Supper Club VI: Potato Knishes and Cholent
Like the sweet kugel, knishes were something we strongly considered for our first Jewish Soul Food Supper Club. We couldn't quite fit it in that time, so we knew that it was an absolute must have this time around. Once again tigerlily_blue went to Smitten Kitchen for the recipe.
Classic Potato Knish
Makes 6
Dough
2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon table salt
1 large egg
1/2 cup vegetable oil
1 teaspoon white vinegar
1/2 cup water
Filling
1 1/2 pounds (about 3 medium) russet potatoes, peeled and quartered
1 small yellow onion, peeled and diced small
1 tablespoon vegetable or olive oil
1 tablespoon unsalted butter
1/2 teaspoon table salt
Freshly ground black pepper
To finish
1 large egg yolk
1 teaspoon water
Make dough:
1. Stir together your dry ingredients in the bottom of a medium/large bowl.
2. In a small bowl, whisk together the egg, oil, vinegar and water. Pour it over the dry ingredients and stir them to combine.
3. Once the mixture is a craggy, uneven mass, knead it until smooth, about a minute.
4. Place the dough back in the bowl and cover it with plastic wrap. Set it aside for an hour (or in the fridge, up to 3 days) until needed.
Prepare Filling:
5. Put potatoes into a large pot, cover with cold water, and bring to a boil over high heat.
6. Reduce heat to medium and cook until potatoes can be pierced easily with a knife, about 20 minutes.
7. Drain, then transfer to a large bowl to cool.
8. Heat a large, heavy skillet over medium heat. Once hot, add butter and oil and once they’re fully melted and a bit sizzly, add onions and reduce to medium-low.
9. Cook, stirring frequently, until deeply caramelized, which will take about 45 minutes. Can you do this in less time?
10. Transfer to bowl with potatoes and mash together until almost smooth.
11. Stir in salt and many grinds of black pepper and set the filling aside.
Assemble knish:
12. Line a large baking sheet with parchment paper and preheat your oven to 375 degrees.
13. Divide the dough in half.
14. On a well-floured surface, roll the first half of the dough into a very thin sheet, roughly in the shape of a 1-foot square.
15. Create a 2-inch thick log from half your potato filling across the bottom of your dough.
16. Roll the filling up in the dough like you were rolling a cigarette, but not too tight. A tiny amount of slack will keep the dough from opening in the oven. Keep rolling until the log has been wrapped twice in dough.
17. Trim any unrolled length and add it to the second half of the dough; it can be used again.
18. Repeat 14 through 17 with the second half of your dough and second half of filling; you might have a small amount of dough leftover.
19. Trim the ends of the dough so that they’re even with the potato filling.
20. Make indentations on the log every 3 to 3 1/2 inches (you’ll have about 3, if your log was 1 foot long) and twist the dough at these points, as if you were making sausage links.
21. Snip the dough at each twist, then pinch one of the ends of each segment together to form a sealed knish base. Use the palm of your hand to flatten the knish a bit into a squat shape. Pinch together the tops as you did the bottom to seal them; indenting them with a small dimple will help keep them from opening in the oven.
Bake
22. Arrange knish on prepared baking sheet so that they don’t touch.
23. Whisk egg yolk and water together to form a glaze and brush it over the knish dough. Bake knish for about 45 minutes, rotating your tray if needed for them to bake into an even golden brown color.
We made this on Saturday afternoon. This is probably a lot easier if peel and cube the potatoes BEFORE you boil them. Clearly I wasn't thinking. Perhaps for that reason tigerlily_blue and Ethan took over once I'd sauteed the onions and prepared the filling. Having a couple roll the knish 'log' and pinching it into separate knishes led to a substantial amount of entendres, so that was good.
In all honesty, this was time consuming but not difficult. We made three full batches, and when they came out of the oven they were baked to a golden perfection. Our knishes might not have been perfectly round, but they were utterly delicious. This recipe was a solid winner. This will get made for Thanksgiving some time. The Smitten Kitchen blog also lists variant fillings which I'll probably try out at some point in the future.
Of course, the main course in any of my Supper Clubs has not been complete without some sort of meat. That may change one day, but this year we went with cholent, which is a traditional Orthodox recipe that is designed to get around rules about not cooking on the Sabbath. In olden days, the recipe my mother forwarded from an unknown-to-me cookbook would have been made in an oven over twelve hours. Today, we tossed it into two crock pots instead.
