Every once in a while I feel sorry for myself because my kids won’t eat my lovingly prepared meals; for comfort, I seek out one of my fellow moms, specifically those with teenagers. Invariably they look at me with a withering ‘well let me get you the violins and a stiff drink fast, your poor thing’ stare, reminding me that I am a mere amateur at kitchen rejection. When I hear their tales of trying to feed their teens, my load somehow seems lighter, more manageable. Snarky, picky, and sometimes downright nasty, it is no easy task to manage teens at the table.

Enter Rozanne Gold and her new book, Eat Fresh Food: Awesome Recipes for Teen Chefs. I sat down with the author and discovered that the book’s appeal to teens is as organic as its recipes. Gold recently adopted a teen-ager and for the past few years they have been coming together as a family, in and out of the kitchen. Her daughter was one of five teen chefs engaged to prepare and test each recipe. Their collective industry and obvious enjoyment is evidenced throughout the book with hands-on pictures depicting their efforts.

“Something a little quirky is that everyone, everyone is talking about childhood obesity and overeating and diabetes and getting back to the table – no one wrote a book. Someone forgot to write the book.” She correctly assessed that the literature includes many books about cooking, kids, and healthy eating, but few if any that feature well known chefs who have cross referenced their work with a nutritionist in order to serve the teen audience. This gap as well as her family changes prompted her to write the book and have nutritionist Helen Kimmel review and validate the recipes. Coupled with her teen chefs’ participation and stamp of approval, the book has a tremendous sense of leading-edge authenticity.

“I like being the first to do things”, says Gold. A food pioneer, she graduated from Tufts and and did graduate work at NYU. With no formal culinary training, Gold beg, borrowed, and stole experience, and at 23 became the Executive Chef at Mayor Koch’s Gracie Mansion. “I catered the first seder ever at Gracie Mansion. It was a great experience. The Mayor told me to put Perrier (instead of seltzer) in the matzo balls which I had never done before. I did a traditional seder for his family. Holiday favorites included anything with garlic, as well as brisket with vermouth, onions, and a bay leaf.” Many books and restaurants later, she has become a well-known force in the food world. Just this week, she broke boundaries by having her book referenced in the New York Times' Health blog, as well as featured in the Science section for its unique approach.

Gold does admire others in the industry attempting to improve school and home meals for children, including Bill Telepan, Ann Cooper, and Lynn Fredericks. But for this book, she felt she had to pave a new path. “Setting criteria for what eating fresh food means was a process. Working with the nutritionist, we definitely decided not to go the route of calories or counting, but to come up with some broader way of expressing healthy food. The original title was Ketchup Ain’t A Vegetable,” laughed Gold. “I’m not doctrinaire about this at all. There is so much discussion about good food and bad food. My solution, my definition is eat fresh food. Which is also a way of saying no processed food or very little processed food. That became my benchmark. The basis of every recipe is that a vegetable or a fruit has to be the star of the dish. You will find this in every recipe. That is my bottom line. The fact that there is very little meat in there is cognizant of the fact that kids are serious about wanting to be vegetarians; 80 – 90% of the book is suitable for vegetarians.”

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Bubbe Wendy's Hanukkah Latkes (Fancy Wendy's Hash Browns)
by Erik of Fancy Fast Food, with assistance and a little bit of hand modeling from me

Hey everybody, it's Hanukkah! It's Chanuka! No matter how you spell it, it's time for the Jewish festival of lights -- eight crazy nights of dreidels gone wild, a time when latkes are as abundant as old yentas around a mahjongg table. But you don't need to be Jewish to partake in Hanukkah traditions, particularly the gastronomic treat of latkes (or lattkes). No matter how you spell it, "latkes" is Yiddish for fried pancakes, typically of the potato variety -- making it oddly similar to McDonald's hash browns. However, Bubbe Wendy has guilted us into using her Fancy Fast Food recipe ("If you just want to use McDonald's hash browns, then I guess that's fine by me..."), so here goes. Oy...

Ingredients (from Wendy's):

• 8 orders of hash browns (for the eight nights of Hannukah)
• 2 baked potatoes (with packets of sour cream and "Buttery-Best Spread")
• 2 orders of mandarin oranges
• 1 small soft drink
• 1 bottle of water
• packets of Sweet & Sour Sauce
• packets of sugar
• packets of salt and pepper
• a pinch of Jewish guilt (may be substituted with Catholic guilt)
• organic chives (for garnish and a touch of irony)

Latkes are traditionally served with apple sauce or sour cream. We already have the latter, so we're going to have to make the apple sauce. Unfortunately, Wendy's sells no apple products whatsoever, so we'll have to get creative.

What are apples? They are a kind of fruit that are sometimes sweet, sometimes sour, and so naturally we will start with Sweet & Sour Sauce. To add a fruity pulp to it, we'll add the mandarin oranges -- but that's fine; Bubbe Wendy moved down to Boca.

Put the manadrin oranges in a food processor and purée them, then strain out the extraneous juice. Mix this pulp in a bowl with the Sweet & Sour Sauce. The color is a bit intense to look like real apple sauce, so scoop out some baked potato (minus any chives) and mix it in -- the French call potatoes "pommes de terre" (apples of earth) so we'll go with it. Mush and whisk it all until it sort of looks like apple sauce; add sugar until it's as sweet.

Next, the latkes themselves. Take all the mini hash brown nuggets and mush them with your hands. Touching them, you'll realize they are all too greasy for things to stick together, so we'll need to make a batter to work as a binding agent.

Put one baked potato, minus the skin, into a food processor and add about a quarter cup of water. Hit purée and voilà: batter! Add this potato batter to your pile of hash browns and mix thoroughly in a bowl. Add salt and pepper as desired.

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JDub's Director of Events, Adam Teeter and his fiancee Naomi are planning their wedding - and their new life together. Naomi was raised in a kosher home, and so Adam has decided to learn to make some great kosher recipes. He's starting off with a very Thanksgiving-appropriate recipe: parve mashed potatoes. It's perfect to serve with turkey, and delicious to boot:

 

Tracey Fine and Georgie Tam, aka The Jewish Princess, are the authors of The Jewish Princess Feasts and Festivals. They will be guest-blogging on Jewcy this week, and this is their first post.

 

The Jewish Princess Feasts & FestivalsI am sure that when you think of London, you think: red double-decker buses, black cabs, smog (there goes the weather thing). Just like when I think of New York, I think of yellow cabs, pretzel stands, and amazing SHOPS (there goes my reputation) and Broadway of course.  However, all of our historical sites can be found in central London: Big Ben, Buckingham Palace, Harrods and even though I do occasionally visit-Harrods somewhat more than the others, where I live is unfortunately not filled with historical sites, unless I count my high street cobbler, who has been there forever (cobbling is a dying trade) and is a relic himself, smoking fifty a day (very un-PC Princessly correct) sniffing shoe glue, but still there to fix any pair of Jimmy Choos etc. which happens to be most useful. And there is only the occasional black cab that has lost his way and is scuttling back to the West End.

