Keto Recipe Digest # 13
Original Email Sent Friday Jan. 3rd, 2020 -
Hi Everyone,
It’s been a while since my last digest email and I do apologize for that. As you know, my Dad passed away Friday Nov. 29th, I was actually in the middle of writing my keto digest to you all when I got the news and so it sits as an unfinished draft in my email box... I may get the gumption to send it, the recipes were all about an Italian theme and include some favourites, but I don’t know how to finish writing the text of it yet, so you’ll forgive me if it sits unsent just a little longer.
As you can imagine, this month has not been a good food month... I haven’t cared about keto much and when you aren’t eating much beyond the food that others have been generous enough to make for you, you don’t focus on the carbs do you?
But we are into another year now and I hope you all had a wonderful holiday and new year’s celebrations... I was lucky enough to share a holiday away with some caring family and friends that was exactly right for what I needed right now.
And it’s Friday again, so let’s take up the Friday Keto digest again shall we? ...I know I could use some focus getting back to eating healthy again.
This digest is a homage to my Dad.
Some of you may know that on this Sunday, January 5th, he would have been 76 years old. Some of you may also know this man loved good food, and we are a family (fully extended version being considered here by the way) of foodies, so this digest is all about “Dad’s foods” - both the dishes he was famous for and the dishes he loved eating... most of them are meat and potatoes kind of dishes (because my dad was a meat and potatoes kind of guy) which makes them hard to keto-fy... but I think I did them justice and I hope you enjoy them too.
Keto fish and chips- Early on (before I was 3), my dad had a fish and chips place in Yorkville (what is now a “hoity toity” part of Toronto, but used to be a pretty hippy flower power kind of spot in the 60’s and 70’s apparently). He didn’t have the place long, but having had it meant he was a self proclaimed connoisseur of fish and chips throughout my childhood... there wasn’t a single restaurant that served him a chip that didn’t get critiqued by him (they usually weren’t making their fries right either), and often he would come home and batter everything in the house as a result - just to make sure we knew what a good piece of battered and fried fish was supposed to look like ... his battered bananas were amazing by the way. At any rate, as you probably know, getting a good keto batter that’s light and crisp is a hard thing to do... this batter comes pretty close. I also give you a recipe for jicama fries and homemade tartar sauce ... all you need is a bit of coleslaw and a wedge of lemon on the side and you have yourself a complete plate.
Dad’s famous potato soup - well obviously potatoes are not keto and this recipe has none in it, but dad’s potato soup was famous .....and if you had stopped by his fish and chips restaurant you could have bought yourself a cup for $0.35 ... But, if you were family, you could come home and have found a huge pot on the stove being slowly stirred by dad (or a hand delivered mason jar or two brought to you) .. His potato soup was nothing fancy, it was just a good “stick to your ribs” soup that was thick and full of comfort food flavours ....and it was great for when you had a cold. This version substitutes cauliflower for the potato, but you’d never know it if I hadn’t told you.
Hungarian potato casserole - when I was 12 we moved to the house that is still my parent’s home today. Situated on a small cul de sac in what was then, a fledgling community, there were few other families to get to know... but one of them was this family with kids roughly the same age as me and my sister, and they were also eastern euro Jews... although they had Hungarian (versus Russian, Ukraine and Polish) roots... They were also serious foodies, and their mom was a consummate cook... Needless to say, we adopted them into our extended tribe (and still call them family today)... My dad learned a number of Aggie’s recipes (mostly because I think he felt bad about always hoping she might make some for us too when she was cooking - my mom was more about work and restaurant meals than she was about recipes and kitchen cooking)...One of those recipes was a Hungarian Potato Casserole or “Rakott Krumpli”, a simple peasant dish that was layered kielbasa, potatoes, egg and sour cream... perhaps this is why my dad liked it so much. Either way, this dish is eastern euro comfort food ....kind of like mac and cheese is to the Canadians.
Beef Brisket - every big Jewish holiday table has a brisket on offer...it’s like the equivalent of a thanksgiving and christmas turkey. It just has to be there. And just like a thanksgiving turkey, it’s a simple thing to make, but if you get it wrong, you end up with this tough, dry thing that you have to pretend to chew whilst wishing there was a dog who lived in the house. My dad LOVED a good brisket. This one is mine.
Prime rib - My dad loved a good steakhouse. If it was one of those old school steakhouses ... you know, the kind with the dark interior, somber waiters, red carpet and tiffany lamps and where each meal was served with a salad (that usually came with blue cheese dressing), then all the better. He would always order a prime rib...no exceptions. This is my no fail method and I highly suggest serving it with a wedge salad (with blue cheese dressing of course), and some cheesy cauliflower mash to make it special.
New York cheesecake- if there was one dessert my dad would never say no to, it was a cheesecake. He wasn’t a big fan of the “froo froo” flavoured versions, just a simple, plain jane, smooth and creamy cheesecake .... with perhaps a berry topping. You know the type- the kind they always have on offer at said old school steakhouse. This one is a fully keto version with a raspberry topping (but you could also do blueberry, or strawberry too). For extra safety, to ensure your top doesn’t crack, you can also cook this is a bain marie (where you wrap your springform in foil and place it into a larger pan filled with warm water to cook so it s moist heat in the oven).
Keto cremslech - basically this is a cottage cheese pancake. Traditionally cremslech are made at Passover and therefore made with matzoh meal, however because they are fired in oil, my mother also developed a flour based version which also came out at hannukah when we were growing up... these are usually served with your choice of jam, or sour cream and sprinkled sugar or maple syrup .... These were our favourite breakfast meal growing up, and as we got older (and our children started having sleepovers with grandma and grandpa) these came out whenever my mom got the urge to cook breakfast and impress us (which wasn’t often, dad was really the cook of the house) ...which is probably why he liked having these so much. This version uses almond meal to replace the matzoh meal/flour, and I dare say they are a good enough rendition to get that Maddie seal of approval.
Well, I hope you will forgive me, this digest turned out to be a little longer than I had planned but I guess that will happen when every dish has a story.
Happy cooking
Shosh