JewliciousEats: Annual Rosh Hashana Recipe Roundup

It’s here. The Wednesday before High Holidays week, the customary time for newspapers to feature holiday recipes from North America’s top food writers.

I am not disappointed in this morning’s crop of stories.

Melissa Clark of The New York Times features her Sweet and Spicy Roast Chicken in the “B’Tay Avon” column (A Good Appetite) It is a chile-flecked, honey-imbued marinade spiked with fresh citrus juice that gives this chicken its fiery, syrupy character. Dates and carrots give the sauce texture and additional sweetness while a garnish of fresh herbs and pistachio nuts lends freshness and crunch.

Clark writes that she wanted to spice up a sweet honey chicken. The video of the preparation is HERE. She says, In the end, the dish hit all the notes I was looking for; fiery, tart, complex, and sweet. But in true Rosh Hashana tradition, it was the sweet that rang loudest.”

An oldie but goodie is Melissa’s Crunchy Kugel.

And what about JOAN NATHAN!?

Joan goes full UZBEK on us, which is a relief, since I just got done reading an gritty Uzbek-Israeli crime story story in the forthcoming “Tel Aviv Noir.” Here is the recipe for Bukharan plov with beef carrots and cumin seeds. The recipe is from Chef Arthur Shakarov, and from Aron Aronov, 76, of Rego Park, Queens, NY. Rego Park is THE place to live these days if you are a Mountain Jew. Aronov was once an interpreter for Richard Nixon (who loved his plov). Joan attends a shloshim meal of 350 at the Shakarov’s King David Kosher Restaurant in Queens (posters on yelp hate the place, but I want to try it), and shares the story with us (HERE).

JEFF (not Joan) NATHAN does a Lamb chops with a ratatouille for The Wine Spectator. Chef Jeff Nathan, co-owner and operator of New York kosher restaurant Abigael’s on Broadway, and his wife, Alison, have shared three recipes that represent a typical Rosh Hashanah meal served in their home: a salad without meat or dairy, a lamb dish and a dessert that may be made with or without dairy. Nathan, who is also the host of the PBS series New Jewish Cuisine and the author of Adventures in Jewish Cooking and Jeff Nathan’s Family Suppers, says, “When I’m home, I say that I don’t like to cook, but I really can’t help but get involved—it’s in my blood.” It is a wine periodical, so he pairs his holiday meal with Bartenura Pinot Grigio Delle Venezie 2013, Barkan Classic Chardonnay 2013 from Israel, or Baron Herzog Chenin Blanc Clarksburg 2012 to go along with his beet, pear and fennel salad. To pour with the grilled lamb rib chops with ratatouille, Nathan most often reaches for Teal Lake Shiraz South Eastern Australia 2011. And for dessert he prefers Baron Herzog’s Late Harvest White Riesling Monterey County 2012.

Lisa Yockelson for The Washington Post shares a harvest apple cake for the holidays. The batter is enriched with butter and cream cheese and is designed to highlight fresh apple chunks. The Washington Post fills in with twpo recipes from The Associated Press. One of for a tzimmes of parsnips and carrots and other fall harvest vegetables; and the other is for an Apple Honey Kugel.

BONNIE BENWICK YOU MAGNIFICENT GENIUS… at the Washington Post. She pairs apple varieties with types of honey for Rosh Hashana. With Rowan Jacobsen, an apple expert, she pairs Newtown Pippin/Albemarle Pippin with apple blossom honey; Russet with Tupelo; and Cox’s Orange Pippin with orange blossom honey

The OshKosh Wisconsin newspaper also has a tsimmes recipe at THIS LINK.

Susan Schwartz for The Montreal Gazette grates a lot of carrots as she prepares Lentil Rice with Carrots. The recipe is from Kim Kushner’s The Modern Menu: Simple. Beautiful. Kosher (Gefen Publishing House, 2013).

Susan also shares a Tzimmes recipe – also with carrots – from the The Mile End Cookbook (of Brooklyn, not Montreal).

