[Translate] For erev Rosh Hashana I tried another recipe from Joan Nathan’s new cookbook, Quiches, Kugels, and Couscous: My Search for Jewish Cooking in France, and it was a perfect ending to a lovely meal. Apart from the wonderful taste, what I loved about it is that it was easy to make. I made the apple sauce and the tart dough a couple of days ahead and baked it the morning of the dinner. The apple sauce is delicious on its own and the best part is that this dessert has very little sugar in it. I used Granny Smith apples for the apple sauce because I prefer their tartness and for the slices on top, Click here to continue reading this post
[Translate] I love researching the history of food, and one of the foremost experts on the history of Jewish Food is Gil Marks. I am going to have the immense honor of dining with him and hopefully picking his brain a bit. His entry about Challah in his book, Encyclopedia of Jewish Food, explains the different traditions of the Ashkenazi and Sephardi communities for eating bread on Shabbat: whereas Ashkenazi communities had little access to white wheat flour, and so reserved it for the challah on Shabbat, the Sephardi world had easier access to white flour, and so the difference between weekday and Shabbat bread was not so much in the type of flour used, Click here to continue reading this post
[Translate] A guest post from my other half, Mr. BT: One of the great pleasures of living in Israel is the country’s agricultural riches, something that already led to the Land of Israel being described in the Bible as eretz zavat chalav u’dvash – ‘a land flowing with milk and honey.’ The milk in this description was probably more from sheep and goats than cows; and the ‘honey’ was almost certainly the sweet syrup of the dates that grow all over the country, not bee honey. Nevertheless, the historical image of honey as an integral part of the country’s agricultural tradition remains strong within Jewish culture, and especially so at this time of year, the Click here to continue reading this post
Sep 122010
[Translate] We had a lovely long holiday weekend which ended with celebrating my birthday. For Shabbat, I made a lovely, fragrant meal of slow cooked goose legs with shallots and clementines, which have just started showing up in the market. This dish is rich and fork-tender. I served it with a herb roesti that Mr BT made and steamed Brussels sprouts. A perfect dish for a sweet new year. PrintGoose with Shallots and Clementines 4 goose legs 200g shallots , peeled 6 whole cloves garlic, peeled 1 tablespoon ras el hanout 400ml (1/2 quart) vegetable stock 1 tablespoon clear honey Juice 1 lemon or lime 4 small, firm clementines , peeled 2 tbsp toasted sesame Click here to continue reading this post
Sep 102010
[Translate] Rosh Hashana, the Jewish New Year, is a holiday for starting anew. So for this year’s holiday I decided to create my own signature honey cake, something special to welcome the new promise of a sweet year to come. What would be better than to take a honey cake and top it with thinly sliced apples that were poached in white wine, and top it with a luscious 72% dark chocolate glaze. Actually, it is so delicious as to be positively sinful. Fortunately, we have just over a week to enjoy it, confident in the knowledge that on Yom Kippur we will be able to atone for this sin. This year, as in every Click here to continue reading this post
Sep 182009
[Translate] I have been busy preparing for Rosh Hashana and have finally completed everything I intended to make for Friday and Saturday. I made 4 round challot, one plain and three with dried apricots, dried cranberries, raisins, dried cherries and dried apples. I used the new Kitchenaid to knead the dough and I am very happy with the results. I am back making challah like I used to make in the States. I finally learned how to braid a round challah from this website. I found the website by chance and called Mr. BT to come to my study so I could butter him up to help me with the braiding. He said, “It looks Click here to continue reading this post
Sep 102009
[Translate] It has been a long August without you, but I was swept away in work. Three of my colleagues were either on vacation or maternity leave and it left me holding down the fort. I just didn’t have the energy to spare for my poor neglected blog. But, I am back and I have a Wine Festival to report, a very interesting winery that is a 10 minute drive from my house, and my birthday celebration at work tomorrow. My birthday is actually this Friday. But first things first, I must think about Rosh Hashana planning. This year, I am going to Jerusalem and am responsible for bringing the challot and dessert. I am Click here to continue reading this post
Oct 032008
[Translate] We had a lovely time with my family in Jerusalem for Rosh Hashana. When we came back, I decided to continue the New Year’s celebration and make another special dinner for just the two of us. I know that I have blogged a lot about beef here, but we are really not big beef eaters: we eat a lot more fish and chicken. However, I found a nice reasonably priced piece of beef shoulder, which believe it or not, I have never cooked before. I started looking at recipes and none of them really turned me on. I didn’t want to do the standard carrot, potato, and onion pot roast. Finally, I found a Click here to continue reading this post
[Translate] We didn’t have a Rosh Hashana tradition of making honey cakes in my house. I didn’t even know there was a tradition to serve honey cake during this holiday. We made Honigkuchen, which were basically lebkuchen, a type of spice cookie that we always made for Hannukah. My grandmother always made Noodle Schalet (Noodle Pudding, not Kugel, with eggs, lemon zest and raisins) with lemon sauce for dessert. We had Suesse Apfel (carmelised apple slices in honey) as a side dish with roast beef. So when I moved to Israel, people started asking me what does your mother put in her honey cake? Does she put nuts in, coffee or tea, schnapps, only cinnamon? Click here to continue reading this post
Sep 242008
[Translate] Chag Sameach everyone! We have been invited to family for the holiday and I will be bringing dessert. I am still trying to decide which cake I am going to make, but I wanted to share some of my ideas with you before the holiday begins. I will post which one I make as soon as I decide. Here are my choices: Greek Pistachio Honey Cake Ka’ikeh b’Ah’sal (Honey Cake With Sesame Glaze) Nigella Lawson’s Chocolate Honey Cake Beekeeper’s Honey Cake (I made this last year) I have also found some interesting recipes for the rest of the meal: Rubuh’ (roast veal stuffed with spiced ground meat and rice) Ejjeh b’kerrateh (leek fritters) Georgian Meatballs Click here to continue reading this post
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