Sweet and local
Celebrate Rosh Hashanah with a farm-to-table accent
Shana tovah u’metukah. A good and sweet year. ♦ This is the traditional Rosh Hashanah greeting that Jewish people around the world will exchange as the holiday begins at sundown one week from today. ♦ Rosh Hashanah has a deep and introspective component; the New Year is a time for reflection and selfevaluation. Sure, OK. But, for some of us, holidays are all about the food. ♦ Rosh Hashanah dinner typically starts with matzo ball soup, often ends with apple cake and covers a lot of deliciousness in between. As Jewish cooks take on the task of preparing all that food, lists will be made and shopping will be done. ♦ The local farmers market is the perfect place to find many of the fruits and vegetables that play a key role in your favorite Rosh Hashanah recipes.
Farm to table is more than a hot food trend. It’s become a way of life, and the concept has its roots (pun intended) in the way our ancestors cooked. In her book, “The Seasonal Jewish Kitchen,” author Amelia Saltsman explores this idea.
“When food traditions were developing for the holidays, everything was local and seasonal,” she says in a phone interview. “The growing cycles have to do with the natural cycles of the year, and the Jewish calendar is based on those natural cycles.”
Food traditions grew out of what was available, and every meal was a farm-to-table, seasonal one.
“If you think about the celebratory foods we eat for the new year, they are what is in season right now,” Saltsman continues. “Everything tastes best grown in its true season.”
Local caterer Hannah Sattler, owner of Hannah’s Kitchen, is a big fan of building holiday recipes around farmers markets finds. Sattler’s roasted vegetable side dish is a perfect example.
“I won’t necessarily have a list for the roasted vegetables, I’ll go and see what’s there,” Sattler says. This time of year, a visit to the farmers market might have some of us wondering what to do with a purple carrot or kohlrabi, but Sattler takes advantage of the foods she finds as much as possible.
“With Rosh Hashanah, you want to feel that fall, warm taste; you can grab vegetables for your stocks or to put it in the roasted vegetable mixture.”
A single mom of three young girls, Sattler also appreciates the educational benefits a trip to the market offers.
“The farmers market lets children understand where their food comes from and what goes into growing food,” she says.
No Jewish holiday dinner would be complete without homemade chicken soup. It’s my favorite part of the meal, and it’s earned its nickname “Jewish Penicillin” for proven healing properties (seriously, Google it.).
My family’s recipe was passed down from my grandmother, Ida, to my mother, Beverly, to me. While each put her own spin on this classic, my mother and grandmother never went to a farmers market for carrots, onions, celery and dill. For this city girl growing up in Pittsburgh, farmers markets weren’t a thing. But when I pass the recipe on to my daughter and sons, I’ll encourage them to shop at their market for seasonal, locally grown ingredients.
Rosh Hashanah dinner begins by dipping apples in honey while reciting a prayer for a sweet new year. In keeping with this tradition, apples are incorporated into a variety of Rosh Hashanah dishes and desserts.
What better way to get those apples than by picking them right off the tree? Sattler and her daughters have a yearly, pre-holiday apple picking ritual.
“We love learning what’s an eating apple vs. what’s a baking apple and learning about how you use them differently.” Fresh vegetables from local farmers markets are the centerpiece of this side dish from Hannah Sattler, which incorporates unique vegetables such as kohlrabi, a cabbage-like vegetable, daikon, a mild winter radish, and red scallions.
Honey Balsamic Roasted Root Vegetables Makes 8 servings
4 golden beets 4 purple beets 8 to 10 small multicolored carrots 6 mixed large red and white scallions 4 purple (or regular) kohlrabi 3 daikon radishes 3⁄4 cup balsamic vinegar 3⁄4 cup olive oil 6 tablespoons kosher salt 6 teaspoons pepper
Cut each vegetable into large pieces and place in separate bowls. Marinate each vegetable with 2 tablespoons balsamic vinegar, 2 tablespoons olive oil, 1 tablespoon salt and 1 teaspoon pepper for 30 minutes.
Preheat oven to 425 degrees. Place a couple of large baking sheets with sides in oven to preheat (whatever will fit in your oven).
Roast vegetables separately in preheated oven — keeping them apart if combining more than one on a pan — and roast each until done, removing at different times as needed. Beets will take 45 minutes; daikon, 35 minutes; carrots, 30 minutes; kohlrabi, 25 minutes; and scallions, 10 minutes. (Depending on size of your oven, you might not be able to fit all the vegetables in the oven at the same time. If you have two ovens, use them both.)
Mix everything together in a casserole dish, and reheat at 300 degrees until uniformly warm, about 15 to 20 minutes. Apple cake is a popular holiday dessert, but apples can star alongside other fruits, with no cake or pie-baking required. Saltsman’s roasted autumn fruit features apples and pears along with any other local fall fruit you can find.
“This is my go-to autumn dessert,” says Saltzman, “perfect for all the season’s holidays, whether served on its own or as an accompaniment to cakes or ice cream.”
