Category: Rosh Hashanah

Mini Pumpkin Pies for a Crowd

I’m really not much of a freezer person, but there is one recipe that I make every year for the holidays and it’s this one. These mini pumpkin pies are so festive and seasonal, and they’re great to have in the freezer as a pretty and delicious side dish. I always have them on hand for last minute company and they are so kid-friendly too.

What I love about this pie is that it’s very adaptable. If you are nut free, use oats in the streusel in place of nuts. You can make large or mini pies and swap in different types of milk or oils. You can make your own pie dough or pumpkin puree, if you’re so inclined, or go for the easy store-bought variety. In short, stock your freezer and you can thank me later!

Mini Pumpkin Pies with Pecan Streusel

29oz. can pumpkin (not pie filling)
3/4 c brown sugar
1/2 c almond or coconut milk
3 eggs
1 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp vanilla
Pinch of salt
30 mini pie shells

Topping:
2/3 c flour
1/2 c brown sugar
1/2 c chopped pecans (use oats for nut-free)
1/3 c oil
Pinch of salt

Method:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

In a bowl, combine the pumpkin with brown sugar, milk, eggs, cinnamon, vanilla and salt. In a separate bowl, combine the topping ingredients until crumbly. Fill the pie shells with the filling and divide the streusel among the pies. Place on two parchment-lined baking sheets and bake for 45-55 minutes, until crust is lightly browned.

OPTIONAL: Melt some cookie butter and drizzle over pies before serving.

FREEZING INSTRUCTIONS: Place the pies in a single layer in the freezer and freeze until solid. Once frozen, you can layer the pies in a pan, with parchment between the layers. Wrap with saran wrap and foil. Bake the frozen tarts until heated through and serve.

Related Recipes:

cookie butter pumpkin pie
pumpkin banana souffle
pumpkin cake

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Salmon En Croute with Creamed Leeks

Salmon en croute is one of my favorite dishes to serve for the holidays. It plates up beautifully, it’s so festive and it’s a winning dish all around! I mean who doesn’t love anything wrapped in buttery, flaky dough, amiright?

I usually go with a simple mustard and brown sugar mixture over the salmon, but I decided to take things up a notch using some of the traditional symbolic foods of the holiday, like honey and leeks. I love that you can incorporate more of those foods into the plated dish as well, and I went with pomegranate seeds and chioggia beets, ‘cuz could you just look at them?

Just call this Simanim Salmon En Croute ‘cuz it’s not only tasty, but so fitting in every way. And if you need a recap on the symoblic foods of the holiday, read this. I’ve also got a handy simanim recipe roundup from a couple of years back and then of course there are my other great simanim dishes like this couscous, this angel hair pasta, this beautiful appetizer and this holiday salad.

Growing up, Rosh Hashanah was a serious holiday and we always kept things intimate with just the family and a simple, traditional holiday meal. It’s that one time of the year to really focus on self introspection and prayer and I like to follow suite without complicating my menu. I don’t go all out with a bunch of different salads and desserts – I just keep my meal well-rounded with an appetizer (round challah with honey, fish and salad), entree (meat or chicken, tzimmes and roasted vegetables, beautifully plated) and a slice of honey cake with caramelized apples to finish the meal. Then I wrap things up and open my tehillim, because there is oh so much to pray for.

I find that there’s no need to overdo your menu when you learn to serve composed dishes that complement each other. Sometimes, when you make too much food, the beauty and flavor gets lost because there is just too much to go around. When I was in culinary school, my teacher gave the example of a woman wearing a simple pearl necklace versus someone who in dripping in lots of (too much) jewelry. Which one makes a better statement? Sometimes clean and simple is the better way to go.

Salmon En Croute with Creamed Leeks

4 slices center-cut salmon fillet, skin off
2 tbsp honey
salt and pepper, to taste
1 large leek, or two medium, sliced into half rings
2 tbsp refined coconut oil*
1/4 cup coconut milk*
4 puff pastry squares, or 1 sheet cut into 4 squares
1 egg + 1 tbsp water, beaten
sesame seeds

Method:

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Heat the coconut oil over medium heat and add the leeks. Saute until wilted and starting to brown and caramelize. Add the coconut milk and season, to taste, with salt and pepper. Simmer until creamy.

Season the salmon with salt and pepper and drizzle with honey. Spread leeks over the salmon and wrap in puff pastry, seam-side down. Brush the puff pastry with eggwash and sprinkle with sesame seeds. Cut a few diagonal slits in the pastry, taking care not to slice through the salmon. Bake for 20 minutes.

Serve warm over mixed greens with pomegranate seeds, shaved beets (chioggia beets pictured) and a light dressing of oil, lemon (or orange) juice, salt and pepper (or use this dressing).

