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

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