Deli Roll Cook-a-Long

I had never heard of or seen this popular Shabbat food until I was 21 or so and spending a Shabbat in Far Rockaway. Upon seeing this strudelly thing, I was a bit skeptical. I wasn't quite sure what was wrapped up in the dough…and I am not usually a big fan of the old heimish food thing. It was either that, cholent, or kishka, so I opted for a slice of deli roll to accompany the salad on my plate. I was impressed by how good it was. Who knew you could do that with deli meat. Of course this dish is by no means healthy food.

I had no idea it was so popular until joining up on some Jewish message boards where people posted their assorted recipes for deli rolls. There is even a facebook group that shows off their love of deli roll. I recall one trip back home to the Midwest where I made a deli roll for my parents. I think they were a bit scared of it.


There are many different variations of deli roll and no exact measurements.


I start out by sautéing some onions, garlic, salt, pepper, and paprika




Roll out some puff pastry dough, either store bought or your favorite recipe. Spread some honey mustard and half of the sautéed onions on the dough. I have heard of some people using Thousand Island Dressing in place of the honey mustard.


Lay out turkey pastrami slices on top of the mixture. Spread another layer of honey mustard and the onions. Lay out slices of beef pastrami


Roll up into a log. Cut slits in the roll, bake at 375 degrees. Drain fat from the pan.



Slice when cooled down





Shabbat Shalom!

Categories:

Gluten Free Pizza Crust

This is dedicated to my wonderful curly-haired family. Love you all!

A weekend in May found me back in my Midwest hometown. It was the first weekend in a few years that my sisters and I were all together. We tried to make the best of a stressful weekend.

A preface to this is that we all come from a bad gut family. Making a meal that works with every gut can be a challenge. On the menu for a home cooked Saturday night meal was wheat-free/gluten-free pizza. The one sticking point is it had to taste good. You may ask how this is possible. Thank the bad-gut lords that smile on us, that there are now numerous companies and aisles of grocery stores devoted to bad-gut, allergy crazed families.

Pamela’s baking mixes and finished products are a great asset to the hypoallergenic food network. We used Pamela’s wheat free bread mix to make the pizza dough. The recipe for chewy pizza crust, found on the side of the package is as follows:

Chewy Pizza Crust

1 bag Pamela's Wheat-Free Bread Mix
1 yeast packet (enclosed in mix)
1/4 cup oil
1-1/2 cups warm water

Optional: Add 2 tsp Italian herbs and/or 1/2 cup grated cheese to dough

Dough makes two - 12 to 14-inch crusts.

Combine Pamela's Wheat-Free Bread Mix, yeast packet, oil and water (no eggs are used).

With a Heavy Duty Stand Mixer mix on medium for 2 minutes. Our mixer decided not to perform for us. We were able to mix it by hand easily.

We also chose to add Trader Joes Pasta Seasoning Blend.

Pour 1/2 dough onto greased cookie sheet or pizza pan (for added texture sprinkle corn meal on pan). Use oil or non-stick spray on dough and fingers to keep fingers from sticking when spreading dough into pizza shape. This mixture is pretty gloopy and sticky. It will never get to be pizza hut style dough. Check out N's beautifully manicured nails!

Let sit for 1 hour. It just barely rises.

Add your sauce and other toppings. We made up a sauce of canned chopped tomatoes, spices, sautéed shallots and garlic, and some jarred sauce. We used a combination of fresh mozzarella, goat milk gouda, and some “parmesan like cheese” found in the depths of my parents generously stocked fridge.

Bake in a preheated 375º oven for 25 to 30 minutes on a lower rack. Dough will puff when baking. For a crispier crust bake at 400º.

We finished off the finished pizza with some drizzled on truffle oil. Yum!

In the future, I would pre-bake the crusts for 15-20 minutes and then add the toppings. Our crusts were a bit under done. The crust did taste good, a little sweet though. We were impressed with the results and I would consider playing around with it further.

Categories:

Munch Munch Crunch

I love chex mix, but I don’t like the pre-packaged commercial stuff. I don’t like the taste of the foil bag, preservatives, and chemicals. I also don’t like the additional crunchy stuff put in like pretzels, bagel chips, and breadsticks. So whenever there is a sale on chex cereal, I bundle up my coupons and buy a few boxes for when I get the munchies.

If you look at the cereal website, just about anything can go into chex mix. I was impressed by their huge range of recipes. Everything from a curry chex mix to Hawaiian chex mix. I go for basic.

My doctored recipe is as follows:

8 Tbsp. butter or margarine (I used Earth Balance Buttery Sticks)
3 Tbsp. Worcestershire sauce
2 tsp. creole seasoning
2 tsp. garlic powder
1 tsp. onion powder
3 cups Corn Chex
3 cups Rice Chex
3 cups Wheat Chex (my fave flavor in chex mix)
3 cups Cheerios

Heat oven to 250°F. In a large roasting pan, melt the butter in the oven. Stir in seasonings. Gradually stir in cereals until evenly coated.

Bake 1 hour, stirring every 15 minutes. Spread on paper towels to cool, about 15 minutes. Store in airtight container.

Happy Snacking!

Categories:

Chana Saag Aloo

Lunchtime at work can be rough. The combined smells of a hundred or so employees heating up and eating their home cooked meals can be rough. I do have one colleague who tends to have nice smelly lunches. So my dinner idea was stolen from her lunchbox.

After a long week of Passover with no rice, I was craving basmati. What better to go alongside, then a curry? Chana Saag Aloo is a very simple and cheap dish made up of ingredients that I usually have on hand in my pantry and freezer. Extra bonus is that there was plenty left over for lunches the next day.


Chana Saag Aloo
Ingredients:

2 tbsp olive oil or vegetable oil
1 onion, diced
4 cloves of garlic, chopped
1 tbsp ginger, chopped
2 tsp. of curry powder - rough estimate, truth is I shake it all in and guesstimate when it's enough
1 tsp. turmeric
Salt
1 potato, diced
1 can of chickpeas
1 block of frozen spinach
can of diced tomatoes
cup of vegetable broth
cup of half & half or coconut milk

Directions:

Cook some basmati rice as instructed on the package. The rice cooker works wonders. 

Start by sautéing the garlic, onion, and ginger in some olive oil. 

Sauté for 5 minutes. Add in your spices and the diced potatoes. Cook for 5 minutes. 

As that starts to soften, add your chickpeas. 

After 5 minutes, add the rest of the ingredients, stir and simmer on low until ready to eat. 

Serve over the yummy rice. Enjoy!

About the picture...curries don't always look pretty and appetizing. They just don't. They are really yummy though...so please partake in this adventure.

Categories: curry, gluten free, indian, main course, vegetarian