Rocky Mountain Jew

Classic Jewish dishes

Two weeks and counting…. Rosh Hashana, the Jewish New Year, is arriving on the evening of September 8th. So four meals - two evening, two daytime - which means a lot of time in the kitchen. As we wrote in our previous post, it’s a great time to experiment with seasonal vegetables by making a Rosh Hashanah seder. But it’s also a great time to pull out the favorite classics - those dishes we associate with Jewish holidays.

The IJN’s High Holidays Foods section, published this week, features the “Sisters of the Skillet”, a group of local Jewish women who cook together. We picked a couple recipes to feature on the blog for two dishes that are sure to fit into any holiday menu.

Mom’s Yummy Chopped Liver (Carolyn Eisen)

2 cartons chicken livers, approximately 1 1/4 lbs. each
8 hard boiled eggs
1 small onion, diced
1 stick Blue Bonnet margarine or butter
salt and pepper to taste
1 tbsp. Miracle Whip or mayonnaise
1 tbsp. sour cream

Sauté liver and half of diced onion in margarine till liver is no longer pink. Drain half the liquid and set aside.
Mash chicken liver in remaining juice. Finely grate remaining onion into the mixture. Add salt and pepper.
Finely chop seven eggs and add Miracle Whip and sour cream.

Slowly add balance of the liquid till mixture becomes soft but not too watery. Blend well. If all the juice is not needed, discard the rest. Mixture will be soft but will firm up in the mold when chilled. If you do not add enough liquid, the chopped liver will be too dry.

Spray a mold with cooking spray. Finely grate last hard boiled egg. Line bottom of mold with the egg. Then spoon liver mixture in and chill at least 4 hours. Flavor and consistency are much better if chilled overnight.

Unmold in hot water till mixture begins to pull away from sides. Invert onto serving plate.

Brisket (Sheryl Siegel)

5 lb. brisket, well trimmed
1 large onion
salt and pepper to taste
1 tsp. crushed red pepper flakes
2 cans tomato soup
1 tbsp. soy sauce
1 tbsp. Worcestershire sauce
2 cans pitted cherries in syrup
1 jar roasted peppers

Sauté onion in a little oil till brown. Put half of the onion on the bottom of a crock pot.

Season brisket with salt, pepper, and pepper flakes. Place on top of onions.

Combine tomato soup, soy sauce, Worcestershire sauce, remaining onions, cherries, and roasted peppers. Pour over meat.

Cook in crock pot for 6 to 8 hours. (Alternatively, meat can be covered and baked at 325° for 4 hours.)

What are these?

Rosh Hashanah seder

When you hear the word “seder” what comes to mind? Matzah, wine, saltwater: in one word, Passover. But there’s also the lesser known Rosh Hashanah seder, where we prepare and consume specific items of food that in their own different ways symbolize the kind of year we want - sweet, prolific, successful. Sometimes it’s obvious, such as with the ubiquitous apples and honey. But in many of the lesser known food items, the symbolism is literary, where the Hebrew name of the items itself symbolizes the good fortune. This latter category is perfect for salads and warm side dishes, as it includes:

• Leeks: in Hebrew kartee, similar to cut off, our enemies should be cut off.
• Beets: in Aramaic salik, similar to the Hebrew salak, which means go away, in this context that our enemies should disappear.
• Black-eyed peas: symbolizing fertility.
• Gourd: the Hebrew word for pumpkin is kraa to call, meaning our good deeds should call out to God.
• Fenugreek: in Hebrew, rubia similar to yirbu, which means increase, that our merits should increase.
• Carrots: Here we’re getting multilingual. The Yiddish for carrots is mehren, which sounds like mehr, again like the fenugreek, to increase.

Why not experiment with these ingredients this year, perhaps with a side dish of roasted beets and carrots or sauteed leeks with wilted spinach? Or, in Sephardi fashion, as a starter serve a large sharing platter composed of small dipping dishes, each an creation using the individual ingredient? Here’s an idea to start with. Fresh beets diced mixed with pomegranate seeds (symbol for fertility) and chopped mint.

For more recipe ideas read our Final cut recipes posting. Are we missing some symbols? Post a comment and let us know.

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Wall coming down?

The concrete barriers surrounding the Jerusalem neighborhood Gilo will be removed. The barriers were erected eight years ago during the second Palestinian intifada to protect the residents of Gilo from regular sniper fire from the Palestinian town Beit Jala. The decision to remove the protective structures, announced Aug. 12 by the Israel Defense Forces, was made due to the “stable security situation in the area.” (Photo JTA)

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