What’s cooking at Beit Chai

Braided Pies

01Jan

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This is an absolute winner recipe.  It has never failed to impress our guests.  It has however caused us the occasional moment of stress if we didn’t put it in the oven early enough or if we made our filling a bit too moist and it started to cook out of the dough. 

This pie likes to rest a little bit after being baked before we cut it so we always take this into consideration when we calculate our cooking time to allow enough time in the oven, time to rest and time to cut before presenting it to the guests.

We have two different fillings that we use and we will give you the recipe for both on this page.

What you need for the Chicken filling

  • Chicken breast 
  • Salt & Spices (according to your own preference)
    Here are some suggestions that I like to use Ginger, Mustard, Chicken Spice, Garlic, Cloves – I love to use a combination of different spices to get a unique taste.
  • Mayonnaise 
  • Shredded Cheese

Some spices that we like to mix with the meat

  • We use a piece of brisket meat
  • Salt & Spices (according to your own preference)
    Here are some suggestions that I like to use Garlic, Coriander, Meat spice, Worcestershire sauce spice, Whole coriander seeds
  • Mayonnaise
  • Shredded Cheese 
  • Here I have to mention that it is very seldom that we will make a roast to use for a meat pie.  Normally we make a roast for a Shabbat meal and then whatever is left over we will turn into a meat pie.  If you wish to follow our roasting method then you are welcome to view our oven roast recipe on the side bar.

What you need for the pie

  • We use store bought puff pastry – Yes I know it would be great if we made our own dough but we have not yet tried our hand in this so let’s just stick to the store bought dough for now. As a side note we have sometimes before serving, sifted some powder sugar over the chicken pie.
Instructional Video

Chicken Pie

Boil the chicken breasts in water together with your own unique mixture of spices.

Once the chicken is cooked remove it from the water.

Wait, wait, wait – before you just through the water down the drain.   Let it cool down and then pour it through a very small strainer into an empty, washed out milk carton.  Label it with a maker and store it in the freezer and then when you are ready to make our butternut soup (see recipe to the side) then you have your own chicken broth. The nice thing about the milk cartons is, you can tear the carton open when you are ready to use it and put the frozen block of stock directly into the pot.

While the chicken is still hot cut it into smaller pieces making sure that there are no bones or cartilage in the meat.  Take a double whisk mixer to shred the chicken.  This is a very nice easy way to get nice fine strands of chicken within no time.

When the chicken has cooled down mix it with some shredded cheese and mayonnaise.  The amount of cheese depends on your own preference, but not too much that it will cause the pie to leak oil while cooking. We use about a third of the weight of the chicken. I have also on occasion added sweet chilli sauce and mustard to the chicken for additional flavour.  

The end result of your filling should be that it can hold its form but not to wet that it will cause the pie to be a runny mess.

It is all about trial and error and having fun while learning 

Meat Pie

Like I mentioned before we very rarely roast a piece of meat for a pie it is normally when we have left overs that we use this meat to make a pie.

If you have a piece of meat which is just finished roasting you can cut it in smaller pieces and also use a double whisk mixer to shred it into smaller pieces.  If your meat is already cold then a mixer doesn’t work as effectively so you might need to cut it with a knife into small pieces. 

When your meat is nice and fine add your shredded cheese and mayonnaise and make sure it is mixed well.  We use less cheese and mayonnaise with the meat than with the chicken as meat tends to be a bit more oily than the chicken.  Again the idea is that the consistency of the meat would be to hold itself together when placing it onto the dough 

I am not even going to try to explain in words how to roll out the dough and the braiding process, for this we made a video.

I will however say this.  When rolling out your dough make sure of the following

– Your dough is nice and cold

– Your surface has enough (but not too much) flour on

– We only roll out the ends of the dough leaving the middle part a bit thicker to help the pie to keep its form.

Once the pie has been braided you have one of two options.  You can either place it in your pre heated oven at about 180 degrees Celsius for an hour, or you can place it in your freezer to use at a later date.  

If you choose the oven then first take some milk and brush the dough lightly with the milk to ensure a nice brown bake.  We also sometimes put sesame seed on top of the pie.  After about an hour your pie should be done.  Make sure that your dough is cooked through and nice and crunchy at the bottom.  Allow it to rest for a while before cutting it.  

