3 Delicious Meals

05 Thursday Jan 2023

Posted by Bob and Robin in 5-Stars, Appetizers, Bacon, Blue Crab, Buy Local, Captain's Shack, Celebrations, Classic Cuisines, Comfort Food, Cooking Styles, Corn Bread, Crab, Ethnic Foods, Food - Jewish, Food Photos, Food Trivia, Ham, Hanukkah, Healthy Eating, History of Food, Housemade Soup, Idaho Potatoes, Jewish Food, Main Dish, Party Time, Photos By: Bob Young, Recipe - Jewish, Recipe - Soup, Recipe By: Captain's Shack, Recipe: Bob and Robin Young, Recipes, recipes appetizers, Rice, Special Information, What's For Dinner?

≈ 1 Comment

Tags

Blue Crab, chard, Crab Dip, hoppin' John, Latkes

captains-shack-pipe-signed-Walkway-LMP Over the past several weeks, we have made some really good meals. Potato Latkes for one (https://www.rockinrs.com/CS-Latkes.pdf), Hopping John, aka Hoppin’ John, (http://www.rockinrs.com/CS-Hopping-John.pdf) and an East Coast style Crab Dip (http://www.rockinrs.com/Marges-Crab-Dip.pdf). Potato latkes are a traditional Chanukah dish,Hoppin’ John is a traditional southern, New Year’s Day meal with ham hocks and black eyed peas (cow peas) and a superb East coast style crab dip. I do hope you enjoy these.

30Dec2022_1_Captains Shack_Latkes Frying

From Chabad.com we learn that,

“Latke (pronounced LOT-keh, LOT-kah or LOT-kee) is Yiddish for “pancake.” On Chanukah, it is traditional to serve latkes (most often potato) fried in oil to celebrate the Chanukah miracle, which involved the oil of the Temple menorah lasting for eight days instead of just one. Those of the Jewish faith, eat foods that reflect the significance of a holiday—such as matzah on Passover and apples dipped in honey on Rosh Hashanah and Chanukah is no exception. For at least the last thousand years, Jews have traditionally eaten oily foods on Chanukah.” In other words, it’s tradition.

5Jan2023_1_Captains Shack_Hoppin John Cooks

Hoppin’ John, on the other hand, is a traditional southern United States dish that is usually eaten on New Year’s Day to bring good luck. The recipe, although not totally like this one, dates back to the early 1800s and is made with ham, or ham hocks, black eyed peas (cow peas), rice, bacon and collard greens, or if you want spinach or rainbow chard. The first written recipe appeared in “the Carolina Housewife” in 1847. It was written by Charlestonian Sarah Rutledge.

5Jan2023_1b_Captains Shack_Marge Crab Dip

This third dish is actually an appetizer. We originally had it at the home of my brother and his wife. I love it! Full of blue crab and I have added the salad shrimp and green onion. It is probably best to make it and then refrigerate it for a while so as to let all the flavors “marry”. Chilling after making, brings out the sweetness and flavor of the blue crab. Chilling brings out the Taste of The Sea, Goût de la mer.

I hope you try some, or all, of these recipes. All are good and fun to prepare, even though the Hoppin’ John is a little involved to make, but not impossible.

Happy Hanukkah!

16 Tuesday Dec 2014

Posted by Bob and Robin in Apple, Captain's Shack, Comfort Food, Cooking Styles, Hanukkah, Holiday Menu, Jewish, Jewish Food, Party Time, Photos By: Bob Young, Potatoes, Recipe by: Robin and Bob Young, Recipes, Sweet Potato, What's For Dinner?, Zucchini

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

Hanukkah, Jewish food

And what better to say Happy Hanukkah than to make some Potato Latkes! A pretty basic recipe: Shredded potatoes and onion, Matzo Meal, eggs and salt and pepper and vegetable oil (Crisco). Just remember to squeeze the water from the potatoes. Add all in a large bowl and mix by hand. Make patties and fry in hot oil until golden brown. Serve with applesauce and sour cream. You can add anything to the basic mix: shredded zucchini, shredded sweet potato or shredded apple. Use your imagination. Instead of sour cream, try a little Mascarpone. I even used a Berry/Apple Sauce – see below. Try them for breakfast with a poached egg on top.
So now the question: What is Hanukkah? This from Wikipedia,

Hanukkah (/ˈhɑːnəkə/ hah-nə-kə; Hebrew: חֲנֻכָּה, Tiberian: Ḥănukkāh, usually spelled חנוכה, pronounced [χanuˈka] in Modern Hebrew; a transliteration also romanized as Chanukah or Chanukkah), also known as the Festival of Lights, Feast of Dedication, is an eight-day Jewish holiday commemorating the rededication of the Holy Temple (the Second Temple) in Jerusalem at the time of the Maccabean Revolt against the Seleucid Empire of the 2nd century BCE. Hanukkah is observed for eight nights and days, starting on the 25th day of Kislev according to the Hebrew calendar, which may occur at any time from late November to late December in the Gregorian calendar.
The festival is observed by the kindling of the lights of a unique candelabrum, the nine-branched menorah or hanukiah, one additional light on each night of the holiday, progressing to eight on the final night. The typical menorah consists of eight branches with an additional visually distinct branch. The extra light is called a shamash (Hebrew: שמש‎, “attendant”) and is given a distinct location, usually above or below the rest. The purpose of the shamash is to have a light available for practical use, as using the Hanukkah lights themselves for purposes other than publicizing and meditating upon Hanukkah is forbidden.
Other Hanukkah festivities include playing dreidel and eating oil based foods such as doughnuts and latkes.
Hanukkah became more widely celebrated beginning from the 1970s, when Rabbi Menachem M. Schneerson called for public awareness of the festival and encouraged the lighting of public menorahs.