By Bracha Schwartz
Victoria Dwek says she’s just a regular mom, taking care of a husband, kids and a house—who also happens to be a prolific author.
The food editor of Ami Magazine, and co-author with Leah Schapira of “Secret Restaurant Recipes” and “Passover Made Easy,” among others, demonstrated several dishes to whip up for Pesach at Grand and Essex in Bergenfield, and told entertaining anecdotes while cooking. This was her first appearance in Bergen County and she was surprised at the plethora of restaurants. She noted that usually it is the areas without kosher restaurants where women are the best cooks.
Dwek said she virtually moves into Schapira’s house when they do a photo shoot and have opposite tastes in cooking supplies: Dwek likes to use pyrex pans, sturdy oven mitts and inexpensive knives that she replaces often. Schapira uses disposables and an old shmata to get them in and out of the oven. Their heritage differs as well: Dwek’s roots are Syrian and Schapira’s are Hungarian. But it’s a marriage made in cooking heaven.
No-Bake Fudge Biscotti
Yields 20 servings
Dwek began with No-Bake Fudge Biscotti, a delicious concoction rolled and shaped like biscotti but mainly a combination of heavenly chocolate melted with marshmallow and then mixed with nuts. Perfect for calming an “OMG I need another dessert quickly” panic attack:
Ingredients:
3 tablespoons butter or oil
1 (8-ounce) bag of marshmallows
10 ounces bittersweet chocolate, chopped, or chocolate chips
1 ½ cups pecans, toasted about 5 minutes
Directions:
• Grease a piece of parchment paper with nonstick cooking spray. Have another piece of parchment paper handy.
• Melt butter or heat oil in a nonstick frying pan. Add marshmallows and cook until marshmallows are melted, watching carefully and stirring so they don’t burn.
• Add chocolate and stir until melted. Remove from heat and stir in pecans.
• Pour mixture onto prepared parchment paper and shape into a biscotti-style log. Use a second piece of greased parchment paper or greased gloves (with spray or oil) to help you, as the mixture will be hot.
• Let biscotti set at room temperature or in the freezer. When firm, cut into strips.
Pesach Pizza Dough or Flatbread
Dwek’s Pesach pizza dough can be used as the base for a variety of meat or dairy fillings, and can be shaped into appetizer sizes, a large circle or rectangle. At the demo, she used it as a base for pulled brisket.
Ingredients:
½ cup potato starch
½ cup almond flour
1 ½ teaspoons salt (or less if you prefer a less salty taste)
1 ½ teaspoons baking powder
1 egg
2 tablespoons almond milk or water
Directions:
• Preheat oven to 400 degrees F.
• In a bowl, combine potato starch, almond flour, salt and baking powder
• Mix to combine. Add egg and almond milk and combine until ingredients come together and have the texture of real pizza dough.
• Press dough into a circle (for pizza) or rectangle (for flatbreads). You can also shape it into mini doughs for an appetizer.
• Par bake for 10 minutes. Add desired toppings and bake for an additional 10 minutes.
Dwek holds a B.A. from New York University and an M.F.A. in creative writing from Sarah Lawrence College. She lives in Deal, New Jersey, with her husband and children.