If you choose the freezer then you can place it uncovered in the freezer until it has frozen enough to keep its form and then place it in a bag or wrap it with cling wrap to store for a later date.

Brown Seed Bread

01Jan

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The base recipe we also found on the internet many years ago.

We have had to change it a bit seeing as the buttermilk in Israel is a bit different so we always have to adjust the amount that we use otherwise the dough is way too wet. We also add seeds into the bread.

For this recipe I do not use a mixer, I mix it all together with a wooden spoon and once my arms get to tired then Jacques takes over.

What you need

  • 400g Brown flour
  • 75g White flour
  • 1 teaspoon of salt
  • 1 teaspoon of bicarbonate of soda
  • 1 egg
  • 1 tablespoon of oil – I never measure out my oil
  • 1 teaspoon of honey – I feel that this is too little so I also just guess the amount 
  • 350-430ml of buttermilk – again I do not measure this out.  I use as much as what I feel is necessary to get the dough to be the right consistency. 
  • A mixture of seeds – you can use whatever you wish.  We have combined sunflower seeds, pumpkin seeds and flax seeds.

Pre heat the oven to 180 degrees C

Mix all the dry ingredients together (including your seed mixture).

Mix the egg, honey and oil together and make sure it is combined well.

Mix the wet and dry ingredients together.

Once it is combined then slowly add the buttermilk to your mixture until the dough has a nice consistency.

The original recipe says that the dough is a wetter, sticky dough but I prefer my dough to not be so wet and sticky.  So really it is up to you and your own preference.

We use nonstick bread pans to bake our bread but instead of putting oil or spray and cook in the pan we put baking sheets.  We take the baking sheet and place it in one of the pans and then press another pan into the pan with the baking sheet.  This causes the baking sheet to take the form of the pan.

Then we place the dough into the baking sheet lined pan and smooth it out until it fills the entire baking pan. Add some more seeds on top.

Bake the bread in oven for about 45 min to 1 hour.

We normally test the temperature of the inside of our bread until it is about 90 degrees.

Remove the bread from the pan by lifting it out with the baking sheet.

Allow it cool down a little bit before cutting the bread.

South African Rusks

01Jan

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One of the most popular treats for our guests is the South African rusks or Beskuit.  It doesn’t matter from which country they are everyone enjoys it.  As a child I can remember seeing my mom knead the rusk dough by hand and rolling it into balls and it always looked like a lot of hard work.  So it took me a while to be willing to try it here in Israel.  Once I mastered up the courage it was a matter of finding the right recipe.  

We found a recipe online that looked promising but when we started making it we realised that the buttermilk in Israel is very different to the buttermilk that you can find in South Africa.  So since starting to make the rusks we have had to make many adjustments to ensure that our dough is the right consistency.  Since then we have also started adding nuts and coconut to our recipe and replacing the white flour with brown flour in order to make a healthier version of the rusk – well I am not so sure as to how healthy it could be because we still add a lot of sugar.

What you need for the white rusks

  • 850 grams of white flour
  • 2 eggs
  • 200 grams of butter (please not margarine) Jacques says that margarine is like plastic.

Make sure that your butter is soft but not melted.  We tend to stock up on butter when it’s on sale and keep it in the freezer but this means when we want to make the rusks, we have to take it out beforehand.  Sometimes I forget to take out the butter in time and then Jacques will grate the butter with a grater into the flour for me.  I refuse to do this because I hate getting my hands full of butter and he is so much stronger than me so for him it is easy to grate the hard butter.

  • 30 grams of baking powder
  • 250 grams of sugar
  • A little bit of salt
  • Buttermilk

You will notice that I do not give a measurement for the buttermilk, as I do not measure the buttermilk. It normally 300-400ml.  I keep my mixer going on a low speed and slowly add the buttermilk until the dough pulls together so that the dough mixer can start to knead the dough.

What you need for the brown rusks

  • 700 grams of flour (about 200-250g white and 450-500g brown)
  • Coconut, crushed nuts and seeds of your own choice about 200 grams 

If I am being honest I do not really measure the amount of nuts seeds and coconut that I add to the flour, if add until I feel that there is enough to give good taste and texture to the rusk

  • 200 grams of butter (please not margarine) Jacques says that margarine is like plastic.

