Rosh Hashana 5768

Chag Sameach everyone! I hope you had a nice meal with your family. We went to my cousin’s house for the first night of Rosh Hashana and had a lovely time.

We invited some friends of ours for dinner last night. My husband made a Rosh Hashana favourite and I introduced several new surprises to our repertoire. Everything was delicious.

The cake calls for sour cream and one of my guests has a dairy allergy and can only tolerate butter in baked goods, so I substituted a non-dairy yogurt in its place. It worked fine.

And in case you are wondering about why I served a dairy cake, we keep kashrut according to the Italian tradition which is one hour between meat and dairy.

Our menu was:

Cocktails


Provence des Papes Savoury Biscuits

Provence des Papes Savoury Biscuits
Recipe from Restaurant: La Garbure (Châteauneuf du Pape) Chef: Jean Louis Giansilly
Servings: 24 biscuits
Ingredients
  • 5 garlic cloves
  • 3 sprigs of basil
  • 5 tbsp olive oil
  • 50 g 3.5 tbsp pine nuts
  • 300 g 1.3 cups flour
  • 10 cl .4 cup warm water
  • 10 cl .4 cup olive oil
  • 2 tsp salt
  • 25 g 1.7 tablespoons baking powder
  • 4 egg yolks
  • Ground pepper
Instructions
  1. Prepare a pesto by crushing the garlic cloves with the basil, olive oil, and pine nuts.
  2. Mix the flour, baking powder, salt, virgin olive oil, egg yolks, warm water, and some ground pepper. Add the pesto and blend well to obtain a smooth dough.
  3. Roll into a long snake and slice the into 1/4 inch (6mm) wafers and bake at 180C (350F) for about 10 minutes (depending on size).


Rosemary Cashews
Cocktails

First Course
Apples with honey
Pomegranate seeds


Ducklava with Chestnut Honey

Main Course


Clay Pot Festival of Fruits Chicken
Couscous
Green beans

Clay Pot Festival of Fruits Chicken
This recipe was created by my husband for the Jewish festival of Rosh Hashana. It is a fruity, but not an overly sweet dish.
Ingredients
  • 1 chicken cut into eighths
  • 1 onion thinly sliced
  • 4-5 whole garlic cloves
  • 2 cm fresh ginger grated or chopped finely
  • 1 quince cored and cut into eighths
  • 10-20 majhoul dates pitted and cut into quarters
  • 10 dried figs stem removed and cut into eighths
  • 10-20 dried sour apricots cut into quarters
  • 20 walnut halves
  • Couple of pinches of black pepper
  • 1 tsp. cayenne pepper
  • 2 tsp. cinnamon
  • 2 tsp cloves
  • 1 tsp. ground allspice
  • 1 tsp. ground nutmeg
  • 1 cup dry red wine
  • 1 cup water
  • ½ c pomegranate molasses
  • ½ tbsp balsamic vinegar
  • Olive oil
Instructions
  1. On a low heat, place the olive oil in the clay pot, just to cover the surface. Add the onions when the oil is hot, but not sizzling. When the onion is soft, add the garlic. When the onion is lightly brown, turn up the heat and add the chicken pieces, stirring constantly until browned, approximately 10 minutes.
  2. Reduce the heat and add the rest of the ingredients. Cook on a low flame for approximately 1 ½ hours, stirring every 15 minutes and checking that there is enough remaining liquid for a nice sauce.
  3. Server with nut-studded rice or couscous.


Round Challah with dried fruits and nuts
Golan Winery Sion Creek red wine

Dessert


Beekeeper’s Honey Cake
Mango-Nectarine sorbet

Mango and Nectarine Sorbet
Ingredients
  • 3 medium size mangoes cut into chunks
  • 3 large nectarines peeled and cut into chunks
  • Juice of one medium size lemon
  • 1/2 cup simple syrup or to taste
Instructions
  1. ying and yang
  2. Place the mango and nectarine chunks in a food processor and process until the mixture is a puree. Add the simple syrup and lemon; mix for one to two minutes. Put in an ice cream maker, following manufacturer's instructions.
  3. Take the sorbet out of the freezer 15 minutes prior to serving.

Chag Sameach – Shana Tova

At sundown on the 12th of September is the beginning of the Days of Awe which last ten days including the Jewish New Year, Rosh Hashana and ending with the 25-hour fast of Yom Kippur. During these ten days, we are suppose to meditate on the subject of the holidays and ask for forgiveness from anyone we have wronged.

During this month and the beginning of October, I will be blogging on holiday dishes for Rosh Hashana, Yom Kippur and Sukkot.

I would like to wish my family and friends a Joyous and Healthy New Year. May yours be a sweet year and may your names be inscribed in the book of life.

To those of you observing the upcoming month of Ramadan, Ramadan Mubarak, which means “Blessed Ramadan”.

Shana Tova and Chag Sameach!

Baroness Tapuzina

In preparation for Rosh Hashana, I made a round challah with dried fruits and nuts using my favourite challah recipe. I have heard many reasons why a Rosh Hashana challah is round instead of braided. Some of the reasons are:

  • They represent a crown that reflects our crowning G-d as the King of the world.
  • The circular shape points to the cyclical nature of the year.
  • It stands for the circle of life, and the hope that our lives endure without end.
  • The round challah is the true form of the original round showbread loaves that were kept on the Temple altar. ( Note: Twelve flat loaves, for each of the tribes, were set in two stacks on the Temple altar. It wasn’t until the 15th century that challahs were made in any other shape.)

I add the fruits and nuts before the first rise. I added apricots, cranberries, golden raisin, figs and walnuts.

After the first rise, I punch the dough down, form a long snake and then coil the challah, to make a spiral shape.

Let the dough rise for two to three hours and bake as directed.