| Festival Food [message #14160] |
Fri, 03 April 2009 06:53  |
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AJLR Messages: 2582 Registered: September 2008 Location: England, UK |
Senior Member [Moderator] |
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I was thinking this morning about making either Hot Cross Buns or a Simnel Cake next week, for Easter, and wondered how many favourite or traditional festival recipes we had among us here. So if you feel like sharing something you enjoy making or eating (or both), whether it's for Easter, Eid ul-Fitr, Diwali, or Chanukah, it would be lovely to see the recipe here.
"Never let a computer know you're in a hurry."
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| Re: Festival Food [message #15384 is a reply to message #14160 ] |
Mon, 27 April 2009 17:41   |
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Maureen E Messages: 111 Registered: October 2008 Location: Indiana, USA |
Senior Member |
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Just about a million years late, I finally have the recipes!
Kulich
Original recipe:
1 c lukewarm milk
6 tsp yeast
1/2 tsp sugar
1/2 c golden raisins
1/2 tsp powdered saffron (1/2 tsp tumeric)
1/4 c rum
2 c powdered sugar
5-6 cup flour
2 tsp salt
1 tsp vanilla
10 egg yolks lightly beaten
1/2 pound butter--cut into bits
1/2 c slivered or chopped almonds
1/2 c golden dried or candied fruits--apricot, papaya, mango, etc., cut into small bits
In 2008 we did 1 1/2 times the recipe and used 15 eggs. We also substituted 1/2 margarine and 2 Tbs butter for the 1/2 lb butter. While all butter is wonderful, it also leads to an extremely dense bread and rising problems. Usually we use 1/2 c golden raisins and 1/2 c mixed fruit, 3 Tbsp yeast for 1 1/2 times the recipe.
Directions:
Dissolve yeast in milk with 1/2 tsp. sugar. Keep warm until it doubles in volume. Soak raisins and dried fruit in rum/brand and saffron/tumeric.
Combine powdered sugar, 4 cups of flour and salt. Pour in yeast mixture, vanilla, and egg yolks. Add fruit and rum mixture and mix until smooth (or as smooth as possible with fruit). Add butter a little at a time. Dough will be soft. Kneed or mix 10 minutes. Let rest 10 minutes. Add up to 2 more cups of flour until dough is shiny and elastic.
Place in buttered bowl. Cover. **Place in a warm spot** Let rise until double. Punch down. Add almonds.
The traditional kulich shape is tall and fairly skinny. We use old tin cans to bake it in. The smallish coffee size is ideal but any largeish tin can should work. Line with foil and waxpaper, grease heavily. Fill can a little over half full with dough. Shape the top into a smooth dome. Cover with towel and put back in your warm place. Let rise until almost to the top of the can.
Preheat oven to 350/325 degrees. Bake for 10-15 minutes depending on the size of the cans, then lower to 300 degress. Bake for one hour, or until done (depends on heat of oven and size of cans). Cool 5-10 minutes before removing from can.
Glaze with thick white icing: 1 c powdered sugar, 1/2 t vanilla, 1 Tbsp milk.
Pascha
2 lbs ricotta pot cheese
6 oz cream cheese
1/2 lb butter
1/2 c fruit--golden raisins and apricots usually, cut into small bits
1 tsp. vanilla
1 c heavy cream
4 egg yolks
1 c sugar
1/2 c whole almonds and candied fruit for decorating
Drain ricotta. Combine fruit and nuts in rum and vanilla; let soak 1 hour.
Beat butter and cream cheese into the ricotta.
Heat heavy cream in a saucepan until it starts to bubble, NOT boil.
Beat egg yolks and sugar until it changes color and gets sluggish. Add slowly to heated cream, stirring CONSTANTLY! Cook over low heat until it is a thick custard (big batch takes 20-30 min). It will curdle if it boils--DO NOT BOIL. Take off heat; add fruit and nuts.
Set in bowl of ice water, stir until cool--fold gently into cheese mixture.
We usually use the little green potting pots (clean, obviously) to mold the pascha but you could use any sort of container with a drainage hole. Line it with cheese cloth and pour in the mixture. Place in a tray and put a weight on the top if you want. Let set in the refrigerator at least overnight (you'll probably want it to stay in the fridge longer). Unwrap, turn it out on a plate as you would a cake. Decorate with fruit and nuts.
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| Re: Festival Food [message #24158 is a reply to message #14160 ] |
Fri, 11 December 2009 18:35   |
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Well, I have a large bowl of cranberry relish that I'll be eating with mine. I like sour cream, but am not as big a fan of applesauce. Generally I prefer latkes to be more on the savory end than the sweet.
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| Re: Festival Food [message #36979 is a reply to message #14160 ] |
Mon, 29 November 2010 12:23  |
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Not this year, though I've been lamenting the difficulty of finding a properly SOUR sauerkraut. Every time I've had it since I moved back to LA, it's been wimpy and well, not sour. I think I'm going to give up and make it myself.
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