Make sure that your butter is soft but not melted.  We keep our butter in the freezer so when we want to make the rusks we have to take it out beforehand.  Sometimes I forget to take out the butter in time and then Jacques will grate the butter with a grater into the flour for me.  I refuse to do this because I hate getting my hands full of butter and he is so much stronger then me so for him it is easy to grate the hard butter.

  • 30 grams of baking powder
  • 300 grams of sugar
  • A little bit of salt
  • Buttermilk

You will notice that I do not give a measurement for the buttermilk, as I do not measure the buttermilk. It normally 300-400ml.  I keep my mixer going on a low speed and slowly add the buttermilk until the dough pulls together so that the dough mixer can start to knead the dough.

Of course first put on your oven to 180 degrees Celsius.

Place your flour (and nut and seed mix if you are making the brown rusk version) into the mixing bowl

Add the sugar and baking powder and salt.  Just to make sure that all the dry ingredients are combined. We use a mixer with a dough hook attached and we switch the mixer on for a second or two. You can do this by hand as well.

Add the soft butter to the dry ingredients and start the mixer so that it incorporates the butter with the dry ingredients. If you are mixing and kneading by hand, it’s a good idea to rub the butter and flour together with your fingertips.

Add the eggs and start the mixer again.  Once the eggs are mixed in we reduce the speed to 1 and slowly add the buttermilk until the dough is wet and starts to pull together.  I do not like a very wet dough because it is difficult to work with and sticks to everything so I pour my buttermilk in bit by bit to avoid adding too much.

Once everything is in and you can see that the dough is being kneaded by the mixer you can put it back on to a higher speed to knead for about 5 to 7 minutes.

Once it is done I give the dough to Jacques who has already greased the rusk pans that we use. We have special rusk pans that has its own cutter. 

He then flattens it out and uses a wine bottle (our rolling pin) to smooth out the dough into an even height throughout the pans. The last thing then is to cut the raw dough with the special blade and then into the oven they go for about 1 hour. We rotate our pans every 15-20 minutes to avoid dark spots. If you don’t have this kind of rust pans you can shape the dough into little balls a bit smaller than a golfball and place them in neat straight rows tightly together in a loaf tin. Each ball will end up being one rusk.

When they are finished baking we remove the pans from the oven and let it cool down.  Once it has cooled we flip the pans over to allow the “fresh rusts” to drop out of the pan.  I keep my hand on the top to prevent it from falling out too fast and breaking.  Normally the fresh rusts should release easily. Then we break the rusks into smaller pieces by following the cut lines that we made with the blade.  If you made little balls, you can break it on the seams. This is also a great time to enjoy a piece of freshly baked rusks before drying them out. We normally call the kids to come grab a few. Jacques likes to spread a nice thick layer of butter on it.  In my family I have to work very fast with this process otherwise my kids and Jacques will finish everything even before the drying out process.

If you didn’t devour all the pieces, you can pack it onto an oven grid and then place it back into the oven on a very low temperature about 80-100 degrees Celsius. As tradition goes you put a wooden spoon into the door of the oven so that it is slightly ajar.  To allow it to completely dry out, the drying out process can take 3-6 hours.  Be careful that your oven is not too high so that the rusks will not burn.

Once they are completely dry and hard allow it to cool and place in a air tight container for all to enjoy with a cup of coffee or tea.

Beit Chai’s Butter

01Jan

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This is not so much a recipe as it is a method to process your butter.  For many years we at Beit Chai bought fancy spreadable butter.  Although it was pricy we didn’t have another option for spreadable butter.

One day we were buying the butter and Jacques was curious to know how they made the butter so of course he went online and looked up the ingredients and how it was made.  He then realised that the ingredients and method was completely within our capability of doing by ourselves.

We decided to make a test run.  We bought a block of baking butter, which was more or less a third of the cost of the spreadable butter.  

We also bought a bottle of Canolla oil and started our experiment.

