Rosh Hashanah, the two-day celebration of the Jewish New Year, involves more than food; Jews go to synagogue to pray, and the shofar — a ram’s horn — is blown to usher in the new year. For ten days, we contemplate the past year and the one to come, and resolve to make the coming one better. Then comes the Day of Repentance, Yom Kippur, at which time we fast, and ask forgiveness of those we’ve wronged, both preceding and breaking the 24-hour fast with a hearty meal. All of this comprises the High Holy Days. It all starts with Rosh Hashanah dinner! This is traditionally a fleishig(meat) rather than milchig (dairy) meal, and although not every Jew keeps a strictly kosher household, all the recipes presented here will be nondairy, although optional dairy ingredients may be included. These will be parve (neutral, okay for use in meat or dairy meals) or fleishig recipes. On the other hand, no attempt has been made to recommend specifically kosher products. Every attempt has been made to tickle your taste buds with old and new versions of traditional favorites.
Some Rosh Hashanah food traditions:
■ Eat something sweet, to ensure a sweet new year.
■ Eat something seasonal, such as pumpkin, and something new, such as a fruit not yet tasted all year; pomegranates are especially favored, as are apples and all kinds of dried fruits. You will encounter a lot of apples in these recipes!
■ Eat fish, which represents prosperity, to encourage a prosperous new year.
Here are three starters, three sides, three entrées and three desserts to mix and match for a sweet and blessed Rosh Hashanah dinner:
Ingredients:
►One crisp apple (we like honeycrisp)
►Eight ounces of shredded carrots
►One quarter cup golden raisins
►Two firm oranges
►Two fresh tomatoes (we like roma)
►One medium cucumber (we like big orange Thai cucumbers, but you will only need a third of a cuke; they’re immense!)
►Three quarters cup pomegranate seeds
►One head red leaf lettuce
For Dressing:
►Three tablespoons olive oil (we like extra virgin)
►Two tablespoons fruit vinegar (we like blueberry)
►One teaspoon grated orange peel (from orange in above list)
►One teaspoon poppy seeds
►One tablespoon honey
Directions:
Rub a large wooden salad bowl with a little oil.
Quarter a pomegranate. Thumb out the seeds, which you will find between layers of bitter pulp, which you do not wish to include in your harvest.
Rinse the lettuce, rip it to pieces (do not cut with a knife) and toss into the bowl. Add the seeds, raisins and shredded carrots.
Rinse, core and chop the apple, and add it. Peel the orange, grate a teaspoon of peel and set aside for the dressing. Slice the orange thinly against the natural sections, then separate the now-thin bits of section into the bowl.
Cut off and discard the very ends of the cucumber. Rinse, but do not peel, the remaining cucumber. Cut into thirds, then slice each third vertically, as thinly as possible, taking care to lose few seeds. Add to the bowl.
Slice the tomatoes in thirds lengthwise, then slice across into bite-sized bits, taking care to lose few seeds. Add to the bowl.
Combine dressing ingredients and whisk until fully blended. Pour into the salad, using a spatula if necessary to get the last drops. Toss the salad thoroughly and serve.
Red Beet Borscht
►Five medium red beets
►Six ounces tomato paste
►Four fresh tomatoes (we like Roma)
►One small clove garlic
►Four carrots (ten, if using baby carrots)
►One teaspoon brown sugar
►Three cups water
►Three tablespoons apple cider vinegar
►One third of a red cabbage
►One half small potato (we like red) per serving
►One half teaspoon salt
►One half teaspoon lemon pepper
►One half teaspoon ground dill seed
►One quarter teaspoon ground laurel
Directions:
In a skillet, heat the oil. Peel and chop the garlic. Rinse and chop the tomatoes. Sautée garlic and tomatoes in the oil, with half the sugar, stirring with a wooden spoon to blend, until garlic is a little brown, taking care that it doesn’t burn (because of the sugar).
In a soup pot, bring the water, garlic-tomato mixture, tomato paste, vinegar, herbs and seasonings, and remaining uncooked sugar to a boil.
Use a carrot peeler to peel the beets, rinse, then shred (with a grater or that handy peeler). Rinse the carrots and cut off the very ends but do not peel or scrape. Use a grater to grate all the carrots. Add all to the boiling water.
Rinse and shred the cabbage very finely and add to the pot.
Rinse but do not peel potatoes. Cut each in half, and add to the pot.
Bring back to a boil, stirring well. Cover, reduce heat and simmer for 90 minutes.