The simplicity of thr dish keeps the focus on the delicious seasonal fruit flavors. “Roasting fall fruit brings out the spicy notes we associate with desserts this time of year, and it naturally partners with the rest of the meal,” she adds.
Saltsman lives in Santa Monica, Calif., where her farmer market goodies might be a bit more exotic than what we have in Wisconsin. But there’s no need to succumb to market envy.
“In California, I have the option, I can choose between apples and pomegranates. But if you’re cooking locally, you will have lots of apples and if I’m having dinner at your house in Milwaukee, I want Wisconsin apples.”
Yes, you do. Because Wisconsin apples, like all of our locally grown produce, taste great, with or without honey. This cake from Hannah Settler incorporates seasonal apples into what is a perfect dessert for a Rosh Hashanah dinner.
Apple Honey Cake Makes 16 servings
3 large eggs 1⁄2 cup granulated sugar 1⁄2 cup packed brown sugar 1 1⁄2 cups honey 1 1 ⁄4 cups canola oil 1 tablespoon vanilla extract 3 cups flour 1 teaspoon baking powder 1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon salt 1⁄2 teaspoon ground allspice Pinch of ground cloves 8 Gala or other baking apples, peeled, cored and shredded
Glaze:
2 cups powdered sugar 4 to 5 tablespoons water
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Coat a bundt pan generously with vegetable oil spray.
In a bowl, combine eggs, sugars, honey and oil, and beat until smooth. Mix in all remaining ingredients until combined.
Pour mixture into prepared pan and bake in preheated oven 1 hour and 15 minutes. Cake is done baking when a toothpick inserted into thickest part comes out clean. Let cool 25 minutes in pan, then turn out onto a rack to finish cooling.
Make glaze: Mix powdered sugar with water to drizzling consistency and drizzle over the cake. Chicken soup with matzo balls is the perfect start to a holiday or any meal on a brisk fall day. Wash and cut vegetables in advance to save time. The matzo ball recipe is from Hannah Sattler.
Grandma Ida’s Chicken Soup Makes 12 to 15 servings
4 quarts cold water (about) 1 whole chicken, cut into 8 pieces 4 carrots, peeled 1 large or 2 medium onions, peeled and cut into quarters 4 ribs celery with leafy tops, cut in half 1 small bunch of dill, rinsed Matzo balls (see recipe)
Fill a very large stockpot with cold water, until about three-fourths full. Add chicken and bring to a boil. As chicken begins to boil, periodically skim and discard rising fat and foam. When chicken comes to a full boil, continue cooking and skimming off as much fat as possible, until fat no longer bubbles up, about 5 minutes.
Carefully add vegetables and dill to pot and reduce heat to a simmer. Let soup simmer 3 to 4 hours, stirring occasionally.
Meanwhile, make matzo balls. Time this step so that matzo balls are ready and hot when soup is reheated and ready to serve.
Remove soup from heat and allow to cool at least 1 hour. Pour soup and vegetables into a large strainer placed over a slightly smaller pot. When all the broth has poured through strainer into the smaller pot, take carrots out of strainer and drop them into broth. Reheat and serve with matzo balls, rice or noodles.
Matzo balls: Makes 12 to 15
2 tablespoons vegetable oil 2 large eggs, lightly beaten 1/3 cup matzo meal plus 2 tablespoons
3 teaspoons kosher salt 1 heaping teaspoon baking powder 2 tablespoons club soda
Blend oil and eggs in a small bowl, add matzo meal, kosher salt and baking powder, and mix until well blended. Add the club soda and mix thoroughly. Cover and refrigerate at least an hour, until mixture is firm.
Bring a large pot of stock or water to a boil. Using wet hands, form the mixture into balls, and carefully drop them into the boiling liquid. Wet your hands between forming each ball. Make sure the pot is not crowded. Cover and cook at a slow, steady boil until soft, 30 to 40 minutes. Remove matzo balls with a slotted spoon and serve in chicken soup. Just about any combination of fruits will work for this forgiving recipe from “The Seasonal Jewish Kitchen” by Amelia Saltsman, so don’t worry if you can’t find Fuyu persimmons, which are like a combination of a tangerine and a pear.
Roasted Autumn Fruit Makes 10 to 12 servings
4 pounds mixed apples and Bosc or Anjou pears (about 6 apples and 3 or 4 large pears) 2 Fuyu persimmons 1 to 2 pints figs (about 3⁄4 pound)
2 cups Concord, Autumn Royale or wine grapes 1⁄4 cup honey 1/3 cup off-dry red or white wine or muscat dessert wine
A few sprigs of thyme (optional)
Preheat oven to 400 degrees.
Peel apples, pears and persimmons, if desired. Core them and cut into large wedges or chunks. Cut figs in half lengthwise.
Place all fruit, including grapes and figs, in a large pan and mix gently with your hands.
In a small saucepan, combine honey and wine. Warm over low heat, then pour evenly over the fruit. Toss in thyme, if desired. Roast fruit in preheated oven until bubbly and brown, about 45 minutes. Serve warm or at room temperature on its own or with apple honey cake and/or ice cream.