The longer your compound capital, the less you need luck and the more you need Shrewdness.
- Manlobbi
Halls of Shrewd'm / US Policy❤
No. of Recommendations: 8
Too many serious thoughts - thought I'd take a rest.
Something I cooked up as a spread:
Jeff’s Charoset
Ingredients Makes 2 1/2 cups
Prepare fruit in advance:
1/2 cup dried dates, chopped (soaked 3-4 hours or overnight in wine)
4 dried figs, chopped (soaked 3-4 hours or overnight in wine)
½ cup raisins (soaked 3-4 hours or overnight in wine)
½ cup (3 ounces) dried apricots, chopped (soaked 3-4 hours or overnight in wine)
½ cup +/- sweet red wine
½ large-size crisp sweet apple, peeled, cored, and cut into eighths
1/2 cup walnuts, chopped
1/2 cup almonds, chopped
1/8 teaspoon pepper
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1 1/8” wide x 1” diameter slice of ginger root
1. Combine the apples, dates, raisins, apricots, and figs in a small bowl. Fill with wine until fruit is covered. Cover bowl with plastic wrap and refrigerate for at least a few hours (overnight is better).
2. Hand chop the nuts a bit and add the rest of the ingredients (not the soaked fruit) to a food processor and pulse until slightly chunky.
3. Leaving the excess wine behind, put the soaked fruit into the food processor and pulse until all is blended, leaving the nuts a bit chunky.
As a reward for a job well done, drink the leftover wine/fruit syrup.
This is best served the day it’s made, but it will keep, covered, in the refrigerator for up to 7 days (the nuts will soften after the first day).
Enjoy,
Jeff
No. of Recommendations: 2
Charoset was one of the things I was introduced to when I married a Jewish woman. At the Seder, it was the high point for me before the "festive meal." The year before my mom-in-law became very ill and went into hospice Andi and I made chicken soup together with her on Christmas day. It really was a festive meal.
No. of Recommendations: 0
It seems like there are more recipes for charoset than there are countries in the world. This year I figured I'd shake things up by mixing it up a bit. It always includes fruit, nuts and wine, but these vary with the part of the world. The apple was a nod to my family's eastern European heritage, the dates and raisons to Sephardic culture, the apricots from Turkey and the figs from Yemen. Some countries use pistachios or pinoles, but I find that walnuts contribute a bit of astringency and almonds a bit of crispness. Those recipes which use dried dates generally hydrate them by simmering in water for 20 minutes to two hours. My contribution was to chop them and "hydrate" them in wine overnight.
The results were pretty spectacular if I say so myself :-)
Jeff
No. of Recommendations: 10
Sounds nice, but to my personal taste I'd modify it a bit. Skip the nuts and fruit, and spices, and drink the wine : )
Here's a recipe local to this region, for Limoncello, traditional after-meal beverage in the part of Italy near here:
Put the zest (but not pith) of 12 lemons in a litre of pure alcohol, typically 95%. Vodka does not work as as substitute, as it isn't concentrated enough to pull the flavours.
(if possible use organic lemons, as the peels of commercial ones are not always regulated as being edible goods, with consequences for the selection of tree treatment chemicals)
Let sit covered for a week, maybe two.
Make a syrup of 1 litre of water and 1 kg sugar. Heat gently to get it to dissolve, then let cool.
Strain the zest/alcohol mixture and mix it with the syrup, which will make it turn cloudy.
Bottle. Serve straight up, ice cold in tiny thick glasses from the freezer, after a meal.
It won't go bad as such, but will taste best in the first few months.
Jim
