Food
Happy New Food
New foods and old symbolism for the New Year.
ANNABEL COHEN
Special to the Jewish News
juices and sprinkled with raisins and nuts. Makes 12
servings.
ewish holiday food is all about history. For the
most part, it's not all about actual historical
foods, although some specific ingredients are
associated with specific holidays.
For example, honey has always been associated with
Rosh Hashanah. It's symbolic of our hopes for a sweet
year. What's been eaten with it has varied. Today, we
dip apples and challa into honey and cook many foods
— from poultry to cakes — with honey as a sweetener.
We eat emblematic foods to add to our hopes for
good things in the coming year. Foods with many seeds
— sesame, pinenuts, pomegranate — to multiply our
expectations. The more seeds, the more our chances for
the new year. Carrot rings signify gold coins and pros-
perity. Sniffed foods — like kreplach — portend a year
"stuffed" with good things. And so on.
The following recipes mix and match symbolic
foods, modern (the last few centuries) Jewish custom-
ary fare and newer flavors for our American tastes and
preferences. L'shana tovah and enjoy.
HONEY ROASTED CARROTS
12 cups sliced carrots (about 1/2-inch diagonal slices)
1 cup apple juice
1/2 cup honey or brown sugar
3 T. olive oil or butter
kosher salt and pepper to taste
1/4 cup minced chives or parsley
Preheat oven to 400E Spray a large baking pan (or
disposable pan) with non-stick cooking spray. Toss all
remaining ingredients, except chives, in a large bowl.
Transfer the carrots to the prepared pan and shake the
pan to distribute the carrots.
Cover the pan with foil and cook for 30 minutes.
Remove the foil and cook for 30 minutes or more,
turning once or twice, until much of the liquid has
evaporated (not all the liquid) and the carrots are gold-
en.
Adjust seasoning to taste and keep warm, covered,
until ready to serve. Serve with any remaining juices
and minced chives as garnish. Makes 8 servings.
11
1
HONEY ORANGE CHICKEN
WITH RAISINS AND PINENUTS
7 to 8 pOunds chicken pieces (with skin and bones)
(about 2 chickens)
kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste
2 cups orange juice (good quality premade juice is
fine)
1/2 cup honey
1 T. dried parsley flakes
1 t. dried tarragon
1 t. dried dill
1 1/2 cups golden raisins
1/3 cup pinenuts, lightly toasted
Preheat oven to 450F. Arrange chicken pieces, skin
side up, in one or two large roasting pans (disposable
pans are fine) and season with salt and pepper. Roast
chicken for about 20 minutes. Turn the chicken over
and cook for 10 minutes more.
While the chicken is cooking make the glaze.
Combine the orange juice, parsley flakes, tarragon and
dill in a small saucepan over high heat. Bring to a boil,
reduce heat to medium-high and cook for 3 minutes.
Turn chickens breast side up. Brush with glaze and
drizzle the remaining glaze around the chicken.
Sprinkle the raisins and pinenuts around the pieces
(not on top of the chicken).
Continue to roast until cooked through and very
golden, about 20 minutes more (white meat will cook
faster, so you may want to cut the cooking time as nec-
essary).
Keep warm until ready to eat or remove from oven,
cool, cover and chill up to a day ahead. Reheat at
250F., covered, for 1 hour before serving, drizzled with
KREPLACH
I make these easier by not rolling out the food-proces-
sor-made dough. I simply pinch off hunks of dough
and stretch them into circles with my fingers. Then I
fill them and pinch them over into a half-moon.
They're not like the "triangular" kreplach you've seen,
but they're simpler and just as yummy.
Dough:
2 large eggs
1/2 teaspoon salt
3 T warm water
2 cups flour
Filling:
2T olive oil
1 1/4 cups finely chopped onion
1 pound lean ground beef or chicken
1 large egg
1 t. salt, or to taste
1/2 t. pepper, or to taste
Make the dough: Process all the dough ingredients in
the bowl of a food processor until the mixture forms a
ball on top of the blade. Remove the dough from the
processor and wrap in plastic. Chill while you make the
filling:
Heat oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat.
Add the onions and cook, stirring frequently, for 5
minutes. Add the beef and cook until no longer pink.
Allow to cool to warm before stirring in egg and sea-
soning.
Remove the dough from the refrigerator and pinch
off a piece about the size of a large egg-yolk. Use your
fingers and thumb to form the dough into a 3-inch cir-
cle. Put the circle down on a clean surface and place 1
teaspoon of filling in the center of the circle. Fold the
circle of dough over the filling and pinch the edges well
(this will form a half-moon pillow). Place the finished
kreplach on a towel line baking sheet.
Continue with remaining dough and filling. You will
make anywhere from 36 to 50 kreplach. You may cook
these immediately or freeze them until ready to cook.
Freeze them flat (without touching each other) until
solid. Remove from baking sheet and place in a freezer
zipper-style bag.
To cook, bring a large pot of lightly salted water to a
boil. Drop several kreplach into the boiling water (don't
crowd the pot). Cook until the kreplach float to the
top. Remove the kreplach with a slotted spoon and
place in a simmering soup until ready to serve.
Alternately, you may cook the kreplach in the soup.
Makes 36-50 kreplach.
KASHA VARNISHKES
Kasha is an acquired taste. If you love kasha (buck-
wheat groats), chances are you like it with varnishikes
(bow-tie pasta). This is a basic, old-fashioned recipe
that's close to the hearts of many. Traditionally, it is
made with onions fried in melted chicken fat
(shmaltz). This recipe is slightly more heart healthy,
made with olive oil instead.
1 pound dry bowtie pasta, cooked very at dente
according to package directions and tossed with 2 T.
olive oil
3 T. olive oil
3 cups chopped onion
2 t. minced garlic
2 cups whole kasha
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