So now I must introduce myself, "How do you do?" I am The Jewish Princess. Bet you didn't think we had any over this side of the Princess Pond, but I am happy to reassure you that we are alive, well, and shopping. In fact, until I decided to come out of the closet (it was quite full) and star in The Jewish Princess Cookbook and The Jewish Princess Feasts & Festivals (just published in the USA by Sterling,) Princesses over here, were not so ready to wave the banner. However, now when I am recognized in my local deli, as fans peer into my shopping basket to see what I am making for dinner (sometimes I have to hide the ready made sauces) or in Brent Cross (my local shopping mall) where I am occasionally stopped, they proclaim that after reading all about me, that they believe they are in fact a Jewish Princess. Sometimes these Princesses are not even Jewish!

You see I had never thought of "Jewish Princess" as a negative phrase and felt that Princesses were getting a hard time. Therefore it was about time to re-brand, after all what is wrong with wanting to look after your family, friends but to also look after yourself?

So I hope that over the next few days you can make time between hair and nail appointments to join me and find out about my family tribulations, what I eat, what I cook, where I go and who I meet. YES, a week in the life of THE JEWISH PRINCESS.  Why not follow me even in your high heels and see if you can find a little bit of a JP in you?

See you tomorrow and remember to stay PPP: Postive, Productive and Princesslike in everything you do!

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Traveling around promoting Jewish Cooking Boot Camp, my mom and I have been fortunate to meet many, many people who love to share their stories and recipes with us. And almost everyone has the same comment: "My mother/grandmother/aunt made a similar honey cake/matzo ball/brisket but shenever wrote down the recipe! It was 'a little of this, a little of that.'"

Hearing these stories only reinforced how rare and special it is that my mom and I were able to amass such a huge collection of traditional recipes. And the real reason we were able to do that was my grandmother, Edith.

Edith was far from a typical Jewish grandmother. She loved fashion and style almost as much as she loved cooking. She was the first person I knew to own MAC makeup in the late 1980s, brought back from a trip to New York City. She referred to her friends as"the dinosaurs." She once convinced a tailor to make my prom dress so short it would have made Paris and Lindsay blush. And I would often come home from work to find my roommate Zoë on the phone with her, discussing the previous night's episode of "Sex & The City."

She was a true individual and her style, her attitude, and even her cooking reflected that. People are always asking where the recipes came from and, truth be told, most came from Edith. They may have originated with her mother or grandmotheror even friends, but it was her tweaking and taste - and ultimately her writing things down - that gave us the basics for the book.

Edith and I at a family holiday in the early 90s.

Even more than in her recipes, I like to think her spirit lives on in the book as well. I wanted to create a book that would appeal to those who go to temple every week as well as those who have never seen the inside of a shul. And I wanted people to see that it's ok to do things your own way, in your own style, with your own spin and personality - much like my grandma. Holidays are about more than following rules. I always like to say I wrote the book not to tell people how to celebrate, but to give them the tools to do it on their own. And I think Edith would have loved that.

In honor of Edith (and my last post) I'm happy to share her signature cake. Try it - it'sreally simple, and absolutely amazing.

Edith's Orange Cake
Serves: 8-10
Preparation Time: 10 minutes
Cooking Time: 25 minutes

(1) 18.25 oz. package orange cake mix
(1) 3.4 oz package instant vanilla pudding
1/2 cup vegetable oil
1 cup orange juice

4 extra-large eggs

1. Preheat the oven to 350°F.

2. Grease a 10-inch Bundt pan using oil or cooking spray or Baker's Joy (I prefer Baker's Joy for baking)

3. Mix together all of the ingredients and beat for 2 minutes.

4. Pour the batter into the Bundt pan and bake at 350° for 50 to 60 minutes. Cake is done when golden and bounces back when touched.

5. When the cake is completely cool, pour the glaze over the top.

Orange Glaze

2 cups confectioner's sugar

3 1/2 tablespoons orange juice

Mix the confectioners' sugar with the orange juice, and pour the glaze over the cooled cake.

TIP: You can substitute milk for the orange juice to make an unflavored glaze.

One of the greatest things I discovered as I collected family traditions (see yesterday's post) was the diversity of Jewish families that are out there today. My own Eastern-European family acquired a Brazilian infusion courtesy of my husband and in-laws, leading my friends to dub our daughter "the Jewzilian." Our holiday celebrations now routinely include cachaca (a particularly potent sugarcane alcohol) and have increased in decibels from merely "loud" to "eardrum-shattering." On the flip side, my Brazilian-born father-in-law now regularly uses the word "machetunim" and has developed an obsession with mandelbrot.

One of my best friends, Susie, has the distinct pleasure of being nicknamed the "Jewmaican," as testament to her Jewish father and Jamaican mother. Her family regularly celebrates Jewish holidays with the traditional...rice and peas? It may not be Jewish traditional, but it's Jamaican traditional. They fused their cultures to create a tradition that recognized all aspects of their family, and I love that.

Food truly is a great connector. It connects us not only to other cultures but to our own as well. As most of us know, the Jewish religion emphasizes the act of inviting people into your home for meals. I can't even begin to tell you the amount of non-Jewish friends I have who were just as excited as my tribe members about JCBC. I mean, is there really a better comfort food than matzo ball soup?

One of the most powerful stories in the book comes from Nancy Ratzan, an incredible woman who is the current President of the National Council of Jewish Women (and who happened to write a beautiful foreword for the book). In her position she often travels around the world, meeting with other religious and political leaders. In 2003 she found herself in rural China, investigating the role the UN plays in Chinese family planning. As she went door-to-door in an area where the annual family income is less than $300, she was invited into a multi-generational home of a local family and asked to stay for lunch. Though she politely declined, they insisted she stay to taste a bite of their freshly baked food. With her first bite, Nancy turned to the translator and had him explain that it tasted exactly like the popovers her Eastern-European Jewish grandmother used to make. Through the translator she exchanged recipes with the Chinese grandmother. They were the same.

If that's not an incredible connection, I don't know what is.

 

In honor of my "Jewzilian" family, our favorite drink...

Caipirinha

Makes: 1 drink

1 lime

4 teaspoons sugar (or 2 1/2 packets Splenda or other artificial sweetener)

Ice cubes

Cachaça (or Vodka)

 

 

TIPS:

• Cachaca is very easy to find these days (51 and Leblon are both good brands) and comes in Kosher form for those who need it.
• If cachaca's not for you just sub in vodka (also easily found in kosher varieties) and your caipirinha becomes a caipiroska.
• You can use anything from a tumbler to a highball to a goblet to make this drink, but be sure your glass has a thick bottom and plenty of room for ice.
• Caipirinhas (and Caipiroskas) are best when very cold, so as your ice melts, continue to add more ice to keep your drink cold.

 

1. Cut the lime in half lengthwise and squeeze the juice from each half into a glass, using a lime squeezer.
2. Take the remnants of the lime and cut each side in half and then into thirds, and add them to the glass.
3. Add the sugar or Splenda. You can add more or less sugar depending on personal preference.
4. Use a masher or wooden spoon to mash the sugar into the lime wedges as you stir.
5. Eyeball the amount of liquid now in the glass, and add a little less than that amount of Cachaça.
6. Use your masher to continue mashing the ingredients while stirring.
7. Fill the glass with ice and let the drink sit for a few minutes to chill.

