Six days down and two to go. The eight-day Passover holiday is nearly over and we’ve run through our cookies and our brownies and our sponge cakes. Time to make macaroons. I grew up thinking of macaroons (as opposed to the French macaron) as Passover cookies. My mother would buy a couple of cans of macaroons (one coconut, one chocolate… and yes, I said cans) every year with her Passover groceries. Even today, when the Passover food displays appear in the grocery store, the predominant sweet lining the shelves is macaroons. And then — they disappear. Poof!

There’s no rational reason for that, of course. Macaroons can be enjoyed all year-round, and flavored to suit your tastes and the season. They’re also entirely gluten-free. My adult tastebuds were asking for something a little different, this year – a little fresher and less cloying. My eyes landed on a pile of fresh limes I’d just bought, and I thought, “Aha! What’s a more natural pairing with coconut, than lime?” And so, the Coconut Lime Macaroon was born:

Coconut Lime Macaroons
(Makes 20-24 large-ish cookies)

Ingredients:

4 large egg whites
pinch of salt
1-1/4 cups sugar
8 oz. (by weight) fine almond meal
7 oz. (by weight) unsweetened dried coconut
Grated zest and juice of 1 large (or 2 smaller) limes

Preparation:

Preheat the oven to 350º F. Prepare 2 cookie sheets by either lining with parchment paper or silicone liners.

In a large glass or metal bowl, beat the egg whites and salt until stiff. While continuing to beat, add the sugar in 4 parts.

Fold in the almond meal, coconut, and lime zest and juice, continuing to fold until everything is completely incorporated. There should be no streaks of whites and you should have a very thick, scoopable batter.

Mound by tablespoonfuls (I used a scoop 2” across) onto the prepared pans, about 1/2″ apart, and bake for 18-20 minutes.

Allow to cool completely on the pans.

Notes:

If you can’t find unsweetened dried coconut (got mine at Whole Foods in the nut/snack aisle), you can use the usual sweetened coconut that you find in the baking section of your grocery store. Just reduce the sugar to between 3/4 cup – 1 cup. I think this makes the macaroons less cloyingly sweet and you don’t have big shreds of coconut to deal with. Your choice.

No almond meal? Just weigh out 8 oz. of blanched almonds and run them through the food processor until they’re finally ground. No need to sift as you might for French macarons.

The lime really enhances the flavor of the almond and coconut, while at the same time cutting the sweetness a bit and adding a fresh note.

These Coconut Lime Macaroons are such a hit around here (my husband said they were the best I’ve ever made), that I’m adding them to the roster of treats I’m making for our National Food Bloggers Bake Sale, benefiting Share Our Strength / No Kid Hungry.

If you’re in the South Florida / Miami area on May 14th, I hope you’ll come out and join me and our roster of fabulous South Florida food bloggers and baking talent, at Fairchild Tropical Botanic Garden – one of my favorite spots on Earth! We’ll have wonderful treats, both sweet and savory, and an incredible Raffle – all to raise money to feed hungry children here in the U.S. Click here to get more information or to donate.

Last night I made an old favorite for supper: lentil barley soup with mushrooms. Living in South Florida, we don’t get much of an opportunity – or inclination – to eat much in the way of hearty soups of the bean-mushroom-barley persuasion. We rarely need to warm up that much! But I’ve had a yen for mushroom barley soup, lately. I was just waiting for our temps to drop enough to justify it. The cooking lentils, pearl barley, and potatoes act as natural thickeners, and give this soup lots of texture and substance. It really is a meal in a bowl!

When I was growing up in Ohio, my Mom used to make a lot of bean/lentil/mushroom/barley soups in the winter. Her soups always had a meat base, usually gotten from throwing a big old beef bone or two into the pot. While not vegetarian by any stretch, I was never really a big meat-eater, either. And modern times being what they are, I live in the wrong end of town to have much access or choices in the kosher meat department. So, my version is completely vegan*, low-fat, and a real budget-stretcher, too.

Mom called her soup, krupnik. No, I don’t know what it means, but it doesn’t sound terribly appetizing, does it? I suppose it would be sexier to call it soupe aux légumes du potager avec champignons et orge – or something – but for now, let’s stick with Lentil Mushroom Barley Soup, okay?

Lentil Mushroom Barley Soup

Ingredients:

3/4 cup lentils
1/2 cup pearl barley
2 Tbs. vegetable oil
1 medium onion, coarsely chopped
4 cloves garlic, chopped fine
1/4 tsp. kosher salt
4 – 5 thin carrots, peeled & cut into 1″ – 1-1/2″ pieces
1/2 cup mushroom slices
4 cups vegetable broth
4 cups water
3 bay leaves
3 – 4 medium potatoes, peeled & cut into 1-1/2″ pieces
2 Tbs. worcestershire sauce* (I used Oxford Falls Vegan, Gluten-Free Worcestershire Sauce)
freshly ground black pepper (optional)

Preparation:

Put the lentils and pearl barley into a strainer or sieve, and rinse under cold water for about 30 seconds. Allow to drain.