Cholent
Says it makes 8 servings, that seems low
3/4 cup dry Great Northern or Lima beans (we used Great Northern)
6 cups water
2 1/2 pounds beef short ribs, cut into serving-sized pieces
salt to taste
black pepper to taste
1 tablespoon cooking oil
5 medium carrots, cut into 1 inch pieces
2 medium onions, cut into 1/4 inch slices
2 medium red-skin potatoes, cubed
1/2 cup regular barley
4 cloves garlic, minced
1/2 tsp black pepper
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 tsp paprika
2 1/2 cups beef broth
chopped fresh parsley for garnish
1. Rinse beans. Put beans and water in large saucepan. Bring to a boil then reduce heat. Simmer uncovered for 10 minutes. Remove from heat, let sit for at least one hour. Drain and rinse beans.
2. Season meat with salt and pepper.
3. Heat oil in large pot over medium-high heat. Brown meat on both sides (do this in batches). Drain fat and remove from heat.
4. Combine beans, carrots, onions, potatoes, barley, garlic, 1/2 tsp pepper, 1/2 tsp salt, paprika in slow cooker. Top with ribs. Pour broth over.
5. Cook in slow cooker for 12 hours (low) or 6 hours (high). Sprinkle each serving with parsley before serving.
We prepped two batches of cholent on Friday night. While my sister made bagels, I peeled and chopped. She started browning meat while I wrapped wontons, and then I took over. When we went to bed everything was ready to go. tigerlily_blue rose early on Saturday and loaded the slow cookers up in the dining room to preserve space on the kitchen counters. As counter space opened up and guests arrived we moved the slow cookers into the kitchen; we hit the 12 hour mark toward the end of the soup course.
The cholent's delicious aroma filled the house long before it was done. When served it was thick and filling and had some gravy, which meant that it paired wonderfully with the knishes on the plate. We completely emptied one crock pot and made a dent in the other. I suspect that if we had not already served two ridiculously filling dishes with the knishes and kugel we probably would have had a lot of people going back for seconds. As it was, some was taken home and I had a substantial amount of leftover. I'll make this again one day.
Everybody was pretty much stuffed, but we still had two desserts to go...
Classic Potato Knish
Makes 6
Dough
2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon table salt
1 large egg
1/2 cup vegetable oil
1 teaspoon white vinegar
1/2 cup water
Filling
1 1/2 pounds (about 3 medium) russet potatoes, peeled and quartered
1 small yellow onion, peeled and diced small
1 tablespoon vegetable or olive oil
1 tablespoon unsalted butter
1/2 teaspoon table salt
Freshly ground black pepper
To finish
1 large egg yolk
1 teaspoon water
Make dough:
1. Stir together your dry ingredients in the bottom of a medium/large bowl.
2. In a small bowl, whisk together the egg, oil, vinegar and water. Pour it over the dry ingredients and stir them to combine.
3. Once the mixture is a craggy, uneven mass, knead it until smooth, about a minute.
4. Place the dough back in the bowl and cover it with plastic wrap. Set it aside for an hour (or in the fridge, up to 3 days) until needed.
Prepare Filling:
5. Put potatoes into a large pot, cover with cold water, and bring to a boil over high heat.
6. Reduce heat to medium and cook until potatoes can be pierced easily with a knife, about 20 minutes.
7. Drain, then transfer to a large bowl to cool.
8. Heat a large, heavy skillet over medium heat. Once hot, add butter and oil and once they’re fully melted and a bit sizzly, add onions and reduce to medium-low.
9. Cook, stirring frequently, until deeply caramelized, which will take about 45 minutes. Can you do this in less time?
10. Transfer to bowl with potatoes and mash together until almost smooth.
11. Stir in salt and many grinds of black pepper and set the filling aside.
Assemble knish:
12. Line a large baking sheet with parchment paper and preheat your oven to 375 degrees.
13. Divide the dough in half.
14. On a well-floured surface, roll the first half of the dough into a very thin sheet, roughly in the shape of a 1-foot square.
15. Create a 2-inch thick log from half your potato filling across the bottom of your dough.
16. Roll the filling up in the dough like you were rolling a cigarette, but not too tight. A tiny amount of slack will keep the dough from opening in the oven. Keep rolling until the log has been wrapped twice in dough.