This soup can be served hot, but is traditionally served cold, so you may want to prepare it well enough in advance of the meal for it to chill. Serve with half a potato (from the soup) floating in each bowl. An optional — but traditional — dairy addition is a big dollop of sour cream!
Ingredients:
►Two pounds of filleted whitefish, fresh or thawed from frozen (partly thawed is easy to handle, actually); it is okay to mix types of whitefish (pike is popular)
►Fish bones (if you filleted the fish yourself, you can also use the heads and skin; if you buy the fish filleted, see if you can get your grocer to give you some bones; these days, health regulations often prohibit this, in which case you will want to subtitute three vegetable bullion cubes and reduce the salt in the recipe by half)
►Two medium onions (we like yellow)
►Two carrots
►Two medium eggs
►Two teaspoons salt
►One half teaspoon pepper (we like lemon pepper)
►One quarter teaspoon freshly grated black pepper
►Four tablespoons matza meal
►Four cups room temperature water
►One quarter cup ice water
►A little canola oil
►One small potato
►Commercially prepared chrain (red or white horseradish — not creamy horseradish sauce) for serving.
Directions:
Bring the room temperature water to a boil in a soup pot and add the fish bones, etc., or the bullion if you’re using that. If using bones, boil for ten minutes, then reduce heat, cover and simmer for an hour before beginning to prepare the rest of the recipe. Remove the bones, skin and head. and discard. If using bullion, proceed immediately. Continue to simmer the broth, uncovered.
Peel both onions. Cut one into chunks and set aside. Slice the other very thinly. Heat the oil in a skillet and sautée the onion slices. Add them to the soup pot.
Rinse but do not peel the potato, cut into chunks and put it into the pot. Boil until soft enough to mash. Remove, mash and return to pot. Stir well.
Turn the heat under the soup pot to high, and bring to a boil.
Add half the salt and all of the grated pepper to the pot.
Grate one carrot set aside. Cut the other carrot into chunks and put it into a blender (or food processor) along with the onion chunks, the eggs, the matza meal, the remaining salt and pepper and the ice water. Cut the fish into chunks and add that. Blend well. The result will be thick and will not pour from the blender; you will have to reach in to get it, so be careful! Scoop it all out into a bowl. Use a spatula to get the last bits.
Wet your hands, then form the fish mixture into balls (ovals the size of large eggs are traditional but you can make them round, and/or smaller, if you like). Drop the balls into the soup pot, cover the pot, reduce the heat and simmer for 90 minutes. Check it now and again to make sure there is enough water to cover the balls; add water as needed.
Gefilte fish is traditionally served cold, although there is no reason it can’t be served warm. Put the balls into jars, and pour the broth over them to cover. Refrigerate.
Serve with horseradish.
NOTE: We don’t especially like the jellied version of the broth but that’s just us; many people like that version. If you are one of those people, then after jarring the fish, add a half an envelope of unflavored gelatin to the broth and continue to simmer and stir until the gelatin is completely dissolved. Immediately pour broth into jars to cover the fish.
►Eight sweet potatoes
►One and a quartercups nondairy butter substitute (we usually like canola oil or olive oil to substitute for butter in a recipe in which the butter is going to be melted anyway — one needs something solid if the butter is to be creamed with sugar); in this recipe, the butter will be melted, but we feel the buttery flavor sufficiently important NOT to recommend oil in this case; soy butter, for example, would work, or any nondairy spread with a butter flavor)
►One and a quarter cups brown sugar
►Three cups miniature marshmallows
►Water in which to boil potatoes
►One teaspoon cinnamon (plus a little extra, optional, to dust topping)
►One quarter teaspoon nutmeg
►One half teaspoon ginger
Directions:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit.
Rinse but do not peel sweet potatoes. Cut each in quarters.
Boil a potful of water and put the potatoes in. Boil for 15 minutes. They should not be fully cooked. Remove from the pot. Set aside to cool enough to handle. Cut into smaller chunks.
Put the butter substitute, sugar, seasonings, and two cups of the marshmallows into a saucepan. Cook on medium heat until the marshmallows are melted and can be blended. Stir to avoid burning.
Add half of the potatoes to the saucepan and mash them into the mixture. Add the other half but do not mash them.
Spray a baking dish with cooking oil and spoon the mixture from the saucepan into the dish. Pop into the oven and bake for 20 minutes. Take out and spread the remaining cup of marshmallows across the top. Spray the topping lightly with cooking oil. Dust with a little cinnamon if you like. Turn the oven up to 400 degrees and return the pan to the oven to bake for ten more minutes; the toppping should be brown but not burned.
