Noshin’ Columnist Sara Rice is a freelance writer, photographer, and cooking instructor, sharing her chutzpah in the kitchen with the Twin Cities and beyond. She currently leads Noazim, Mount Zion’s 20s/30s group, where she is an active member. When in doubt, look for her at the Lyndale Bulldog, noshing on Vienna beef hot dogs, beer in hand. Contact her at noshinsara@gmail.com.
The twisted ring looks like Queen Esther’s crown, and the onions and poppy seeds are not only delicious but honor this queen’s bravery and piety. It’s also a wonderfully comforting item to bring to a shiva or a tasty addition to the celebration of a baby.
A simple, delicious cake appropriate for shiva, any Jewish life-cycle event — or heck, a Thursday evening.
You want to read this book. You want to buy this book. You want to share this book with everyone you know.
No one tells you that sitting shiva is so food-heavy. But then again, we’re Jewish, so how could it not be?
A few of the amazing nuggets I thought were worth sharing from the Hazon Food Conference 2009 in Monterrey, California. The 4-day event focused on sustainable agriculture, Jewish ethics, environmentalism, and really delicious meals.
Chinese on Christmas: It’s what Jews do. But, some Asian restaurants in the Twin Cities didn’t get that memo, and not all of them are open Christmas Eve or Day. A lot, in fact, are not I found out. Here are a few places around town you can get your feast on:
Chances are, you’re going to want to eat — and possibly serve others — dinner at some point over the course of the eight-night celebration we call Hanukkah (spelling squabbles aside).
Your bubbeleh may have fried everything for Hanukkah, but new times call for (at least a few) new treats on the Hanukkah table.
The holiday season is upon us. In one short week, Hanukkah and its eight nights of fried food madness commence. Now, I may be a purist with many things — and often that includes baking — but I have a nifty trick I think you’re going to like: jelly-filled donuts, or sufganiyot, in roughly 15 minutes, with no frying. Is it blasphemy to serve a baked version of a traditionally fried food during the holiday centered around oil? Probably — but I’m doing it anyway.
Do you smell that? Oh yes you do! It’s the smell of delicious things frying in the kitchen! Hanukkah isn’t just the festival of light, it’s the festival of light because it’s really the festival of oil.
With the festive season approaching, it seemed the perfect time to highlight some pareve (dairy-free) dessert options available across the Twin Cities. While most of these places won’t call their offerings “pareve,” the advent of a growing vegan population has created a wealth of options for those of us who are looking for dairy-free goods for other reasons (like not mixing meat and milk). This is by no means an exhaustive list, but I hope it’ll get you started.
To hedge our bets, I offered to make Shabbat dinner our first week living with the parents. Requirements: Enough food to feed an undetermined number of guests (Would my brothers-in-law be there? What about their significant others?), and vegetables my 13-year-old sister-in-law and my husband would eat (damn picky eaters). Bonus points for using food currently on hand. My menu: Baked chicken thighs with leeks in white wine, honey-orange glazed carrots, mashed squash and potatoes, and — of course! — challah. Many components, but all of them fall (more or less) into the assemble-and-heat category.
If you’ve ever thought, “Oh God, how am I going to do this?” about entertaining for the holidays — any holiday at all — there’s a new cookbook you might be interested in: Jewish Cooking Boot Camp: The Modern Girl’s Guide to Cooking Like a Jewish Grandmother.
Every week, I get up here and rattle on about eating, cooking, and partaking in the smorgasbord that is Judaism, and although I’ve touched on kashrut briefly a small handful of times, we’ve never had a legitimate discussion. I’d like that to change.
Noshin’ News: Farm to Table, Eating Meat (and Animals), and the 2009 Hazon Food Conference.