Andrea Carneiro is the author of Jewish Cooking Boot Camp: The Modern Girl's Guide to Cooking Like a Jewish Grandmother. She is guest-blogging this week on Jewcy, and this is her first post.

It was about eight years ago that I came to a shocking realization. I didn't know how to cook. Not boiling-some-pasta-cooking... I mean real cooking.

I was living in a tiny apartment in New York City and spending every spare moment either working or flying home to get a dose of sunshine. Being that my hometown happens to be Miami, those trips were rarely solo. They soon became group vacations, the highlight of which was my parents' annual Chanukah party, always attended by my two best friends (both New Yorkers) and a slew of revolving guests. One night, as Ellen, Jill and I sat watching my mom fry up her famous flourless latkes, Ellen spoke up. "Roz," she said to my mom. "We all have absolutely no idea how to cook Jewish holiday food and someday we're going to have to do it on our own."

We were silent.

"We need a Jewish cooking boot camp," she continued. And an idea was born. We figured it would be 3 days, would cover all major holidays and dishes and come complete with syllabus. From cabbage soup to nut cake we would learn it all. We laughed... and then we moved on.

But as the years went on I realized that there were many, many other young people who went through years of Jewish holidays inhaling brisket, kugel, latkes, honey cake and rugelach...without ever knowing how to make any of it themselves. Wedding seasons and bridal showers and housewarmings came and went and the Jewish cookbooks I found were too religious, too advanced, or too boring. They didn't speak to my generation or my lifestyle. I wanted something that was fun, stylish, informative and interesting. So I created it. I added Cliffs Notes to avoid the humiliation of Googling "Rosh Hashana," a hip-hop Chanukah playlist (thanks Rosenberg brothers!), wine pairings, and even a Purim-inspired Caipirinha.

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Earlier this week, I was still recovering from the swine flu but dragged myself to my office only to find it had been cleaned out. Feeling nauseous anyway, I sat down in my boss’ office and numbly listened to her words. So sorry…it’s the economy…you did a great job…no funding for your position…blah blah blah. Huh? Did my job just dump me with the “it’s not you, it’s me” break-up speech?

So instead of a morning of dull research and nursing a cup of tea wondering if I was well enough to be in the office that day, I was packing a box of my personal items and officially joined the 9.6% of the New York City population counted as unemployed. The rest of the day was kind of a blur. I recall a tremendous outpouring of support and suggestions. Friends sent job postings and made suggestions for networking opportunities. My boyfriend came home early from work to find me in his sunny kitchen hammering away on my laptop looking for job leads.

What a way to start the New Year! Soon the anxiety soon began to creep in. How long can I afford my rent? Where will I live? Just the day before I was planning a trip to Tucson to see my sister and her new baby due this fall. Can I afford it now? My boyfriend and I had been planning on going to Sukkahfest – is that the best use of my (now much more) limited resources?

That and so many more questions were swirling around in my head. But I found myself in my comfort zone, my (boyfriend’s) kitchen, and hungry for dinner. Since I had been sick we were pretty low on groceries, but there were enough odds and ends to pull together some pasta, a basil-kale-chicken stock-raw cashew pesto (with a clove of fresh garlic, it was incredible). But the real comfort food were the black bean brownies.

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"Why is there charoset on the Seder plate?"

That's the most secret Question at the Seder - nobody even asks it. And it's got the most secret answer: none.

The Haggadah explains about matzah, the bread that was baked so quick and came out so dry it blocks your insides for a week. The Haggadah explains about the horseradish, so bitter it blows the lid off your lungs and makes breathing so painful you wish you could just stop. The Haggadah even explains about that scrawny chicken neck or beet masquerading as a whole roast lamb.

But it never explains charoset.

Yes, there's an oral tradition. (Fitting for something that tastes so delicious!) You've probably heard somebody at a Passover Seder claim that charoset is the mortar the ancient Israelite slaves had to paste between the bricks and stones of those giant warehouses they were building for Pharaoh.

But that's a cover story. Really dumb. You think that mortar was so sweet, so spicy, so delicious that every ancient Israelite just had to slaver some mortar on his tongue?

You think it wasn't leeks and onions they wailed for after their waters broke and they were born or borne across the Sea of Blood, but the mortar they were pasting on their masters' mansions? You think they were whining, "Give me mortar or give me death?"

Forbid it, Almighty God!

OK, maybe it's a midrash? Those bitter-hearted rabbis, always fresh from some pogrom or exile, claiming that to the Israelites, slavery was sweet? So sweet that it reminds us that slavery may taste sweet, and this is itself a deeper kind of slavery? No. The oral tradition transmitted by charoset is not by word of mouth but taste of mouth. A kiss of mouth. A full-bodied, full-tongued, "kisses sweeter than wine" taste of mouth.

Charoset is an embodiment of by far the sexiest, kissiest, bodyest book of the Hebrew Bible ---- the Song of Songs. (Check out the translations by Marcia Falk, by Chana and Ariel Bloch , and by Shefa Gold.) Charoset is literally a full-bodied taste of the Song. The Song is the recipe for charoset.

X-rated Charoset

You think they were going to tell you that when you were six years old, just learning how to stumble through "Mah nishtanah"? Or maybe when you were fourteen, just beginning to eye that curvy cousin sitting right across the table, so lubricious you couldn't even ask for the chicken breast without moaning? Or maybe the year you first noticed the drawings in that Haggadah where half-naked Pharoah's servants were whipping the half-naked, well-muscled Israelite slaves? Or the ones where Miram and half-naked Pharaoh's daughter were swimming in the Nile, ducking each other and giggling while they saved little Moses and tried to convince old Pharaoh he wasn't their baby?

Or maybe when you were 34 and they were all nagging you to settle down already, get married--that's when you thought they might finally tell the truth about charoset? Or 52, when they were so embarrassed about your mid-life "crisis" and its little fling--just the moment for nibbling on the spicy raisins of the woman whose breasts were like twin fawns in beds of flowers, the man whose ivory belly held bright gems of sweet delight?

Face it: They were never going to tell you. Maybe they might mention that the olden rabbis thought the Song of Songs should be recited during the festival of Passover, but quickly they'd explain it was about God's loving effort to free the Israelites from Pharaoh. Indeed, they'd mutter, if you think you notice "two breasts" mentioned, it's really about Moses and Aaron. After all, who could God want more to love, to suckle, than those heroes of freedom?

Time to tell the passionate truth:  The Song of Songs is the recipe for charoset.

 

The Song of Charoset

Verses from the Song:

"Feed me with apples and with raisin-cakes;
"Your kisses are sweeter than wine;
"The scent of your breath is like apricots;
"Your cheeks are a bed of spices;
"The fig tree has ripened;
"Then I went down to the walnut grove."

There are several kinds of freedom that we celebrate on Pesach:

--The freedom of people who rise up against Pharaoh, the tyrant.
--The freedom of earth, the flowers  that rise up against winter.
--The freedom of birth, of the lambs who trip and stagger in their skipping-over  dance.
--The freedom of sex, that rises up against the prunish and prudish.

