Before we get to the food, don’t forget to enter our giveaway for the cookbook Millennial Kosher by Chanie Apfelbaum of the amazing kosher food blog Busy In Brooklyn.
a Rafflecopter giveaway
Just this past August, my grandma Janie, moved out of her house, after living there for 55 years. The house in Miami where I’d been going to visit a few times a year since I was only a few weeks old. The house where my sisters and I spent every Thanksgiving for the last 15 years or so, complete with drinking wine, eating fresh fish, swimming, working on the New York Times’ crossword puzzles while laying out by the pool, and of course, eating yummy food (always). The house that smells like humidity, nostalgia and a hint of chlorine wafting in from the patio.
It was bittersweet to help her pack up the house but our family has lots of wonderful memories spending hours in the kitchen, watching my uncle Eliot carefully prepare the classic dinner salad, complete with fire-breathing garlic dressing while sampling today’s vino selection. And all the while we were emptying out the drawers and cabinets in her kitchen to prepare for the move, a special dish was handed to my sister, Melissa.
The dish – the large brown dish with the little handle on the end. The dish that my grandma always used to serve her hot, creamy mushroom dip. I know, it’s just a dish. Believe me. But it doesn’t feel right to serve this dip in anything but. So much so, that when I decided to re-create it my kitchen, I HAD to go find my version of the mushroom dip server – complete with the little handle and all. Granted it didn’t taste the same, but that’s always the case when food memories are at play.
Something about sitting in those swivel chairs at her kitchen counter, scooping a big heap of cheesy, creamy mushroom spread onto a crispy cracker and spending time with family. THIS is what I love about food. About family and memories and how it brings people together. It sounds so cliche, but it makes me feel at home.
So here you go, dear readers. Enjoy making this super simple, yet super rich and satisfying dip.
PS – this would make an insanely rich and creamy addition to your next pasta dish! Just use a bit of the “dip” as a sauce and you’ve got an unctuous, savory and umami yummines to your spaghetti! #DROOL
PPS – WARNING. Ultra delicious. Will not want to share with others. Proceed with caution.
Grandma Janie’s Hot Mushroom Dip Recipe
- 1 tbsp. butter
- 1 cup white button mushrooms, chopped
- 1/2 white onion, diced
- 1 8 oz. cream cheese package, softened
- 1 egg, beaten
- 1/4 tsp. salt
- 1/4 tsp. pepper
-
Pre-heat oven to 325F
-
Saute the onions and mushrooms in butter in a pan on medium heat.
-
Remove the pan from the heat and wait 5 minutes until cooled.
-
Add the onion and mushroom mixture to a baking dish and add the softened cream cheese, egg, salt and pepper and mix well.
-
Bake for 25 minutes until creamy and bubbly.
-
Serve hot with crackers or sliced veggies!
I did find one of my favorite Chicago based pickled products there. One of the stores there carries 
seemed like a fairly typical kosher vegetarian Indian restaurant, not unlike 
There is a very large Sephardic Jewish community in Seattle. The main Sephardic synagogue, 
Sausage and Pepper: A Chicago classic featuring Romanian’s Italian Sausage with grilled green and red bell peppers and onions
It’s official. The temperature is dropping and the leaves are slowly turning their bright orange – but how do you know fall is REALLY here? Well, of course, the aroma of pumpkin spice lattes filling the air like a thick cloud! Pumpkin spice lovers, rejoice!
The weather begins to cool off this time of year, which also coincides with the Jewish holiday of Sukkot. On Sukkot, the tradition is to build a temporary dwelling outside (usually a hut without heat or insulation), know as a sukkah. Many people eat all of their meals in the sukkah and some have the custom to sleep in the sukkah as well. This is when I often turn to hearty, long-cooked dishes. These stick your ribs, soul warming dishes are some of my favorite comfort foods. I have very fond memories of sitting in my parents sukkah on a chilly fall night and warming my bones with things like mushroom barley soup, roasted root vegetables (AKA tzimmis), and stuffed cabbage. This time of year is particularly special for me as my lunar birthday falls out during sukkot, and my mother always tried to make some of my favorite dishes.
Folks, we are in the period known as “
meat. We used this as an opportunity to do a test cook for our upcoming 
Hang on folks because this one is a bit long (at least for my posts). If you like BBQ I promise it is worth it. If you make it to the end your patience will be rewarded with an award-winning rib recipe (or you could just scroll down to the recipe, I won’t tell).
To be honest, I don’t know how I could have done it with them. The festival took care of the fundraising and logistics such as tents, lighting, water, refrigeration, and port-o-potties. I was also able to obtain ten smokers and ten grills from the organizers of the original Chicago Kosher BBQ Competition. That helped us over the major hurdle of finding equipment, but at the same time that became our maximum number of teams.
ll Stop the Rain
devoid of meat. Strict Jewish law prohibits eating dairy and meat at the the same meal. For many people that means dishes like cheese lasagna, sweet blintzes (Jewish crepes), and cheesecake for dessert, but for me it has has always been an excuse to bust out the butter and heavy cream, taking the opportunity to trade the traditional chicken soup for something a little more rich and decadent.
What are Tamales?
In honor of 
We are making our own Passover 
You must be logged in to post a comment.