Heat the oil over medium heat in a 6-quart pot. Add the onions, garlic, and salt. Sweat the vegetables until the onions are translucent and softened. Add the carrots and mushrooms, and cook for an additional 5 minutes.

Add the lentils and barley, vegetable broth, water, and bay leaves, stir, and bring the soup to a boil. Cover and reduce heat to medium-low, and simmer for 30 minutes.

Now add the potatoes, worcestershire sauce, and pepper (if using) stir, cover, and simmer for an additional 30 minutes. You may need to raise the heat briefly after adding the cold potatoes, but as soon as the soup begins to boil again, reduce it back down to medium-low. Taste and adjust seasoning, if necessary, and remember to remove the bay leaves before serving.

Notes:

Unlike most other beans, lentils don’t need to be soaked or softened before cooking, so they’re very convenient to have around for what I call “cooking by the seat of my pants”, and they’re packed with protein and other good stuff.

This recipe is a real time saver, if you choose to make it several days ahead of time and refrigerate it. While it’s very flavorful and satisfying immediately after cooking, making the soup ahead of time allows the flavors to meld and deepen. You can also freeze it for later use. Now that’s planning! Which I don’t. Usually. Oh, and if you’re really in a hurry, go ahead and use a couple of 4 oz. cans of mushrooms, drained well. I won’t tell anyone.

I referred to this recipe earlier as a “budget-stretcher”. Here’s why: As the soup cools, the starches from the lentils, barley, and potatoes, um, coagulate (for lack of a better word), and make it twice as thick as it was when it was freshly-cooked. The cooling process turns the soup into more of a soup base. To reheat, you must add more water or broth to the soup so it won’t burn. So, if you’re storing it (either refrigerated or frozen) for later meals, make portions half the size that you’ll need later. When ready to re-heat, just put the soup portion into a larger pot and add a nearly equal amount of broth or water. If you’d like, you can add another cut-up potato to leaven things out, and simmer for about another 20 minutes until the potato is fork-tender.

This soup also lends itself to nearly infinite variation, too, depending on what’s in your fridge. If you’ve got some kale or spinach you need to use up, just cut it into ribbons and toss into the pot for the last ten minutes of cooking. Chunks of squash – either summer or winter varieties – work well in here, too. Fifteen or twenty minutes should do it. So, clean out that vegetable drawer and use your imagination!

Stay warm, friends!

This post is part of Share Our Holiday Table, a seven-day, online progressive dinner series that we hope will encourage you to support and donate to Share Our Strength’s No Kid Hungry Campaign during this critical holiday period. I’m honored to be one of more than 50 bloggers who are participating. If you’ve been following along, the dinner has been unfolding for the last week across 7 courses and in 4 tracks (Gourmet, Family-Friendly, Gluten Free and Vegetarian).

Today’s featured course is the Side Dish and I’m offering you one of my favorite Vegetarian dishes, Kasha Varnishkes. My mom used to make this as a side to pot roast and turkey, and I’ve been cooking it through my adult life, frequently as a main course.

You see, kasha is actually roasted buckwheat kernels and is one of the healthiest grain products out there. A complete protein on its own, high in fiber, yada yada yada, kasha can be used as a main dish, side dish, stuffing, and even as a delicious hot breakfast cereal. It’s also gluten-free, so if that’s an issue for you or someone you love, you can also prepare the following recipe without the pasta as a Kasha Pilaf.

This recipe will feed a crowd on your holiday table or buffet, and makes an attractive change – or addition to – the usual potato fare. If you have less than a crowd, you can easily make half the quantity.

Kasha Pilaf Varnishkes
(serves 8-10 as a side dish, 4-6 as a main course)

Ingredients:

1 14 – 16 oz package Farfalle (Bowtie) pasta

1 medium onion, coarsely chopped (about 1 cup)
1/2 cup carrots, split & sliced thin
1/2 cup celery, sliced thin
1/2 cup mushrooms, sliced thin
1-1/2 cups medium or coarse Kasha
1 large egg or egg white (optional – see Preparation)
2 Tbs canola oil or butter
3 cups vegetable broth (divided)
1 tsp kosher salt
1/4 tsp freshly ground black pepper

Preparation:

Cook the pasta according to package directions. Drain and set aside.

If not using the egg, skip to the next step. If using the egg or egg white: Beat the egg or egg white until well-blended. Add the kasha and combine with a fork until the grains are coated well.

Heat the oil in a large frying pan over medium-high heat. Add the kasha and stir while toasting, till the grains are mostly separate and you smell a pleasant, toasty aroma.