The text of the Song subtly, almost secretly, bears the recipe for charoset, and we might well see the absence of any specific written explanation of charoset as itself a subtle, secret pointer toward the "other" liberation of Pesach -- the erotic loving freedom celebrated in the Song of Songs, which we are taught to read on Passover.

The Song of Songs is sacred not only to Jews, but also to Christians and to Muslims, and especially to the mystics in all three traditions. Its earth-and-human-loving erotic energy has swept away poets and rabbis, lovers and priests, dervishes and gardeners.

Yet this sacred power--"Love is strong as death," sings the Song--has frightened many generations into limiting its power. Redefining its flow as a highly structured allegory, or hiding it from the young, or forbidding it from being sung in public places.  

Even so, long tradition holds that on the Shabbat in the middle of Passover, Jews chant the Song of Songs.

Why is this time of year set aside for this extraordinary love poem? At one level, because it celebrates the springtime rebirth of life. And the parallel goes far deeper. For the Song celebrates a new way of living in the world.

The way of love between the earth and her human earthlings, beyond the future of conflict between them that accompanies the end of Eden.

The way of love between women and men, with women celebrated as leaders and initiators, beyond the future of subjugation that accompanies the end of Eden.

The way of bodies and sexuality celebrated, beyond the future of shame and guilt that accompanies the end of Eden.

The way of God so fully present in the whole of life that God needs no specific naming (for in the Song, God's name is never mentioned).

The way of adulthood, where there is no Parent and there are no children. No one is giving orders, and no one obeys them. Rather there are grownups, lovers--unlike the domination and submission that accompany the end of Eden.

In short, Eden for grown-ups. For a grown-up human race.

Whereas the original Garden was childhood, bliss that was unconscious, unaware, the Garden of the Song is maturity. Death is known, conflict is recognized (as when the heroine's brothers beat her up), yet joy sustains all.

So the "recipe" points us toward apples, quinces, raisins, apricots, figs, nuts, wine. Within the framework of the free fruitfulness of the earth, the "recipe" is free-form: no measures, no teaspoons, no amounts. Not even a requirement for apples rather than apricots, cinnamon rather than cloves, figs rather than dates. So there is an enormous breadth for the tastes that appeal to Jews from Spain, Poland, Iraq, India, America.

Nevertheless, I will offer a recipe.


RECIPE

1 pound raw, shelled almonds
2 pounds organic raises
1 bottle red wine
½ pound organic apricots
2 red apples (chopped)
5-6 figs
5-6 dates, pitted
1 tsp cinnamon or to taste
¼ tsp nutmeg or to taste
¼ tsp cloves or to taste 
(if you don't have cinnamon, nutmeg and cloves, use 1 ½ tsp of "pumpkin pie spice)

Either in an electric blender, or your great-grandmom's cast-iron hand-wound gefulte-fish chopper brought from the Old Country, feed in almonds and raisins in about equal amounts (the point is to make sure the whole thing doesn't get stuck). Whenever you feel like it, pour in some wine to lubricate the action. Stop the action every once in a while to poke around and stir up the ingredients.

Freely choose when to add apricots, apples, figs, and/or dates. Taste every ten minutes or so. If you start feeling giddy, good!--that's the idea.

When the mixture is the right texture, add in the spices. Clove is powerful, sweet and subtly sharp at the same time; a lot will get you just on the edge of dope.

Keep stirring, keep chopping, keep dribbling wine -- not till the charoset turns to paste but till there are still nubs of nuts, grains of raisin, suddenly a dollop of apricot spurting on your tongue.

You say this doesn't seem like a recipe, too free? Ahh -- as the Song itself says again and again, "Do not stir up love until it pleases. Do not rouse the lovers till they're willing."

Serve at the Pesach Seder, and also on the night when you first make love to a delicious partner. And on your wedding night. And on every wedding anniversary. And every once in a while, but not too often, on a night when you simply want to celebrate and embody your love.


Copyright © 2009 by Arthur Waskow. 

Seder Plate by Ken Goldman

18 kilos of rough stone from the nearby fields - requires the entire family- to lift !

I don’t typically cook a lot of meat.  During my dinner parties I’ll sometimes have one meat dish, while everything else will be vegetarian friendly.  Dating a vegetarian has also sharply curtailed my meat consumption.  So in the menu planning for my “traditional” Passover Seder my co-host insisted on brisket.  I agreed, but only if it was conscientious meat (the fish I put into my gefilte fish were all on the “good” fish list).  To him this meant kosher, to me this meant sustainable so we started searching for kosher sustainable brisket.

This was a bit more challenging than we expected.  I had heard about Kol Foods the organization that provides kosher sustainable meat.  The problem we faced was that we only wanted one brisket and they sell their product in much larger quantities.  Of course we thought about asking around to see if we couldn’t find someone who might want to share a box, but because it was rather last minute (the meat order deadline was that day) it didn’t seem likely.  So a little Internet searching later we came across some organic kosher brisket that could be delivered in most parts of Manhattan.  That seemed like the logical compromise so we ended up with two three-pound chunks of meat, a coupon for our next order and a complimentary oven mitt.

But once it arrived, I wasn’t really prepared for the long flat flaps of meat I had sitting in front of me (see picture).  I had always thought brisket was more like a roast, but these were thin, wide and long.  How do I cook that?  I’m not even sure I have the right pan.  Mark Bittman’s How to Cook Everything was helpful on the basics, it even has a pencil drawing of a cow letting me know where the brisket comes from.  But doesn’t everyone has that relative that has that great brisket recipe – I felt that the pressure was really on.  And Passover being such a big food holiday, I turned to the maven of Jewish cooking – Joan Nathan.  In her Jewish Holiday Cookbook she published her mother’s brisket recipe.  It looked good, but I had thought you cooked brisket in wine.

Years ago, before I ever decided to become Jewish I worked for a Jewish man who shared his brisket recipe with me.  Well, actually to be more accurate he told me a wonderful story (he is an amazing story teller) about making brisket every year for Passover.  It’s a fantastic tale full of misadventures in the butcher shops with intimidating zaydes, lots of wine drinking and the family politics of keeping everyone out the kitchen while you cook.  However the story never really got around to giving out too many details about the “how to” of the brisket.

So I have a couple of resources at hand to help the basics, I have a bottle of kosher for Passover wine ready to help me get through the dinner preparation (and maybe splash on the meat?) but what can I do to really make this brisket stand out?  Because after all the effort put into procuring the meat, I would hate to prepare it badly.

 

Cross Posted from the Jew and the Carrot

Last week, Janna Gur, author of The Book of New Israeli Food, posted some insightful and entertaining stories about her book.  In light of this week's holiday bonanza, Janna has graciously provided us with some of her new Israeli recipes to help spice up your meals. Enjoy, Jewcers!

Flame-Roasting Eggplants

Roasting eggplants on an open flame can be messy but is definitely worth the effort as the smoky aroma adds immensely to the taste.