Challah (Braided Egg Bread)
►Eight cups flour
►Six medium eggs
►One tablespoon brown sugar
►One half cup honey
►One quarter cup warm water
►One and a half envelopes active dry yeast
►One quarter cup canola oil
►One quarter cup sesame oil
►One cup golden raisins
►One half cup orange juice
►One half cup sweet kosher wine (we like cherry)
►One tablespoon salt
►Spray cooking oil.
►Poppy seeds
Directions:
Dissolve the yeast and the sugar in the warm water. Blend well, and set aside for 20 minutes to ferment.
Mix the orange juice with the wine and add the raisins; set aside.
Break five of the eggs into a large bowl and beat them. Add the oil, honey and salt; beat until thoroughly blended. Add the fermented yeast and beat once more.
Little by little, add the flour, blending, adding, blending, adding, until you have a dough that can be kneaded. Remove it from the bowl and put it onto a floured surface, such as a wooden cutting board, roll your sleeves up, flour your hands, take a deep breath and knead it for all you’re worth, for about a quarter hour. You should have a little more flour handy in case the dough remains sticky; likewise, if it’s too hard to knead, add the tiniest bit of water.
Spray the bowl with cooking oil and put the dough into the bowl. Roll it around to coat it. Dampen a small, clean towel with warm water, wring it out and cover the bowl. Put the bowl in a warm, dark place and walk away. Don’t come back for three hours. Surprise! The dough has doubled in size.
Punch down the dough and knead it for a few minutes (not as long as before, just enough to show it who’s boss). Dampen and wring the towel again, since it is by now no longer warm, cover the bowl, and put it back in the warm, dark place for another hour. Drain the raisins. (You can drink the juice and wine mixture left behind; you’ve worked hard enough for it! Or you can pour it with an equal portion of olive oil and half as much apple cider vinegar, and perhaps a sprinkle of your favorite herb, cap the jar, shake vigorously and use as a kind of vinaigrette on your next salad.)
Punch down the dough and the raisins. Knead carefully to distribute the raisins throughout the dough. Divide the dough into four parts. Redivide each of the four parts into three parts, rolling each into a long strand. Pinch three ends together, braid, and pinch the other ends together. Repeat for the other three lumps. Now you have four braided loaves.
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit.
Generously spray cookie sheets with cooking oil and place the four loaves onto them, leaving room for the bread to spread out. Beat the remaining egg and brush liberally onto the loaves. Sprinkle poppy seeds all over them.
Place the baking sheets in the oven and bake the loaves for a half hour, or a little more; you want to see a nice golden brown but no dark brown or burning.
Serve by breaking off hunks rather than slicing. This bread should be sweet and fluffy enough not to need any butter, but it can be dipped in olive oil.
Roasted Red Potatoes
►Two pounds small, round red potatoes
►One clove garlic
►One quarter cup olive oil
►One half teaspoon laurel
►One teaspoon seasoned salt
►One teaspoon rosemary
►One half teaspoon lemon pepper
►Several squirts of lemon juice
►One small onion
►One teaspoon corn starch or potato starch
Directions:
Preheat the oven to 400 degrees Fahrenheit.
Rinse but do not peel potatoes. Cut into quarters. Set aside.
Peel and chop the garlic.
Peel and chop the onion.
In a baking pan pour oil, and add half the rosemary, all other seasonings, the garlic and the onion. Blend. Put the potatoes into this mixture and swish around to coat potatoes with seasoned oil. Space the potatoes evenly in the pan and pop into the oven for 15 minutes.
Remove the pan from the oven and add the corn starch to the oil. Blend. Brush the potatoes with the oil to remove any starch that has landed there. Squirt potatoes with lemon juice. Sprinkle with rosemary.
Turn the oven from bake to broil, and pop the pan back in, this time on the upper rack to be near the broiler. Broil for ten minutes. Serve hot drizzled with the seasoned oil.
Brandied Brisket
►One four-pound beef brisket
►Three small onions
►Two medium potatoes
►Two large carrots or ten baby carrots
►One cup brandy
►One cup cranberry juice cocktail
►One cup water
►One half cup dried lentils
►One dozen button mushrooms
►Two tablesoons brown sugar
►One quarter cup apple cider vinegar
►Two cloves garlic
►One teaspoon seasoned salt plus one pinch
►One teaspoon lemon pepper
►One half teaspoon cumin
►One teaspoon paprika
►One teaspoon laurel
►One teaspoon ginger
►One half cup canola oil
►White prepared horseradish (not creamy horseradish sauce) for table
Directions:
Start in the morning; this brisket simmers for a third of a day!
In a saucepan, bring the water and a pinch of salt to a boil. Add lentils. Cover, reduce heat, simmer.
