In a Nutshell:

Apple Pie Dessert-in-a-Flash

I really enjoyed the apple pie filling I used in the pomegranate mousse cups recipe (in the Gourmet Glatt section of the Yom Tov supplement).
I couldn’t believe it tasted so homemade! Try this: warm up a can of apple pie filling, serve individually with a scoop of vanilla ice cream drizzled with caramel sauce, and you’ve got a scrumptious and fancy-looking dessert!

—Faigy Grossman

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Must Try

I always buy toasted sesame oil at Trader Joe’s. It’s good quality, it has a good flavor, and you can’t beat that price.

—Chanie Nayman

Reader feedback

I recently tried a recipe from your magazine called “My Mother’s Apple Kugel” [featured in Man with a Pan, Issue 798]. It made two 9-inch round pans, so I decided to give one to my mother, as she was having company Shabbos day.

Well, she put the kugel out and went back to the kitchen to finish serving. By the time she came back to the table, the whole thing was gone! She didn’t even get to enjoy it, and it looked so good! So you can say I made my mother My Mother’s Apple Kugel and my mother didn’t get to have it. I’ll have to make it again, and this time she’ll be sure to save herself a piece!

Thanks for your amazing magazine and recipes that my family enjoys week after week!

 —Ahuva Wiedermann

Just Sayin’

How many different kinds of salt do you have in your pantry and what are they?

Off the top of my head, I have eight salts!

Coarse sea salt — my workhorse salt. I use it for the bulk of my cooking.

Kosher salt is hard to find here in Israel, so I have to bring it back from the US for recipe testing to make sure a recipe is accurate if I’m going to share it.

Fine sea salt — for saltshakers; I never, ever cook or bake with it.

Fine pink Himalayan salt — I use this for all my doughs and anytime I’m making something where a coarse salt won’t dissolve.

Coarse Himalayan salt — I use this less frequently, but I find that I can replace it 1:1 for coarse sea salt.

Maldon salt — this is my finishing salt of choice. After I slice any roast, London broil, or steak, it always gets a gentle sprinkle of Maldon salt. Its salinity is more mild, but it has a nice texture!

Gray salt — I got a bag as a gift a few years ago and fell in love. It doesn’t have a particularly different flavor, maybe it’s slightly more mineral-y than any other salt, and I find its salinity somewhere between sea salt and kosher salt. It has a slightly wet feeling and its texture is soft, almost sand-like. I like to use it on raw foods, where I can get the most value out of it. Think a vegetable platter or a lightly steamed vegetable, or a beef or vegetable carpaccio.

Last are all the flavored salts lying around my spice cabinet. Orange chili salt, seasoned salt, onion salt…the list goes on. I actually shy away from these. I prefer to control the balance of flavor in my food, and that means adding the amount of salt I choose and the amount of chili, garlic, or onion that goes in!

—Danielle Renov

(Originally featured in Family Table, Issue 817)