Category: Rosh Hashanah

Tzimmes Roast

Somebody pinch me, I can’t believe Rosh Hashanah is around the corner! I mean, where did the summer go? It’s hard to believe my kids have already started school and we’re about to embark on a new journey for the year 5775.

If it weren’t for the smell in the air, I would be keeping my kid’s bathing suits around. Instead, I’m packing them up with their bright summery wardrobes, and filling their closets with warm winter sweaters. What is it about that smell – that special something in the air that tells me that the Hebrew month of Tishrei is just around the bend. Can you smell it too?

It’s that slight fall breeze and the freshness of falling leaves that runs through my veins, bringing up memories of bygone Tishrei’s. Weeks filled with the hustle and bustle of Yom Tov prep that culminate in the awe-inspiring day of Yom Kippur and end with the joyous celebrations of Succot. So many feelings of regret, sadness, gratitude, hope, inspiration all wrapped up in the September breeze…it’s intoxicating.

The power of scent is truly extraordinary. It can evoke the deepest memories and trigger rememberences from childhood and beyond. The smell of tzimmes simmering on the stove brings me back to the Jewish New Year’s of my youth; honey dripping from my chin, counting the pomegranate seeds at the table.

There’s nothing like tzimmes to evoke memories of Rosh Hashanah, so I decided to do a little twist on the classic recipe.  Cooking the sweet carrot hash alongside a roast is a great way to make the best of your Yom Tov meat without having to cook your tzimmes separately. You can serve it all up on a platter and wow your guests with traditional Rosh Hashanah food, redefined.

Here’s to the start of many sweet things – from our food, to our lives. May we all be blessed to create the sweetest of memories this year!

Tzimmes Roast

2 lb. mock tender (see note)
1 tbsp olive oil
salt and pepper, to taste
2 large carrots, approx 1 lb., peeled and sliced
1 lg or 2 small sweet potatoes, approx 1 lb., peeled and diced
1 cup canned pineapple tidbits (reserve juice)
1/4 tsp cinnamon
1/8 tsp nutmeg
heaping 1/4 c honey
1/4 cup pitted dried prunes, optional

Method:

Heat a dutch oven or oven-safe pot and add olive oil. Season the roast with salt and pepper and sear on all sides. Place carrots, sweet potatoes, prunes (if using), pineapple tidbits and all the juice from the can (it should equal about a cup, if it’s less, add water to equal a cup) around the roast. Sprinkle the vegetables with cinnamon and nutmeg and drizzle with honey. Season, to taste, with salt. Cover the pot and bring to a gentle simmer. Remove from the fire and bake at 350 degrees for 1 hour. Flip the roast, stir the carrots, and bake for an additional hour.

Remove the roast from the pot and let it rest for 10 minutes. Slice and place on a platter. Place the tzimmes around the roast and drizzle remaining sauce over the meat.

NOTE: The mock tender is a large kolichol cut from the shoulder. If your butcher does not carry it, use a shoulder roast instead.

VARIATON: use 1 cup orange juice instead of pineapple juice.

Related Recipes:

Rosh Hashanah Roast
honey roasted za’atar chicken with dried fruit
couscous with honey roasted carrots, parsnips and beets

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Beer Braised Brisket with Onion Gravy

This post has been a long time in coming. And not just because it’s taken me a while to write it. But because it’s taken me a while to learn it. Like many home cooks, when it came to meat preparation, I was stumped. I didn’t understand the different cuts of meat or how to prepare them. After lots of reading, and a hands-on butchery class at The Center for Kosher Culinary Arts, I feel like I’m finally beginning to understand where my meat comes from and how to cook it. With the holidays upon us, I thought I should share some of that invaluable information with all of you!

So, without further adieu, I give you my Guide to Kosher Meat: Cuts & Cooking Methods!

In my guide, I speak about the different cuts of meat and where they come from on the animal. In a nutshell, tough cuts of meat requires slow, moist heat cooking to help break down the connective tissue and tenderize the meat. Braising, a combination cooking method involving dry and moist heat cooking, is a popular method used.