While the lentils simmer, pour into a very large skillet just enough canola oil to cover the center of the skillet, and heat on high. Peel, rinse, halve and slice the onions. Peel and chop the garlic. Add them to the hot oil, stirring with a wooden spoon to coat. Add the brown sugar. Sautée until the onions are translucent, keeping them in the center of the skillet and stirring to avoid burning.
Rinse but do not peel the potatoes. Cut them into quarters or sixths depending on side, and set them in the skillet, and add just enough oil so that the skillet’s bottom is now moist. Roll the potatoes to coat them with the oil. Cover and continue to sautée.
Rinse but do not peel or scrape carrots. Slice them, add to skillet and roll to coat. Cover and continue to sautée.
Rinse the mushrooms and cut them in half (thirds, if they’re very large). Add to skillet, roll to coat, cover and continue to sautée.
Take the lentils off the heat. Add all the other liquids to the sauce pan. Stir.
Rinse the brisket thoroughly. Set it in the center of the skillet, moving everything to the edges with the wooden spoon. Shake all the seasonings onto the brisket and rub into top and sides (don’t worry about rubbing the bottom). Very slowly pour the remaining oil over the brisket, then pour the contents of the saucepan very slowly over the brisket. Carefully brush off the lentils so they can be in the liquid. With the wooden spoon, move the brisket back and forth a little so that the liquid can get under it.
Cover the skillet and turn the heat way down. Simmer for eight hours. Remove from skillet, cool until okay to handle, then slice as thinly as possible. Return slices to the skillet, cover and simmer until time to serve; serve hot, with white horseradish on the side.
Pineapple Chicken on Bowties
►Chicken legs, thighs and breast to equal the weight of two fryers
►One medium red onion
►One red or yellow bell pepper
►One small zucchini
►One dozen very small button mushrooms
►One dozen very small baby carrots, or six baby carrots sliced in half
►One half cup dried cranberries
►One quarter cup pomegranate seeds
►One half cup cranberry juice cocktail
►One quarter cup apple cider vinegar
►One half pound bowtie noodles
►Water for boiling noodles
►One teaspoon salt, plus a pinch
►One teaspoon lemon pepper
►One half teaspoon paprika
►One half teaspoon cayenne pepper
►One half teaspoon crushed dill seed
►One eighth cup canola oil, plus a teaspoon
►One can pineapple chunks
►One tablespoon flour
Directions:
Rinse chicken. Leave skin on. Place in a large bowl or pot.
Drain the can of pineapple and pour the juice over the chicken. Set the chunks of pineapple aside. Pour the cranberry juice cocktail and the vinegar over the chicken too.
While the chicken marinates, Boil the water for the noodles, along with a dash of salt and a teaspoon of oil. Put the rest of the oil into a skillet and heat that on high.
Peel, rinse and slice the onion, and add to skillet. Add the noodles to the pot of boiling water. Stir the noodles to keep them from sticking, and boil them for six minutes. Stir the onions with a wooden spoon and sautée them until no longer crunchy. Remove the chicken from its marinade and add it to the skillet. Cover the skillet. It’s probably time to drain the noodles now! Do so, and set them aside.
Put the carrots into the skillet. Remove the cap, stem and seeds from the pepper, cut into bite-sized bits and add to the skillet. Cut the ends off the zucchini, slice and add to the skillet. Sprinkle the seasonings over the chicken. Stir and cover.
After ten minutes, add the cranberries, pineapple and mushrooms to the skillet. Add the marinade in by pouring it slowly over the chicken. Add the flour, stirring to blend and avoid lumps. Add the drained noodles and stir to submerge them. Turn the chicken over so it rests on the noodles.
Bring back to a boil, cover, reduce heat and simmer for 50 minutes. Serve hot.
Ingredients:
►One and a half pounds salmon fillet
►One small onion
►One cup soy milk (or whole cow’s milk if not keeping kosher)
►One tablespoon chopped parsley
►One teaspoon lemon juice
►Two tablespoons corn starch
►Four tablespoons olive oil
►One teaspoon honey mustard
►One half teaspoon salt
►One quarter teaspoon lemon pepper
►One quarter teaspoon paprika
►Four tablespoons flour (we like whole wheat)
►Six eggs
►Several sprays of cooking oil
►One quarter cup water
Directions:
Preheat the oven to 375 degrees Fahrenheit.
Peel and chop the onion. Spray with cooking oil and microwave in a large bowl for four minutes.
Microwave the salmon in the water for six minutes. Put the salmon in the large bowl with the onion, and the remaining water in a small one. Add the corn starch to the water and blend to dissolve.