17. Trim any unrolled length and add it to the second half of the dough; it can be used again.
18. Repeat 14 through 17 with the second half of your dough and second half of filling; you might have a small amount of dough leftover.
19. Trim the ends of the dough so that they’re even with the potato filling.
20. Make indentations on the log every 3 to 3 1/2 inches (you’ll have about 3, if your log was 1 foot long) and twist the dough at these points, as if you were making sausage links.
21. Snip the dough at each twist, then pinch one of the ends of each segment together to form a sealed knish base. Use the palm of your hand to flatten the knish a bit into a squat shape. Pinch together the tops as you did the bottom to seal them; indenting them with a small dimple will help keep them from opening in the oven.
Bake
22. Arrange knish on prepared baking sheet so that they don’t touch.
23. Whisk egg yolk and water together to form a glaze and brush it over the knish dough. Bake knish for about 45 minutes, rotating your tray if needed for them to bake into an even golden brown color.
We made this on Saturday afternoon. This is probably a lot easier if peel and cube the potatoes BEFORE you boil them. Clearly I wasn't thinking. Perhaps for that reason tigerlily_blue and Ethan took over once I'd sauteed the onions and prepared the filling. Having a couple roll the knish 'log' and pinching it into separate knishes led to a substantial amount of entendres, so that was good.
In all honesty, this was time consuming but not difficult. We made three full batches, and when they came out of the oven they were baked to a golden perfection. Our knishes might not have been perfectly round, but they were utterly delicious. This recipe was a solid winner. This will get made for Thanksgiving some time. The Smitten Kitchen blog also lists variant fillings which I'll probably try out at some point in the future.
Of course, the main course in any of my Supper Clubs has not been complete without some sort of meat. That may change one day, but this year we went with cholent, which is a traditional Orthodox recipe that is designed to get around rules about not cooking on the Sabbath. In olden days, the recipe my mother forwarded from an unknown-to-me cookbook would have been made in an oven over twelve hours. Today, we tossed it into two crock pots instead.
Cholent
Says it makes 8 servings, that seems low
3/4 cup dry Great Northern or Lima beans (we used Great Northern)
6 cups water
2 1/2 pounds beef short ribs, cut into serving-sized pieces
salt to taste
black pepper to taste
1 tablespoon cooking oil
5 medium carrots, cut into 1 inch pieces
2 medium onions, cut into 1/4 inch slices
2 medium red-skin potatoes, cubed
1/2 cup regular barley
4 cloves garlic, minced
1/2 tsp black pepper
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 tsp paprika
2 1/2 cups beef broth
chopped fresh parsley for garnish
1. Rinse beans. Put beans and water in large saucepan. Bring to a boil then reduce heat. Simmer uncovered for 10 minutes. Remove from heat, let sit for at least one hour. Drain and rinse beans.
2. Season meat with salt and pepper.
3. Heat oil in large pot over medium-high heat. Brown meat on both sides (do this in batches). Drain fat and remove from heat.
4. Combine beans, carrots, onions, potatoes, barley, garlic, 1/2 tsp pepper, 1/2 tsp salt, paprika in slow cooker. Top with ribs. Pour broth over.
5. Cook in slow cooker for 12 hours (low) or 6 hours (high). Sprinkle each serving with parsley before serving.
We prepped two batches of cholent on Friday night. While my sister made bagels, I peeled and chopped. She started browning meat while I wrapped wontons, and then I took over. When we went to bed everything was ready to go. tigerlily_blue rose early on Saturday and loaded the slow cookers up in the dining room to preserve space on the kitchen counters. As counter space opened up and guests arrived we moved the slow cookers into the kitchen; we hit the 12 hour mark toward the end of the soup course.
The cholent's delicious aroma filled the house long before it was done. When served it was thick and filling and had some gravy, which meant that it paired wonderfully with the knishes on the plate. We completely emptied one crock pot and made a dent in the other. I suspect that if we had not already served two ridiculously filling dishes with the knishes and kugel we probably would have had a lot of people going back for seconds. As it was, some was taken home and I had a substantial amount of leftover. I'll make this again one day.
Everybody was pretty much stuffed, but we still had two desserts to go...