SEPTEMBER 17 • 2020 | 59
W
ith each new year, we express our
hopes for the next.
This year has been … challeng-
ing. Gatherings are distant and limited in so
many ways. Still, many have figured out ways
to make it work. And so it is with the High
Holidays. While we can virtually pray; we can-
not virtually eat. Somehow, we have figured
out how to gather more safely. And families are
beginning to eat together again.
Throughout Jewish history, the food we
eat with loved ones is our tangible symbol for
hopes and desires. Just as we require food to
live, we require ethics and principles to flour-
ish.
The most elementary association of food
with religion is of the symbolic dipping of chal-
lah and apple slices into honey. It translates lit-
erally into sweetness and bounty. Heads of fish
are long thought to symbolize the head of the
year as well as the notion that one should have
a future that’
s the “tops.
” Pomegranates with
their abundant seeds — as well as many other
types of seeds — symbolize mitzvot (may you
have as many as there are seeds).
And it’
s why we eat honey cake and tzimmes
and other sweet foods.
This year, when we recite the Musaf prayers
at Rosh Hashanah, with its messages of kingli-
ness and remembrances, and with the blowing
of the shofar, we infuse it with hopes for a bet-
ter year to come. We deserve it!
CHICKEN WITH RAISINS AND FIGS
Figs, because of their many seeds, are perfect
for the holiday. May you have as many mitzvot as
there are seeds.
½ cup tablespoons all-purpose flour
3 pounds boneless and skinless chicken
breasts, trimmed of visible fat
¼ cup olive oil
2 cups white wine, not too sweet
Salt and pepper to taste
1/3 cup fresh lemon juice
1 Tbsp. drained capers, or to taste
16 dried figs, cut in half lengthwise
½ cup golden raisins
Chicken broth or stock, as needed
½ cup plus chopped fresh cilantro or parsley
Lemon slices, garnish
Directions
Heat oil in a large nonstick skillet over medi-
um-high heat. While the oil is heating, prepare
the chicken.
Place flour in a shallow bowl. Dredge chicken
in the flour and shake gently to remove excess
A Taste of
Things to Come
Delicious holiday recipes
to welcome in a sweeter
new year.
Annabel Cohen
Contributing Writer
Arts&Life
dining in
ANNABEL COHEN
continued on page 60