left uncooked egg stuff in a not-perfectly-sealed container for a week, so I pitched it. Good idea, poor execusion; try again next time.
- I roasted 2 whole chickens (~4 lbs each) for 1:45 at 350; I timed it right so they were ready just at dinner time. The white meat was super juicy and delicious; Carmen liked her dark meat. I had rubbed safflower oil with salt, pepper, garlic, onion, and tarragon under the skin, and stuffed onion and parsnip inside. We didn't finish one whole chicken amongst the 6 of us at the seder; the two chickens lasted well past the holiday. However, I do think I undercooked it a little. Next time: same idea, but keep in the oven for 2-2:15 instead.
- Roasted root veggies: I cubed carrot, parsnip, and beets, but the beets were slightly larger cubes than the others and didn't cook nearly as much. They all went in the roasting pan under the chicken, and were tasty. Next time, slightly smaller cubes, and additional time will probably help.
- Saffron rice: tasted awesome, and even though I accidentally used 1.5 c diced onion instead of .5 c, the only one displeased was Benito and he'll get over it. (Also, I didn't rinse the rice and I never do; don't know if that actually matters much.)
- Charoset: I made a recipe from the Encyclopedia of Jewish Food for Georgian charoset. The recipe as written said in the book that it makes 4 c of charoset using 4 apples and 4 pears, which was a lot more than I wanted, so I used 3 large honeycrisp apples, ~2 Barlett pears, somewhere around half the clove water, unmeasured but smallish amount of honey, no walnuts due to a guest's allergy, so more of the hazelnuts and almonds. I would make this again using the actual recipe. I would also love to try other recipes.
Macaroons: I bought 5 different boxes of macaroons, because I am just not that smart. There was a new-to-me flavor, carrot cake, that I wanted to try, plus 2 chocolate types for Rick to enjoy, plus straight coconut and also chocolate chip for Benito's enjoyment. Of course, I am diabetic, so a serving for me is 2 macaroons. The first time I had 2, a little while later my excema acted up and hurt, splitting the skin at the edge of my thumbnail. Huh, I thought, wonder what did that? The next night, I had 2 more of a different flavor; within an hour, another finger had an excema outbreak. Huh, I thought, this sucks. I looked at the ingredients: yadda, yadda, yadda, potato starch. DAMMIT. Next year: make my own, finding some other starch/no-potato recipe. This will involve making them a few times before then. Oh no. /sarcasm
Supplies in the Pesach boxes:
green plastic bin; not sure what to use it for if we just use the stainless steel sink.
1 open but sealed container sunflower oil
1 roll tinfoil
1 dairy sponge, 1 dairy cleaning wand thing
Salt, pepper, tarragon, cinnamon, ginger, whole cloves, saffron
2 empty spice shakers (garlic and onion)
1.5 containers of honey (1 sealed, 1 open)
1 oven mitt
rubber gloves
Dairy plates: 2 small, inside the dairy frying pan, and 1 large
2 coffee mugs (1 big, 1 smaller) and coffee mug plates
1 travel mug
French press individual size
meat (3 sizes) and dairy (2 sizes) tupperware
2 sets of measuring cups and spoons
3 wooden (bamboo?) trivets
1 sheet tray (not actually ideal for matzah crack as it isn't entirely flat, but has a little depression on the outer edge. Perfect for home-made macaroons!!)
2 sets of serving/cooking utensils
M&F pans, 1 size only
1 stainless steel medium-sized pot with large and small strainers built-in
4 plastic cutting boards for M,F,Pareve,(extra)
medium-sized strainer
paper lunchbags (didn't get used this year but could be for composting)
1 can of hearts of palm, 2 cans tomato sauce (expire in 2019 or 2020)
GF panko flakes - includes potato but could be used for others' consumption.
Needed: granulated garlic & onion, fresh dill
brown sugar for streussel topping if making it
pareve chocolate chips, new small bottle of Frangelico for mousse
fleishig sponge
This entry was originally posted at https://avivasedai.dreamwidth.org/703318.html. Please comment there using OpenID.