Kipful

Kipful
Kipful is a Christmas family recipe from Bridget’s family (German side). I’ll leave it to her  –
ingredients
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  • Open all the packages of butter & cream cheese & let them get to room temperature.  Put 1 cup of flour & the salt in the mix master, start dropping in the butter bars one at a time & finish with the cream cheese, then the second cup of flour (I don’t really think the order matters, but that’s the ritual )  I generally triple the recipe – making it one batch at a time & putting each batch when it’s finished into a big bowl.  Put in refrigerator until firm – usually over night.mixing
  • Prep: Preheat a 450 degree oven.
  • Clear 3 counter spaces – one for flour & rolling out the dough, one for the tray you are loading (do not put on top of stove as this is too hot and the dough melts), and one for powdered sugar when they come out.  Leave a space to put the hot tray down & then make a bed of powdered sugar which you will drop the Kipfuls onto when they are still hot.   You want one spatula for the dough and a separate one for the powdered sugar.
  • Get your containers ready by lining them with foil or wax paper or whatever you like and sift a layer of powdered sugar into the bottom of each of them.   I generally do all this prep the night before.filling
  • Carve out a double handful of dough and put the rest back in the refrigerator.  Dust your hands with flour & sprinkle a copious amount on the counter.  It’s hard as a rock, so just bear down – try to keep it as close to a rectangle as you can get – then use a table knife to slice 3” squares.  Use two teaspoons & put a blob of raspberry preserves in the middle of each square.  Use the spatula to slide one square free & then pull the diagonal corners up to the middle & squeeze the sides together.
  • Into oven & start on next batch of dough.  Be sure to check to see if they are turning brown before finishing the 2nd
  • When they are slightly browned, take tray to powdered sugar station & carefully spatula them right side up on to the bed of sugar.  Sift more sugar on top.  You can now go back & finish the 2nd When it is in the oven, the finished Kipful should be ready to move to your containers.  Put a layer of wax paper between each layer to keep them separated.
  • This recipes should make about 50 kipfuls. Serve cold.

          – Bridget


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Spezzatino con Piselli

Spezzatino con Piselli

Spezzatino (pronounced spet-tsa-tino) is Italian for stew and in this case it’s veal stew with peas.

veal-stew

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Bring veal to room temperature and season with salt and pepper. Lightly brown it in olive oil and remove from the pot. Add more oil, and sauté a chopped onion with S&P until it starts to brown. Add tomato paste and stir with onions until it darkens. Add the potatoes, S&P and fry lightly. Add the rosemary, beef stock and deglaze the pot. 20161207_174310

Return the browned meat, stir and simmer uncovered for ½ hour. Check for seasoning. Add the peas and wine and simmer for another ½ hour. 20161207_182006


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Arthur Avenue, The Bronx

Arthur Avenue, The Bronx
Arthur Avenue is the Bronx’s Little Italy’s shopping street. A few tourists find their way there but most of the shoppers on Arthur Avenue know what they’re buying and intend to take it home and make a meal of it. The Arthur Avenue food stores sell products that you can’t get just anywhere. And they’re products that are necessary for an Italian kitchen.
Last week my sister Nicki and I went to pick up a few things. We came home with bacalla, liver sausage, soprasade, olive oil, ricotta salada, fruselle, biscotti, tripe, and some very fresh fruit  and vegatables. There aren’t many places where you can get all that within a block or two. Plus we snacked on clams on the half-shell, ate lunch at a great restaurant (Emilia’s) and later got some fresh baked sfogliatelle and espresso.

 

cosenza

Cosenza’s Fish Market – sidewalk raw bar


calabria

Calabria Pork Store – dried and fresh sauage


teitel-bros

Teitel Brothers


madonia-s
Medonia Brother’s Bakery


biabcardi

Biancardi’s Butcher


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Arthur Avenue Retail Market


One of the results of our shopping trip on Arthur Ave.20161204_180655


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Berry Cake

 Berry Cake

Berry Cake
This recipe is adapted from Bon Appetit’s ricotta raspberry cake. It’s easy and the prep method is similar to Annabel’s Apple Cake, Annabel’s Orange Cake and The New York Times Original Plum Torte.  Very good – for desert or breakfast.
berry-cake

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Preheat oven to 350°. Grease a 9” cake pan with butter and lightly coat with flour.
Beat eggs in a large bowl then add the ricotta. Mix until it’s smooth. Add the flour, sugar, baking powder and salt. Mix until it’s smooth, then add the butter and mix some more.
Add the berries last (leaving out about a handful) and carefully mix them in without mashing them too much. Pour the whole mix into the pan and place the remaining berries on top. Bake cake until light golden brown, about 50-60 minutes.

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