NOTES:
* if you are sensitive to the flavor of coconut, you may use olive oil or trans fat free margarine in place of the oil and almond milk (or nondairy milk of your choice) in place of the coconut milk. Alternatively, you may leave out the milk for a less creamy texture.

** Feel free to add carrots, apples or any other simanim of your choice to the salad.

Related Recipes:

smashed potatoes with leeks
simanim fritto misto
honey fig roasted salmon
honey mustard salmon

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Cranberry Apple Braised Chicken


And just like that, summer is over. I’m starting to smell that fresh, crisp fall air and the nights have that slight chill that wraps me like a warm sweater. If I’m honest, I don’t hate the winter at all, but I’ll sure miss the carefree spirit of summer and the smell of freshly cut grass.

I’m excited for the fall flavors that are making their way into the supermarkets. Pumpkins, persimmon and pomegranates are just a few of my favorite things and I can’t wait to see the seasonal produce on the shelves!

It’s a bit early for cranberry season, but you can easily use frozen cranberries in this recipe. The tartness of the berries are a great contrast to the sweetness of the apples and honey, and they make for the most luscious sauce that you’ll want to smother all over rice or noodles. Considering the popularity of my tart pomegranate roast, I think this chicken will be a winner as well!

Serve with a side of sweet tzimmes and braised leeks and you’ve got a simanim-filled entree worthy of your holiday table.

Cranberry Apple Braised Chicken

1 chicken, quartered (skin-on)
1 tbsp grapeseed or other neutral flavored oil
salt and pepper, to taste
2 fuji apples, cut into eights
2 cup fresh or frozen cranberries
1 cup port or sweet red wine
heaping 1/3 cup honey
a few sprigs of thyme

Method:

Season the chicken generously with salt and pepper on both sides. Heat a dutch oven or oven-safe pot to medium-high heat and add the oil. Sear the chicken on both sides until browned. Add the wine, honey, apples, cranberries and thyme and season everything with salt and pepper. Bring the mixture to a boil, allowing the alcohol to cook off for a minute or two and transfer the pot, covered, to a 350 degree oven. Bake the chicken for 1 1/2 hours.

Related Recipes:

turkey meatballs with red wine cranberry marinara
cranberry sriracha green beans
honey roasted za’atar chicken with dried fruit
duchesse sweet potato apples

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Curried Carrot & Sweet Potato Soup
with Cilantro Matzo Balls

It’s that time of year again. The season is (finally) changing, the leaves are starting to color, and Pumpkin Spice Latte is back on the Starbuck’s menu. It’s when all the blogs start to dish out their sweet pumpkin creations and I betchya thought I was one of them.

Pumpkin is alright. I even made my usual mini pumpkin pies for Rosh Hashanah last week. What I didn’t make was tzimmes. Lets just say that that cloyingly sweet dish of honey-sweetened carrots and sweet potatoes (sometimes with added prunes) is not one of my favorites. My mom always makes a big pot (tradition!) with the addition of marrow bones and flanken, but somehow it always manages to make it’s rounds around the table, barely making a dent in the heaping pile of sweetness. That’s just it – the stuff is just. too. sweet. And the more I discuss holiday menu’s with people, the more I hear that tzimmes is on the out (I guess my tzimmes roast is going to get buried real deep in the archives!)

Most people keep tzimmes on their menus because it’s traditional to eat carrots over the holidays. Besides for the obvious symbolism for a sweet New Year, the Yiddish word for carrots is meren, to multiply, which is a blessing we hope for in the coming year. Not being a big fan of tzimmes, I try to incorporate my carrots elsewhere, such as in a raw slaw, or roasting them with some maple and harissa.

It occurred to me that with Yom Kippur upon us, and Sukkot not too far away, a savory play on tzimmes ingredients might we a welcome change. I decided to do that in the form of a soup, and to incorporate some of my favorite Thai flavors – curry (for some heat), honey (for some sweet) and coconut milk (for some creaminess). To make it festive and holiday worthy, I added cilantro matzo balls to round out the flavors and keep things exciting!

Truth be told, I’m not a big fan of cilantro but I am coming around. I used to find it completely intolerable but I am slowly sneaking in small amounts and it’s growing on me. Honey + curry though are one of my favorite combinations and I use it in curries, chicken recipes, fish dishes, roasted chickpeas and even popcorn. There’s something about the sweet and spicy that I absolutely love.

I can’t tell you how many posts I’ve seen on Facebook recently lamenting the lack of savory recipes in kosher cookbooks. Every roast is smothered in a sweet concoction, chicken is doused in apricot jam and don’t even get me started on the ridiculous amount of sugar in salad dressings. I mean, I get it. I grew up that way too. But the only way out of the sugar coma is to slowly reduce the amount of sweetness you add to recipes and to introduce more savory (and if you’re open to it, spicy) food. It’s all about conditioning your palette. If you go back to the old recipes on my blog, you can see for yourself how I’ve slowly transitioned to more savory foods. Now, when I taste a salad that’s been doused in sweet dressing, I can’t even swallow it.

