A Vegetarian Feast

Fern Heinig is one of Shomrei’s most loyal cooks. Despite a travel heavy schedule, Fern manages to cook for MESH at least once a month. She has a reputation of putting interesting meals on the table and isn’t afraid of experimenting.

Now that Purim’s just around the corner, you may be looking for foods for a Purim feast. The story goes that Esther, being an observant Jew, refrained from eating meat at the Shushan banquets. So, many Purim dishes are heavy on beans such as garbanzos (chickpeas) and other vegetarian fare.

Here are two of Fern’s most recent discoveries. She said that both were winners and she’s even made the dishes for herself. Maybe in another life she was Esther’s personal chef.

Moroccan Spinach Salad (yield is 2 cups)

Ingredients

3 Tb Canola oil

1 tsp Cumin

1/2 tsp paprika

1/2 tsp salt

1/4 tsp pepper

3 Tbs lemon juice or juice of 1 lemon

1 (16 oz) bag frozen chopped spinach thawed and drained

Directions

1. Place small saucepan over medium heat.
2. Add oil, cumin, paprika, salt, pepper.
3. Add lemon juice.  Add spinach and mix well.
4. Cook uncovered, stirring occasionally for 8 minutes or until spinach is uniformly dark green and creamy.
5. Serve at room temperature

Eggplant Quiche with Tomatoes and Zucchini  (yield 8 – 10 servings)

Ingredients

1 large onion, diced

3 garlic cloves, minced

3 Tbs olive oil

2 large eggplants, peeled and diced into small squares

1 tsp salt

1/2 tsp pepper

2 zucchinis sliced

1/2 cup cherry tomatoes sliced

1/4 cup black or green olives, sliced

dash dried parsley

olive oil spray

1 pie crust

Directions

1. In a large saucepan, fry onions and garlic in olive oil until translucent.
2. Add eggplant and stir until thoroughly cooked.
3. Add salt and pepper and stir to combine .
4. Set aside to cool.
5. Make pie crust (if using dough).
6. Add the eggplant filling to the baking dish and top with a pattern of zucchini. tomato and olive slices.
7. Sprinkle with dried parsely on top and spray with olive oil.
8. Bake at 350 degrees for 45 minutes

NOTE: This can be made either with or without a crust.

For a nice chick pea dish suitable for a queen, follow this link to a previous recipe for Purim.

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Aileen Grossberg

Aileen Grossberg, a professional librarian, is a long-time congregant and serves as volunteer librarian for Shomrei's Lampert Library. The library, one of the best-kept secrets at Shomrei is used by the Rabbi, congregants, students and teachers of the JLC (Hebrew School) and Preschool. It's a tremendous resource completely supported by your donations and gifts. Aileen also heads the Shomrei Caterers, the in-house food preparation group. Can there be any better combination…good food and good books!

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