chanukah
A BRITISH TA STE OF THE HOLIDAY
Chanukah Brings Out
the Oil and the Good Cheer
Ethel G. Hofman | Special to the JE
to 5 minutes to soften. Do not over-
crowd. Remove and drain them on
paper towels. Turn up the heat. The
oil should not be smoking hot.

Add the potatoes, and cook them
for 3 to 4 minutes longer until the
fries are golden and crisp.

Drain the fries on paper towels.

Sprinkle them lightly with salt. Serve
hot. A
h, Chanukah — the holiday
when we eat fried foods to com-
memorate the miracle of the
20 Crunchy Zucchini Sticks (Dairy)
Makes 24
chips (recipe below).

Beer-Battered Fish (Pareve)
Hand-Cut Chips (Pareve)
Cook’s tips:
*Substitute Old Bay seasoning for
paprika. *Leftovers may be reheated to crisp
in an air fryer or 375-degree oven.

Cook’s tips:
*Idaho/russet potatoes are the best
due to high starch and low moisture
content. *Soaking removes excess potato
starch, which prevents fries from
sticking together and helps maximize
crispness. *Keep the oil on a back burner
away from kids. Hot oil causes serious
burns. Serves 6
2 pounds tilapia fillets cut in half
lengthwise 1 cup all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon each salt, freshly ground
pepper and paprika
1 egg, lightly beaten
¾ cup beer
Vegetable oil (or oil of choice) for frying
Pat the tilapia dry with paper tow-
els. Set it aside.

Prepare the batter: In a medium
bowl, stir the flour, salt, pepper and
paprika. Add the egg and beer; whisk
it to a smooth batter. Set it aside.

Pour enough oil into a large heavy
pot until about 2 to 3 inches deep.

Heat the oil to 375 degrees F. Quickly
dip the tilapia into the batter, then
gently place it in the hot oil. Do not
crowd it. Cook for 3 to 4 minutes until
the tilapia is a nice golden brown.

Serve the fish hot with hand-cut
DECEMBER 1, 2022 | JEWISHEXPONENT.COM
Serves 4-6
3 Idaho potatoes, scrubbed
Vegetable oil (or oil of choice)
for frying
Kosher salt (optional)
Cut the potatoes in half lengthwise.

With the cut side down, cut them into
thick sticks.

Place the sticks in a large bowl,
and cover them with cold water. Soak
them for 2 to 3 hours or overnight in
the fridge. Drain well. Place them on
a large baking sheet lined with paper
towels. Pat dry.

In a large heavy pot, heat 2 inches of
oil over medium heat to 300 degrees F.

Add the potatoes, and cook for 4
3 medium zucchini
3 tablespoons vegetable oil
(or oil of choice)
1 egg
¾ cup panko
⅓ cup Parmesan cheese
1 tablespoon dried parsley
1½ teaspoons freshly ground pepper
Preheat your oven to 425 degrees F.

Line a baking sheet with foil. Spray
it with nonstick baking spray.

Trim the zucchini ends. To cut into
sticks, cut each zucchini in half, then
cut each half in half lengthwise, then
Pixabay Happy Chanukah!
Cook’s tips:
*Bell peppers may be used instead
of zucchini.

*No panko? Process the bread in a
food processor. Depending on thick-
ness, 2 slices give about ¾ cup.

Photo by Ethel G. Hofman
oil. The eight-day “Festival of Lights,”
which begins this year on the eve of
Sunday, Dec. 18 and ends on the evening
of Dec. 26 (always starting on the 25th
day of the Jewish month of Kislev), cele-
brates the victory of Judah the Maccabee
and his four brothers over the Syrian-
Greeks in 165 BCE. The Syrian-Greeks
had forbidden Jews from practicing
their religion while trying to impose the
paganism of the Hellenistic world.

After the Holy Temple in Jerusalem
was desecrated, there was only enough oil
for one nightly lighting of the menorah.

But the small amount of oil miraculously
lasted for eight days. Today, Chanukah
represents a triumph of light over dark-
ness — a time to show Jewish pride. We
light the menorah, spin the dreidel and
feast on delicacies fried in oil.

Growing up on the remote Shetland
Islands, on the first night of the holi-
day, we dined on battered fish, usually
fresh cod, along with chips — thick,
hand-cut potato sticks (more like jumbo
French fries) cooked up in oil. On fol-
lowing nights, we ate traditional Eastern
European fare: potato latkes, blintzes,
kugels and fresh, hot doughnuts dredged
in powdered sugar with a side dish of
homemade rhubarb jam.

To deep-fry items, use a frying basket
that fits into the pot and allows you to
remove food from the hot oil without the
use of utensils; it’s safer and less messy.

For accurate temperatures, it’s best to
invest in a glass, deep-fry candy ther-
mometer (about $10).

If you don’t have a thermometer, test
the oil by dropping a 1-inch square of
bread into it. If it takes 60 seconds to
brown, then the oil is ready. Or test the
oil with the stick end of a wooden spoon;
it’s ready when bubbles form around the
stick. If bubbling hard, however, the oil
is too hot and needs to cool a bit. The oil
should never be smoking hot.




obituaries
each quarter in half again (about 8
sticks from each zucchini). Set aside.

In a shallow dish, whisk together
the oil and egg. In a separate shallow
dish, mix the panko, cheese, parsley
and pepper.

Dip the zucchini sticks in the egg mix-
ture, then in the panko mixture to coat
completely. Place them in a layer, not
touching, on the prepared baking sheet.

Bake them in the preheated oven for
20 to 25 minutes or until crispy and
golden brown.

Serve with ketchup, marinara sauce
or tartar sauce for dipping.

