Thursday, July 16, 2015

Knish


  Ok, so more than likely you have either never eaten, or never heard of knish. If you have eaten it, then odds are you have not bothered to try and make it. Maybe you are intimidated by this seemingly laborious dish? Maybe the thought of  having to make from scratch dough has you unnerved? Maybe you can't pronounce it so making it is a deal breaker.....blah blah. ITS EASY YALL!! I swear. It's a tad time consuming, but honestly most from scratch dishes are. The upside is you can double your filling recipe, freeze half, and next time only have to make the dough. Thus making a super yummy, easy, and quick week night dinner.
  So what is Knish. I suggest you google the origin if you have to know, but basically it is an easter European street food. Normal filled with a mix of potatoes, veggies, and some kind of cheese. You can make them with meat too. Brisket makes delicious knish. We typically make a variation of potato, veggies and goat cheese. Its the family favorite. We bake ours but they can be fried, or even grilled.  I found and adapted my  recipe for the dough on the  Smitten Kitchen website. She found hers from some guy who seems to know his stuff when it comes to knish. I suggest you give that a look one day. He uses rendered chicken fat (schmaltz) vs oil, and I bet its amazing. So really, give them a try. They are sooooooo good, and pretty simple. You won't be sorry, promise!

Dough:
2 1/4 cups all purpose flour
teaspoon baking powder
half teaspoon salt
1 egg
1/2 cup oil ( I use grape seed oil, but you can use any mildly flavored oil)
1/2 cup water
teaspoon vinegar

Filling:
potatoes-depending on the kind you use, I used 5 ukon gold for this recipe and made 2 batches of knish
1 small onion
2 roasted red peppers
1 bunch rainbow chard
A few big dollops of goat cheese

*You could use ANY veggie you like, you could add bacon, you could sub the goat cheese for another  cheese...the filling is all up to you. In our house it varies depending on what we have on hand. The base is always potatoes, though.

Step 1- DOUGH:
  Mix your dry ingredients in a bowl. In a separate bowl add water, oil, vinegar, and the egg, then whisk. Next, pour the wet with the dry and mix. I use a big spoon at first then normally finish mixing with my hands. Once the dough has come together, form it into a ball and let rest in the fridge while you make the filling. I always wrap mine in wax paper, but you could just leave in the bowl and cover it with plastic wrap.

Step 2- FILLING
  -Peel or just clean your potatoes, its up to you if you want the the peel on there. Chop and boil. Once they are soft, drain.
  _chop your onion, greens, peppers, and any other veggie you are adding and sauté util tender.
-add the sautéed veggies into the potatoes, and any cheese you are using and mash with a hand masher ( ***if using a hand mixer instead, mash the potatoes first then use a large spoon and fold in the rest----for the sake of not making a huge mess)

Assembly:
So if a picture is worth a thousand words, then I could just show pictures of this part...or type  1,000 words, or split the difference. I"ll split the difference and give you both.

- First flour a flat surface ,and your rolling pin
-Next, roll your dough out into a nice large rectangle .....or as close as you can get. It needs to be about as thick as pie crust dough. Once you get it rolled out into a rectangle, trim the 4 sides to even them up.

-Take your filling and make a line of the mixture down the dough starting a few inches from the edge. Don't pile it too thick, it will ooze out while baking.

-Now, you are going to start rolling your knish. Fold the extra dough closest to you,over your mixture ,and start rolling.

-Once you get to the end, brush with egg wash to seal up the seam. (1 egg and a few teaspoons of water whisked together)


             
NOW FOR THE TRICKY PART:
(not really, I'm just messing with you)


 -Now we you have to cut the knish. Start at the end of the "roll". You will pinch and twist the dough about 2-3 inches in.



 -Next you will cut the twist with a sharp knife



 -Finally, place the "twisted" side down, (the knish bottom) and use your finger to tuck the extra dough into the center of the top.

                                                                       not so pretty

much better


REPEAT WITH REMAINING DOUGH!
*Place prepared knish on a baking sheet sprayed with oil, or lined with parchment
*Brush all knish with remaining egg wash
*Bake at 350 degrees for 30 minutes or until golden brown!



SERIOUSLY, WORTH ALL OF THE  EFFORT!
Enjoy!


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