What you need

  • Baking Butter
  • Course Ground Salt
  • Canola Oil

First we made sure that the butter was soft but still firm to the touch.  We whipped it in our mixer until it was airy similar to the process of making butter cream frosting.  At this point we added some salt and canola oil.  The result was good but since then we have learned how to improve on our method in order to have a more successful outcome.

Firstly during the mixing process of the butter you need to scrape the bowl a few times to ensure that all the butter is well whipped.

Secondly is that we started using course ground sea salt instead of normal table salt.  The salt we add right at the beginning in order for the salt to completely mix with all the butter.

Thirdly we realised that the oil must be added slowly and not all at once.  If the oil is added too fast the butter will have lumps in it. 

The amount of oil that we use depends on the season.  During summer we add less oil and during winter we add more oil.

The amount of oil is around the region of 30 grams of oil to a 200 gram block of butter.

All of the guests in Beit Chai love the butter and some even think that it is cream cheese.  Although it is extra effort than to walk into a shop and buy the spreadable butter, it is well worth the time in order for our guests to have the best. 

Oreo Cheesecake

01Jan

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This recipe we also found on the internet and modified it to our personal taste, again I apologise that I am not able to give you exact measurements as I always kind of guess the amounts of the ingredients that I need but I will try my best to explain it so that you can also enjoy this at your home.

This desert is so easy to make and it is very tasty. It also presents itself very beautifully in a glass as an individual serving so that the guests can see the different layers.

What you need

  • Oreo biscuits
  • 1 container of cream cheese
  • Cocoa powder – sifted
  • Icing Suger (Powder sugar) – sifted
  • Cream – whipped until it has formed very stiff peaks 

We adjust our amounts according to the amount that we need to make.

First we crush the Oreo biscuits until nice and fine, or rather Jacques crushes the biscuits.  This is a job that I really do not enjoy doing so he is the boss of the biscuits.  After the biscuits are crushed he puts a thin layer into our serving glasses. We have nice small dessert size glasses but a wine glass also works great.

In Israel cream cheese like Philadelphia is very expensive so we rather purchase a large container of Gvina levana, a soft white creamy cheese yet much lower fat content and let it drain through a cheese cloth for a few hours until it is the consistency that we need.  This of course is Jacques’ job as I refuse to touch the white cheese. It is completely gross. 

(Sorry I should probably not say this on a recipe)

Once the cheese is the right consistency we put it into the mixer and whip it so that it becomes nice and fluffy.  Then we add the icing sugar and cocoa powder to the cream cheese.  The best advice that I can give regarding amounts is that you taste while you add your ingredients until it is as sweet and chocolaty as you prefer.

Once the icing sugar and cocoa are well mixed with the cream cheese we add the whipped cream and mix it all together.

Place the mixture into a piping bag and then fill the glass container until about half.  Then we add another layer of Oreo biscuits and then again another layer of the cream mixture.

How many layers you do is entirely up to you and also the size of your serving glass.

Other creative ideas for serving suggestions that we have done in the past is the following:

Placing a small amount of plain whipped cream at the top of the final layer.

Placing a small Oreo cookie at the top.

Placing a small mint leaf on top.

Ice Cream

01Jan

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This is by far the easiest most successful recipe that we have discovered and have played with, to make exciting variations that can suit any accompanying desert or even stand on its own as a desert.

What you need

  • 500ml of 38% cream – whipped
  • 1 can/jar of sweetened condensed milk

This is just the most basic ingredients to make single batch, but double is always better than single.

Whip the cream until it is stiff and forms peaks.

Add 1 can of condensed milk and mix it together. 

Put it into a covered container in the freezer until frozen (normally at least 8 hours) and there you have it your own homemade basic ice cream.

Everybody will think it is store bought.

But then of course knowing us you have to change it up a bit to experiment with it.

Normally we make it double.

So we do 1 liter of cream
2 cans of condensed milk

To this we add some flavour depending on what we feel like enjoying. Here are a few ideas

  • Vanilla essence for a fresh vanilla flavour.
  • Sprinkles or otherwise known as hundreds and thousands – this gives the ice cream a nice colourful look, the kids love this.
  • Crushed cookies.
  • Chocolate chips – not to much as it can be a bit overwhelming if the chocolate chips are too big (you can always finally chop up a chocolate bar or two).
  • Fine instant coffee powder (the coffee powder we first dissolve with some of the condensed milk before adding it to the cream) – this you have to measure by taste – depending on how strong you want the coffee flavour to be.
  • Peppermint flavour drops – again according to your own taste (you can also add a bit of green food color and chocolate chips).
  • Cocoa powder for a chocolate flavour.