Flake the salmon with a fork. Chop the parsley and add to the salmon, along with the seasonings and mustard. Blend.
Separate the eggs. Set the whites aside and beat the yolks. Add the yolks to the salmon bowl.
Boil the milk and add the flour, remove from heat, and stir until flour is blended. Add to the salmon bowl and blend well.
Spray a soufflé pan with cooking oil and place it in a pan of hot water.
Beat the egg whites until stiff and fold into the salmon bowl.
Turn the mixture into the soufflé pan and pop the whole thing into the oven. Bake for 30-45 minutes (you’ll know when it’s ready because there will no longer be a little pool of liquid in the center, the last part to rise and firm up).
For a dairy variation, in addition to using real milk instead of soy milk, and perhaps substituting melted butter or butter spread for the olive oil, you can add a half cup of your favorite grated hard cheese (we like Romano but Swiss and Parmesan work as well). Ingredients
DESSERTS
Apple Cherry Bundt Cake
Ingredients:
►Six medium apples
►One and a half cups dried cherries
►Two and a half cups all-purpose flour
►Three eggs
►Two teaspoons baking soda
►One half cup lemon juice
►Three quarter cup canola oil
►One half teaspoon salt
►Two teaspoons cinnamon
►One tablespoon orange extract
►Two cups brown sugar plus one tablespoon
►Two teaspoons vanilla extract
►One teaspoon almond extract
►One cup walnuts pieces
►A sprinkling of confectioner’s sugar
Directions:
Cover the cherries with lemon juice until they plump up.
Preheat oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit.
Do not peel apples. Rinse, core and chop or thinly slice them. Drain the cherries (setting aside the lemon juice). Add the apples to the cherries along with a teaspoon of cinnamon and a tablespoon of sugar. Toss until coated. Set aside.
In a large bowl, mix all remaining dry ingredients thoroughly. In a small bowl, whisk all remaining wet ingredients. Pour wet ingredients (including the lemon juice you set aside) into dry and blend thoroughly. Add the eggs, mixing — you guessed it — thoroughly. Add the walnuts and stir to distribute evenly.
Grease and flour a tube pan. Pour in enough batter to cover the bottom, then cover that with a layer of apples and cherries. Cover that with another layer of batter, alternating until all ingredients are gone. The last layer should be of batter. If desired, leave a little apple-cherry mixture aside for topping.
Bake for about an hour (your oven may take longer; it’s ready when it’s springy), cool, turn out onto a serving dish, sprinkle with confectioner’s sugar and slice to serve.
(If you’ve left a little fruit aside for topping, chop that finely and sprinkle around the top of the cake before applying the sugar.)
Tsimmes
Ingredients:
►One crisp apple
►One quarter cup dried apricots
►One quarter cup prunes
►One quarter cup dark raisins
►One quarter cup golden raisins
►One quarter cup dried pears
►One quarter cup slivered almonds
►One quarter cup carrot slices
►One green bell pepper
►One quarter cup lemon juice
►One quarter cup orange juice
►One orange, including one tablespoon orange peel
►One teaspoon cinnamon
►One teaspoon ginger
►One shpritz of spray cooking oil
Directions:
Spray oil in the top half of a double cooker, or omit this step if you are using a slow cooker, which we actually prefer. We’ll just refer to whichever you’re using as “the pot” in these directions.
Core and slice the apple. Into the pot with it! Peel the orange, and grate up a tablespoon. Put the grated peel into the pot, then squeeze the life out of that orange, into the pot. Rip up the remaining pulp and add it, too.
Slice, but do not peel or scrape, cleaned carrots, and add to pot.
The dried fruit can be sliced or chopped but we like to add it to the pot whole.
Add remaining ingredients to the pot.
If you are using a double boiler, boil the water under it, cover, and simmer until the tsimmes is very tender, adding more lemon juice if it seems in danger of burning (you can add some commercial unsweetened orange juice instead if you like). Blend well and serve as is, or for a milchig version, if you don’t keep kosher, drizzle on a little heavy whipping cream.
Apples Dipped in Honey
Ingredients:
►Crisp red apples
►Honey
►Lemon Juice
Directions:
There is another culinary tradition associated withRosh Hashanah that is so simple it needs no formal recipe, but it’s so much fun it simply can’t be omitted: grab some crisp red apples, cut them up, squirt a little lemon juice on them to keep them from turning brown, pass them around, and provide honey for dunking!Salmon Soufflé
ENTRÉES SIDES Gefilte Fish
Ring in the Salad
STARTERS
