Category: Shabbos

Cranberry Sriracha Green Beans

Fall is my absolute favorite time of year. I don’t know if it’s all the beautiful leaves on the ground, or the fact that I can cover up in a  cute jacket, without having to bundle up in a stuffy down winter coat. It probably has a lot to do with all the amazing pumpkin recipes, the sweet apple cider, and of course,…Thanksgiving! I’m on to Thanksgiving food weeks before the holiday (and not just because I’m a food blogger)! Case in point: my dinner last night was turkey burgers with cranberry pear relish, fried sage and Paleo pumpkin biscuits. I just can’t get enough of classic Thanksgiving dishes and flavors – I can eat them all year round.

Now speaking of classic Thanksgiving dishes, y’all know how traditional green beans are – especially green bean casserole. I’m not one for casseroles, but sriracha? yes please! Whether you are going Asian or not with any of your dishes – this sweet and spicy recipe makes the perfect Thanksgiving side dish! The sweet cranberries add the perfect festive touch, making this a great addition to your holiday meal. Gobble Gobble!

Cranberry Sriracha Green Beans

1 lb green beans, ends trimmed, blanched
2 cloves garlic, minced
2 tsp oil
1/2 cup whole berry cranberry sauce (not jellied)
1 tbsp soy sauce
1 tsp sriracha
1 tbsp sesame seeds

Method:

Add the cranberry sauce, soy sauce and sriracha to a bowl and stir to combine. Set aside.

Heat the oil in a wok or skillet and saute the garlic until fragrant, but not browned. Add the blanched green beans and stir fry until coated and heated through. Pour in the cranberry sauce and continue to stir until well coated. Sprinkle with sesame seeds.


Related Recipes:

crunchy shriveled green beans
spicy roasted edamame
teriyaki mushrooms

Post a Comment

Savory Pomegranate Roast
with Garlic & Cipollini Onions

I’m not really one of those people that goes into the butcher knowing what type of roast I want to make for the holidays. I just look for what’s on sale, or which roast is going to give me the most bang for my buck and I take it home. Once you understand the basics to purchasing and preparing kosher meat, you don’t have to feel stuck on a certain cut and you can feel free to choose.

It was a few days before Rosh Hashanah when I unwrapped my square roast, wondering how I would prepare it. I had so many sweet side dishes that I wanted to go for something savory – but I also wanted to play on the Jewish New Year concept. I decided to work with pomegranate molasses – a tangy condiment that’s made by reducing pomegranate juice, and pair it with savory ingredients like garlic, onions and rosemary.

When you’re preparing a new recipe and testing it on a roast, it’s always a guessing game on just how tender it’s going to turn out. I usually like to use wine or tomatoes to help tenderize my meats, but I was shocked to see how soft and buttery this roast came out without it. It was so tender, you could eat it with a spoon! And the gravy – oh my! It was thick and delicious, with a hint of tang, filled with creamy pieces of garlic and cipollini onions that practically melted into the sauce. I’d definitely call this a winner, and that’s why I’m posting it! Chag Sameach!

Savory Pomegranate Roast with Garlic & Cipollini Onions

3-4 lb. Square Roast (a cut from the Chuck – you may substitute with French, Brick or Chuck Roast)
salt and pepper, to taste
2 tbsp olive oil
8 large cipollini onions, peeled (use more if they are small)
10 cloves of garlic, peeled
3 sprigs rosemary
1 1/4 cups beef or chicken stock
1/2 cup pomegranate molasses (I use Sadaf Pomegranate Concentrate)

Method:

Season the meat generously with salt and pepper. Heat the olive oil in a dutch oven or oven-safe pot and sear the roast on all sides. Remove from the pot. Add additional oil, if needed, and saute the cipollini onions, until browned and caramelized in spots. Return the roast to the pot and deglaze with stock. Add garlic, rosemary and pomegranate molasses and season with salt and pepper. Bring the mixture to a boil, cover the pot, and bake at 300 degrees for 2 hours. Turn the roast over and bake for an additional hour.

NOTE: You’ll have plenty of gravy, so feel free to serve this alongside mashed potatoes.

FREEZING: This roast freezes beautifully. To freeze, wait until the roast is completely cool and cut into slices. Double wrap the sliced roast in foil, label and freeze. Pour the gravy into a large container, label and freeze. The night before you’re ready to serve, place the roast and gravy in the refrigerator. Before serving, place the sliced roast in a pot or pan and pour gravy over it. Cook on the stovetop, or in the oven, until heated through.

Other Roast Recipes:

tzimmes roast
Rosh Hashanah roast
beer braised brisket with onion gravy
crockpot pulled BBQ brisket

Post a Comment

Zucchini Mechshie with Tamarind & Prunes

I’ve talked a lot about mechshie (a Syrian dish of stuffed vegetables) on my blog, especially around the holidays. I decided to keep up the tradition, and for the third year in a row, I’m sharing a stuffed vegetable recipe in honor of Sukkot. The tradition of eating stuffed foods on Succot is symbolic of an abundant harvest season. Since the wheat is harvested in Israel during the fall, we stuff foods to symbolize our desire for an overflowing harvest. This is popularly done with stuffed cabbage, or holipches, which some say are also made to resemble the scrolls of a Torah.


Ever since I married into a Sephardic family, I can’t get enough of my mother-in-laws delicious mechshie dishes! I’m slowly learning to cook different variations, adapting my favorite recipe with the additions of tamarind, pomegranate molasses and different types of vegetables and dried fruit.