The list is endless – you can really experiment until you have found the flavour that suits your need.

If we make one of the following variations, we substitute one can of condensed milk with one of the ingredients below.  We make sure that our replacement is more or less the same volume as the can condensed milk.

  • 1 can of Caramel (Dulce da Lech)
  • 1 jar of blueberry or cherry pie filling
  • 1 jar of jam

The most elaborate flavor we have made was Strawberry Cheesecake.

After mixing 1 liter of whipped cream and a can condensed milk. We added a container of cream cheese at least 25% fat – which we whipped beforehand. We added a jar of strawberry jam. We crushed some graham crackers and then also mixed it all together.

Like I said the sky is the limit so enjoy playing and experimenting.

It is worth noting that any fresh fruit you add will be icy. We have tried it and its not the most desirable outcome.

Baked Cheesecake

01Jan

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Jacques and myself received an Israeli recipe book a few years ago and in it was a very easy baked cheesecake recipe.  We have since adjusted the ingredients a bit according to our own experience.

What you need for the crust

  • Lotus biscuits – finely crushed
  • Two egg yokes

What you need for the cake

  • 750 gram of Soft White Cheese (like a cream cheese)
  • 3 eggs and 2 egg whites – we take the yellow of these egg whites and use if in the crust of the cake
  • 200 gram sugar
  • 1tsp vanilla essence

That you need for the topping

  • 3 x 200gr sour cream
  • 40gr vanilla sugar

We bake our cheesecake in a rectangular foil pan and find that this amount of sour cream is enough to cover the entire cake.  If you are using a different shape of baking dish you might need less.

Pre heat your oven to 180 degrees Celsius.

Crush the biscuits finely We normally use our food processor. The recipe calls for egg whites. We normally saved the yolks for later use but most time they ended up being discarded. One day we thought why not use the yolks instead of butter to bind the biscuits seeing as it gets baked. It worked wonderfully, so once the biscuits are crushed mix in the egg yolks.  Spread it at the bottom of your baking dish and press it down firmly using the back of a spoon (or your fingers).

In a mixer put your white cheese and sugar and mix it well until the white cheese is nice and smooth.   Add your egg and egg whites and mix it again thoroughly.

Add the vanilla essence.

Pour you’re filling on top of your biscuit base.  To achieve a nice even bake on a cheesecake you have to bake it in a water bath.

To avoid spills and burns we normally place our baking dish into an oven pan, put it in the oven and then add hot water into the oven pan. 

Bake for about 50 minutes.

Recently Jacques watched a YouTube video about baking cheesecakes the video suggested that when baking a cheese cake you should be careful not to over bake it.  There should still be a slight juggle in the middle of the cake.  This allows the cheesecake to have a creamy texture.

While baking mix the sour cream and vanilla sugar together.

Once the cheesecake is baked, remove it from the oven and spread the sour cream mixture evenly on the top.

Bake for another 10 minutes

Allow it too cool and store it in the fridge.

Miriam, our daughter, asked us one Shabbat when she was eating her portion how we thought some date syrup would taste on the cheesecake.  We told her to try it and she loved it.  So now when we serve the cheesecake we also bring the date syrup to the table for the guests to also try it.

We have also played with a few additions as an additional topping, here are some suggestions

– A very soft chocolate ganache

This you achieve by warming cream in a pan, (according to the amount you want to use on top of the cheese cake)  remove it from the heat and add chocolate chips to the warm cream.  The amount of chocolate that you use determines how hard or soft the ganache will be.  If the chocolate chips do not melt completely, you can place the pot on the heat again for a few minutes.

I have used a ganache to cover the entire cake as a third layer and also just to use as a decoration on the top.

– We have also used blueberry pie filling as a decoration on the top.

Chocolate Cake

01Jan

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If you are very bad at baking and often have failed attempts when making a cake then this is the perfect recipe for you. 

