Tu b’Shvat Is Not Just for Children: Mushroom Walnut Loaf with Mushroom Gravy

Tu b’Shvat, which begins Wednesday evening, Feb. 12, is a beautiful holiday that offers deep meaning to us personally and as a people.

Sadly, its celebration is often limited to children in Hebrew school, while their parents usually miss out on this uniquely Jewish celebration of nature. In today’s frightening natural world of devastating hurricanes, ice storms, wildfires, drought, and flood, Tu b’Shvat offers an opportunity to reflect on Judaism’s deep traditional commitment to protecting the natural environment – the world that God created for us.

Why do we celebrate nature now?

Even though we still find ourselves in mid-winter, the rainy season is ending in Israel. Almond trees begin to blossom around the fifteenth day of the Hebrew month of Shvat. Ancient farmers used this date to designate the beginning of the new crop year for tax purposes. During the time of the Temple in Jerusalem, Jewish farmers in Israel brought a share of their crops as a tithe. So even as we sit outside of Israel, where it may be cold and snowy, we follow the seasons of the Land of our people.

After the Second Temple was destroyed, the Jews were exiled from Eretz Yisroel. Tu b’Shvat took on special meaning as an expression of our connection to the Land and our longing to return. But it was the Kabbalists living in northern Israel centuries later who established Tu b’Shvat as the holiday we know today. They expanded their understanding of the day, not just as a celebration of the renewal of agricultural life but as a time to rejoice in all of God’s creation.

What is a Tu b’Shvat Seder?

These spiritual men created the first Tu b’Shvat seder, borrowing its structure from the Passover Seder. In the nearly 1,500 years since, the Tu b’Shvat seder has evolved into an expression of our joy over nature, our strong ties to the Land of Israel, and our commitment to protecting the environment.

The Tu b’Shvat seder, like the Passover seder, follows a specific order. It is divided into four parts, representing the four worlds of the Kabbalists and the four seasons. We drink four cups of wine, and, like in the Passover seder, symbolic foods represent meaningful concepts and lessons.

The first cup of wine is white. We eat fruits with an inedible outer skin or shell and a soft, edible inside, such as pineapple, coconut, banana, and nuts. Hard-skinned fruit symbolizes the winter season. In nature, seeds and roots quietly develop underground, hidden under a harsh wet or frozen blanket. Animals grow heavy with their young, protected within, who will be born in the spring. The shell that conceals also protects. The divine spark within each of us is hidden and protected deep inside.

For the second cup, we splash some red wine into our white, representing the first blush of spring when nature begins to awaken. We eat fruits with edible skin that contain pits, such as olives, dates, and plums. We realize that, despite interacting with people and the world around us, we often withhold our true, best selves, even from our closest family and friends. We are still concealed, deep inside, protecting our divine sparks even from within.

The third cup of wine is red with a splash of white. The land grows warmer, and the colors of the fruits deepen as they ripen. The darker wine reminds us that we, too, become warmer and more open. We eat soft fruits that can be eaten whole, such as berries, figs, and tomatoes. We are reminded to open ourselves up, find and love our divine spark, and look for the sparks in others.

We finish the seder and the year with the deep red wine that represents autumn’s full bloom and maturity before the cold winter. As we symbolically pass through each season, we change with each one. As we drink the fourth cup of pure red wine without any additional fruit, we strive to become strong, like healthy trees, with solid roots in the ground and our arms open to the love that is all around us.

There are hundreds of sources to guide you and your family through a Tu b’Shvat seder. You can click here to download the one my family uses.

What About the Menu?

The symbolic foods offer a colorful palette that encourages creativity in your menu. In addition to the 15 specific symbolic fruits, many people like incorporating the biblical Seven Species. There is a lot of overlap between the two groups; the Seven Species includes wheat and barley in addition to grapes, figs, pomegranates, olives, and dates.

It is traditional to eat a vegetarian meal. This seder doesn’t have the baggage of family favorites, making it hard to switch up like the Pesach seder meal. Many people choose to prepare an Israeli-style menu with falafel, hummus, salads, and cheese burekas.

