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.
Now I’m not the greatest chef around, but I’ve had my moments, and the few Jewish cooking moments I’ve had have been thanks to Sara Kasdan, the author of “Love and Knishes: An Irrepressible Guide to Jewish Cooking.”
A smorgasbord of recipe suggestions for celebrating Tu B’Shevat.
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).
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.
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.
I don’t know if I’ve had a legitimate evening off since August. Crazy, isn’t it? So what have I been eating? Shakshuka, basically. The first version is a classic, Israeli shakshuka, which includes tomatoes, peppers, onions, garlic, and parsley. The second version uses cabbage, a vegetable that will be readily available for awhile, since it’s a late-fall crop, and ingredients that store well (cheese, soy sauce, sriracha sauce, etc.).
I don’t like to have challah only a small handful of times a year. I would prefer to have it everyday, but I at least like to have some for Friday night dinner. What’s a girl (or boy) to do? Make “easy challah.”
Make this year’s Sukkot an excuse to eat locally. I propose sauteed chicken breasts with honey-date sauce, lemon couscous, and late-summer vegetable ragout.