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Kavanot: cookbook

Thoughts on Tanach and the Davening

![Old man yells at clouds](/images/oldman.jfif)
--[The Old Man and the Key](https://www.dailydot.com/memes/old-man-yells-at-cloud-meme/)

##The Oblivious Curmudgeon Makes Food

What are you looking at? Just eat it! And get off my lawn!

You might be looking for:

- [Salatim](/Salatim)
- [Pesach cookbook](/cookbook-pesach) 
- [Rosh HaShana simanim](/simanim+5786)

###Butternut squash soup

In a 4-quart pot, heat on high:

3 tablespoons oil

Sauté until translucent:

4 onions, cubed

Continue sautéing until starting to caramelize, stirring occasionally, about twenty minutes.

Add:

2 tablespoons minced garlic

Stir and cook for a minute more

Add:

2 cups water<br/>
1 tablespoon salt<br/>
1 packet (1.2 ounces) pareve ranch dressing mix

Stir, bring to a boil and deglaze the pot.

Add:

2 medium butternut squash, about 5 pounds, cubed<br/>
3 cups water

Stir. Cover and simmer over low heat until very soft (at least an hour; I leave this on the stove and get back to it whenever I get a chance)

Puree with hand blender.

Add:

2 cups almond milk

Puree with hand blender at high speed.

If rewarming, stir constantly to make sure it doesn't scorch

**Ludicrously easy hack, if you have time:**

Preheat oven to 400&deg; F.

Bake whole, uncut butternut squashes for one hour.

Allow to cool enough to handle, then cut in half and spoon out seeds, then scoop out flesh to use in recipe rather than peeling and cubing. Roasted parts of the skin will peel away easily, so you don't even need to scoop.

**Roast garlic at the same time:**

Cut the tops off of:

2 whole heads of garlic

Wrap in foil and put in oven for last 45 minutes of baking.

Squeeze the garlic into the soup.

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###Strawberry soup

Blend in blender, in 4 batches,

3 pounds frozen strawberries, partly thawed (so they blend easily without being pureed)

Add a total of:

2 cups almond milk<br/>
2 cups orange juice

By adding one cup at a time to successive batches in the blender. <br/>
Add each batch to a large bowl and mix in:

1 cup sugar<br/>
2 teaspoons vanilla

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###London broil

Based on the first Bais Yaakov Cookbook recipe.

Whisk together:

1\/2 cup vegetable oil<br/>
1\/2 cup soy sauce<br/>
1\/2 cup honey<br/>
3 tablespoons fresh rosemary (or 1 tablespoon dried)<br/>
1 teaspoon fresh ground black pepper<br/>
1 teaspoon salt<br/>
3 tablespoons minced garlic

Score deeply on both sides:

1 London broil (about 2 pounds)

Marinate overnight (at least 4 hours)

Preheat broiler. Remove meat from marinade (reserve marinade) and broil 10 minutes on each side, to an internal temperature of 125° F. Allow to rest; temperature will rise to about 140° F.

Meanwhile, bring the marinade just to a boil in a small saucepan.

Allow the meat to cool to the touch, and slice thinly against the grain and pour marinade on top. Serve at room temperature.

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###Pad Thai-ish sauce

Whisk together:

3 tablespoons soy sauce<br/>
5 tablespoons light brown sugar<br/>
2 tablespoons rice vinegar<br/>
1\/2 tablespoon Sriracha hot sauce<br/>
2 tablespoons creamy peanut butter (or 2 tablespoons peanut powder, if you happen to have bought a huge jar of the stuff and never use it)<br/>
1 teaspoon sesame oil

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###Curried carrots

Slice into 1/4 inch rounds:

2 pounds carrots

Cook in boiling salted water (about a tablespoon of salt per quart) until fork-tender, about 7 minutes.

While cooking, whisk together:

1\/4 cup vinegar<br/>
1\/4 cup oil<br/>
1 tablespoon dried parsley<br/>
1-2 tablespoons curry powder<br/>
2 tablespoons minced garlic

Allow the parsley to re-hydrate.

Drain the carrots and rinse in cold water to stop cooking.

Mix with dressing. Chill.

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###Traitor Joe's Soy Ice Cream

Until Trader Joe's brings theirs back, this will have to do.

1 cup soy milk<br/>
1\/2 cup silken tofu<br/>
1 cup sugar<br/>
1 teaspoon vanilla (use real vanilla, not the artificial "flavor")<br/>
1\/4 teaspoon salt<br/>
1\/4 teaspoon xanthan gum

Process on high in food processor until smooth and sugar is dissolved.

Make in ice cream maker according to manufacturer's directions.

Freeze at least 2 hours to harden.

For coffee ice cream, add 1 tablespoon instant coffee (regular or decaf).

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###Mango Sherbet

This is even better than the Trader Joe's mango sorbet

Process on high in food processor until smooth

2 cups frozen mango chunks, thawed<br/>

Add

1 cup soy milk<br/>
1\/2 cup sugar<br/>
1\/2 teaspoon salt<br/>
1\/2 teaspoon xanthan gum

Process until smooth and sugar is dissolved.

Make in ice cream maker according to manufacturer's directions.

Freeze at least 2 hours to harden.

----

###Broccoli Kugel

The best part of this is all the fancy French cooking words

####Roux

Melt in a 2-quart saucepan, over medium heat:

2 tablespoons margarine

Add, stirring constantly:

2 tablespoons flour

Cook for two minutes.

####Béchamel

Add, stirring constantly

2 cups almond milk

Cook over low heat, whisking constantly to break up the lumps, for 2 minutes.

Allow to cool, enough that the eggs in the next step don't cook.

Whisk in a separate bowl:

2 eggs

Stir into béchamel sauce.

(Rather than wait for the sauce to cool, you can temper the eggs: whisk a tablespoon of the hot sauce at a time into the eggs, whisking constantly, until you've added a cup of sauce (6 tablespoons). Then add that into the sauce.)

Add:

1 packet (1 ounce) onion soup mix<br/>
1\/2 teaspoon salt (I don't think the soup mix has quite enough salt, but your mileage may vary)

####Mirepoix

Meanwhile, heat on high:

1 tablespoon oil

Add:

2 onions, diced<br/>
1 carrot, diced<br/>
1 stalk celery, diced

Cook on low heat until translucent and softened, not browned, 5 to 6 minutes

####Brunoise

Chop in in mixer with steel blade:

24 ounces frozen broccoli, thawed<br/>
Mirepoix vegetables

(this isn't a legitimate brunoise, of course. If you want to impress Julia Child, use a knife.)

####Kugel (or in French, kugel)

Preheat oven to 375° F.

Mix vegetables with sauce. Or, mélangez la brunoise avec la béchamel.

Generously spray 3 8-inch round pans (or one 9x13 pan) (or any baking pan you have handy) with:

Non-stick spray

Sprinkle bottom with:

Matzah meal

Coat the bottom of the pans then shake off the excess.

Pour the kugel mixture into the pans and bake for 75 minutes.

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##This Is Just Wrong

![SMBC Cooking](https://www.smbc-comics.com/comics/1573996670-20191117.png)
--SMBC, [_Cooking_](http://www.smbc-comics.com/comic/cooking)

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