A Rosh Hashanah Feast
Rosh Hashanah is the Jewish New Year, celebrated by Jewish people all over the world, but there are very different traditions. The Jewish population of the world split in two in the 1500s, as Christian Europe stopped most of their trade and communication with the Islamic world. Those who remained in Europe developed one set of food culture, while those in North Africa and the Middle East developed another. There are some commonalities, of course. Using honey to represent wishes for a sweet New Year goes back to Biblical sources and apples for Rosh Hashanah date back to 11th century France, before the groups became divided by geography and politics. Jewish Americans today often draw on the traditions of both groups as well as incorporating elements of modern cooking.
Abby Schweber
In traditional European Jewish homes, an essential element of the New Year celebration is a side dish of root vegetables cooked with dried fruit and sweetened with honey, called tzimmes. The word literally means “a fuss,” because the dish was cooked on the stovetop for hours and needed to be stirred regularly. The most basic version just uses carrots and raisins, while more elaborate ones add richness to the dish with fancier dried fruits, aromatic spices, and even meats. The word for carrot in Yiddish, meren, also means to multiply, so making Rosh Hashannah tzimmes with carrots represents a wish for blessings to multiply. Here, tzimmes is incorporated into a main dish that is oven baked, for less fuss.
Tzimmes Chicken Ingredients
2-3 lbs. chicken drumsticks and thighs*
1½ lbs. carrots*
1 medium onion*
1 head garlic*
¾ lb. dried apricots
2 tsp. cinnamon
1 tsp. pepper
2 tsp. salt
1 orange
½ cup honey*
1 cup chicken stock*
*These ingredients can be found at the Harrisonburg Farmers Market
Method
Preheat oven to 400 degrees.
Cut onion into 1/2” wedges. Cut carrots into 2-3” pieces and then cut in half the long way. If there are any really big carrot pieces, cut them into quarters the long way. Peel garlic. Zest and juice the orange.
Whisk honey, orange juice, orange zest, cinnamon, pepper, and salt in a large bowl.
Toss chicken in the dressing, then take the chicken pieces out and set aside.
Whisk the chicken stock into the remaining dressing. Add the carrots, onion, garlic, and apricots to the dressing and stir to coat.
Pour the dressing and all its contents into a roasting pan or 9”x13” Pyrex baking dish. Make spaces to nestle the chicken pieces in the mix, skin side up, so that most of the fruit and vegetables are between the chicken pieces.
Cover with foil and bake for 30 minutes. Uncover, turn the heat up to 450, and continue cooking for 20 minutes, until chicken is browned and cooked through.
Middle Eastern and North African Jewish New Year foods are also based on wordplay in the form of multilingual puns. For example, the Aramaic word for beans, rubia, sounds like the Hebrew word yirbu, which means “to increase,” so eating beans brings a blessing for prosperity and a personal commitment to increase good works in the new year. In some places, like Egypt, the preferred bean for this holiday is the black-eyed pea, in dishes very much like our Southern New Year dish, Hoppin’ John. This version uses green beans, combined with apples and beets, in one of the vegetable salads that are popular throughout the region.
Green Bean and Beet Salad Ingredients
3 large or 4 medium beets*
2 Tbs. olive oil
½ tsp. salt
1 lb. green beans*
3 large or 4 medium apples*
½ cup cilantro, parsley, and/or mint
Dressing:
½ cup olive oil
2 Tbs. lemon juice (juice of one whole lemon)
1 tsp. cumin
½ tsp. salt
¼ tsp. pepper
*These ingredients can be found at the Harrisonburg Farmers Market
Method
Preheat oven to 425 degrees.
Peel the beets and cut into 1” dice. Toss with ¼ cup olive oil and ½ teaspoon salt and roast until tender, 30-40 minutes.
Remove stem ends from green beans and cut in half. Steam until just tender (the microwave is fine for this, 5-6 minutes).
Cut apples into ½” wedges and then cut wedges in half. Chop the herbs.
Whisk dressing ingredients together until well combined.
Put beets, green beans, apples, and fresh herbs into your serving bowl. Pour over dressing and toss just enough to coat.
In modern American Jewish homes, apple and honey desserts are popular on Rosh Hashanah, including these easy, cute, individual apple roses made with honey and cinnamon. Rome apples are good choice for this recipe as their bright red skins make a very pretty rose, they hold their shape well, and they have a nice balance of sweet and tart flavor.
Apple Roses Ingredients
1 sheet puff pastry, thawed
Flour for rolling pastry
3-4 Rome apples*
½ lemon
2 Tbs. sugar
5 Tbs. honey*
2 tsp. cinnamon
*These ingredients can be found at the Harrisonburg Farmers Market
Method
Cut apples in half through the stem, remove cores, cut into 1/8” slices.
Juice the lemon half and toss the apples with the juice and 2 tablespoons of sugar in a microwave safe bowl. Microwave for 2 minutes, stir, then microwave for another minute. If the apples are not soft enough to bend, keep microwaving until they are. Put the apples in a strainer over a bowl to catch the juices.
While the apples are cooling, flour a clean counter and roll out the puff pastry to a 9”x12” rectangle. Cut the pastry into six strips of 2”x9”.
Thoroughly spray oil or rub butter into 6 cups of a muffin tin. You need good coverage to make sure the roses don’t stick.
In a small, microwave safe bowl, stir together 3 tablespoons of honey and 1 teaspoon of cinnamon. Microwave for 30 seconds or until warmed through. Brush the mixture onto each strip of pastry and save the leftovers.
Lay the apple slices, overlapping each other, on one side of a strip of pastry so the straight edges are lined up on the middle of the strip. You should be able to fit 8-10 slices on a strip. Fold the bare side of the dough over the apples. Starting from one end, roll up the dough, then place carefully in your muffin tin.
Repeat with remaining strips of dough. Chill for 15 minutes in the fridge.
While the pastry is chilling, preheat oven to 375 degrees.
Bake apple roses for 30 minutes.
While the apple roses are baking, stir together 1 tablespoon of juices from the apples with the remaining honey-cinnamon mix. Drizzle the glaze over the apple roses, then return to the oven to bake for 10 more minutes or until the pastry is fully golden.
