My China's 1st Time

August 14th:

Welcome to Scrumptious Shabbat! I am a newly married wife who loves cooking Shabbat dinner for my husband and our guests.

This blog is different than your average Shabbat cooking blog. What makes this different is my husband is Ashkenazi and I am Sephardic and fusing our likes and dislikes is quite a challenge. Some weeks are successful and some weeks are a one-way street.

Please join me on my journey through my successes and mishaps.

Please email me if you have comments, questions or suggestions.

This Week’s Shabbat Menu:
Challah
Humus
Gefilte Fish Loaf
Wrapped Asparagus Radicchio
Bok Choy Slaw
Cilantro Rice
Chicken w/Olives, Red Wine and Prunes
Peach Berry Tart

This Week’s Shabbat Guests:
Jan, Steve and Rhonda Kruschen

This past Shabbat was my first Shabbat I was able to use my wedding china. Some might wonder why this was my first time. For those who knew my apartment in Santa Rosa, knew how much space was an issue. Therefore moving into a new apartment in So Cal I made sure to find the space for my china and an extra 100 sq ft of space didn’t hurt =P
I am my own critic. I’ll be the first to tell you that something either didn’t work or didn’t taste the best. Being a “new cook” I am aware I will make mistakes. I really try hard not to make mistakes, but always learn from my flubs.

Being new to So Cal I bought two different types of Challah from the Kosher Bazaar. One brand was Universal and the other brand was Unique. Universal was much sweeter, but Unique was a lot more doughier. Steve, Rhonda and Douglas all liked Unique and Jan and I liked Universal.

My Gefilte Fish was store bought. Until meeting Douglas I had never tried or was served Gefilte Fish at Shabbat. Therefore I bought the loaf and followed the directions on the package. The directions read to boil the fish in water for 1.5 hrs. Therefore that is what I did. After it cooled for a while I sliced the load like sushi rolls. As soon as I was done plating the fish, Douglas made a face. He quickly explained that I was to bake it before serving. Since he was the one eating it, I did as directed. But can someone tell me why it needed to be baked?

The rest of the food was self-explanatory. However this week’s cooking took me about 5 hours!! Usually I average out 3 hours, but anytime I cook using Kosher by Design by Susie Fishbein it takes me much longer. Susie’s style is very elegant and is all about presentation. This week I used her Lightens Up book. I really enjoy cooking from this book! My favorite recipe of the week has to be the scrumptious Wrapped Asparagus Radicchio. It was elegant looking and yummy tasting! I liked it so much I wanted more of it the following week.

Until next week,
Shabbat Shalom!