Rosh Hashana Recipes
Last week we visited a farm and bought way too many apples. So anyone have any good apple recipe ideas? I’ve already made apple cake (I skipped the nuts), and I plan to make apple pie. I cooked some apples with raspberries for my daughter last week when she wasn’t feeling well (no added sugar – I’ve been convincing her sugar is no good for the healing process).
Cooking Out of the Box hosted Kosher Cooking Carnival – the Holidays are Coming. Some links are Rosh Hashana recipes. I’m drawn to Hannah’s Rosh Hashanah Tips and Recipes, and I see one for stuffed cabbage. Maybe for Sukkot.
Here’s a link to Flamingo Musings’ brisket. She soaks hers in coffee. I’ve done wine in the past. My kids don’t like when I use a lot of cloves. Hers has no cloves. It does have garlic cloves. That would work for them.
I’m planning to make a Moroccan carrot salad – the kind where you steam the carrots briefly, then add the spices and bits of parsley at the end. My middle son said he is mostly likely to eat the simanim for carrots if the carrots are cooked, so I’ll leave some unspiced in the hopes our children will join us for this one.
I saw a recipe for quinoa salad among Rosh Hashana recipes in a local paper – it had pomegranate seeds and nuts. I will skip the nuts, as it is our family custom not to eat nuts on Rosh Hashana. Do you eschew nuts for this holiday, or are you like some of my friends who poo poo this custom as superstition or plain false?
Zucchini (or squash or gourds) are one of the simanim. Ordinarily, I would cook the zucchini (we have some new baby zucchini growing in front of our house, just in time for the holiday) with onions, but it seems more appropriate to skip the onions for the simanim dish. I will add some spices to some sauteed zucchini. No point in trying to get my kids to eat zucchini unless disguised in a cake.
More side dish ideas: as a friend who is a vegetarian will come one of the days (when I am serving meat), I will consider making kasha with mushrooms and onions. Maybe potato salad, too – that could be a side dish at any meal.
Honey cake seems like a natural for this holiday. I printed Ilana-Davita’s honey cake and Jewaicious Honey Cake.
Finally, I might try Mrs. S.’s blondies. At first, I was tempted in my mind to add blueberries (before carefully reading the recipe and realizing this would be a vulgar addition). But as this is really for my kids, chocolate chips will remain the only flavoring.
So, what’s cooking at your house?
Mrs. S. says
We also don't eat nuts on R"H. (I tend to ignore people who claim that certain customs have no "real" basis. As far as I'm concerned, if my grandparents a"h did something, that's a good enough source for me...)
I just put two broccoli kugels in the oven - one will be for R"H, and the second will be for Succot or Simchat Torah.
Thanks for the link!
Leora says
There was a good post about the source for not eating nuts, besides adding up h-e-t without the alef. Something to do with not spitting out the shells in shul. One of those historical posts.
Yes, my paternal family didn't eat nuts, either.
Carver says
I love apples. It's not exactly a recipe because I've lost the recipe but I bake layers of sliced apples, a little lemon juice, slivers of almonds, brown sugar, nutmeg, and cognac. The cognac is the secret weapon. Well, after all that I remembered blogging about this so I'm copying my long confusing instructions from there. I do see I forgot to mention butter on top and using some water so I'll copy below.
I rarely follow a recipe. I'll call this Carver's Cognac almond apples. A word to the wise, if you go heavy with the cognac you might want to serve this as desert with vanilla ice cream on top. Normally if I'm preparing apples for people that have an issue with skin, I briefly boil the apples and slip off the skin. With that method I use some of the juice the apples where boiled in when I bake them and that works well. I've never used cognac before but it worked. However, I recommend that you put a little over a 1/4 cup of water in a bowl and mix with a little less than a 1/4 cup of cognac. I poured cognac over each layer and didn't use water until it started cooking and boy howdy. I could tell from the fragrance that I better add some water which I did. It worked out but with as much brandy as I used, it either needed more brown sugar or to put ice cream on top. It was good but a little strong. My instructions will be how to make it without it being too strong.
I sliced the apples with skins on because that's how I like them and it's easy but if you don't like skins, use method outlined above. If they are pre-boiled and skin slipped off you won't need to bake it as long. I greased the dish with a vegetable oil spread but you can use butter or margarine. I sliced the apples and layered them with almonds, a dash of nutmeg, cinnamon, and brown sugar. I also used a little lemon juice on the apples but I don't think it needed it with the cognac. It was fine but not necessary. I poured cognac over each layer but I recommend putting some cognac into the juice and then pouring over the top. With three layers like I had, you need about a 1/2 cup of liquid. On the very top layer, I put pats of the vegetable oil spread (or butter would be good).
I baked it in a 350 oven for thirty minutes and it was quite tasty. With as much cognac as I used, I think it would be best as a dessert with ice cream on top. However, if you want it as a side dish with the meal, go light with the cognac. It does add to the flavor but with too much it's rather extreme. I had a 1/2 bottle of cognac left over from last Christmas and I used almost all of it. Waste of good cognac and too much which is why I watered it down after it started cooking. My cooking experiments usually work out well but I think a light hand is best when using something with a strong flavor like brandy has. I temporarily forgot that. The good part was I caught it in time and watered it down while it was still cooking.
Leora says
Wow, Carver, that's quite a recipe. I've never cooked with cognac.
Jewaicious says
What a wonderful post! I will visit the other links.
My grandparents did not eat nuts, either.
Carver: Great sounding with the cognac.
Thank you for the mention.
I will be posting a pound cake recipe tomorrow.
Ilana-Davita says
Lovely post with a nice photo! I sometimes bake apples as a dessert. I just core the apple and add nice things in the middle such as ground almonds and cinnamon.
Leora says
"nice things" - hm, thinking dates. Just because I plan to buy them but don't have much use for them other than as a siman.
Hannah @A Mother in Israel says
I love nuts, but don't usually bake with them. I also love your picture--it's such an unexpected perspective.
Thanks for the link and shana tova!
Leah says
Hi! Just came across thi via Pinterest. I recently asked a rav about the nuts -- here is my question and his reply:
Q:(We had understood that "egozim" are walnuts, almonds, and filberts.)
Today there is so much more available -- are other nuts also Egozim? Pine nuts? Macademias (not that I have them now, but I would like to know.) Brazil nuts? Cashews...? Really all nuts are seeds... where is the distinction?
A: THERE ARE TWO MAIN REASONS FOR THE MINHAG TO REFRAIN FROM EGOZIM: 1) IT CAUSES SALIVA THAT WILL DISTURB TEFILA;
2) GEMATRIA OF 'CHET'=SIN.
THE FORMER REASON WILL APPLY TO OTHER NUTS TOO, BUT ONLY FOR ROSH HASHONO ITSELF - WHICH IS A TIME OF EXTENSIVE TEFILA. THE 2ND REASON IS LIMITED TO EGOZIM=WALNUTS. SO, NUTS OTHER THAN WALNUTS, AND NOT ON ROSH HASHONO, ARE NOT A PROBLEM. (i.e. special days through Hoshana Rabba.)
Leora says
Hi, Leah! Nice to hear from you. Yes, at some point I posted on Facebook about not using nuts, and I got some superstition responses. Sounds like your rabbi backs up our custom. I remember reading about nuts and spitting - people used to shell nuts in shul and spit. Seems like something one shouldn't do anytime of the year, however.
I'm guessing the gematria was created after the initial minhag. But that's just my guess.
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