There’s a place in food for all that sugar – it’s called dessert, and that’s why we all love it so much! And finishing a meal off with something sweet is precisely why you should start it with something savory. So, now that Rosh Hashanah is behind us, and we don’t *have* to douse everything in apples and honey, lets welcome the New Year with a newer savory approach to food. This curried carrot and sweet potato soup is a great place to start because it’s both sweet and savory with a nice amount of heat from the ginger and curry.

Wishing you a sweet New Year as sweet as honey and as spicy as curry. Shanah Tova Umetuka!

Curried Carrot & Sweet Potato Soup

1 large Spanish onion, peeled and diced
1 tbsp coconut oil
3 cloves garlic, minced
2 tsp minced fresh ginger
1 tbsp curry powder
4 large carrots (about 2 lbs), peeled and roughly chopped
3 medium sweet potatoes (about 1 1/2 lbs), peeled and roughly chopped
4 cups vegetable broth
1 14oz. can coconut milk
2-3 tbsp honey, or, to taste
salt and pepper, to taste
cilantro, for garnish

Method:

In a soup pot, saute the onion in coconut oil until translucent. Add the garlic and ginger and saute until softened. Add the curry powder and continue to saute until fragrant. Add the carrots, sweet potatoes, broth, salt and pepper and bring to a boil. Reduce the heat and simmer until the vegetables are soft, about 20 minutes. Puree with an immersion blender and add the coconut milk and honey. Taste and adjust seasoning, if necessary. Simmer over low heat for 10 minutes. If desired, you may adjust the consistency by adding more coconut milk, stock or water.

Cilantro Matzo Balls

1 packet Lipton matzo ball mix
2 eggs
1 tbsp canola oil
3 tbsp finely chopped cilantro

While the soup is cooking, prepare the matzo balls. Mix 2 eggs with 1 tbsp of oil and cilantro in a bowl. Add the matzo ball mix and stir with a fork until evenly combined. Refrigerate for 10 minutes.

Bring a pot of salted water to a boil. With wet hands, form matzo ball batter into small balls and place in the water. Simmer for 15 minutes.

To serve, ladle soup into bowls and garnish with coconut milk and cilantro. Add matzo balls.

NOTE: If you’d like a deeper cilantro flavor, you may increase to 1/4 cup or more. If you don’t like cilantro, you can use parsley instead.

YIELD: approximately 8 cups.



This post was sponsored by Lipton Kosher. All opinions are my own. 

Related Recipes:

peanut chicken curry
curry chicken salad
coconut crusted fish with curry aioli
curried rice salad
butternut squash soup with shallots and apples

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Simanim Fritto Misto
with Honey Roasted Garlic Aioli

I’m baaaaack!!!! After 2 months of maternity leave, some amazing bonding time with my delicious baby, and lets face it, plenty of adjusting to my new life with five kids (!!!), I’m so happy to tap back in to my creative energy and BRING IT!

Of course I must thank all my dear friends who filled in for me these past couple of weeks: Amy from WhatJewWannaEat, Sina from TheKosherSpoon,  Melissa from LilMissCakes, Miriam from OvertimeCook, Eitan from CookwithChefEitan, Melinda from KitchenTested and Whitney from Jewhungry! I hope you all enjoyed their recipes and guest posts as much as I did!

Now with Rosh Hashanah just a few days away, I really wanted to highlight the symbolic foods of the holiday, which include carrots, gourd (pumpkin), beets, leeks, green beans (or black eyed peas) and dates. It’s also customary to eat apple dipped in honey, a sheep or fish head, as well as pomegranate seeds. Many people of sephardic decent have a custom to hold a seder, where special blessings are recited over the simanim (symbolic foods) before they are eaten. It is not unusual for all or some of the ingredients to be cooked into separate appetizers, so I thought it would be fun to create one simple, yet sophisticated, dish that would incorporate most of these foods.

I was wracking my brain trying to think of something other than another boring “simanim salad” (you can watch me make an amazing one in this old post) when it came to me in the dead of night (while nursing my babes!); Fritto Misto! Fritto misto is Italian for “mixed fry” and is an assortment of lightly fried foods, often served as an appetizer. I know lots of people get scared off by the idea of frying, but if you do it right, this tempura batter is so light and elegant, and it’s not greasy at all.

The biggest trick to avoid having your food turn out greasy is to make sure it doesn’t soak up the oil. You MUST, MUST, MUST use a deep fry thermometer. It’s imperative to keep your oil at 350 degrees so that when the cold batter touches the hot oil, it immediately begins to fry and crisp up. If the oil isn’t hot enough, the thin tempura batter won’t hold on to the veggies.