First line your stovetop with aluminum foil. Place a whole eggplant (or more than one if you are confident) on a rack over the open flame and roast, turning occasionally, until the skin is scorched and blackened and the flesh feels soft when pierced with a wooden skewer or a fork. The eggplant can also be broiled in the oven, or grilled on a charcoal barbecue. Cool slightly  (to avoid burning your hands) and peel, carefully removing every last bit of scorched skin, or cut in half lengthwise and scoop out the flesh with a wooden spoon.

Ideally, roasted eggplant should be served shortly after roasting, and seasoned while still warm to ensure optimal absorption of every spicy nuance. But if you need to store it for later, drain the roasted flesh of excess liquid, cover with oil and refrigerate. Season before serving.

Eggplant and Tahini SaladRoasted Eggplant with Tahini

This classic combination always works. Use best quality tahini.

Add ½ cup raw tahini seasoned with 3-4 tablespoons lemon juice, 2 cloves crushed garlic, 2-3 tablespoons chopped parsley, a pinch of salt and freshly ground black pepper to the flesh of two roasted eggplants. If the mixture is too thick, add water gradually and stir to desired texture. Sprinkle with toasted sesame seeds or pine nuts before serving.

Roasted Eggplant with Pecans and Blue Cheese

This union of particularly strong flavors produces a delicious sandwich spread. Add about ½ cup crumbled blue (Roquefort style) cheese and ½ cup toasted chopped pecans to the flesh of two roasted eggplants.

Romanian-style Roasted Eggplant Salad

Don't be alarmed by the amount of oil. The eggplants love it, and so do the Romanians.

Add ½ cup oil (the Romanians insist on strongly flavored sunflower oil, preferably unrefined), at least 3 cloves crushed garlic, salt and freshly ground black pepper to the flesh of two roasted eggplants. You may also add two grated onions and/or two peeled, grated tomatoes. To keep the texture pleasantly palatable rather than muddy, mix the oil with the other ingredients by stirring gently with a wooden spoon. 

Last week, Janna Gur, author of The Book of New Israeli Food, posted some insightful and entertaining stories about her book.  In light of this week's holiday bonanza, Janna has graciously provided us with some of her new Israeli recipes to help spice up your meals. Enjoy, Jewcers!

Citrus Semolina Cake

Semolina cakes are found throughout the Middle East and are popular in Jewish Sephardic kitchens. Called basbousa, safra, tishpishti or revani, they can be filled with dates, garnished with almonds, and can even be made with ground walnuts instead of, or in addition to, semolina. These crumbly dry cakes are doused with syrup immediately after baking, making them moist and very sweet.

The following is a slightly unorthodox version that contains freshly squeezed orange (or tangerine) juice and citrus marmalade, and is prepared with separated eggs for a light fluffy texture.

Ingredients (for a 25x30 cm/10x12 inch baking pan):

Citrus Semolina CakeCake
6 eggs, separated
100 g (3½oz, 1/2 cup) sugar
100 g (3½oz, 1 cup) ground coconut
140 g (5 oz, 1 cup) sifted flour
270 g (10 oz, 2½ cups) semolina
25 g (1 oz, 1½ tablespoons) ground almonds
20 g (2 small sachets, 4 teaspoons) baking powder
240 ml (8½ fl oz, 1 cup) oil
360 ml (13 fl oz, 1½ cup) freshly squeezed orange or tangerine juice
2 teaspoons grated orange zest
240 ml (8½ fl oz, 1 cup) orange or lemon marmalade

Syrup
1 cup sugar
1 cup water
Crushed almonds or coconut flakes for garnish

1. Preheat the oven to 180°C (350°F).

2. Using an electric mixer beat the egg whites with the sugar for 8 minutes until they hold stiff peaks.

3. Combine all the dry ingredients in a bowl: coconut, flour, semolina, ground almonds and baking powder.

4. Beat the egg yolks in a separate bowl, gradually adding the oil, juice, orange zest and marmalade.

5. Stir in the dry ingredients slowly until combined well. Gently fold in the peaked egg whites.

6. Pour the batter into a well-greased pan and bake for 30 minutes, until the cake turns golden and a toothpick comes out dry with a few crumbs adhering.

7. While the cake is in the oven prepare the syrup: Bring the water and sugar to a boil and simmer for 20 minutes. Cool slightly.

8. Take the cake out of the oven and pour on the syrup evenly. Cool completely and garnish with almonds or coconut.

Last week, Janna Gur, author of The Book of New Israeli Food, posted some insightful and entertaining stories about her book.  In light of this week's holiday bonanza, Janna has graciously provided us with some of her new Israeli recipes to help spice up your meals. Enjoy, Jewcers!

Traditional Couscous Soup

This is the vegetarian version of the exotically fragrant Moroccan soup that is served with couscous. Use the same procedure to prepare couscous soup with chicken (see below)

Ingredients (serves 6-8):

1 cup chickpeas, soaked in cold water overnight, rinsed and drained
4 carrots, cut into 2-3 large chunks
4 medium potatoes, quartered
1 large onion, quartered
Salt and freshly ground white or black pepper to taste
Small pinch of saffron or 11/2 teaspoons turmeric
200 g (7 oz) pumpkin , cut into 4-5 large  chunks
4 courgettes (zucchini), cut into 3-4 large chunks
Half a green cabbage, quartered
4-5 stalks celery stalks, peeled and cut coarsely (save the leaves)
1/2 kg (1 lb 2 oz) instant couscous

Traditional Couscous Soup1. Put the chickpeas in a large saucepan, cover with water and cook for about 30 minutes. Drain, pour in 2 liters (2 quarts) of water (to prevent the soup from becoming cloudy later on), and cook for another 30 minutes, until the chickpeas are tender.

2. Add the carrots, potatoes and onion, season with salt, pepper, saffron or turmeric and cook for 45 minutes until the vegetables are tender.

3. Add the remaining vegetables (except the celery leaves) and cook for 15 minutes, until tender. Taste and adjust the seasoning. Add the celery leaves and cook for another 15 minutes.

4. Prepare the couscous according to the manufacturer's instructions.

5. Place a heap of couscous in a deep dish. Arrange the vegetables on top  and ladle the soup around and over the couscous.

Red Couscous Soup

When adding the pumpkin, cabbage and courgettes (zucchini), add one small can (300 g, 1012 oz) of tomatoes in tomato  paste and continue according to the recipe.

Spicy Couscous Soup

Add 1-2 tablespoons of filfel chuma (p. 296) or harissa (p. 298) towards the end of the cooking cycle.

Couscous Soup With Chicken

Add 6-8 chicken drumsticks for the last 30 minutes of the cooking cycle.

Yes, you can have you seder catered, but that’s no fun at all. If you don’t feel up to making a brisket and matzah ball soup for 30, at least try making your own charoset—it’s fun, easy, really yummy, and there are tons of different kinds of recipes to try. And remember, charoset is supposed to look like mortar, so the results can be plenty ugly as long as they taste sweet.

charoset: looks nasty, but you know you love itTraditional Ashkenazi Charoset

• 5 pound bag of apples (I like red delicious, but if you want your charoset tart, use granny smith), peeled and cored.
• About half a bottle of sweet red wine (Manischewitz works great)
• 1/3 to ½ cup of cinnamon
• one big bag of walnuts (about a pound)

Grind the apples and walnuts until they’ve formed a weird beige kind of runny paste. Add cinnamon and wine and keep trying until you get the consistency and taste you’re looking for. Ideally, you’d do the grinding with a meat grinder, but a food processor will work as well. Makes enough for two seders of twenty people each.