When I spotted beautiful globe zucchini in the market, I just knew I had to turn it into some kind of mechshie. The small, round zucchini were perfect for filling, and I decided to work in some tamarind paste, an ingredient essential to Sephardic cooking. It adds a hint of sourness to the sweet dish, a perfect pairing with the plump dried prunes.

So let’s get stuffin’!

Stuffed Zucchini Mechshie with Tamarind & Prunes

8 globe zucchini or 2-3 large zucchini cut in thirds

Filling:

1 lb ground beef
1/3 cup basmati rice
3/4 tsp allspice
1/2 tsp salt
3 tbsp water

Sauce:

1 15oz. can tomato sauce
1/2 can water
1/4 cup tamarind paste (available in Middle Eastern markets)
1/4 cup brown sugar
juice of 1/2 lemon
1/2 tsp allspice
1 tsp salt
1 10oz. container dried prunes

Method:

To prepare the filling, combine the meat, rice, allspice, salt and water in a bowl and mix well to combine (I like to do this by hand, using gloves). Try to handle the meat gently, don’t squeeze it too much as this tends to toughen it up.

Cut the tops off the zucchinis and scoop out some of the pulp with a spoon, leaving a thick border. Place all the pulp in the bottom of a greased wide saucepan.

If using regular zucchini, use a paring knife (or a long vegetable corer, known as a ma’vdeh), to core them.

Stuff the zucchini with the meat filling, taking care not to fill them too tightly as the rice will expand during cooking. Place the stuffed zucchini’s in the pot, and place prunes all around.

In a bowl, combine the sauce ingredients. Pour the sauce over the zucchini. Cover the pot and bring the liquid up to a boil over high heat. Lower the flame and simmer for 1-2 hours.

NOTE: If you have leftover meat filling, roll it into small meatballs and place in the pot alongside the zucchini.

More Mechshie Recipes:

stuffed baby eggplant mechshie
zucchini and tomato mechshie “ratatouille”

More “Stuffed” Recipes:

corned beef arancini
Passover stuffed cabbage (replace potatoes with rice)
collard stuffed sweet potatoes
sausage and apple stuffed butternut squash
spinach stuffed mushrooms
stuffed chicken roulade
Israeli stuffed eggplants

Post a Comment

Angel Hair Pasta Salad


I’ve really got to start cooking from cookbooks again. It’s literally been years since I’ve made something from a cookbook. And it’s not because I don’t have any – trust me. I’ve got more cookbooks than I have room for in my small Brooklyn home. They’re all just sitting there on the shelf, like figurines on display, looking pretty!

I usually only take my cookbooks out on Shabbos, when I browse through them like an old photo album. I drool over the good recipes, sigh over the bad ones, and then return them to the bookshelf. Once in a while I promise myself to try a recipe, but I usually forget or don’t get around to it.

Recently, my Shabbos guest was looking though my cookbook collection and she asked me what my favorite recipes were from some of my cookbooks. It made me realize that cookbooks are not just for browsing – some of them have really good recipes that I should actually be cooking. She told me some of her favorites dishes from the cookbooks we had in common (like Smitten Kitchen, Jerusalem, Plenty, The Kosher Palette, Kosher by Design and others) and I promised myself I would give them a try.

It really hit home this week because for the first time in a while, I was stumped. I had planned on an apple and honey dessert for the blog, but sadly, it flopped (yes, that happens to me!) and I couldn’t think of anything else that I wanted to post. Until, I was speaking to my friend and she mentioned a recipe for angel hair pasta that she was making for dinner. She said it had mushrooms and leeks – and when I heard leeks, I was all over it. My mind started racing, thinking about all the ways I could turn it into a Simanim salad – filled with lots symbolic foods that we eat on Rosh Hashanah.

I went straight for some of my favorite Rosh Hashanah foods – beets and pomegranates – keeping things mess-free with golden beets. The pomegranates add great crunch, and the honey rounds it all out with a hint of sweetness.

So thanks to Dina (and whoever came up with the original recipe), for getting my creative juices flowing again.I can’t wait to dust off my cookbooks and open my eyes (and palate) to a new range of recipes! Shall we call it a New Year’s Resolution?

What are some of your favorite cookbook recipes? Share them in the comments below!

Angel Hair Pasta Salad

1 medium golden beet
1 box angel hair pasta
1 pkg baby bella mushrooms, cleaned and sliced
2 large leeks, white and pale green parts only, cleaned and sliced
2 tbsp olive oil
1/3 cup pomegranate seeds, for garnish
fresh parsley, for garnish

Dressing:

scant 1/2 cup extra light olive oil
1/4 cup chopped parsley
4 cloves garlic, crushed
2 heaping tbsp honey
1 tsp lemon juice

Method:

Scrub the beet clean and wrap in foil. Bake at 400 degrees until fork-tender, about 45 minutes. While the beet is cooking, prepare the dressing by adding all the ingredients to a bowl and whisk to combine. Set aside.

Bring a pot of salted water to a boil and add the angel hair pasta. Cook for 5 minutes, stirring occasionally and drain. Place the pasta in a large mixing bowl and toss with the dressing. Peel and dice the beet into small cubes and stir into the pasta.

Heat the olive oil in a skillet and add leeks and mushrooms. Saute until soft and caramelized and add to the pasta.

Place the pasta in a serving bowl and garnish with pomegranate seeds and parsley sprigs.

NOTE: this salad may be served warm, cold or at room temperature.

VARIATION: For a healthier option, use spaghetti squash in place of the angel hair pasta and reduce the amount of oil in the dressing.

Related Recipes:

Israeli couscous salad with roasted beets, carrots and parsnips
holiday salad with apple and honey vinagrette

Post a Comment

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

Post a Comment