Cold noodles with fresh vegetables and sichuan dressing

This is a nice fresh cold pasta salad, with lots of flavor.  It can be a main dish in summer, especially if you are cooking for vegan friends.  Fast to make, and easy to take to parties -- I usually bring the pasta, vegetables, sauce, and garnishes in separate containers and assemble just before serving.  The sauce is spicy when you make it, but not as spicy once it's on the noodles.   Black vinegar, an aged rice vinegar, has a wonderful sort of funky smoky taste, if you can find it. #vegan

The salad:
1/2 lb dry spaghetti or whatever pasta you want to use
salt for pasta water
1 tsp vegetable oil, for tossing with noodles
1 cucumber, peeled and julienned
2 cups of finely shredded napa
2 cups of mung bean sprouts
about 1 cup of steamed, shelled edamame (optional)

The sauce: 
2 tsp grated ginger
2 tsp minced garlic
1-2 tbsp sichuan red chili oil (I LOVE this oil from www.blankslatekitchen.com), or 1 tbsp regular red chili oil and 1/2 tsp toasted ground sichuan peppercorns.  I usually start with just 1 tbsp and then add a little more after the salad is assembled, depending on how spicy you want it. 
1 1/2 tbsp soy sauce
1 1/2 tbsp sesame oil
1 tbsp brown sugar
2 tsp zhenjiang (chinkiang) black vinegar, or Shaoxing wine, or rice vinegar (black vinegar is my favorite, but it can be hard to find)

Garnish:
2 tbsp toasted hulled sesame seeds
3 scallions, chopped or julienned
more sesame oil, to taste
1/2 tsp ground sichuan peppercorns (optional)


Instructions:

The whole recipe can be made while the pasta water is heating.  Cook the pasta  in salted water to taste, drain, toss with vegetable oil, and refrigerate.  Prepare the vegetables and set aside.  Mix all the sauce ingredients and refrigerate.  Just before you serve it, toss the pasta with the vegetables, pour the sauce over it and toss to coat, scatter garnishes on top. 

Mickey Mazur's Mandelbrot

2 eggs, beaten
3/4 c. sugar
1/2 c. oil
2 c flour
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp vanilla
1 1/2 tsp almond extract
handful of poppyseeds, or to taste
cinnamon and sugar, mixed, for sprinkling

Pre-heat oven to 350.  Mix eggs, sugar, and oil.  Add flavorings.  Add flour and poppyseeds.  Make into 3 logs and place on a greased baking sheet.  Bake for 25-30 minutes, turn off oven and take logs out of the oven.  Sprinkle with cinnamon sugar, slice, and put back in the oven (heat still turned off) and leave them in there until they crisp up. 

Lorraine Horwitz' Noodle Kugel Recipe

Note:  This recipe was contributed to the West Hartford Beth Hillel cookbook in 1975 by Rebbetzin Lorraine Horwitz.  I'm preserving it here because this is the recipe that Rel's grandmother, Mickey Mazur, uses.  I've left the original measurements and directions but added some notes below.

Lukshen Kugel

1 box broad noodles*
3 eggs, beaten
1 c. sugar
1/4 lb butter
1 1/2 c milk
dash cinnamon
1 small carton cottage cheese*
1/4 lb cream cheese
1/4 lb American cheese, diced**
1 c. sour cream

Pour eggs over cooked noodles, add milk, cottage cheese, cream cheese, American cheese, sour cream, sugar, and cinnamon.  Mix together gently.  And 1/8 lb butter (cut up).  Place in  a 9x13 pan and spread crushed corn flakes on top.  Dot with remaining butter.  Bake at 350 for 1 1/12 hours.

* I did some research and I believe that Manischevitz egg noodles used to come in an 8-ounce box.  I am guessing, based on other kugel recipes, that the cottage cheese is about 8 ounces.

** American cheese seems very odd, but Mickey said that it really didn't make the kugel taste like American cheese.  

Very Peanuty Peanut Butter Cookies

This recipe is delicious -- about twice as much as peanut butter as usual, so lots of peanut flavor, very buttery, not too sweet, and a nice saltiness.  Dough freezes well, as do the baked cookies.  If you like, you can tuck a chocolate chip into these, or roll in chopped nuts or sugar, but honestly they're really good just like this. 

