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Family recipes bound to be treasured
BY: JOAN KEKST, Food Editor
For a special life-cycle event or occasion, give family members and friends a gift from the heart and from the kitchen: a compilation of your (or their) favorite recipes.
?
It's easier than ever to self-publish, whether you use the computer or go the increasingly popular (albeit more time consuming) scrapbooking route.
Include bits of history or favorite anecdotes relating to the food and a story about the aunt or grandmother who originally gave you the recipe. These books are bound to become family treasures.
Several Clevelanders shared their favorite family recipes with the CJN.
Eva Sands has lived in her University Heights home for more than 40 years, and it exudes old-world charm everywhere - especially in the dining room. Flowers and candles nestled on lace invite one to sit down and relish whatever she serves.
Originally from Poland, Sands's family moved to Germany, where young Eva cooked with her mother. “Well,” she says, “I almost cooked with my mother. We'd start, then my mother would send me to the store for sugar or to pick up the fish. I rarely made a whole recipe with her.”
After her marriage, Sands began to cook on her own terms. A worn French cookbook intrigued her, as her sister was married to a Frenchman. By trial and error, she perfected several dishes for her own table.
When Sands entertains, it's the “real thing.” She makes everything from scratch. She hopes young cooks won't lose the art of home entertaining. “It's better than the fanciest restaurant. The meal and the scene you create at home are an extension of yourself, a gesture of love,” she says. “The friendship shared at your table elevates relationships.”
EVA SANDS'S OLD-STYLE CHOPPED LIVER
Meat
5 medium onions, diced
2-4 T corn oil
1/2 lb chicken livers
1/2 lb baby beef liver
4 eggs, hard-cooked
Salt and pepper, to taste
Fry four onions in 1 tablespoon oil on medium heat about 30 minutes, until nearly caramelized. (That's Sands's secret ingredient!) Broil livers until cooked thoroughly but still soft. Cool to room temperature.
Process livers with on/off turns, until they are in coarse pieces. Add hard-cooked eggs and remaining raw onion. Activate for 30 seconds. Add caramelized onions and 1 tablespoon oil; activate 30 seconds. Scrape mixture into a medium bowl; season to taste with salt and pepper. Add 1 tablespoon more oil to pull the liver mixture together. Cover and chill for several hours or overnight. Add a bit more oil if needed before serving. Serves six.
Evelyn Slomovitz remembers her father predicting she would never learn to cook because she didn't watch her mother at the stove Š except when she made gefilte fish.
When Slomovitz and her husband Steve lived with her parents for a few years, she started watching her mother, Anna Sachs, more carefully. Sachs was a chef at Park Synagogue, and her brother had a food stand at the Northern Ohio Food Terminal. Ethnic food surrounded her.
Today, Slomovitz feels she absorbed more from her immigrant mother than she realized. Among her favorites, she makes schliskas, her mother's Austro-Hungarian potato recipe. She proudly claims she can - and does - make any kind of ethnic food for her four children, 14 grandchildren and 13 great-grandchildren. (The CJN's Violet Spevack says Slomovitz is the only person who makes these delicacies anymore.)
EVELYN SLOMOVITZ'S SCHLISKAS
Pareve
3/4 lb potatoes
1 egg beaten
1/2 t baking powder
2 T farina
1/2 t salt and pepper, to taste
6-8 T flour
Margarine or oil for frying
2 C cornflake crumbs
Boil potatoes in salted water; cool slightly, then put through a ricer. Using your hands, add egg, baking powder, farina, and salt and pepper. Knead in 4 tablespoons flour. Turn onto a floured surface and knead in more flour by the tablespoon until dough is not sticky, but pliable.
Take a small handful of the dough and roll it on a floured surface. Cut into 1-inch pieces. Meanwhile, bring a large pot of salted water to a boil and slowly drop in half the potato schliskas. Heat a large sauté pan with 1/2-inch of margarine or oil and add half the cornflake crumbs. When the schliskas float to the surface, lift out of the pot with a slotted spoon, drain briefly in the spoon and drop into the hot sauté pan. Toss several times. Repeat with second batch and serve immediately.
Evel Barcus often gathers several women to her table for a cup of tea, a cookie, and conversation. The conversation frequently turns to food, with some of the best old-world recipes discussed and shared on these afternoons.