This deliciously tender brisket is braised with caramelized onions and beer, resulting in a mouthwatering gravy. First cut of brisket will yield a drier, less flavorful dish, while 2nd cut will yield a more tender flavorful meat. If you choose to use 2nd cut of brisket, don’t remove the excess fat until it’s done cooking. As the fat breaks down, it adds moisture and flavor to the meat, so if you want to remove it, it’s best to do so by refrigerating the meat after cooking and removing the congealed fat after it solidifies. In addition, cutting the brisket when it’s cold, minimizes it’s propensity for shredding.

Keep in mind, that since braising is the best method for cooking tough cuts of meat, you can use any tough cut in this recipe such as the French Roast, Chuck Roast, Shoulder Roast, or Deckle.

Beer-Braised Brisket

3 lbs. brisket (or any tough cut that requires braising)
salt and pepper, to taste
2 Spanish onions, peeled and thinly sliced
1/3 cup dark brown sugar
1 12oz. bottle beer, ale preferred
2 tbsp apple cider vinegar

Method:

Season your  brisket with salt and pepper and sear in an oven-safe pot over high heat on all sides. Set the meat aside. Add some oil to the pan and saute onions, picking up the little bits from the bottom of the pan as it cooks. Add brown sugar, salt and pepper and cook over medium-high heat until onions are golden, sticky and caramelized (about 25 minutes). Deglaze the pan with a bottle of beer. Add vinegar and brisket to the pot, cover tightly and bake at 325 degrees for 2 hours. Turn the brisket over and cook until fork-tender, 30 minutes-1 hour (or longer, use a fork to check tenderness).

Once cooled, remove the brisket from the pot and slice thinly against the grain. Serve with onion gravy.

TIP: If the gravy needs thickening, let it cook uncovered over high heat until it reduces to desired consistency. Adjust seasoning, if needed.

VARIATION: for more flavor, you may add some fresh rosemary, thyme or dried bay leaves.

NOTE: For a larger brisket, cook for an additional 30 minutes – 1 hour per lb, until fork tender. Add additional beer, if necessary, so that 1/3rd of the meat is covered in liquid.

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Holiday Salad with Apple & Honey Vinaigrette


When I first developed this salad recipe, I did not have Rosh Hashanah in mind. In fact, it was just about getting creative with the ingredients in my refrigerator (which is pretty much how all my salads happen). When all the components came together, it just screamed holiday, and I knew I had to share it for the upcoming Chag.

Although figs are not one of the traditional fruits eaten on Rosh Hashanah (like pomegranates, apples and beets), it’s a good idea to take advantage of the season’s bounty. Fig season is short and sweet, and besides, they are one of the Seven Species of the Land of Israel. The figs add a chewy texture, sweet flavor, and beautiful color to the salad making it the perfect holiday appetizer.

Fresh figs are not the only bright piece to this beautiful salad puzzle. Chioggia beets also add amazing color and design. On the outside, the humble root vegetable is unassuming (ie. ugly). But when you cut into it – you get the most beautiful candy cane spiral that is almost too magical to eat. The thing about chioggia beets is that when you cook them, that beauty all but disappears into a dull pinky beige mass. To appreciate the bright pink spirals, candy cane beets should be eaten raw – shaved thinly on a mandolin.

Holiday Salad:

1 pkg mixed greens
1-2 chioggia (candy cane) beets, thinly sliced on a mandolin
1 green apple, cored and sliced
1 red apple, cored and sliced
1 container fresh figs, quartered
honey roasted nuts such as walnuts, pecans or almonds
1/2 cup pomegranate seeds (optional)

Method:

On a serving platter, arrange the beets around the edge and fill the center with mixed greens. Top greens with apples and figs and sprinkle nuts and pomegranate seeds all around.

VARIATION: For a simanim salad (a salad that incorporates many of the symbolic foods traditionally eaten on Rosh Hashanah), use the following ingredients along with the apple and honey vinaigrette: mixed greens, 1 honeycrisp apple, 1/2 cup pomegranate seeds, 1 julienned carrot, 2 chopped medjool dates and shaved chioggia beet. (Watch me make it in the video posted below!)