Looking for a gourmet take? Try Wolfgang Puck’s recipe.

Traditional Sephardi Charoset

Sephardi charoset usually contains dates, and is a little chunkier than its Ashkenazi cousin.

• 4 oz dates
• 4 oz figs
• 4 oz apricots
• 4 oz raisins
• 1 apple (Macintosh, preferably), peeled and cored
• 1 cup walnuts or almonds, ground
• 1 tablespoon honey
• Manischewitz
• cinnamon

In a food processor, grind the dried fruits until they’re chunky and add the apple, which should moisten everything a little. Mix in the ground nuts and the honey, and add some manischevitz until you have the consistency you want (sticky and chunky is the norm, but go with your gut) Then you can either add cinnamon to taste, or roll the charoset into balls about the size of a walnut and refrigerate. A few hours before serving, roll the balls in the cinnamon so they’re completely coated. Serve at room temperature. Makes enough for about 30.

For a gourmet take, try the recipe at Epicurious.

There’s a couple of great collections of Charoset recipes online if you’re looking to be more adventurous. The Canadian Jewish News covers the classics alongside recipes for Coconut and Lemon Charoset, Maple Charoset, Seven Fruit Charoset, and Turkish Charoset. Jewishfamily.com has charoset recipes from Morocco, Afghanistan, and India. Finally, Kosher4passover.com covers every exotic Charoset you could possibly imagine, including Provencal and Georgian.

With Tu B'Shevat fast approaching, it's time to start planning those seders. What? You weren't planning a seder? What are you, some kind of tree-hater? Seder-hater? Don't be a seder-haterDon't be a hater, dude. Tu B'Shevat is a perfect opportunity to invite your pals over for four glasses of wine and some fruit and nuts. While you're at it, you might want to feed them something a little bit more substantial. You know--so that they can handle all that wine. I suggest starting with this delightful Broccoli-Potato soup. It's from Isa and Terry's latest cookbook, Veganomicon, and it's a party for your taste buds and your buds' taste buds, too.

 

Have a recipe of your own that's perfect for the tree-hugging holiday of Tu B'Shevat? Don't be shy: Post it in comments, and we'll pick our favorite to use for next week's Tuesday Taste Test.

 

Broccoli-Potato Soup with Fresh Herbs
Serves 6 to 8
Time: 50 Minutes

2 tablespoons olive oil
1 medium sized onion, cut into ¼ inch dice
3 cloves garlic, minced
½ teaspoon dried tarragon
Several pinches of freshly ground black pepper
1 teaspoon salt
6 cups vegetable stock, or 4 cups veggie stock plus 2 cups water, whatever
2 pounds potatoes, peeled and cut into ½-inch chunks
4 cups chopped broccoli (including the stalks: chop them into thin slices, and the tops into small florets)
¼ cup chopped fresh dill
¼ cup chopped fresh mint

HEAT A soup pot over medium heat. Sauté the onion in the olive oil for 5 to 7 minutes, until softened. Add the garlic, tarragon, black pepper, and salt, and cook for 1 more minute. Pour in the vegetable stock and add the potatoes. Cover and bring to a boil. Once the soup is boiling, lower the heat and let simmer for 15 minutes. Add the broccoli and cook for 15 more minutes.

Use an immersion blender to blend about one-third of the soup; we like to keep it chunky with lots of whole potato chunks. If you don’t have an immersion blender (get one!), transfer about one-third of the soup to a blender or food processor and puree, then add it back to the rest of the soup.

Add the fresh dill and mint, then let the soup sit for about 10 minutes to let the flavors meld. Serve!

Rejoice in thy recipes, for TasteBook has launched! The beta site offers users a place to find, store, and organize recipes, but that's not all: Also available is the opportunity to self-publish your own customized, hardcover cookbooks.

TasteBook has two key features: first, it simplifies searching for recipes online by indexing recipes from all over the Web into one list of search results. It then allows people to select recipes from those search results and print them out in a professional-looking cookbook.

In addition to being able to publish your own recipes this way, TasteBook has partnered with Epicurious to provide an initial 25,000 recipes--a number that will greatly expand to include recipes from various other sites starting in early 2008.

People can automatically import their Epicurious recipe boxes and can also upload their own recipes and include them in the books they print.

For $34.95, a user can print a hardcover binder with handpicked cover art and up to 100 recipes with their own comments added. If all 100 recipes aren't used initially, TasteBook will issue credits for the remaining recipes, which can be printed out later and added to the binder or sent to friends.

Sounds like craft time!

Adam Roberts: amateur gourmetAdam Roberts was an unhappy law school student when he discovered that cooking could save him from "spiritual starvation." While legal work left him deeply unfulfilled, he blossomed on the side as a lover of food. Quickly realizing what his real passion was, he abandoned law and started The Amateur Gourmet food blog in 2004. It was immediately successful, due in no small part to his famous Janet Jackson breast cupcake post after the Super Bowl, but due in larger part to Adam's enthusiasm and winning writing style.

Adam's recently released book is just like his blog—honest, inspiring, and often hilarious, he invites us into his life of culinary conquests (and misadventures) with open arms. Beginning with his numerous failures in the kitchen, Adam takes us along on his journey of self-discovery through food, from making perfect basic tomato sauce, to cooking for his family, to dining alone at one of Paris's most exclusive restaurants. Pickled tracked him down to ask him a few questions about what he's up to next and how his Jewish roots have influenced his cooking.

Has your Jewish heritage affected/influenced your cooking in any way? Does anyone in your family keep kosher?

Not an issue for me—I eat everything. My parents are weirder about it, especially my dad. He, for example, might eat bacon, but he won't eat ham. I think Jerry Seinfeld's routine about Jews eating pork at Chinese restaurants but not eating it at home is right on the nose: my parents sort of operate by those rules.

Do you ever cook for the Jewish holidays?

I've cooked a Passover meal in the past and I've made latkes on Hanukkah, but mostly, I'm afraid, the answer is no. That's not to say I won't ever cook holiday meals in the future, just haven't really done it yet.

What were the holidays like for you growing up, with your family?

I have different memories from different periods of my childhood. As a young chap, we lived on Long Island and on Passover we'd go visit my Aunt Rhoda, who had 20 cats and made a delicious home-cooked Passover dinner. I remember singing "Dayenu" and finding the afikomen. When we moved to Florida, we had less family there so I remember going to the homes of family friends or out to dinner. My mom gets mad whenever I talk about how she never cooked for us, but I do seem to recall a brisket that she made on some holiday. Or was that my grandmother?

Do you have recipes for Jewish foods you'd like to share? A favorite rugelach recipe, maybe?

Hmmm... I don't have any memorized, but if you search the archives of my site you can find my attempt at the Barefoot Contessa's rugelach (it came out really well) and a perfect chicken soup from Joan Nathan's Jewish Cooking in America. I really recommend her book if you don't have it; and apparently Claudia Roden's book on Jewish food is pretty excellent, too.

