In the Kitchen with Henny: Simply Shabbat

It’s summer and we’re all busy juggling more, now that the kids are home – unless they are at my camp, cooking with me, which keeps me even busier. We’re also trying to make the most of our days off and don’t want to spend all Friday in the kitchen. 

Shabbat is a precious gift we love to make special, but that doesn’t mean we need to exhaust ourselves. The whole “less is more” concept works perfectly here. Keep Shabbat simple and delicious with these easy recipes. You’ll thank me when you are enjoying your Fridays at the beach, the shuk, or having coffee with a friend.

The Perfect Challah

I’ve been through about half a dozen challah recipes in the last 35 years, but this one has been the easiest and is always consistently delicious. The recipe does not call for eggs, but you’d never know it from the taste, and it’s made with dry yeast that you don’t even have to proof.

This delicious challah recipe was shared with me by my sister, who got it from the book A Legendary Mother to All about Rebbetzin Kanievsky. This was her recipe.

I use the pre-sifted 80% whole wheat flour, but white flour works wonderfully too.

Yields 6 challot.

• 2 kilos flour
• 1 Tbsp. salt
• 3 Tbsp. dry yeast
• ½ cup sugar
• ½ cup honey/date honey 
• 1 cup oil
• 4-5 cups very warm water

Egg wash:

• 1 egg, beaten

In a mixing bowl, first place the salt, then the flour, yeast, sugar, honey, oil, and water. Begin mixing (with a dough hook in the mixer; or a large sturdy spoon if by hand) and make sure all the flour gets mixed in well. If it is too dry, slowly add more warm water. Mix for about five minutes until all ingredients are combined and the batter is smooth. 

At this point, we take a piece of dough to separate for hafrashat challah with a blessing; contact your rabbi or rabbanit on how to perform this mitzvah. 

Cover the dough with a towel or a large plastic bag and let rise for about 90 minutes. Then punch it down and let it rise for another half hour.

Roll, braid, and shape the challahs, placing them on a baking sheet lined with baking paper. Let rise for 20-30 minutes. Preheat oven to 170°C/350°F.

Brush with egg wash, and sprinkle with sesame/poppy seeds. 

Larger challot need about 30-40 minutes; smaller challot and rolls need around 20-30 minutes.

Mommy’s Roast Chicken

My mother is an amazing cook and creates delectable foods for Shabbat while keeping them simple and easy. I grew up eating this finger-licking (although not at the table) roast chicken every Friday night, and we would enjoy any leftovers the next day. 

I remember clearing off the dining room table and carrying our empty plates into the kitchen, where my mother would take a piece of challah and soak up some of the chicken juice left in the roasting pan with the caramelized onions. It was a real treat.

• 1 whole chicken or cut into quarters with skin
• 1 large onion, sliced 
• 1 tsp. paprika
• 1 tsp. garlic powder
• 1 tsp. onion powder
• Dash of black pepper

Preheat oven to 175°C/350°F. In a roasting pan, spread out the sliced onions, then place the chicken on top and season with spices. Cover the pan and let cook for an hour and a half. Then uncover and use a spoon to baste the chicken with the juices that have collected at the bottom of the pan. Let cook uncovered for 30 minutes, until tender.

Classic Potato Kugel

I have an addiction – there, I said it. I absolutely love potato kugel, more than the average human, and I can’t just have one piece! It’s in my DNA from both grandmothers who made outstanding potato kugels, week after week without fail. 

We’re a potato kugel family, what can I say? My Aunt Debbie in Brooklyn is so famous for her potato kugel, that people stop by her house on any given Friday and she will hand them a large pan of potato kugel for Shabbos. And my Uncle Chaim, here in Jerusalem, has about a dozen potato kugels cooking in his oven every Friday, and he too gives them out to anyone who shows up to visit. 

OK, so now you’re getting the picture about my potato kugel obsession. Every Friday, I make one (or two or three) for Shabbat, and one smaller one for a “knip kugel” to have on Friday as we prepare for Shabbat.

Yields 20cm x 30cm pan.

• 8-10 potatoes, peeled
• 1 large onion (or 2 small)
• 4 eggs
• 2 tsp. salt
• ½ tsp. pepper
• ½ cup of oil
  Preheat oven to 200°C/400°F. Using a food processor with a grating blade or a small shredder blade, grate the potatoes and onion, one at a time. If the processor bowl fills up, transfer the grated mixture to a clean, dry bowl before continuing with the remaining potatoes. 

Pour oil into a pan and place it in the preheated oven for a few minutes to heat up. Once all the potatoes and onion are grated, add the eggs, salt, and pepper to the bowl and mix well. Carefully remove the heated pan of oil from the oven and pour in the potato kugel mixture. 

Set a timer for 10 minutes, then adjust the oven settings to 190°C/375°F and bake for an additional 40-50 minutes.

Classic Almond Cake

This cake is amazing not only due to its taste but also because of how easy it is to prepare and pop into the oven. No matter how often guests or friends have tasted this, they keep requesting it over and over again! It’s easy, foolproof, and freezes really well.

Yields one Bundt pan or 2 loaf pans.

• 2 cups flour
• 1¾ cups sugar
• 2 tsp. baking powder
• 4 eggs
• 2/3 cup oil
• ¾ cup orange juice
• 1 package vanilla pudding mix (1 cup)
• 1½ tsp almond extract
• ½ cup water
• Dash of salt

Glaze:

• 1½ cups icing sugar
• 1 Tbsp. orange juice
• 1 tsp. almond extract
• 1 Tbsp. water

Preheat oven to 170°C/350°F degrees.

Place all the ingredients in a mixer bowl and mix well.

Bake in a greased tubular or Bundt pan for 50-60 minutes until the top bounces back up when lightly pressed.

Let the cake cool, then turn it upside down onto a cake plate.

For the glaze: Mix all the glaze ingredients in a small bowl. The consistency should not be too watery but should be able to be drizzled over the cake. Drizzle and let the magic appear!

Wishing all my readers a wonderful Shabbat of peace and simplicity with good friends and delicious food prepared with lots of love and little effort. 

The writer is a kitchen coach who teaches women how to get dinner on the table and prepare for Shabbat and Chag on time. inthekitchenwithhenny.com/