Too often, Jewish recipes have too much salt, fat, sugar, and processed foods and lack whole grains and fresh ingredients. But now, Paula Shoyer, a best-selling author, has released her newest cookbook, The Healthy Jewish Kitchen: Fresh Contemporary Recipes for Every Occasion, a delicious new take on Jewish cooking.
In each of Paula’s recipes she uses only natural ingredients and offers a fresh, nutrient-dense spin on every dish. Here you’ll find very little frying, and no margarine, frozen puff pastry, soup stocks and powders, or most jarred sauces. More than 80 recipes include both Sephardic and Ashkenazic Jewish classics (Israeli Herb and Almond Salad, Sourdough Challah, Tzimmes Puree, Potato and Scallion Latkes, Schnitzel with Nut Crust) as well as American and international dishes that extend beyond the Jewish culinary world.
“This is a cookbook about wellness. I developed these recipes while caring for my 91-year-old diabetic father,” Shoyer explains. “My goal was to create meals that use only natural ingredients and are gluten-free where possible. This cookbook is a way for home cooks to start eating better. Good nutrition is about balance and finding a way to introduce more healthful food into an everyday diet as often as possible.”
Potato And Scallion Latkes With Pickled Applesauce
Pareve, Gluten-free, Vegetarian, Passover, Serves 6
Everyone loves potato latkes but no one likes the mess of frying them—or the guilt associated with eating them. These latkes are baked in the oven and easily won over my kids. You do need to watch them so they do not burn; they were done at different times in different ovens. The pickled applesauce is basically a tangy-spicy applesauce, which we also eat with schnitzel.
Prep Time: 10 minutes
Cook Time: 20–25 minutes
Advance Prep: Latkes may be made two days in advance and reheated in the oven or frozen; applesauce may be made four days in advance.
Equipment: Cutting board, knife, vegetable brush, measuring cups and spoons, citrus juicer, vegetable peeler, 2 jelly-roll pans, food processor, medium bowl, box grater, wooden spoon, oven mitts, slotted spatula, small saucepan with lid, immersion blender
Ingredients:
Latkes
- 2 Tbsp. sunflower or safflower oil, or more if needed
- ½ medium onion, quartered
- 3 scallions, ends trimmed, cut into thin slices or chopped into small pieces
- 3 medium potatoes (about 1½ lbs.), scrubbed clean and unpeeled
- 2 tsp. fresh lemon juice
- 2 large eggs
- ½ tsp. baking powder
- 2 Tbsp. potato starch
- ½ tsp. salt
- ¼ tsp. black pepper
Pickled Applesauce
- 1 tsp. sunflower or safflower oil
- ⅓ cup red onions, chopped into ¼-inch pieces
- 2 Tbsp. apple-cider vinegar
- 2 Tbsp. light-brown sugar
- 2 apples, peeled and cut into ½-inch cubes
- ¼ tsp. ground coriander
- ¼ tsp. ground ginger
- 1 cinnamon stick
- ¼ tsp. salt
- Pinch of black pepper
Directions:
To make the latkes, preheat the oven to 450°F. When the oven is hot, pour 2 tablespoons of oil onto 2 jelly-roll pans and turn them in every direction so that the oil coats the pans. Heat the pans in the oven for 5 minutes.
Place the onions and scallions in the bowl of a food processor and chop them into small pieces. Place them in a medium bowl. Shred the potatoes by hand on the large holes of a box grater or in a food processor with the shredding blade, and place in the bowl. Add the lemon juice, eggs, baking powder, potato starch, salt, and pepper and mix well.
Very carefully (I mean really carefully; move very slowly) remove one of the pans and use your hands or a spoon to scoop up and drop clumps of the potato mixture, a little less than ¼ cup, onto the pan. I use my hands. Press the mixture down to flatten it a little.
Place the pan in the oven for 10 to 12 minutes and immediately remove the second oiled pan. Repeat the same process with the remaining potato mixture and bake the second pan of latkes for 10 to 12 minutes. Bake them until the edges are well-browned, and then with a slotted spatula turn them over and cook the latkes for another 8 to 10 minutes, or until the bottoms are browned.
Meanwhile, to make the applesauce, heat the oil in a small saucepan over medium heat. Add the onions and cook them for 3 minutes, until they soften. Add the vinegar and brown sugar and cook for another 3 minutes. Add the apples, coriander, ginger, cinnamon stick, salt, and pepper, and cook, covered, on low heat for 15 minutes, or until the apples are soft. Let the mixture cool for 10 minutes and then purée it, using an immersion blender or a food processor. Serve warm or cold.
Recipe reprinted from The Healthy Jewish Kitchen by Paula Shoyer Sterling Epicure/November 2017.
Paula Shoyer, known as “the kosher baker,” graduated with a pastry degree from the Ritz Escoffier in Paris, and does cooking and baking demos across the United States and around the world for Jewish organizations, synagogues, Jewish book festivals and more. She is the author of The Holiday Kosher Baker, The Kosher Baker, The New Passover Menu, and The Healthy Jewish Kitchen. Paula is a freelance writer for the Washington Post, Hadassah, Joy of Kosher, and Jewish Food Experience, among other publications. Paula competed on Food Network’s Sweet Genius and appears on TV before every major Jewish holiday. In 2015, Paula was honored by Jewish Women International as a “Woman to Watch.” She lives in Chevy Chase, Maryland, with her husband and four children.