Parvelicious

I thought I would post some parve recipe ideas,including a recipe for skordalia, a garlicky Greek potato dip that I crave around Pesach.


Potato Skordalia - 2 cups

2 large potatoes
5-6 cloves garlic
1 c. fresh Italian parsley
1/2 c. olive oil
3 tblsp vinegar or lemon juice (to taste)
Salt and black pepper to taste

Boil the potatoes in their jackets. Peel garlic and crush finely. When potatoes are tender but not mush, peel and cut into small pieces. Place potatoes, garlic, parsely and halfor the oil and vinegar/lemon juice in a blender or food processor. Blend for 3 minutes. Adjust taste by adding more oil, salt, vinegar/juice, salt and pepper. Blend until smooth. We like this on matzoh, roast turkey, veggies. The flavor gets more intense the next day.

Tembleque
(coconut custard dessert)

Ingredients:
(serves 8 or more)

(A)
1 13.5 oz can coconut milk
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 cup cornstarch
1/4 tsp salt
(B)
1 tsp vanilla flavor

Procedure:

Blend all ingredients included in (A) thoroughly. Cook in a saucepan over medium heat, stirring continuously, until it thickens. Add the vanilla, stir and remove from heat.

Pour in individual dessert cups or a shallow dish. Cover and refrigerate for several hours or overnight. Sprinkle with ground cinnamon or ground nutmeg when serving.



Cranberry Crunch

2 c bran flakes cereal
3/4 c. packed brown sugar
1/2 c. flour
1/2 c. shredded coconut
1/3 c. non-dairy margerine
2 c whole cranberry sauce - canned or homemade
1 tsp lemon juice

Mix bran flakes, sugar, flour and coconut. Cut in margarine. Spread 1/2 mixture in pan. Mix cranberry sauce and lemon juice and spread over mixture in pan. Top with remaining mixture. Bake 20-30 min @ 350 f. Cut into squares.

Rhubarb crisp:

1 c flour
3/4 c. rolled oats
1 c brown sugar
1/2 c. melted veg shortening
1 tsp nutmeg
1 tsp cinnamon
3 tblsp. slivered almonds (if desired)
2 tsp vanilla
1 c. sugar
2 tblsp. cornstarch
1/2 c. water
4 c. fresh or frozen cut-up rhubarb.

Mix first 6 ingredients until crumbly. Combine remaining ingredients (except almonds) in another bowl. Press half of the crumbs into a 9" pan. Add rhubarb mixture. Top with remaining crumbs and almonds. Bake 1 hr @ 350.

Peachy

We had hopes to get over to Southern Michigan and get some Redhaven peaches, which are my absolute favorite peaches from childhood. In fact, my grandparents had been given a peach tree - and its fruit - from a grateful client, and I can remember going with Mamere to collect the sweet deep yellow peaches with our old Volkswagen. It was always a fight between us and the wasps - they wanted those sugary juices as much as we did!

Mamere used to can the peaches whole with spices and occasionally make peach jam. Myself, I cut and freeze the peaches and use some for peach brandy. I was fortunate this year to get hold of two crates of Georgia peaches - "Sun Prince" - a freestone variety that was new to me. Personally, I much prefer clingstone varieties for preserving whole - which is what I do with the brandy - and even for eating, as I find them sweeter and more able to hold their shape. But these were perfectly acceptable.

There are a number of ways to make peach brandy, and perhaps what I am making is better understood as "brandied peaches".
Preserving fruit in alcohol has the advantage of using less sugar than other methods - and you get some nice brandy or liqueur. Last year, I went for sweet, but this year, I followed an older family recipe which is something like this:

Brandied Peaches

Peaches
Sugar
Water
Brandy
Vanilla (optional, to be mixed with the brandy)

Measure the peaches by weight and take half their weight in sugar and put it in a large pot. Then measure the peaches by volume and take that amount of water and add it to the sugar. Make a simple sugar syrup and then allow to cool completely. Skin the peaches and place whole fruit in acidulated water. Place the cool peaches in the cold syrup and allow to cook until the peaches are just soft. Place the peaches in a large jar, leaving 2" of headroom - or several small ones - and reserve the syrup. Cover the peaches completely with brandy and place a cover on the jar(s). Let stand for 10 days. At the end of 10 days, drain off the brandy and reserve it. Cover the peaches again with the reserved sugar syrup, leaving 2" to the top of the peaches. Top off those 2" with enough brandy to completely cover the peaches. Store in a cool dark place for 6mos or as long as you can resist.