What are your favorite adapted recipes (originally non-kosher, converted to fit the laws of kashruth)?
My four favorite adapted recipes, available from Ruth’s Kitchen, are: Meatloaf, Spaghetti with Meat Sauce and Meatballs, Pie Crust, and Brie and Smoked Salmon Quiche. The meatloaf originally had beef, veal, and pork with bacon and a lot of milk in the recipe. I experimented with beef only, adding other binding ingredients – bread dampened with water, eggs, catsup, etc. to get the right texture. It’s delicious! The spaghetti recipe is based on early cooking experiences; I shared an apartment with three non-Jewish roommates one summer in college. They did a lot of cooking, mostly Italian food. I watched their methods and smelled the food constantly. One thing I learned was that the spaghetti sauces all had milk added after browning the meat. Later, I tried different kosher additions to make a tasty, thick, fresh-tasting sauce. The addition of flour after browning the meat, with the immediate addition of wine, makes a marvelous sauce. Pie crust seems like such a simple and common recipe.