What's your all-time favorite restaurant in New York?

That's hard to say because I love different restaurants for different reasons. I've definitely fallen for Blue Hill and Blue Hill Stone Barns: they're unpretentious but ambitious and the food is always outstanding. I also love Al Di La in Park Slope; Babbo, of course; Prune is fantastic. Hearth. August. Spotted Pig. Annisa.

What's the best meal you ever made?

Wow, another tough question! Actually, though, there's a pretty clear answer: the roast chicken I make from the Chez Panisse cookbook. Everyone loves it and it couldn't be easier. You take a chicken, wash it, dry it really well, sprinkle salt and pepper in the cavity, stuff it with fresh thyme, tie the legs together, and then sprinkle the whole thing with 1 Tbsp fennel seeds, 1 tsp cayenne pepper, lots of salt and pepper. Place it in a roasting pan and then take red potatoes, cut them in half and put them cut-side down around the chicken. Drizzle the potatoes with some olive oil, sprinkle them with salt and pepper too, and toss around to coat. Roast at 400 degrees for one hour and you'll write me gushy thank-you notes telling me it was the best thing you ever tasted.

In your book, you talk a lot about how you grew up on processed foods. Do you eat processed foods now? Are there any in particular that you have a weakness for?

Sure, doesn't everyone? I just bought a big pack of Reese's peanut butter candies that I put in a jar on a table by the door. I like candy; I also like Ben and Jerry's ice cream, though I teased my boyfriend for buying a particularly nasty one the other day. It had raw cinnamon buns in it and they were nasty. But yes, I still eat processed food. Don't tell anyone.

So now you're writing a novel...what's it about??

It's about Boca Raton, where my parents live. That's all I'm saying!

Any other upcoming ventures besides the novel?

Lots! But I can't talk about them. They're top secret. I'd have to kill you. Sorry!

Previous Pickled Q&As 
Vegan Cookbook Guru Sarah Kramer 

Jerry and JessicaRemember how Jessica Seinfeld lies to her children? By mixing butternut squash into macaroni and cheese and beets into chocolate cake? Well now you can watch five videos of her being sneaky in her kitchen.

I must admit, these videos are pretty great. She even mixes broccoli puree into bread crumbs for chicken nuggets! This idea is starting to grow on me. I'm even thinking of trying it out for myself. If I put spinach in my brownies, they're healthy! That means I can eat 10! Squash in mac and cheese...I could eat the whole box! I like where this is going...

But Patricia Pliner, a social psychology professor at the University of Toronto, doesn't think Seinfeld has the best strategy, according to an article in this week's New York Times:

There is the issue of being found out, at which point a child might not trust new foods the parents present. And hiding foods doesn’t help a child learn to appreciate new tastes.

What we want children to do is like a lot of different foods. If squash is perfectly disguised, children are not learning anything. Well, they are learning something, but it’s not to like squash.

 

 

So, how was everyone's Yom Kippur? Sucky? Mine, too.

Let's put that sad Saturday of food deprivation behind us and move on: We've got tents to put up.

Sukkot, which begins on Thursday, is both a historical and agricultural festival and you're supposed to eat a lot of stuff stuffed with other stuff to symbolize a bountiful harvest. Here are some great-sounding "stuffed" recipes I've rounded up that highlight late summer/early fall seasonal fare:

Pumpkin Soup Served in Individual Roasted Pumpkins

Stuffed Bell Peppers

Apple, Currant, and Caraway Stuffed Chicken Breasts

Lebanese Stuffed Zucchini

Stuffed Tomatoes with Grilled Corn Salad

Goat Cheese-Stuffed Baked Apples

Tortilla EspanolaTortilla Espanola is the Spanish version of an omelet. You'll find it everywhere, even in Spanish 7/11s on the highway. At its most traditional it's nothing more than potatoes, onions, eggs, a little olive oil, and salt, though you could add flavorings like cheese, zucchini, or even codfish of you're so inclined. The key is cooking the omelet evenly once everything is in the pan. Make sure you let it rest before you cut it. For breaking the fast prepare the day before and leave out. If there's any left after the break fast, store in the refrigerator.

 

 

Gazpacho: Properly orange and frothed.When I went to Spain in July, I ate gazpacho every day. In hot climes, there's nothing more refreshing for lunch. In Spain they don't serve the chunky salsa-style we typically see here. They blend it until it reaches a creamy orange color. Sometimes it's served as a drink in a big glass goblet. Sometimes it's thicker and richly flavored, meant as a dip for tortilla espanola. Sometimes it's thin and light, served as a drink in a big glass goblet. It's so easy to make the authentic varieties and you really don't have to follow a recipe. You pretty much just toss a bunch of veggies in a blender with some olive oil and stale bread crumbs. I love the thick kind, so here's how I do it:

First you'll need a chunk of stale bread. I like ciabatta. How much? Well that depends on you. If you want a thick gazpacho to dip your tortilla in use more, if you want it soupier use less or none at all. Blend it until you have a fine crumb. Put the bread crumbs in a fine mesh strainer and rinse under a faucet. After a good shower, mush them into the strainer, squeezing the excess water out like a sponge. Return the mush to the blender.

You can get creative with your veggies. I add half a yellow onion, about 3 medium vine-ripened tomatoes cut into chunks, a half a bell pepper (preferably red, but any color should do), and garlic to taste. You could add a cucumber if you had that lying around, which would make a thinner soup.

Season to taste with salt and fresh ground black pepper, perhaps a dash of cumin. Add a tablespoon or two of red wine vinegar and then drizzle in a few tablespoons of olive oil. Blend until smooth. Your gazpacho should taste light, a little frothy even. It should be orange, not red. If yours is red, you didn't add enough olive oil. So drizzle some more in and blend until it turns orange. When you've got your seasonings right, pop it in the fridge. Serve very cold.

If you're so inclined garnish with tuna, hard boiled egg, and/or ham (that's how they do it in Spain--it works surprisingly well), or a drizzle of olive oil.

Marinated cheese: Delicious and simple. I was planning a little get-together at my apartment, and I always tend to go overboard with the food. I called my mom and asked her for an easy recipe I could make ahead of time so I wouldn’t stress too much the day of. She emailed me this really delicious marinated cheese recipe that ended up being my favorite thing at the party (it beat out the pigs in blankets!). Props, Mom.

If you want to keep the Spanish theme going for the break fast, use Manchego cheese. Monterrey jack is also delish.

Deviled Eggs: Not just a 50s thing.Ah, deviled eggs: so underrated. I love them, but no one seems to make them anymore. And by “anymore” I mean like, not since the 50’s. So when I was browsing through some tapas recipes for the upcoming Yom Kippur holiday, I got really excited when I came across this one for “Stuffed eggs in Argentina” (or, Huevos rellenos en Argentina).

The recipe calls for anchovies, which do contribute a nice salty nuttiness, but if you hate anchovies, just leave them out.

