32 | SEPTEMBER 19 • 2024 
J
N

I

n last week’s issue, we covered 
appetizers and sides for Rosh 
Hashanah. This week, I’ll be focus-
ing on main dishes.
A challenge for Rosh Hashanah 
can be to balance the 
savory and the sweet. 
With our aspirations 
for a sweet new year, 
we incorporate many 
sweet flavors through-
out the meal: apples 
and honey, pome-
granates and dates, 
to name a few. But as 
they say, the sweet is never as sweet 
without the sour, and that is true for 

our menus as much as it is for our 
lives. 
The recipes I share include savory 
(and some sweet) elements to make 
a balanced menu. Continuing our 
theme of using foods traditionally, 
included as simanim (signs or omens) 
for a good year, I include a recipe for 
Halibut Escabeche (in order to be 
fruitful and multiply like fish) that 
includes halibut fillets cooked and 
then marinated in lime juice and 
white wine vinegar with capers, garlic 
and yellow onion. The sour flavors 
paired with the rich fish provide a 
bright and fresh dish. 
I share a recipe for brisket incorpo-

rating pomegranate molasses (so that 
our merits should increase like the 
seeds of a pomegranate). The sweet-
tart flavor of the pomegranate molas-
ses is balanced by garlic, onions and 
spices to be both savory and sweet. 
I also include a recipe for Tzimmes 
Chicken, incorporating carrots 
(Hebrew: gezarim; Yiddish: mern) 
to nullify any negative decrees 
(Hebrew: gezerot) against us and for 
more (Yiddish: mer) blessings. The 
dish includes ample sweet elements, 
including carrots, honey, dried 
apricots and prunes, but also garlic, 
onion, thyme, lemon juice and spices 
like cumin and cinnamon. The spices 
are subtle in the listed quantities to 
accommodate those who do not love 
them but can be increased to appease 
those who do. I recommend serving 
the brisket and chicken with saffron 
rice, which provides an earthy and 
mild flavor to let the proteins shine.

HALIBUT ESCABECHE
Adapted from G. Daniela Galarza
Serves 4. Pareve

Ingredients

4 Tbsp. olive oil, divided

4 5-ounce skin-on halibut fillets, patted 

dry

Fine salt

Freshly ground black pepper

¼ cup fresh lime juice (from 2 limes)

¼ cup white vinegar or white wine vin-

egar

2 Tbsp. capers in brine

3 cloves garlic, thinly sliced

1 Tbsp. caper brine

½ small yellow onion (2 ounces total), 

sliced

1 bay leaf (optional)

Directions
Preheat the oven to 400°F. Place 
halibut fillets skin-side down on a 
rimmed baking sheet. Rub the hal-
ibut fillets with 1 tablespoon of the 
oil, then lightly season with salt 
and pepper.
In a shallow serving bowl large 
enough for the fish, stir together 
the remaining 3 tablespoons of 
oil, the lime juice, vinegar, capers, 
garlic, caper brine, onion and bay 
leaf.
Roast the halibut fillets until 
the flesh is opaque and the fish 
begins to flake when prodded 
with a fork. The timing will depend 
on the thickness of the fillets. 
Check the flakiness with a fork 
starting after 10 minutes and be 
careful not to overbake.
Remove the fillets from their 
skin and nestle the cooked fish 
into the bowl with the vinegar 
mixture. Let marinate for at least 
15 minutes and up to 40 minutes 
(the longer it marinates, the more 
pungent its flavor will be). Discard 
the bay leaf and serve warm or at 
room temperature.

POMEGRANATE MOLASSES 
BRISKET
Adapted from Tori Avey
Serves 5. Meat

Ingredients

4-5 pounds beef brisket

½ cup pomegranate molasses

Extra virgin olive oil

4 cloves garlic, minced

2 tsp. cinnamon

FOOD

Joelle 

Abramowitz

Tzimmes 
Chicken
Food for Thought: 
 
Food for Thought: 
 

Savory and Sweet
Rosh Hashanah 
Main Dishes