Ava Waxman is a regular at these gatherings. Barcus insists Waxman's old-style Romanian cherry soup is fabulous, and she shares the recipe for all to enjoy.
AVA WAXMAN'S SOUR CHERRY SOUP
Pareve
24-oz jar sour cherry compote (“Bende” brand recommended)
24 oz water
2 T sugar
2 eggs
1 t vanilla
Empty jar of cherries in a 4-quart stock pot; add water and sugar, and boil for 10 minutes. Reduce heat to a simmer. Beat the eggs well in a medium bowl; slowly add one cup of the hot cherry mixture to the eggs, mixing constantly.
Return the egg mixture to the soup pot and stir constantly until well combined. Add the vanilla and keep on low heat until thickened. Stir occasionally. Taste and adjust sugar if desired. Serve hot. Serves eight.
AUNT MONA'S MANDELBROIT
Pareve
For my children, I wrote out Aunt Mona's mandelbroit recipe. It remains a great favorite, now entering its fifth generation.
3-1/2 - 4 C flour
1-1/3 T baking powder
1/4 t salt
1/2 t cinnamon
1/2 t cloves
4 large eggs, room temperature
1-1/2 C sugar
3/4 C vegetable oil
1 t vanilla
1 T orange zest
1-1/2 C toasted almonds
2 T sugar + 1/2 t cinnamon, for toasting slices
Preheat oven to 350º F. Grease and flour two shallow baking sheets. Sift together flour, baking powder, salt, cinnamon and cloves; set aside. Beat eggs and sugar until pale yellow; beat in oil and vanilla. Add sifted ingredients; stir in zest and almonds. Add 2-3 tablespoons more flour if dough is very sticky.
With greased hands, shape dough into four ropes, about 12” x 3”. Place on prepared baking sheets. Bake about 25-30 minutes until golden. Remove baked strips to a cutting board. Wipe baking sheets with paper towels; keep oven on.
Slice each strip into 3/4-inch slices. Place cut side down on the baking sheets, sprinkle with the cinnamon sugar mixture and toast in oven for 5-8 minutes. Cool on a rack. Store or freeze in layers, airtight. Makes about 48 pieces.
?
It's easier than ever to self-publish, whether you use the computer or go the increasingly popular (albeit more time consuming) scrapbooking route.
Include bits of history or favorite anecdotes relating to the food and a story about the aunt or grandmother who originally gave you the recipe. These books are bound to become family treasures.
Several Clevelanders shared their favorite family recipes with the CJN.
Eva Sands has lived in her University Heights home for more than 40 years, and it exudes old-world charm everywhere - especially in the dining room. Flowers and candles nestled on lace invite one to sit down and relish whatever she serves.
Originally from Poland, Sands's family moved to Germany, where young Eva cooked with her mother. “Well,” she says, “I almost cooked with my mother. We'd start, then my mother would send me to the store for sugar or to pick up the fish. I rarely made a whole recipe with her.”
After her marriage, Sands began to cook on her own terms. A worn French cookbook intrigued her, as her sister was married to a Frenchman. By trial and error, she perfected several dishes for her own table.
When Sands entertains, it's the “real thing.” She makes everything from scratch. She hopes young cooks won't lose the art of home entertaining. “It's better than the fanciest restaurant. The meal and the scene you create at home are an extension of yourself, a gesture of love,” she says. “The friendship shared at your table elevates relationships.”
EVA SANDS'S OLD-STYLE CHOPPED LIVER
Meat
5 medium onions, diced
2-4 T corn oil
1/2 lb chicken livers
1/2 lb baby beef liver
4 eggs, hard-cooked
Salt and pepper, to taste
Fry four onions in 1 tablespoon oil on medium heat about 30 minutes, until nearly caramelized. (That's Sands's secret ingredient!) Broil livers until cooked thoroughly but still soft. Cool to room temperature.
Process livers with on/off turns, until they are in coarse pieces. Add hard-cooked eggs and remaining raw onion. Activate for 30 seconds. Add caramelized onions and 1 tablespoon oil; activate 30 seconds. Scrape mixture into a medium bowl; season to taste with salt and pepper. Add 1 tablespoon more oil to pull the liver mixture together. Cover and chill for several hours or overnight. Add a bit more oil if needed before serving. Serves six.