Add the vegetables and 1/2 cup of the vegetable broth, stir well, and saute until the vegetables soften slightly, about 3 – 4 minutes. Add the remaining broth, salt and pepper. Bring to a boil. Cover the pan tightly, reduce heat to low, and simmer for about 8 minutes, or until the kasha is soft. Uncover, and cook an additional 3 – 4 minutes, stirring occasionally, to allow the kasha to dry out a bit.

Check the seasoning, and add the farfalle (bow-tie) pasta, tossing together until thoroughly combined. Serve hot.

Notes:

You can find kasha in your regular grocery store in either the pasta/rice aisle or the ethnic foods, kosher products section. I’ve only ever seen Wolff’s brand, but feel free to use any other you may spot. It comes in Fine, Medium, or Coarse granulations. Only use the medium or coarse granulation for this recipe. The fine granulation is mostly for cereal and will turn out mushy.

A variety of liquids can be used to prepare this, including beef or chicken stock (although using these would render this no longer vegetarian), or even water.

The word “varnishkes” refers to the bow-tie pasta. No, I don’t know what it means.

As noted earlier, if you omit the pasta, this Kasha Pilaf is an excellent gluten-free choice, too.

I hope you’ve enjoyed this special holiday post on behalf of Share Our Strength, and that you’ll visit the other participating blogs to see what they’re serving up for Share Our Holiday Table.

In fact, I hope you’ve enjoyed it enough to click on one of these links and make a donation to Share Our Strength and sign the No Kid Hungry Pledge. Approximately 17 million children right here in the United States go hungry because of lack of access to programs that can change that, and lack of access to healthy foods. A hungry child can’t learn.

Even though my husband and I have no kids, we recognize that today’s children are tomorrow’s leaders. And can yank our Social Security in a heartbeat.

Will you join us in the No Kid Hungry Campaign?

Today’s side dishes in each track are brought to you by:

Gourmet

• The Urban Baker
• Heather Christo
• We Like to Cook, and Eat
• Plum Pie

Family Friendly

• What’s Cooking
• Dine and Dish
• The Evolving Cook

Vegetarian

• My Kitchen Addiction
• Taste as You Go
• Flamingo Musings (that’s me!)

Gluten Free

• The Whole Gang
• Jenn Cuisine– A mostly gluten free cooking blog.
• Creative Cooking Gluten Free

Yeah, you heard right: Tempura-Style Fish & Chips.

Chris and Elle decided that this edition of #GoJunkFood should showcase Fish and Chips. Um, okay. You guys know that I don’t like fish, right? Tuna from a can and the occasional Mrs. Paul’s fish stick, notwithstanding. But I have eaten the odd Arthur Treacher’s Fish & Chips meal once in a great while, and admit that I enjoyed them.

So, what am I doing here? I can cook fish like nobody’s business. Just ask my husband. M can’t figure it out: “I don’t get it – this is so good and you won’t even taste it!” In fact, I made him buy the fish. And I thought I’d do something a little different than the heavily battered English-style and – to paraphrase The Vapors – I thought I’d turn it Japanese.

With a rice flour batter and sliced sweet potatoes, I made a not-so-traditional Asian-ish version of Fish and Chips, suitable even for those with gluten-free diet requirements:

Tempura-Style Fish & Chips
(serves 2 – can be doubled)

Ingredients:

2 medium sweet potatoes (about 1 lb. total)
1-1/2 cups rice flour
1 tsp. salt
1/2 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. ground ginger
1/2 tsp. wasabi powder
1-1/4 cups seltzer or “fizzy” mineral water
2 5 oz. cod or other firm white fish fillets
enough peanut or canola oil to deep-fry preferably in a wok or (wok-shaped pan)

Peel the sweet potatoes and slice them into rounds about 1/4″ thick. Put the slices in a pot of boiling salted water and cook for 2 minutes. Drain immediately and run cold water over them to stop the cooking, and allow to drain again.

In a medium mixing bowl, whisk together the dry ingredients to combine thoroughly. Slowly whisk in the seltzer (it should foam up a bit, briefly) till the batter comes together. It should be a bit thinner than pancake batter.

Heat the oil in the wok or deep pan, until a drop of batter sizzles when it hits the oil. Slide several of the sweet potato slices into the batter to coat well and slip gently into the hot oil. You can cook about 6 or 7 slices at a time. Fry for about 2 minutes and turn them over with a slotted spoon or spider (you know, that long-handled thing with the wire basket end? that you didn’t know what to do with? yeah, that thing.). Drain on paper towels and remove to a rack and place in the oven, set to warm, while cooking the fish.

When all of the sweet potato slices have been fried, repeat the batter and fry procedure with your fish fillets. They should cook for about 6-7 minutes or till golden brown, turning them over about half-way through.

Mix up a quick little dipping sauce with 1/2 cup soy sauce (or shoyu), 1/4 tsp. minced ginger, 1/4 tsp. wasabi powder, and 1/4 cup honey, all whisked together in a small bowl (or even the measuring cup!).

And speaking of Asian-style, wait till you see what’s in store next month for #GoJunkFood!