We have made it so many times and it has never failed. Even in a different kitchens in different countries. 

It is our secret weapon miracle cake. 

The beauty of this cake is also that the longer it sits in the fridge the more moist it becomes. 

You might have noticed from the photo we have a beautiful glass serving plate. It’s not our best one, it’s our only one. You might have the same one and not even know it. Many years ago our microwave oven broke and we decided to keep the glass plate as a serving plate for cake. If you don’t have a serving plate you can use your microwave oven’s plate. Just don’t break it.

What you need for the cake

  • 3 large eggs
  • 240g Self raising flour
  • 75g Cocoa
  • 10ml Baking powder
  • 15ml Bicarbonate of soda
  • 320g sugar
  • 5ml vanilla essence
  • 250ml Mayonnaise
  • 330ml Water

What you need for the sauce

  • 1 cup of water or espresso coffee
  • 1 1/2 cups of brown sugar
  • 1 1/2 cups of cocoa powder
  • 1/2 teaspoon of salt
  • 6 table spoons of butter cut into pieces
  • 1 1/2 teaspoons of vanilla essence

Pre heat your oven at 180 degrees Celsius.

Combine the sugar, vanilla essence and eggs into the mixing bowl. Beat at a high speed until nice and creamy.

Sift the flour, cocoa, baking powder, bicarbonate of soda together in a separate bowl. We have heard its best to sift dry ingredients together 3 times to make sure everything is well incorporated.

First add some (not all) of the dry mixture to the egg mixture and some (not all) of the water.

Mix it together. Repeat this 3 times until everything is added together.

Mix well and then pour into a greased cake pan.

We prefer to use a round cake pan with a hole in the middle. The main reason for this is that we can cut more pieces out of one cake without the middle crumbling apart. We have in the past cut 24 pieces out of one cake, with a scoop of ice cream this was still a good portion for our guests.

Bake for 30 to 35 min.

Preparing the sauce

In a saucepan heat the water/coffee with the brown sugar until the sugar is dissolved.

Add the sifted cocoa powder and salt until the mixture is smooth.

Add the butter and vanilla.

Whisk until the butter is melted.

We keep the chocolate sauce in the pan and reheat it just before serving. You can pour the chocolate sauce over the whole cake or cut it into servings and pour the chocolate sauce over each serving.  We have found that this is too much sauce for the cake, but if you do not use everything it is great to keep in the fridge to enjoy over some ice cream.

This is one suggestion for a topping. It is nice as you can serve it hot over the cake and with vanilla ice cream it gives a very nice hot / cold contrast.

We have however tried many other toppings which also worked well on the cake.

Here are some suggestions.

Whipped cream mixed with caramel. 

Whipped cream mixed with Berry Pie filling. 

Actually anything goes. Feel free to experiment. 

Because we find this cake to be so user friendly we have also added red food colouring to make a red velvet cake – although we do have a separate recipe for a genuine red velvet cake.

Useful Tips in the Kitchen

01Jan

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Useful tips in the Kitchen

1) Saving Challah

On the very unlikely chance of having a whole left over challah, you can place the challah in a freezer safe bag and store it in the freezer until the following week.  When you are ready to use it remove it from the freezer and let it thaw.  Sprinkle or spray the Challah with water and place into your hot oven for a few minutes.  It will taste just like freshly baked challah.

2) Mashed potatoes

Sometimes it is so hard to get all the potatoes mashed let alone get a nice creamy texture to the mashed potatoes.

So next time you need to make mashed potatoes try boiling the potatoes and while they are still hot mash it with an electric egg beater.  We don’t do all the potatoes at once but a little by little. You will see how nice and smooth and creamy even the most stubborn potatoes become.  We also add butter to our mashed potatoes but recently we added garlic butter to the potatoes as we were mixing them in the mixer and the result was really good.

3) Shredding chicken or beef

We love to use shredded chicken or beef in our breaded pies.  When we first started out we used to used a fork to separate the chicken or beef.  Later we discovered that if we placed the cooked meat while till hot into an electric egg beater while it was still hot and beat the meat it shredded within minutes. Once again depending on the amount of meat it works best to do it in portions. So easy and fun to do!