Escalibada: A beautiful and delicious vegetable dish. Escalibada is a Catalan dish and is one of Spain's most popular cold tapas. There are many different versions, but they all include red peppers and aubergine (eggplant). This version also has onion, potatoes, and tomatoes (make use of the funky heirloom tomatoes that are in season now). And feel free to adjust this recipe according to which veggies you and your guests like best.
This can be made up to two days ahead and should be served at room temperature. It’s great piled onto a baguette with some cheese, or plain.

Bread pudding has long been a staple at Southern bed and breakfasts, but more recently it’s worked its way onto some pretty trendy restaurant menus. And what better way to use up extra challah from Rosh Hashanah? We always have extra, especially of the raisin variety, since Fiance's mother and I are the only ones who seem to like it. This recipe calls for regular challah, but if want to use raisin challah, omit the chocolate chips. This is delicious served with a dollop of whipped cream, a scoop of vanilla ice cream, or with the cinnamon-rum sauce.

Bread pudding:: Soaking in unhealthy goodnessBread pudding: Hot from the oven.

My husband couldn't have been more delighted when I told him he'd have to judge a dessert nosh-off, unless perhaps I told him Jessica Alba was serving it to him. In the nude. Alas Ms. Alba was not available. Poor Husband.

The Tartlettes:

First I made a traditional recipe: Apple & Honey Tartlettes. These are always a hit because people love individually portioned foods. I guess it makes them feel special--like a whole tart was made just for them. This recipe is uber quick since it calls for store-bought puff pastry shells. (Generally I like to make things from scratch, but puff pastry is quite complicated for even the experienced home chefs to make at home.) After allowing the shells to thaw a bit, I roll them out to about 5 inches in diameter, top with sliced, seasoned apples, and pop in the oven. When they're done baking drizzle with honey, and serve a la mode with vanilla ice cream. Garnish with a sprinkle of cinnamon sugar, or a sprig of mint. So lovely.

Apple and honey tartlette

The Trifle:

Trifles rose to fame in American and British households in the 1700s. A “Proper English Trifle” was made with real egg custard poured over stale sponge cake soaked in fruit and sherry. In this Toffee Apple and Honey trifle, traditional Rosh Hashanah flavors are used. Considering the praise it got on recipezaar, it sounded like a good non-trad, unexpected alternative.

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If your family's like mine, you have my condolences (Ba-boom! Thank you! I'll be here all week). Seriously though, I love my family, but we cook twice as much as we eat. We have a holiday tradition of eating twice as much brisket as anyone ought, which results in heartburn and leftovers. Once the former has passed, it's time to deal with the latter. Here are my favorite ways to eat that leftover holiday beef:

PelliscadasPelliscadas
A dear friend and collaborator on the smash hit ballet, Nutcracker: Rated R, recently introduced me to Cafe el Portal a delightful Mexican eatery in Manhattan's Nolita district. El Portal has become her number one choice for a delicious, laid back meal between performances as a showgirl at celeb magnet cabaret/restaurant The Box. Cafe el Portal serves pelliscadas, which the menu describes as “boat shape corn masa filled with chorizo, fried beans topped with chicken, tinga, salsa greens, cheese and sour cream.” Here’s how you can make these at home:

1. Make the "boat shaped corn masa": You can do this from scratch fairly easily with masa harina a.k.a. masa flour and water. Here's a recipe that uses vegetable shortening or lard. Here's a recipe that uses potato. If you're lazy you can just use Tostitos Scoops. I'm not usually a fan of mass-produced snacks, but these are very convenient little cup-shaped tortilla chips.
   
2. Load up boats or Scoops with brisket.
3. Top 'em off with some salsa (chipotle-flavored if you’ve got it), sour cream and cheese, and prepare yourself for a culinary trip to sunny Oaxaca, by way of cloudy Khelm.

Suggested Brew: If you must imbibe a Mexican beer, I suggest Negra Modelo. Unlike many of its brethren, it actually tastes like something other than the lime desperately squeezed into it.
Suggested Spirit: Lt. Blender makes a surprisingly acceptable frozen margarita that comes in squeeze bags like Capri Sun.

 

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This vegan challah recipe is spiced bread more than anything else. There's no egg in it, which is what makes challah challah in my opinion, but we do braid it, so I call it faux-challah.  The dough is pretty sweet so we added lots of salt to make it a savory loaf, but it's just as easy to make sweet by adding cinnamon, pumpkin pie spice and raisins.

Here's how I made it with my friend Mary:

Step 1: While the yeast proofs with warm water we put the dry ingredients in one bowl.

 

 

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The Challah Connection website offers “gourmet kosher gift baskets with Jewish traditions in mind.” What began in 1994 as a small company that delivered challah to homes and synagogues now enjoys booming success thanks to owner Jane Moritz. A photo of Moritz holding a glossy, golden brown challah loaf is stamped on every page of the Challah Connection’s site. Intrigued, we called her to chat about challah and how she made a Jewish food company so successful. She shares her challah recipe below.

Jane MoritzHow did you start the Challah Connection?
My husband and I sold our advertising business nine years ago, and I decided I wanted a different career--something to do with baking. There was this company call the Challah Connection here in Westport and I thought I could use my background in direct marketing and business to grow it. I thought if people wanted challah, they’d probably want other Jewish baked goods like babke and rugelach. I bought this business and plodded along for several months, and then I got this fabulous write-up in the New York Times, so we got all these calls.

How many of your customers are Jewish?
A lot of my customers aren’t Jewish. They call and they want to get the right thing--they’re sending a gift to a Jewish friend or relative, like for shiva or sympathy. There are so many people who want to understand Jews. Because I’m on the phone with them, this is my mitzvot: I’m helping people understand us.

So does challah make up the majority of your business?
No. Before I took it over the Challah Connection was only doing challah. The Challah part of it is a hook – we do have challah, but it’s less and less a part of our business.

Why is that?
It’s a novelty bread, which is too limiting. You use challah for Shabbat maybe. But we will always have challah. If I was starting the business today, I wouldn’t make it the 'Challah Connection.' It’s funny, last May we stopped home delivery to our customers in Westport. They asked me, “Where should we go?” I told them, you know what you really should do? Bake your own! On my website there’s a recipe you can make in a bread machine, which makes it easy.

Challah dates back to Biblical times. How would you modernize it?
I think it would be really fun to work with great bakers… who use all of these wonderful and fresh flavors. Wouldn’t it be fun to experiment with it and make it more of a gourmet thing? Who says it has to be in its regular shape? If you can find chefs who are doing that kind of thing, call me.

A fresh pomegranateOn the second night of Rosh Hashanah Jews are supposed to eat a "new fruit" to represent a new year. MyJewishLearning explains:

This tradition has become a way literally to taste the newness of the year, by enjoying an unfamiliar food. Often, a pomegranate is used as the new fruit, as the pomegranate is said to have 613 seeds, corresponding to the 613 mitzvot. The pomegranate has also long been a symbol of fertility, and thus of the unlimited possibilities for the new year.

The pomegranate cocktail below will also literally bring spirit(s) to your new year's table. And since pomegranates are messy and stain like hell, I prefer their juices confined to a glass flute. With brandy and champagne, of course...

Click here to return to the Rosh Hashanah dinner table for more symbolic dishes.