You can keep the symbolic fruits that accompany each section of the Haggadah super easy by serving fresh or dried versions on their own. So fresh cut-up pineapple, mixed nuts, whole berries, and olives, plus dried fruits, such as apricots and dates. Follow the seder with your vegetarian meal of choice.

Another option is to incorporate the symbolic items into mini bites that give your guests slightly more substantial snacks as you go and into the main meal. This is the menu I’ll be serving this year. I’m including an original recipe for a Mushroom Walnut Loaf from a couple of years ago, even though I’ll be serving a Vegetarian Wellington. The loaf is much simpler to make, and recipes for wellingtons abound on the internet.

By the way, because of the lack of halacha (Jewish law) around Tu b’Shvat, it’s okay to hold your seder the weekend before or after, if that is more convenient for your schedule.

Mushroom Walnut Loaf w/ Mushroom Gravy

Click here for a printable PDF

Serves: The recipe makes 2 full-size loaves. Each one serves 6 to 8, depending on the rest of the menu. To save the second loaf for another time, wrap it in plastic, then foil to freeze for later. Don’t forget to freeze half the gravy too. Or cut the recipe in half for only one loaf.

Mushrooms: I used 4 large portabella mushrooms for the loaf itself (remove stems & scrape away gills with a spoon.) They have rich umami flavor, but any mushrooms will work for the loaf. For the gravy, use thin slices of button-shaped mushrooms.

Fresh Herbs: Use any fresh herbs you like; I used thyme & sage, but basil and parsley would also work.

Rice: Press the easy button; I used pre-cooked rice from a shelf stable pouch.

Cheese: Any combination of shredded cheeses will do. 

Ingredients

For the Loaf: 1 medium onion, chopped, 2 TBSP neutral oil, 1 LB mushrooms, minced in food processor, 4 clove garlic, minced, 3 C cooked brown rice, 12 oz walnuts, toasted & finely chopped in food processor, 6 eggs, 1×16 oz container cottage cheese, ¼ C whole seed mustard, 2 TBSP fresh herbs, chopped, 8 oz cheese, shredded, Salt & pepper

For the Gravy: 1 LB button-style mushrooms, sliced, 1 large shallot minced, ¼ C neutral oil, ½ C flour, 1 QT vegetable stock, Salt & pepper

Directions

Make the Loaf

1. Preheat oven to 375°
2. In a large pan, sauté onion in oil until it begins to soften.
3. Add mushrooms & garlic. Season with salt & pepper and continue to cook until they release their water, and the pan is dry.
4. Meanwhile line 2 loaf pans with parchment paper.
5. In a large bowl, combine rice, walnuts, & fresh herbs.
6. In a separate bowl combine eggs, cottage cheese, & mustard.
7. Toss mushrooms with nut mixture.
8. Add about a cup of mushroom mixture to cottage cheese mixture; combine. Then add cottage cheese to rest of ingredients. Stir well to combine.
9. Add cheese; stir well to combine. Taste for seasoning; add salt & pepper. (If you are worried about the raw egg, fry up a small patty to taste.)
10. Bake at 375° for 50 to 60 minutes, until the loaf is brown and
    the inside temperature is 165° or more.

Make the Gravy While Loaf is Baking

1. In a large pan, sauté mushrooms & shallot until they soften and lose most of their water.
2. Add flour, combine and stir for about 1 minute, until vegetables are covered with flour.
3. Starting 1C at a time, add broth and combine using a whisk. Work slowly enough to make sure stock is well incorporated and no lumps form.
4. When all stock is added, bring to a low boil for about 2 minutes to cook flour.
5. Turn down heat; taste for seasoning; add salt & pepper.

When loaf is done, rewarm gravy. Remove loaf from pan, by lifting out the parchment paper. Slice the loaf; top each slice with gravy and a sprinkle of fresh green herbs. Serve with mashed potatoes (or a combo of mashed root vegetables) and a simple green salad.