Another trick to making perfectly crisp tempura fried veggies is to use seltzer in the batter. The air bubbles in the seltzer help to lighten up the batter. The cornstarch also contributes to a crispy coating.

The last, and equally important thing that contributes to a light, crispy tempura is to use ice cold seltzer and mix the batter in a cold bowl, set over a bowl of ice water. If you’re batter is nice and cold, it will work it’s magic when it hits the hot oil and you’ll get yourself a non-greasy addictive appetizer.

Of course I couldn’t just make a mix of fried simanim, it’s got to have a dip! So I indulged in some amazingly sweet and caramelized honey roasted garlic. How gorgeous??? I mix that all up with some mayo, meyer lemon zest and juice and voila – sweet, light and delicious aioli that pairs perfectly with the fritto misto.

But I couldn’t stop there. Because I had a vision. A vision of the most elegantly set holiday table, complete with individual boxes of Simanim Fritto Misto at each place setting! It’s been a while since I posted table setting ideas (these apple napkins were fun!), and I really wanted to indulge.

Since I left the apple and honey out of the fritto misto, I put out some beautiful farm-fresh apples with an assortment of honeys. I love to serve different flavored honeys, it makes things so exciting and fun! I also skipped the pomegranates in my fritto misto (because I can’t fry teeny tiny little seeds!) so I put out some Vintage pomegranate seltzer instead. We’ve pretty much got everything covered besides for the Sheep’s head. I’ll let you figure that one out ;)

To set your own tables like this, lay a long strip of burlap down the center of the table. Place a cake stand over a large matching platter. Fill the platter with apples and place an assortment of honeys on the stand. Use milk glass or mason jar cups and set out boxes of simanim over coordinating napkins. Tape some neutral colored gift tags onto the boxes, write the name of each guest on their corresponding box and finish with a twine bow. Don’t forget the Vintage seltzer!

I hope you’ve enjoyed my comeback post, there’s a little something for everyone. If you like to be try new things in the kitchen, go for the fritto misto. Hate frying? Make my honey roasted garlic aioli for dipping your Rosh Hashanah challah. Love to set a beautiful table? Take some inspiration from my tablescape. And most of all, have a healthy and happy SWEET NEW YEAR.

Shanah Tova!

Simanim Fritto Misto

1 bunch carrots, sliced in half vertically
1/2 lb. green beans, ends trimmed
1 delicata squash, sliced into rings, seeds removed
2 small beets, sliced into thin wedges
1 leek, white and pale green parts only, cleaned and separated
a few medjool dates, sliced in half, pit removed
1 c flour
1 c cornstarch
1 tsp baking powder
½ tsp kosher salt
2 cups chilled Vintage seltzer
canola oil for frying (about 1/2 gallon)
meyer lemon wedges for serving
honey roasted garlic aioli (recipe follows below)
special equipment: deep fry thermometer

Method:

Pour oil into a wide and shallow pan (wide enough to fit the long carrots) fit with a deep fry thermometer. Heat oil to 350 degrees.

In the meantime, in a bowl set over a second bowl of ice water, whisk the flour, cornstarch, baking powder and salt. Add in the seltzer, mixing until just incorporated (it’s ok if some small lumps remain, you don’t want to overmix). The batter will be very thin.

Working with a few vegetables at a time, dip into the tempura batter and fry, turning and separating the vegetables, as needed. The green beans, leeks, and dates will take about 2 minutes, the squash and carrots will take 2-3 more, and the beets may need a bit more. Drain on paper towels and remove to a wire rack.

Divide the simanim fritto misto among appetizer plates and serve with lemon wedges and honey roasted garlic aioli.


Honey Roasted Garlic Aioli

2 heads garlic
2 sprigs of thyme
1 1/2 tbsp honey, divided
1 tbsp olive oil
1 cup mayonnaise
1/4 tsp meyer lemon zest
juice of 1/2 meyer lemon
kosher salt and freshly ground pepper, to taste

Method:

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Cut off about 1/4 inch off the top of the heads of garlic to expose the tops of the garlic cloves. Drizzle with olive oil and 1 tbsp honey and season with salt and pepper. Top with thyme and wrap in foil. Bake until garlic is deeply golden and caramelized, about 45-55 minutes.

Squeeze the garlic cloves out of their skins and place in a food processor or blender. Add mayonnaise, lemon juice and zest, remaining 1/2 tbsp honey, salt and pepper. Blend until smooth.


This post was sponsored by Vintage seltzer. All opinions are my own. 

Related Posts:

apple stamp napkins
holiday salad with apple and honey vinaigrette
simanim roundup
angel hair simanim pasta salad

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