4) Garlic Bread

Garlic bread is an absolute winner with just about any meal but especially a “braai”.  I always used to hate making it because it was so time consuming and difficult trying to get the butter in between all the slices of the bread.  One day Jacques suggested that we use a piping bag to make the process easier and it worked so great.

We like to first whip our butter so that it becomes nice and creamy and then we add salt and crushed garlic (sometimes even pesto or origanum as well).  Then we cut the baguette or hotdog rolls into slices but not all the way through, normally about 2cm apart and pipe the butter between the slices using a disposable piping bag.  The garlic can effect the taste of any future icing you might pipe if you use a reusable piping bag, this coming from experience.  Jacques holds the slices open and I pipe in the butter.  What a winner and yet so quick and easy.  

For those unfamiliar with this type of garlic bread, after the bread has been buttered it gets wrapped in foil and placed in the oven or grill until you can feel the crust starts to crip a bit.

5) Lasagne with spray and cook

A lot of the time when we bake lasagne it is a bit difficult to get the sides from our baking dish.  One time when we were in the process Jacques wondered what would be the result if we first sprayed the sides of the baking dish with spray and cook.  So simple but it worked brilliantly. We now never pack our lasagne without first oiling the sides of our baking dish.  We also add a bit of  Marinara Sauce to the bottom of the dish before laying our first layer of lasagna sheets.

6) Milk or Chicken broth?

Many times we have to boiled chicken for a dish that we are preparing and it is such a shame to just throw the spiced water down the drain.  There are other dishes that we make the needs to have chicken broth but no chicken so we decided to start keeping our “chicken broth” for dishes such as these.  When we do this we take an empty milk carton or two and wash it out nicely.  Once the broth is cooled we pour it into the milk carton but not all the way to the top. We make an X on the cap with a sharpie that way we know it’s chicken broth and not milk.  Into the freezer it goes for a later day that it can be used.  Milk cartons have an best before date on it so we also not more or less when we froze it and if it’s still good to use.  The great thing about this is that you can tear the carton open and out comes your frozen broth.

Cooking with my best friend!

For those of you who have visited us in Beit Chai knows that Jacques and myself work as a team in the kitchen.  For all the success that we have had in the kitchen this I think is mostly due to the fact that we can work as one unit together, a team put together by the Father Himself.  We celebrate the success of Beit Chai’s kitchen after every meal that has blessed our visitors and know that it is only by the Father’s grace that we can continue in this ministry.

The kitchen is our play ground and if we can play together in harmony and unity then the result is always a success.  Some days there is maybe a bit of conflict between us and then we know that we first have to sort out the tention before we can carry on otherwise there will be no blessing. 

My personal reward is that I get to cook together with my best friend.  I think that this pulls through to most things that we do in life, every minute of our lives should be a ministry unto the Father and we have to make sure that we can walk in peace and unity with each other so that He can rain down His blessing on the works of our hands.

Keep your eyes on this page for more useful tips as we share what we learn.

Testimony about our Kitchen

01Jan

Posted by Jacques & Chanelle What’s cooking at Beit Chai No Comments

Our Kitchen

Almost everything in our kitchen has a story.  For those of you who have visited us in Israel and has seen the size of our kitchen can appreciate it when I say that truly it is very small therefore each dish that we are able to prepare and serve, especially to big groups is a wonderful miracle.

Jacques and myself love working alongside each other and we have found a wonderful rhythm of working together.  Each one of us knows what we need to do and we are able to work in peace and unity.  It is a wonderful privilege to be able to work as a team.  

When I enter the kitchen I see and remember each story of every appliance as well as many of the cupboards that Jacques custom made to my desire.  So the kitchen is not just a room where we cook but it is a place where I can relive the efforts of my husband as well as the goodness and provision of the Father.

So just as the recipes are a part of our story so too is the kitchen and I could not share the recipes and not the stories behind the appliances that work so hard with us.

Our stove 

When I first arrived at Beit Chai we had a very small white four plate gas stove and electric oven.  This poor oven worked overtime to prepare the meals that needed to be prepared.  Thinking back I really do not know how we managed to serve all the guests with such a small oven, but it happened and I can just think that it was the Fathers grace.