Susan also has a unique Spinaci con pinoli e passerine – or Sautéed Spinach with Pine Nuts and Raisins – a traditional recipe from the Roman Jewish community. This recipe is from Silvia Nacamulli who grew up in Rome and now lives in London, where she runs the catering company La Cucina di Silvia and teaches and writes about Italian Jewish cooking. This recipe is from The Gefiltefest Cookbook: Recipes from the World’s Best Loved Jewish Cooks (Grub Street, 2014) Gefiltefest is a British Jewish food charity. I was embarrassed that I was unaware of this new cookbook from Claudia Roden and about the charity.

The Good Housekeeping test kitchen blog does not share any recipes, but it does plug a few cookbooks, including Lynn Kirsche Shapiro’s intensely personal Food, Family, and Tradition: Hungarian Kosher Family Recipes and Remembrances (available by contacting Hungariankosher.com), you’ll find not only updates of eastern European heirloom dishes but a memoir of her family’s life in Hungary and Czechoslovakia before the Holocaust. Forget about roast chicken or brisket this Rosh Hashanah and try Duck Roasted with Fruit. With its honeyed fruit glaze, it too is a great way to invoke a happy 5775. Look to Food, Family and Tradition for classic recipes for Chicken Paprikás and Hungarian Gulyás, and Tzimmes.

Ellen Brown of Rhode Island, the author of 41 cookbooks and countless articles,shares a cost cutting holiday cake recipe with the Providence Rhode Island Journal. She shares a Honey Walnut Cake, and a Spiced Apple Cake.

New York’s LoHud paper of the Lower Hudson River valley goes Latin. Megan McCaffrey interviews Rabbi Viñas who founded a Spanish-language Jewish education and spirituality center called El Centro de Estudios Judíos “Torat Emet,” in Yonkers, NY. He leads the Lincoln Park Jewish Center. His recipes feature coconut oil and fried plantains. Rabbi Rigoberto Emmanuel “Manny” Viñas and his wife, Sandra Nuñez Viñas, serve Pan de Calabaza (pumpkin bread), Keftes de Prasa (leek and scallion croquettes), Lubiya (black eyed peas) and La Sopa de las Siete Verduras (seven vegetable soup with stew meat). Sandra is Dominican. She says she is Jew-minican. Her challah uses coconut oil. The rabbi’s family left Cuba, and he was raised in Miami. he says he will drink Yarden Mount Hermon red wine from Golan Heights. A LoHud recipe can be found here for pumpkin muffins and for Dorit Kramer’s Honey Cake.

Anna Herman (@annasedible) of Mount Airy shares a sweet recipe in the Philadelphia Inquirer: Tahini Vanilla Cake with pan-seared plums, made in a special honeycomb pan. The cake, which contains no dairy, can also be made in a standard bundt pan. She has her own bees. Her recipe for carrot coins uses her backyard honey, as does her recipe for Balsamic Honey Brisket uses olive oil, a 4-6 pound brisket, onions, garlic, plum tomatoes, a third of a cup of balsamic vinegar, and just as much honey

The Boston Globe lets you sneak under their paywall for a kasha recipe at THIS LINK. Why stop there? Here is one for Grated Beet Salad. Sound too deli? That is because the recipes all come from four Jewish/Israeli delis after The Boston Globe asks deli owners for their favorite holiday foods.

Stephen Fries at The New Haven Register, just blocks away from Yale’s Slifka Center and retiring Jewish chaplain, highlights a recipe for Honey Cake Biscotti. The recipe is from .

The

San Jose Mercury News goes whole grain. They select a health honey cake recipe from The Associated Press, as does The Denver Post.

The San Francisco Chronicle focuses on HONEY. Meredith May discusses the high cost (sticker shock) of HONEY in light of three year’s of California’s drought. The wildflowers that usually blanket the California hills are drying up or not producing blooms, which means bees are running out of forage and pollen. Since 2010, California’s honey crop is down 61% — 8-ounce jars of honey might reach the $20 level. If you score some honey, @meredithmaysf shares a recipe for an Apple Walnut Tart.

The Jewish News of Britain shares recipes from Executive Chef Eran Tibi of JW3. Eran hails from Israel; and in London he started out in the kitchen at Ottolenghi, before helping his friend Josh Katz set up Made in Camden at the Roundhouse. Then Eran and Josh became part of the team behind Zest, which Eran now spearheads. His recipe is for Salt Baked Salmon. An added bonus is that Italian-born caterer and cookery demonstrator Silvia Nacamulli – who came to London 15 years ago to study Politics of the World Economy at LSE – shares her recipe for SFRATTI, a Roman Jewish treat.

