Food For ThouGht

Have Your
Cheesecake,

However you

like it, we've

sot a great

recipe for you.

Annabel Cohen
Special to AppleTree

if we need another reason
o eat cheesecake.
There's a reason our
houses explode with flowers and we
eat dairy foods like cheesecakes and
blintzes on Shavuot. It has to do with
Moses and the Torah and the count-
ing of the Omer.
The Ben Hayoun family doesn't
normally eat much dairy on a
daily basis.
Except on Shavuot.
"In general we eat almost no
dairy," said Rachael Ben Hayoun,
manager of Sperber's Gourmet
Delight. It's located in West Bloom-
field's Whole Foods Market, which
offers gourmet kosher foods.
Rachael, along with husband Danie
and daughters Davida, 11; Yehu-
dith, 18, and Rivka, 25, enjoy an
organic, healthy-eating lifestyle.
"We do a lot of organic fruit on
Shavuot and cheesecake, using
organic cream cheese," Rachael
said. "This is the one time of the year

At

gogues with sheaves of wheat, leafy
branches and fresh flowers, so that
Shavuot's festive feeling is imparted
inside as well as out. We do this for
two reasons: because Shavuot is a
time of harvest, and, it is said, that

And Eat It Too

where we have an extra celebration
and we increase our celebration by
eating real organic dairy. It's a treat
to eat the real dairy; the taste is defi-
nitely better — its like, wow."
A little history of Shavuot explains
why dairy is such a part of this
spring festival.
Counting the Omer may not seem
like much if you've never done it. An
omer is a measure of grain and refers
to the offering made on the second
day of Passover. From then on, we
count the days — 49 of them, pre-
cisely seven weeks — between the
second night of Passover and the start
of Shavuot. We count them for nearly
iwo months while we reflect and con-
template our Jewishness.
If this sounds like serious stuff —
you're right. Because this is the
time, historically, when Moses
received the Torah at Mt. Sinai. For
three days and three nights, the
Israelites camped at the foot of the
mountain, in anticipation of the laws
from God. For seven weeks, mod-
ern Jews await Shavuot, recalling
the significance of this Divine gift.
"For many, many days, we keep
in mind that we're receiving the
law. We're more conscientious dur-
ing this time. Everything is more pro-
nounced during the omer," Rachael
Ben Hayoun said.
Consequently, when the actual day
of Shavuot arrives, there is great cel-
ebration. Around the world, Jews
participate in a tradition of decorat-
ing our homes, classrooms and syna-

on the day God gave Moses the
Torah, Mt. Sinai miraculously
bloomed in exultation.
Why do we eat dairy? One school
of thought explains that before the
giving of the Torah, there were no
laws of kashrut. With the Torah, laws
regarding the preparation and eating
of certain foods and in particular
combinations, kashrut, were handed
down. These laws contained specific
information about eating and prepar-
ing meat and other foods. Since the
Israelites were not ready to eat meat
under the restrictions of the new
laws, no meat was served on this
day. This custom is still practiced
with the serving of dairy foods, usu-
ally at lunch on Shavuot.
So when Shavuot finally arrives,
Boston transplant Ben Hayoun will
make cheesecake. Her New York
cheesecake is the real thing, filled
with organic cream cheese and
sour cream.
West Bloomfield's Regina Goldstein
spent her young years in Bologna,
Italy. After World War II, she moved
to Israel but brought along her love of
Italian cooking.
"I still love Italian foods. It's the best,
isn't it?" Goldstein said.
"I was making matza balls with
Parmesan cheese and cinnamon
even after I moved to Israel."
Goldstein, a professed "little of
this, a little of that" kind of cook,
shares a recipe for an Italian
cheesecake made with ricotta
cheese and dried fruit: "It's from a

I favorite book, in Italian, I've had for
more than 30 years."
Bev Price of Huntington Woods, a
registered dietician, eats no dairy, so
on Shavuot, she will use substitute
ingredients to make her tofu cheese-
: cake pie.
"It's the flavorings that makes this
taste like cheesecake. The citrus and
graham-cracker crust add an authen-
tic flavor," she said.
Try some of the following cheese-
: cake recipes to add even more
excitement to your celebration. They
include cheesecake recipes you'll go
bananas over.

1 RICOTTA CHEESECAKE
"Torta de Ricotta"

From Regina Goldstein

2-1/4 pounds ricotta
cheese
1/4 tsp. salt
1/4 cup flour
3/4 cup sugar
8 large eggs, separated
Grated peel of 1 orange
1 cup yellow raisins
2 Tbsp. candied fruit
Granulated sugar and
ground cinnamon,
garnish

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. But
and dust with flour a 10-inch
spring-form pan.
I Stir in ricotta with a wooden spoon.
Stir in salt, flour, sugar, egg yolks and
grated peel. Mix well to combine.
Add raisins and candied fruits and stir
until smooth. Beat egg whites until stiff
and gently fold into cheese mixture.
Pour in the filling and smooth the
top; the mixture should reach only
half-way up the pan. Bake for 45-60
minutes until set. Remove from oven
and allow to rest for 15-20 minutes.
Chill. Before serving, sprinkle with
sugar and cinnamon and serve with
whipped cream, if desired. Serves
12, generously.