1 cup peanut butter
1/2 cup butter
1/2 cup brown sugar, packed
1/2 cup sugar
1 egg
1 tablespoon vanilla (yes, tablespoon)
1 1/2 cups flour
1 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp salt

Pre-heat oven to 350.  Cream peanut butter, butter, and sugars until fluffy.  Add vanilla and egg and mix until combined.  In a separate bowl, stir together flour, salt, and soda, and add to butter mixture.  Roll dough into 1 inch balls and place two inches apart on a parchment-lined baking sheet.  Holding a fork with its tines parallel to the baking sheet, gently press the tines into each ball of dough, flattening it slightly.  Turning the fork 90 degrees, repeat, so that each ball has a cross-hatch pattern on it.  Bake for about 6-8 minutes, until beginning to brown, and cool on a cooling rack.  These keep very well frozen or in a cookie tin. 

Lillian Herter Carter's Coconut Crisp cookies

1 cup butter
1/2 cup white sugar
1/2 cup brown sugar
1 egg
1 t vanilla
1 1/2 cup flour
1/2 t baking powder
1/4 t baking soda
1/2 t salt
1 cup coconut
1 cup bran flakes


Pre-heat oven to 400 degrees.  Cream butter and sugars, add egg and vanilla an mix well.  combine flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt and add to the egg mixture.  Stir in coconut and bran flakes.  I usually chill the dough a bit.  Drop from a teaspoon onto parchment-lined baking sheet. Bake at 400 for 7-10 minutes.

Lillian Herter Carter's Molasses Cookies

This is a delicious gingersnap cookie that is thin and crisp and great to serve with vanilla ice cream.  If you want to do something fancy for a party you can make little ice cream sandwiches from them, and drizzle a little balsamic vinegar over them.

3/4 cup butter
1 cup sugar plus additional for rolling
1 egg
1/3 cup molasses
2 cups flour
1/2 t baking soda
1/2 t baking powder
1 t cinnamon
1 t cloves
1 t ginger

(I add a pinch of salt)



Pre-heat the oven to 350 degrees.  I bake these cookies on parchment-lined baking sheets.  Cream butter and sugar, add egg and molasses.  Combine remaining ingredients and add to molasses mixture.  I usually chill the dough for a bit -- it also freezes very well.  Roll into 1 inch balls and roll the balls in sugar.  Place them 2 inches apart on the cookie sheet.  Dip the bottom of a glass in sugar and flatten each ball, dipping the glass in sugar each time.  Cook at 350 for 12-15 minutes, or until they are beginning to brown a little.  Makes about 4 dozen.

Vegetable soup with Red Cabbage

This is an original recipe, born from an amazing CSA haul from Solace Farm in beautiful Sebring, FL -- thanks, Nate and Missy!  It made a beautiful broth, and doesn't taste cabbagey.  I added some things I happened to have in the fridge, listed as options below.  Makes about 3 quarts of soup, freezes well. #vegan

1 tablespoon olive oil
1 onion, chopped
5 garlic cloves, chopped
3 ribs of celery
1 large carrot
1 red bell pepper
1 tsp smoked paprika
1 tsp oregano
1 tsp thyme
1 tsp salt
1 tsp ground pepper
2 cups of green beans, cut in thirds
3-4 medium-sized tomatoes -- Roma or really anything you have, chopped
1 quart of chicken or vegetable stock, or water
1/2 small head of red cabbage, chopped
lemon juice to taste (or you could use red wine vinegar)  -- I used about 1 tsp lemon juice
extra seasonings to taste

Options:
1 tsp pesto
1/2 of a jalapeno pepper, seeded and chopped fine
1/2 lb of italian sausage
2 cups of cooked chickpeas
Parmesan rind


In a large stock pot over medium heat, saute the onion and garlic in the olive oil until they begin to get soft. (If you're adding sausage, you can push the onions off to one side at this point and brown the sausage)  Add the diced carrot, celery, red pepper and spices and saute until they begin to soften.  Add the beans and tomatoes and the stock.  You might want to add a little water to get it up closer to the top of your vegetables -- I added another cup or so.  While you're waiting for it to simmer, chop up the cabbage and then add it.  If you're adding any starches such as chickpeas, or a Parmesan rind, you can throw them in now too.  Simmer the soup until the vegetables are soft but not mushy, maybe 20 minutes.  At this point you can stir in the lemon juice and the  pesto if you are adding it, and adjust the other seasonings -- add a little and taste it until it's the way you like it -- the lemon juice in particular really punches up the flavor.  This was even better the next day.