Cooking

Feeding people; It’s a Mitzvah

Sonya Verlaque
FCC Culinary Arts Student

My kids just started school and I think I made a mom friend. We moved to the area 4 years ago, and this is new. She told me she was having surgery this week - and so I offered to bring her family dinner tonight. I love cooking, I love feeding people but suddenly at the store I felt nervous. Will she like it? Will she still be my friend? I must make everything from scratch! I must buy all organic everything! I must…stop. If she brought pizza for my family when I was sick, I would be over the moon delighted. So, I paused. I will do some homemade, some store bought, something that was my regular go to for feeding people that I know works.

I married into a Jewish family and it fit perfectly with our Italian family. Welcome to our home, let me fix you a plate. I will pack you a snack before you go. I find that a lot of cultures also work like this. You’re happy, you’re sad, someone is born, someone dies, a holiday, an ordinary day; food and love are centered. I have grown to love the word Mitzvah, the good act of human kindness beyond requirement. So, the littlest little and I made food for another family today. We celebrate our neighbors and friends, and how we can serve them. These are some portable recipes to feed your neighbors through the cold season.

French Onion Beef Sliders

• 24 slider buns
• 8 tbs (1 stick) butter, divided
• 2 large sweet onions, sliced
• 2 pounds ground beef
• 2 tbs beef base (such as Better than Boullion), divided
• 1 tbs Worcestershire sauce, divided
• Kosher salt and black pepper, to taste
• 12–16 ounces gruyere or swiss cheese, shredded
• 2 tbs sesame seeds
• 1 tbs fresh thyme
• 1 tps onion powder
• 1 tps garlic powder

Preparations: Melt 2 tbss of the butter in a skillet over medium heat. Add in the onions and reduce the heat to medium low. Cook, stirring occasionally, until lightly caramelized, about 25-30 minutes. In a large bowl, mix the ground beef with half of the beef base and half of the Worcestershire sauce. Season with salt and pepper. Add the beef to the skillet full of onions. Increase heat to medium-high and brown the beef, breaking it up and mixing with the onions as you go. Once browned, drain off excess grease. Preheat the oven to 350EF. Lightly grease a large baking sheet. Separate the tops from the bottoms of the slider buns. Fit the slider bottom buns tightly on the baking sheet. Evenly distribute the beef and onion mixture over the bottom buns. Top with the gruyere cheese. Cover with the top buns. In a microwave safe bowl, melt the butter with the remaining beef base. Stir in the remaining Worcestershire sauce and continue to mix until well-combined. Using a pastry brush, brush the beefy butter mixture over the top buns. Sprinkle with the sesame seeds, thyme, onion powder, and garlic powder. Bake the sliders until the cheese is fully melted and the tops of the rolls are lightly browned, about 20 minutes

Chilled Asparagus Salad

Ingredients:

• 1 pound asparagus, woody ends cut off
• 1 tps orange zest
• 1/4 cup fresh orange juice
• 2 tbs fresh lemon juice
• 1 tbs dijon mustard
• 2 tps white wine vinegar
• 1 tbs extra virgin olive oil
• 2 tps maple syrup or honey
• Kosher salt and fresh ground black pepper to taste

Preparations: Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil. Add in the asparagus and cook for 2 minutes. Immediately remove the asparagus and place it into an ice bath. Once the asparagus has cooled remove it from the water, blot it dry with a towel, and place it in a large bowl. In a glass measuring cup combine the remaining ingredients and whisk together to form the citrus vinaigrette. Pour the desired amount of vinaigrette over the asparagus and toss to coat. Cover and refrigerate until ready to serve, then top with a little more salt and pepper.

Perfect Scones

This is the base for any scone flavor or add ins. The key to the scone is do not over mix them and chill before baking so they puff up instead of spread out.

Ingredients:

• 2 cups (250g) all-purpose flour (spoon & leveled), plus more for hands and work surface
• 1/2 cup (100g) granulated sugar
• 1/2 tps salt
• 2 and 1/2 tps baking powder
• 1/2 cup (1 stick; 115g) unsalted butter, frozen
• 1/2 cup (120ml) heavy cream or buttermilk (plus 2 tbs for brushing)
• 1 large egg
• 1 and 1/2 tps pure vanilla extract
• 1–1.5 cups add-ins such as chocolate chips, berries, nuts, dried fruit

Preparations: Whisk flour, sugar, salt, and baking powder together in a large bowl. Grate the frozen butter using a box grater. Add it to the flour mixture and combine with a pastry cutter, or two forks until the mixture comes together in pea-sized crumbs. Place in the refrigerator as you mix the wet ingredients together. Whisk heavy cream, the egg, and vanilla extract together in a small bowl. Drizzle over the flour mixture, add the add-ins, then mix together until everything appears moistened. Pour half of the mix onto the counter and, with floured hands, work dough into a ball as best you can. Dough will be sticky. Press into a 5-inch discs and cut each into 8 wedges, then do again with the other half of the dough. Place scones on a plate or lined baking sheet and refrigerate for 15 minutes. Meanwhile, preheat oven to 400EF (204EC). Brush scones with remaining heavy cream and for extra crunch, sprinkle with coarse sugar. Line a large baking sheet with parchment paper or silicone baking mat. After refrigerating, arrange scones 2-3 inches apart on the prepared baking sheet. Bake for 18-20 minutes or until golden brown around the edges and lightly browned on top. Larger scones take closer to 25 minutes. Remove from the oven and cool for a few minutes. Leftover scones keep well at room temperature for 2 days or in the refrigerator for 5 days.