Feast on seasonal choices for Rosh Hashana
The Jewish New Year, Rosh Hashana, is a joyous holiday. “It’s also a time of inner reflection,” said Rabbi Barbara Symons of the reform Temple David in Monroeville. “We think of the previous year and consider how we can be better people as we go into the next year.”
Rosh Hashana, which begins at sundown on Sept. 13, is known as the Head of the Year, launching 10 days of repentance and ending in Yom Kippur, the Day of Atonement.
While on Yom Kippur, Jews fast, on Rosh Hashana there is feasting, relishing the sweet flavors of the harvest.
A lovely, ancient custom is to eat a new fruit, one that you have not yet sampled this year. Pomegranates are in season, their numerous seeds symbolizing fertility and good deeds. Other new fruits are figs, quinces, dates, prune-plums and concord grapes.
Rabbi Symons said that eating a new fruit is a way of marking the new year. “We do this at other times as well such as during the New Year for Trees. Then we taste different foods from the land of Israel,” she said.
At Rosh Hashana, the challah is round, symbolizing the cycle of life. It’s also sweeter and perhaps studded with raisins. After it’s blessed, pieces of the bread are dipped in honey. Apple slices are dipped in honey also. Try a new apple variety, maybe, for a new fruit. Before eating them, a blessing is recited: “May it be your will to renew for us a good and sweet year.”
Many times, holiday meals are
heavy with meat and roasted poultry. This year, why not revel in the vegetables and fruits of the season. Or add the following vibrant and colorful dishes to your feast.
From Joan Nathan’s new book on global Jewish cooking, “King Solomon’s Table” comes two bright salads — one with beets and oranges and the other with apples and pomegranates. Noting that beets are symbolic for the holiday, she writes, that “you are supposed to serve at least seven vegetables for the new year, including beets,” according to ancient rabbinical commentary.
She has a brilliant riff on tabbouleh. It is prepared not with bulgur and cucumbers, but instead is a fall version with apples and pomegranates, and is based on a dish from chef/owner Michael Solomonov of Zahav in Philadelphia. I wanted to make all the recipes in Leah Koenig’s new “Little Book of Jewish Appetizers.” She takes a concept and adds spin and pizazz to it. Ms. Koenig writes that she considers certain Jewish foods “celebrations” and “events.”
In Green Matbucha, eggplant stars in the usually tomato-heavy North African dish that can be served as a salad or dip. It has heat plus lots of za’atar, a blend of thyme, sumac, Syrian oregano and sesame seeds. Ms. Koenig’s Sweet Potato Hummus stops the show as a clever twist on the classic. It “retains the dip’s structural integrity — chickpeas, tahini, garlic — while elevating its flavor profile,” she writes. Here’s to a delicious and sweet new year!