Food Friday

Yesterday I went to Costco.I caved.

I bought both the Shmurah matza and the regular matza. I think it's crazy to be setting out Passover food before Purim. I was afraid that the Shmurah matza would all be gone when I was emotionally ready to buy it in a couple of weeks so I caved. I am sorry for striking terror into your hearts with this purchase.


Today was a challah baking day. As always, one of the first tasks in challah baking is grinding up the spices that will go into my challah.  Since you asked, this is a mic of coriander, cardamon,allspice and nutmeg. I also added some powdered ginger, powdered cinnamona few gratings of nutmeg and lots of vanilla to the dough.

My husband grew up on the take out chicken from Mauzone, a kosher butcher a few miles from his home. In his house it was known as Mauzone chicken.  My mother in law really hated to cook. She liked to feed people. There was lots of Mauzone chicken served at my mother in law's table.

A mix of hot, smoked and sweet paprika with sumac and black pepper is a tastier approximation of my husband's favorite.

I assume that the folks at Mauzone used a ready made mix and mixed the spices with oil. I rub the chicken with the spices.

After a few hours in the oven it turns into this.

I often talk about using old chicken juice in my cooking.

After dinner my husband drains the juices from the chicken pan into a plastic container.

The fat rises to the top and acts as an air tight seal. 

I took two tablespoons of the fat and put in in a baking pan and put it in the oven along with the chicken.

After a few minutes I added grains, in this case, rye berries, wheat berries and rice and put the mixture back into the oven to toast.

 Several minutes later I  added the rest of the chicken juice, some boiling water and dried mushrooms.

I know it looks like an industrial waste site. Don't worry. Just cover the pan with foil and put in the oven to cook. After about 40 minutes more or less it looks like this. You can adjust the seasoning later.

My son braided the challot this week.

Our guests are bringing salad.

I made mocha parev ice cream for dessert.

Despite all of the cooking I even had time to cut out my muslin of the kittle.