The Chicago Tribune does Fish. Their recipes are for Baked sea bass stuffed with olives, herbs and for Tomato, Olive and Fish Tagine. Reporter Bill Daley writes, “Fish symbolize fertility, prosperity and abundance, said Laura Frankel, executive chef of Spertus Institute for Jewish Learning and Leadership in Chicago. Eating foods rich with meaning is an important Rosh Hashana tradition.” Laura Frankel is the author of Jewish Cooking For All Seasons.

The Pittsburgh Post Gazette profiles the Mega Challah Bake, at which over 300 Jewish women will converge to bake on September 18. The “Loaves of Love: Mega Challah Bake” event has been tried in Toronto, Los Angeles, Miami and other North American cities, but this one is a first for Pittsburgh. The fact that the story specifically said “Jewish women” makes me think it is most likely a Chabad event.

The Miami Herald has printed bupkes so far for Rosh Hashana. They did profile the Jewish Museum, though, and its celebration of holiday recipes. It is part of their Growers, Grocers & Gefilte Fish: A Gastronomic Look at Florida Jews & Food exhibit. If you are in Miami of Spetmeber 21, drop by to have yor recipe judged in their “NU, SO YOU THINK YOU CAN COOK?”

The Palm Beach Post in South Florida features a challah recipe from Betsy Cohen of DessertsRequired.com. It is for an Apple Honey Challah.

Ruth Taber, writing in the El Paso Texas Times shares a mock fish recipe titled, Falcse Fish (Mock Fish) Balls. It is made from chicken.

Rita Nader Heikenfeld, for Cincinnati shares a recipe for a sweet Rosh Hashana challah as well as mulled apple cider. She is a herbalist, educator, Jungle Jim’s Eastgate culinary professional and author at BestKratom.com.

In Washington DC, the CBS affiliate, WUSA, shared a recipe from Paula Shoyer for a Apple Pizza Tart. Find it HERE.

Scotland newspapers appear to be too busy with their election and voting to add a Jewish recipe to their sites. They did do a profile on Scottish Jews a week ago however.

FAYE AND YAKIR LEVY at the Los Angeles Times finally posted some Rosh Hashana recipes. Faye Levy is the author of “1,000 Jewish Recipes” and of “Faye Levy’s International Jewish Cookbook.” Her recipes are for Salmon with spinach in a dill dressing, and for Tilapia with sweet peppers. She writes, “For an Italian style Jewish New Year dinner, fish might be cooked in tomato sauce flavored with garlic and parsley sautéed in olive oil. Greek recipes for the holiday call for baking fish in tomato and white wine sauce with garlic, bay leaves and onions sautéed in olive oil, or in tomato-onion-garlic sauce accented with honey, lemon juice, cinnamon and cloves. In Moroccan Rosh Hashanah recipes, fish is stewed in a sauce colored yellow with saffron or turmeric and flavored with whole garlic cloves and cilantro; carrot slices or sweet red pepper pieces might be simmered with the fish. Some Moroccan cooks poach fish balls in tomato sauce, made by grinding fish with hard boiled eggs, garlic, cilantro and a spice blend containing nutmeg, mace and cinnamon.”

Want some tears of joy with your challah? Read Michael Kaminer’s posting on The Forward’s The Jew and The Carrot about the Harlem NY bakery where the staff rises along with the yeast-filled bread. Through text and video, he imparts the story of the Hot Bread Kitchen which trains people with baking and life skills, and provides a tasty bread. Jessamyn Rodriguez, Hot Bread Kitchen’s founder and CEO who hails from Toronto, shares her family’s Sephardic Challah recipe HERE.

(Also, Sally Minier, of the online baker named Sweet Sally’s Bakeshop, shares here recipe for Cranberry Pecan Mandel Bread in The Forward, HERE. It is her Grama Gracie’s Jewish version of soft biscotti,. It has a distinct almond flavor and each piece is filled with nuts, dried fruit and jam. It’s delicious when dunked in hot beverage like coffee or tea. When she was 97 years old, I asked if she could show me how to make the delicious mandel bread. Sally learned her secret, and shares it with us.