"Purim" news and stories

• Go beyond hamantaschen this Purim: Prepare a menu fit for a queen. Queen Esther, that is.
• Wine journalist James Suckling is making quite the name for himself.
• Jasmine Mediterranean in Anaheim "deserves your complete attention."
• Jonesing for mushroom barley soup? Of course you are.

• There are dozens of Filipino chefs in L.A. -- but most of them aren't cooking Filipino food. What's up with that?
• If you want to know what a glam supper club from the early 21st century looks like, head to the Tar Pit on La Brea.
• What's so magical about the Magic Wok in Artesia? Could be all that pork.
• You won't find any pork in mishloach manot, the baskets of food given during the Jewish holiday of Purim.
• ... You will, however, find hamantaschen. Here are recipes for nine Purim dishes, including those triangular treats.

The Jewish festival of Purim starts today, bringing with it one of my longtime culinary bugaboos - the hamantaschen. These cookies, meant to resemble the tricorned hat of Haman, the villain of the Purim story, consist of a buttery dough folded around a generous dollop of filling - usually jam, chocolate chips or sweetened poppy seed paste. Sounds good, right? But alas nearly ever hamantaschen I've tried has been awful - sticky, heavy, bland. I've been testing recipes ever since I was a little kid baking in the synagogue kitchen during Sunday School, but have yet to hit on one that's worth the cost of the flour.

Today, however, I'm seeing a glimmer of hope on the hamantaschen front. In a post on the New York Times' Bitten Blog, Deborah Gardner offers her grandmother's own recipe. These gorgeous, golden hamantaschen have "tender, lemon-zest-flavored dough...a far cry from the thick, dry shell of most hamantaschen, and the tart filling perfectly offsets the sweet crumb. These are the kind of hamantaschen for which any self-respecting prune would be happy to meet its maker," Gardner promises.

Source

Purim, the springtime Jewish holiday commemorating the Jews' escape from being destroyed by the evil Haman, is a favorite festival for Jewish kids everywhere. The day frequently involves costume parades, carnivals and feasts, with much eating, drinking and merry-making all around.

When I was seven I came down with chicken pox the morning of our temple's Purim carnival. I was devastated. No dressing up as good Queen Esther in a paper Burger King crown and frosted pink Bonnie Bell Lip Smacker. No waving my noisemaker to blot out the name of the evil Haman. Worst of all, no hamantaschen. I cried for hours.

Hamantaschen, or Haman's pockets, are triangular cookies traditionally filled with fruit, prune or poppy seed centers. Less traditional, though still delicious, are chocolate chip and peanut butter hamantaschen. When made right, they're delicious - crumbly rich dough with a sticky, not-too-sweet center. But when made badly, as commercial hamantaschen often are, they can be dense and depressingly bland. Try this great recipe from Jewish cooking maven Joan Nathan.

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Starting this weekend, Purim is being celebrated at my daughter's preschool. In celebration of the event, we made hamantaschen, a lovely three-cornered cookie traditionally eaten during this time. Bunny, my three-year-old, enjoyed making and rolling out the dough, then cutting circles with a cup (we're lacking cookie cutters). We filled ours with prune, apricot, and blackberry fillings. Why not try making hamantaschen (with or without kids)? They're not only delicious, but easy as well.

(Thanks to my daughter's school for the recipe.)

Hamantaschen

I used orange rind instead of the vanilla.

2 1/4 cups flour
1/2 cup sugar
1 tsp baking powder
1 egg
1/2 cup butter
1 tsp vanilla (or orange rind)

(method follows)