What an exciting morning. I opened my WASHINGTON POST and its FOOD section focused on Hummus – Detroit style, and granted over a full page to the circularity of Rosh Hashana Challahs. Oh yeah, and there was some news about Israel, Iran and Congress, too. Let’s take a look.
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In a full page expose, Bonnie Benwick, deputy editor, explores how to make a braided and ROUND challah for the holidays. As if she is admitting to a compulsion in a group therapy session, she writes that, “the compulsion comes ’round to challah, or should I say, to the round challahs baked for Rosh Hashanah, the Jewish New Year, …. Different recipes call to me like the siren song of the perfect chocolate chip cookie. The shiny braided egg breads, typically ripped apart with gusto for blessings on the Sabbath, symbolize continuity when they are turbanized or when their doughy ends are made to meet for the High Holidays. Claudia Roden characterizes round challahs in her “The Book of Jewish Food” as “where there is no beginning and no end.” The sesame or poppy seeds often sprinkled on top represent manna that fell from heaven, she writes; three ropes of dough that make up a braid stand for truth, peace and justice” BONNIE studies challah recipes with a Talmudic fervor. The remnants of testing take up more space than anything else in her freezer. Like a Bet Din, she does not judge those who use food coloring on their challah instead of more eggs or egg yolks.
In addition the the primer on braiding and coiling, she shares recipes for:
Shulie Madnick’s Date, Walnut, Silan and Sesame Challah Shulie blogs at FoodWanderings.com
Shulie Madnick’s Fig, Olive Oil, Sea Salt and Spelt Challah as well as a round, crowning Marzipan Almond Challah Crown.
The PALM BEACH POST provides readers with a full holiday menu from the Morgan’s who are the wine swilling authors of The Covenant Kitchen: Food and Wine for the New Jewish Table. California winemakers Jeff and Jodie Morgan of Berkeley, CA, share a recipe for their Orange Olive Oil Cake, and their five course menu can be found HERE.
Shulie Madnick got tapped by HAARETZ, also. In the interview Madnick focuses on Indian inspired recipes, recalling her Ashdod childhood. She is working on her first Indo-Mediterranean cookbook. Her shared recipe is for Milk Halwa, a traditional holiday treat of the Israeli-Indian Jewish community
Chef and restaurateur Wolfgang Puck shares a brisket recipe on ArkansasOnline, The PIONEER PRESS, and other sites from Aram Mardigian, his executive chef at the Wolfgang Puck American Grille in the Borgata Hotel, Casino & Spa in Atlantic City, New Jersey. Mardigian serves the brisket with an easy ratatouille. Puck provides a tip on how to order a brisket from a butcher, a recipe for the ratatouille, and the recipe for Mediterranan=Style, Wine-Marinated Beef Brisket. Note: This uses 2 bottles of dry red wine…. 2 BOTTLES, not just a cup.
Jennifer Szulman of the NY Daily News went to the Masbia Soup Kitchen for a recipe and a story. The kosher soup kitchen has a cookbook called Tzimmes. They share their recipe for the carrot-rich dish. Famed chef Levana Kirschenbaum dropped by for the event. You can read all 30 recipes at this PDF SITE.
Speaking of Tzimmes, Stephen Fries of the NEW HAVEN REGISTER (where I just bought a K A L E t-shirt on YALE’s campus last weekend) lauds the dish and shares information from Amelia Saltsman’s ‘Seasonal Jewish Kitchen’ He shares her recipe for Roasted Carrot and Sweet Potato Tzimmes and links to one for Roasted Autumn Fruit and Blood Orange & Olive Oil Polenta Upside-Down Cake.
In MILWAUKEE, Joan Elovitz Kazan finds healthy holiday recipes and writes that the period of self-reflection pairs well with adding healthier food consumption habits. She quotes Rabbi Hannah Greenstein, vice president of outreach for the Milwaukee Jewish Federation. about apples; and Hannah Sattler of Kehillah Catering at Congregation Beth Israel Ner Tamid, on her tradition of serving fruit, and shares her recipes for Apple Farro Pilaf and Pomegranate Molasses Chicken. Joan Elovitz Kazan also shares three recipes from Ronnie Fein of Stamford CT, the author of HIP KOSHER (2008). The recipes are for Roasted Beet and Winter Squash Salad; Carrot Soup with Harissa and Coconut; and Roasted Fruit Cocktail. Two of the recipes are from her MODERN KOSHER KITCHEN cookbook. Ronnie Fein writes the blog Kitchen Vignettes. On her blog you can find a new essay on brisket, as well as holiday recipes for chicken, fish and “un-brisket.”
In the PROVIDENCE JOURNAL, Ellen Brown, a founding editor of USA TODAY, explores the beauty and cost effectiveness of a Braised Beef with TZIMMES as well as a Chicken with Apples in a Honey/Mustard/Apple Cider sauce.
Mary Pepitone, writing for the KANSAS CITY STAR interviews JUDITH EVNEN BENSON of Overland Park (Kansas). Benson, an MSW and executive coach, makes a great honey cake and the recipe she uses is shared. It is adapted from Phyllis Sarto’s recipe in Congregation Adat Ari El’s California Kosher cookbook.
The thoughts of Aarti Sequeira, of the Food Network and The Associated Press, veer toward and brake for ice cream, specifically apple and raw honey ice cream. Her recipe can be found on The OREGONIAN You’ll need cream, milk, 3 large Granny Smith apples, sugar, bourbon, and a 1/4 cup raw honey. Katie Workman, cookbook author and blogger, shares a Kugel Recipe with the Associated Press and its readers in Brandon Manitoba Canada.
In Northern New Jersey, the Bergen Record went to Saddle River, NJ to interview Michael Katzwer, sous chef at the Saddle River Inn He lived in Israel for many years. He is known for a Spanish octopus salad served with hummus, cucumbers and a paprika vinaigrette. PLEASE GOD.. do not list that as the holiday recipe… (he didn’t)… The recipe he shares is for Roasted Cod Fish With Beets Apples, and Horseradish. Another chef who grew up in Israel is Moshe Grundman, the executive chef at Mezza in Westwood, NJ. He explained that he was heavily influenced by his father, who worked in the IDF, but was an avid home cook. He shares a recipe for a Honey Apple Potato Soup. Let’s not forget Chef Elie Kahlon, of Novo in Ridgewood, New Jersey. Kahlon grew up on a moshav in the Negev where his family farmed tomatoes, cucumbers, citrus and artichokes. His father emigrated from Libya; his mother from Tunisia. For his Rosh Hashana dish, Kahlon created a seasonal salad with pomegranates, honeycomb, apples and a date vinaigrette that emphasized the sweetness of the holiday.
In South Jersey, a food retailer in Cherry Hill and Marlton shared with the COURIER POST a recipe for Coffee-Rubbed Roasted Brisket with Turnips, Chestnuts and Pomegranate Glaze and Roasted Beet Salad with Ricotta Salata, Baby Black Kale, Marcona Almonds for those serving dairy.
The GLOBE AND MAIL… had nothing for me. The MONTREAL GAZETTE. Nothing. But the Canadian Jewish News is filled with recipes — one highlight is Chickpea Stew with Tofu. Another is for Broccoli with ginger, apple and pine nuts.
In all honesty though, The Montreal gazette did turn me onto the new season of the Yiddish sitcom: YID LIFE CRISIS:
