Zoom Hallah: Plait and Chat

NEW! Hallah at Home Come and chat and plait on the shul zoom on Friday afternoons at 4pm Start off your Shabbat and your weekend with the smell – and taste – of your own freshly baked hallah Preparing dough in advance: Please prepare your dough at least 1.5-2 hours ahead of the session. The … Continue reading →

Hallah at Home

Two recipes for Hallah Traditional Hallah Download the recipe here …”eat thy bread with joy, and drink thy wine with a merry heart…” Ecclesiastes 9:7 You can make the dough on Thursday evening and leave to prove over night in the fridge. Then plait and bake on Friday. Makes 2 large loaves or 3 medium … Continue reading →

Matzah balls for all

Here are Miriam Edelman’s top tips for making a large quantity of matzah balls which she did recently for the Wimbledon Synagogue Communal Seder It is hard to guarantee consistency and quality for over 160 kneidlach (matzah balls), but for Wimbledon seder, we do our best.  The intention is for fluffy, rather than dense, matzah … Continue reading →

How to boil an egg x 180

Some ideas from Claudia Camhi for any aspiring eggsperts out there. Wimbledon Synagogue has a long tradition of hosting a large, fun and multigenerational second night Seder. Over the years we have gathered some tips to cater for a large number of guests. This year is was my turn to do the eggs, 180 of … Continue reading →

Hallah, Chapatis and Bagels – Nisa Nashim Breadmaking Workshop

Read about our local Nisa Nashim event – baking bread together. Scroll to the end to download the recipes. by Hana 21st January 2018 On a cold, rainy day, a group of Muslim and Jewish women and children gathered at Wimbledon Synagogue, excited to roll up our sleeves and get busy in the kitchen. The aim … Continue reading →

Press coverage in Jewish Telegraph

Jewish Telegraph, 8th September 2017

Cookery Demonstration in Putney

Please see below for information about a cookery demonstration by Valerie Ferguson who led our recent wimshul cooks workshop. YOU ARE INVITED TO A COOKERY DEMONSTRATION AND TASTING SESSION DATE: 11th July TITLE: Summer Entertaining TIME: 18.30-20.30 PLACE: The Bunker, Manor Fields, Putney Hill Valerie Ferguson, Manor Fields’ resident and former proprietor of Green Cuisine … Continue reading →

Cooking with Herbs – announcing new Wimshul Cooks Workshop in May

Come and join us for an evening exploring the joys of cooking with herbs. Valerie, former proprietor of Green Cuisine catering and cookery school and cookery and garden book editor, will lead the evening. ****TO FIND OUT THE DATE AND TIME, PLEASE EMAIL wimshulcooks@gmail.com**** Valerie is designing and planting a new synagogue / nursery herb garden – and … Continue reading →

Haroset – Quality and Quantity

Haroset…with a new ingredient In addition to her trays of perfectly formed and delicious Pesach biscuits, it was always my Mother who prepared the Haroset for our Seder. Since her passing two years ago I have taken over the job, with some trepidation. My Mother’s Haroset was always a deep red paste of finely chopped … Continue reading →

Chocolate Babka; Passover, Food and Memory

This post by Aaron Vallance, Wimbledon Synagogue Cookbook contributor (amongst many other accolades), first appeared on his blog 1-Dish-for-the-Road. It’s such a great article we asked him if we could reproduce it on wimshul cooks which he has kindly agreed to. Happy Passover! by Aaron Vallance Food memories. They’re possibly the most powerful memories we … Continue reading →

Lovely Passover Puddings

Passover is a time for enjoying home baking and especially home baked puddings. Here are some easy-to-prepare recipes which are sure to get your family and friends asking for second helpings. Pesach Apple and Almond Pudding Stephanie Crevis This is a recipe given to me last year by my aunt who was amazed that I … Continue reading →