Chewy Flapjacks (Dairy)
Makes 24
Cook’s tips:
*British fl apjacks are prepared with
rolled oats.

*To make the recipe pareve, substi-
tute margarine for butter.

*Crumbled fl apjacks can be sprin-
kled over fruit or ice cream.

Photos courtesy of the Levine family
2 sticks (½ pound)
1 cup brown sugar, packed
5 tablespoons honey
3½ cups instant rolled oats
Preheat your oven to 350 degrees F.

Line an 8-inch-by-8-inch baking
dish with parchment paper or foil,
extending an inch or so above the
rim. Spray it lightly with nonstick
baking spray.

In a large saucepan over medium
heat, melt the butter. Add the sugar
and honey; mix it to blend well. Do
not boil it. Remove it from the heat.

Stir in the oats, about 1 cup at a time,
mixing well.

Spoon the mixture into the pre-
pared dish, pressing down evenly
with a wooden spoon.

Bake it in a preheated oven for 25
minutes. The fl apjacks will be soft.

Cool them in a dish for 45 minutes
to fi rm.

Cut the fl apjacks into squares. Cool
them completely in the fridge. When
cooled, remove the fl apjacks from the
parchment paper.

Store them in the fridge in a tightly
lidded container. Flapjacks freeze
well. JE
Ethel G. Hofman is a syndicated
American Jewish food and travel colum-
nist, author and culinary consultant.

Philadelphia Ad Man
Steve Levine Dies at 84
Jarrad Saff ren | Staff Writer
S teve Levine was such a successful
ad man that, when the television
series “Mad Men” became a hit, Th e
Philadelphia Inquirer interviewed him
about the industry.

The Jewish Philadelphian
pitched Donald Trump for Trump
Organization business, Barron Hilton
for Hilton Hotels Corp. business and
various other big names. He was a real-
life Don Draper, the main character of
“Mad Men” played by Jon Hamm —
though the real-life pitch sessions were
far less dramatic than their fi ctional
counterparts in the show, according to
Levine’s son David.

But for a man who moved to
Philadelphia as a young man and stayed
in the area for most of his life, no pitch
mattered more than the one he made
to Phillies President Bill Giles in 1979.

Giles said the Phillies, who had fallen
short of the World Series in recent years
with two 100-plus win teams, would not
have the money to sign Pete Rose, the
hit king who would likely become Major
League Baseball’s fi rst-ever $1 million
man. Levine responded with an idea.

“Why don’t we call some of our clients
to get some endorsement money to see if
that will help?” he asked.

Th ey came up with about $150,000 in
endorsement deals to add to the off er.

Rose signed and helped the talented
Phillies win the 1980 World Series.

Th e ad man who played a small but
important role in bringing a World
Series to Philadelphia died on Oct. 29 in
South Florida. He was 84.

Levine is survived by his wife Susan
Bodner Levine; children Lisa Levine
(Eddie), Janet Steinman (Ray), David
Levine and Lauren Sager (Dan); and
eight grandchildren. The real-life
Draper was born on Aug. 22, 1938,
to Jacob and Lillian Sutin Levine
in Albany, New York. As a kid, he
attended Camp Ramah and graduated
from Albany High School in 1956 and
Syracuse University in 1960.

Levine worked for Proctor & Gamble
in Cincinnati before arriving in
Philadelphia to join the marketing fi rm
of Kalish, Agnew, Spiro and Rice. He
Steve Levine with his wife Susan Bodner Levine
later worked for Elkman Advertising
and Counselor Films.

“If he met you, he made you feel like
you were the only person in the room,”
David Levine said.

Advertising was Levine’s profession,
but Judaism and Israel may have been
his passions. As his son explained in an
email, “Steve’s infl uence on the Jewish
community of Philadelphia was pro-
found.” Levine served on the board
of directors for the Jewish Federation
of Greater Philadelphia, the Jewish
Exponent and the Akiba Hebrew
Academy (now the Jack M. Barrack
Hebrew Academy). Th e family belonged
to Har Zion Temple in Penn Valley.

But as an American child who was
born as the Holocaust was starting in
Europe, and who came of age in the
years following World War II, Levine
maintained a particular devotion to
Israel. Th e Jewish state was born in its
modern form in 1948, and Levine “fell
in love” with it as a child, his son said.

Th is mindset was ingrained in him by
his father Jacob, who escaped pogroms
in Ukraine, landed in Israel and then
immigrated to the United States. But
it was in Israel, even before it was the
Jewish state, where Jacob found peace
and stability. Jacob Levine stayed in
touch with the people he met there even
aft er moving to the U.S. He became an
avid Zionist and passed the enthusiasm
down to his son.

“He was such an avid Zionist to the
point where I couldn’t say anything that
he didn’t believe in without him correct-
ing me,” said David Levine of his father.

“He knew so many people who were
involved in the origins of Israel.”
Steve Levine visited Israel several
times and even brought the Jewish
state into his home here. When David
Levine was young, his family took in an
Israeli exchange student for a year. Steve
Levine’s devotion, passed down from
his father, continued into the next gen-
eration. All of his kids have now visited
Israel, too, except for David Levine.

But in the years before his dad died,
David Levine was able to spend quality
time with him to talk about the older
man’s experiences. He heard about the
advertising war stories, the service to the
Jewish community and the commitment
to the Jewish state. Th e son is not quite
sure why he hasn’t gone to Israel. Now
though, he is pretty sure that he wants to.

“I’m the only one in the family who
hasn’t,” he said.

As a kid, David Levine, now 52,
attended the clinching game of the 1980
World Series. But he did not realize that
his father had played a role.

“It wasn’t until later in life that I really
understood the impact,” he said. JE
jsaff ren@midatlanticmedia.com
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