To further the Holiday theme, I whipped up an “apple and honey” dressing, using apple cider vinegar and sweet honey. If you have a custom not to eat vinegar on Rosh Hashanah (due to it’s sour taste), you may substitute with lemon juice.

Apple & Honey Vinaigrette:

1/2 cup grapeseed oil
1/4 c honey
1/4 c apple cider vinegar (or 3 tbsp lemon juice + 1 tbsp apple juice)
1 tbsp dijon mustard
1 tbsp finely minced shallot
s&p, to taste

Method:

In a bowl, whisk together the dressing until emulsified. Drizzle dressing over salad before serving.

Watch me make a Rosh Hashanah Simanim salad with TorahCafe here:


Watch on TorahCafé.com!

Other Rosh Hashanah Salad Ideas:

rainbow slaw with poppy seed dressing
pomegranate coleslaw
apple celery veggie dip
roasted beet & orange salad
couscous with thyme & honey roasted carrots, parsnips and beets

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Honey Roasted Za’atar Chicken with Fruit

In case you haven’t noticed, I’m pretty big on za’atar right now. But regardless of my newfound love of the spice mix, I’ve been making a variation of this chicken for quite some time. I decided to kick it up a notch for the holidays by adding red wine, honey and dried fruit for a festive finish.

Za’atar is a mixed herb and spice blend popular in the Middle East. It’s primarily made up of sumac, thyme, oregano, sesame seeds and salt. The spice blend is widely available in supermarkets, but you can also find it on amazon.

Other za’atar recipes:

grilled corn with za’atar garlic compound butter
malawach cheese pastries with dipping sauce

Honey Roasted Za’atar Chicken with Dried Fruit

1 pkg chicken, quartered
3 tbsp za’atar
1-2 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
approximately 20oz. dried fruit (I use apricots and pitted prunes)
1/2 cup dry red wine
kosher salt, to taste
1/3 cup honey

Method:

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Spread out dried fruit on the bottom of a 9×13 pan. In a bowl, combine the za’atar and olive oil to create a paste. Rub the za’atar over the chicken (skin-on) and place on top of dried fruit. Pour wine into the pan and sprinkle everything with salt. Cover and bake for 1 hour.

Uncover the chicken and drizzle honey all around. Raise the oven temperature to 400 degrees. Bake, uncovered, for an additional 30 minutes, basting occasionally with the sauce.

Related recipes:

sweet Hawaiian chicken
Rosh Hashanah roast
honey mustard chicken pastrami roulade

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Apple Napkins

This is just one of those crafts that has been on my mind since forever. OK maybe not forever. But ever since I saw this on Pinterest. Pinterest will do that to you. Just when you think you’re over the whole crafting thing, you’ll see a really awesome idea, and it will just pick at your brain until you do something about it. So I did. And my Rosh Hashanah table will thank me for it!


Fruits & veggies aren’t just for eating anymore. They make the prettiest natural stamps when brushed with some paint. The ends of endives and celery stalks are no longer trash as more & more people are turning to fruit and vegetable stamping as a hobby. Follow my instructions below for adorable Rosh Hashanah apple napkins (I also decorated an apron!), or find inspiration in your refrigerator to create naturally beautiful projects.

For other great holiday crafting ideas, check out the August issue of JCreate Magazine. You’ll find my crocheted apple trivet on page 26.

What you’ll need:

1 fresh apple
1 celery stick
melon baller or measuring spoon
linen napkins in white or cream
fabric paint in red and green (I used these from Target)
paintbrush

How to:

Slice your apple in half and using a melon baller or measuring spoon, remove the seeds and scrape the apple to define the shape. Using a small paintbrush, paint the apple with fabric-safe paint and press down firmly on the linen napkin (you may want to practice on some paper towel first). Repeat to create desired pattern, painting the apple in between each “stamp.” If leaves are desired, use a celery stick to create a leaf shape on top of the apples.

Set the napkins aside to dry overnight.

For your place setting, tie the napkins in raffia and fill with honey sticks and/or wooden honey dippers.

Related Posts:

crocheted apple trivets
easy paper napkin roses

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