Matzah and the Spanish Inquisition: Part 2

Beatriz Diaz Lainez and Juana de Fuente of Almazan (Spain, 1505): “made some cakes…of dough that had no leavening and they kneaded it with white wine and honey and clove and pepper, and they made about twenty of those and they kept them…in a storage chest.” Matzah Recipes from Spain’s Secret Jews Though most of … Continue reading →

Matzah and the Spanish Inquisition: Part 1

Angelina de Leon of Almazan’s matzah (Spain, 1500s): “made the dough of flour and eggs, and formed some round, flat cakes with pepper and honey and oil. She cooked them in an oven and she did this around Holy Week” (from Gitlitz & Davidson, 1999) Matzah and the Spanish Inquisition: Part 2 – here Matzah … Continue reading →

Did you give them butter for their hands?

Read about the wonderful daughter-mother-grandmother team that brought us a taste of a Sudanese Purim at a recent Wimshul Cooks workshop. Click on the links in the text to find the recipes. As well as making baklava and date stuffed biscuits in the session, we enjoyed a slice of Daisy’s grandmother’s busbusa which we ate whilst drinking … Continue reading →

The Seven Biblical Species – What Makes them Biblical

by Liz Ison The seven Biblical species are traditionally eaten on Tu B’shevat.  Find out below what they are and what makes them truly Biblical – from Adam and Eve, through Noah to the Land of Milk and Honey; and how they link the festivals of Passover, Shavuot and Hanukkah. Why not try some of our … Continue reading →

Biblical Hallah

by Liz Ison This Sunday at Heder the Barmitzvah class made “Biblical” hallah – hallah made with the seven Biblical species – in preparation for next Saturday’s festival of Tu B’shevat which also happens to be the first Batmitzvah of their year group. We made about 20 mini-hallot which were frozen ahead of next week. … Continue reading →

In Memory of Lionel Blue- Philosophy of Honest Cooking

In memory of Rabbi Blue who passed away today (19th December 2016) we are republishing his 2013 post of recipes:  The Most Honest Recipe I Know and Hummus Fit for Kings and Paupers. The post can be found by clicking this link.

Aubergine Extravaganza Recipes

£300 was raised at this week’s Aubergine Extravaganza Workshop which was donated to the charity Papyrus in memory of Beth Kelin. You can visit the justgiving page to find out more – please click here. Thank you to Patricia Jacard for running a fun event and to our participants. Mini-film (2 minutes) (prepared by 10 year … Continue reading →

Wimshul Cooks Workshop: Aubergine Extravaganza

Patricia Jacard will be running a Wimshul Cooks’ workshop in July demonstrating traditional Sephardic dishes using aubergine including Aubergine Pasties, Aubergine Tart and Aubergine Gratin. (All dishes are vegetarian). And we shall be eating the dishes at the end of the evening! Patricia is over from Chile for a visit in England so this is … Continue reading →

Hallah with Pesto Filling

ChallLiz Ison This recipe was inspired by a blog post on “The Nosher” and a 1938 Lithuanian Jewish cookbook written in Yiddish. First, the extraordinary cookbook, The Vilna Vegetarian Cookbook: originally published in the 1930s in Yiddish by Fania Lewando who was the owner of a vegetarian restaurant in Vilna, Lithuania, frequented by Marc Chagall, amongst others. … Continue reading →

Potato Kugel

6 medium potatoes 1 onion 3 eggs, beaten 1/3 cup matzah meal 1 ½ teaspoons of salt ¼ teaspoon of pepper 4 tablespoons of oil ¼ teaspoon of baking powder Tip: Using a magimix with grating attachment makes light work of the grating. Preheat oven to 180C/350F/Gas Mark 4. Peel onion and grate. Peel the … Continue reading →

Rabbi Rosner’s Vegetable Cholent

Recently Rabbi Rosner taught us how to make (meatless) Cholent. We filled a couple of slow cookers on a Friday and served up the warm and aromatic stew after the Saturday service. Possibly for the first time in 66 years (that’s how old the Synagogue is) the community was able to get a taste of … Continue reading →