Evelyn Slomovitz remembers her father predicting she would never learn to cook because she didn't watch her mother at the stove Š except when she made gefilte fish.
When Slomovitz and her husband Steve lived with her parents for a few years, she started watching her mother, Anna Sachs, more carefully. Sachs was a chef at Park Synagogue, and her brother had a food stand at the Northern Ohio Food Terminal. Ethnic food surrounded her.
Today, Slomovitz feels she absorbed more from her immigrant mother than she realized. Among her favorites, she makes schliskas, her mother's Austro-Hungarian potato recipe. She proudly claims she can - and does - make any kind of ethnic food for her four children, 14 grandchildren and 13 great-grandchildren. (The CJN's Violet Spevack says Slomovitz is the only person who makes these delicacies anymore.)
EVELYN SLOMOVITZ'S SCHLISKAS
Pareve
3/4 lb potatoes
1 egg beaten
1/2 t baking powder
2 T farina
1/2 t salt and pepper, to taste
6-8 T flour
Margarine or oil for frying
2 C cornflake crumbs
Boil potatoes in salted water; cool slightly, then put through a ricer. Using your hands, add egg, baking powder, farina, and salt and pepper. Knead in 4 tablespoons flour. Turn onto a floured surface and knead in more flour by the tablespoon until dough is not sticky, but pliable.
Take a small handful of the dough and roll it on a floured surface. Cut into 1-inch pieces. Meanwhile, bring a large pot of salted water to a boil and slowly drop in half the potato schliskas. Heat a large sauté pan with 1/2-inch of margarine or oil and add half the cornflake crumbs. When the schliskas float to the surface, lift out of the pot with a slotted spoon, drain briefly in the spoon and drop into the hot sauté pan. Toss several times. Repeat with second batch and serve immediately.
Evel Barcus often gathers several women to her table for a cup of tea, a cookie, and conversation. The conversation frequently turns to food, with some of the best old-world recipes discussed and shared on these afternoons.
Ava Waxman is a regular at these gatherings. Barcus insists Waxman's old-style Romanian cherry soup is fabulous, and she shares the recipe for all to enjoy.
AVA WAXMAN'S SOUR CHERRY SOUP
Pareve
24-oz jar sour cherry compote (“Bende” brand recommended)
24 oz water
2 T sugar
2 eggs
1 t vanilla
Empty jar of cherries in a 4-quart stock pot; add water and sugar, and boil for 10 minutes. Reduce heat to a simmer. Beat the eggs well in a medium bowl; slowly add one cup of the hot cherry mixture to the eggs, mixing constantly.
Return the egg mixture to the soup pot and stir constantly until well combined. Add the vanilla and keep on low heat until thickened. Stir occasionally. Taste and adjust sugar if desired. Serve hot. Serves eight.
AUNT MONA'S MANDELBROIT
Pareve
For my children, I wrote out Aunt Mona's mandelbroit recipe. It remains a great favorite, now entering its fifth generation.
3-1/2 - 4 C flour
1-1/3 T baking powder
1/4 t salt
1/2 t cinnamon
1/2 t cloves
4 large eggs, room temperature
1-1/2 C sugar
3/4 C vegetable oil
1 t vanilla
1 T orange zest
1-1/2 C toasted almonds
2 T sugar + 1/2 t cinnamon, for toasting slices
Preheat oven to 350º F. Grease and flour two shallow baking sheets. Sift together flour, baking powder, salt, cinnamon and cloves; set aside. Beat eggs and sugar until pale yellow; beat in oil and vanilla. Add sifted ingredients; stir in zest and almonds. Add 2-3 tablespoons more flour if dough is very sticky.
With greased hands, shape dough into four ropes, about 12” x 3”. Place on prepared baking sheets. Bake about 25-30 minutes until golden. Remove baked strips to a cutting board. Wipe baking sheets with paper towels; keep oven on.
Slice each strip into 3/4-inch slices. Place cut side down on the baking sheets, sprinkle with the cinnamon sugar mixture and toast in oven for 5-8 minutes. Cool on a rack. Store or freeze in layers, airtight. Makes about 48 pieces.
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