Just before Pesach about 10 years ago we realized that the oven was not functioning properly and I said to Jacques that I was trusting for a larger stove and oven.  Gerrit, Jacques father, got wind of our desire for a larger stove and immediately took us to hunt for something that would meet our needs.  We looked at a few models and went to different stores to find the best price and found the perfect stove / oven almost double the size of what we had.  We put our faith out to order it and by the time that it was delivered someone had given the ministry a first fruit blessing which coved exactly the amount needed to pay for it.  The only thing was that the space that we had available for it to fit in was too small so Jacques had to break off a part of one of the walls to allow the new addition to our kitchen to find its home.  He did such a great job in expanding the space and then at the same time made a tile boarder across the back of one of the counters which would be the place for the new stove.

What a great addition to our kitchen!  We have prepared so many meals in this oven and on the stove and every day we take care to clean it and keep it in a good condition because we know that it is a gift from our Father.

Our Mixer

In the early days of the Beit Chai’s kitchen we only had a small hand mixer which was given to us as a gift from one of our guests.  This poor mixer worked over time to try and meet our demands.  In the end however we knew that its time was almost done.  We had also started making our own challah but the small hand mixer was not strong enough to knead the dough so we had to do it by hand.  When we realised that the mixer was at its end I asked Jacques if we could get a mixer that could help us with kneading the Challah dough as well. 

My husband has a very unique gift of finding the best product for our needs at the best price and so he started his research on which appliance would best serve us.  He found a very special appliance that had many different functions and also where we could purchase it at the best price. 

During this time we had two very special ladies who had come to help us in the house for a few weeks while we were short of help and when they left they left an envelope for us explaining that they felt the Father had instructed them to give us a financial blessing.  I was very surprised by this gift as they had already sacrificed their time and energy to come and serve at Beit Chai and then also gave us a financial blessing.  We knew that this was the start of the Father’s provision for the new mixer so we  removed our tithes and safely put the envelope aside.  Shortly after this we had other friends who regularly came to visit us and help us for a few months.  While they were here they also gave us an envelope and said that someone who heard that they were coming gave them the envelope and said that they would know who to give it to.  When we opened the envelope after removing the tithes there was exactly the amount outstanding that we needed together with the first envelope to purchase the new mixer.

Very excited we went to the store to purchase our new addition to the kitchen.  Since then we have made good use of this appliance.  It not only kneads our dough but also helps us to grind our meat for the meat pies, lasagne, homemade South African (boerewors)  sausage and so much more.

Like us it works very hard in the kitchen and we are thankful to the Father for His provision and also to those who were obedient in giving when they were instructed too.  

Our Fridges 

When Jacques’s family first started renting Beit Chai the kitchen already had two standard sized white fridges standing side by side.  For many years they served us well but then we noticed that they were also nearing their end.  It was also apparent to us that we needed larger fridges so we thought that while we had to replace them we might as well search for bigger fridges that would better serve our needs.

We searched every shop and every model.  We spent weeks trying to find just the right fit for our kitchen.  Eventually we found the two perfect size fridges and placed the order.  We knew that they would not fit into the kitchen and Jacques had to shorten one of our counters to be able to enlarge the space that the new fridges could fit into.  

We waited very excitingly for the fridges to arrive, but when they did arrive we realised that because of the way the doors opened we had made a calculation error on the space that we needed.  We couldn’t send them back so we had to make a different plan.  We decided that the best option was to take away a piece of the outside wall of the kitchen.  

Thankfully there is very little things that Jacques cannot do so together we started breaking away the dry wall until there was space enough for both the fridges.  

Many years later and they are still a wonderful addition to our kitchen and have definitely earned their keep.  

I love how everything in the kitchen has a great story behind it.  At the time it might have felt like a hassle or a bad experience but looking back it has created a wonderful testimony of God’s provision and also wisdom on how to deal with the different challenges that we had to face.

There are still many stories, even down to our serving plates, pots and pans there is a story of the Father’s provision.  When we work in the kitchen we are ministering to the Father.  We are using our gifts to honour him and serve His people.  It is not just about making food but also giving back to Him and bringing honour to His name.

Introduction

So this is not your normal recipe blog. Read More

Testimony about Our Kitchen

Almost everything in our kitchen has a story. Read More

Recipes

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