Dedication
Consistent with the horror show that is 2020, our Rosh Hashanah celebration was dampened by the terrible loss of Ruth Bader Ginsburg. Let us all raise a glass to the memory of this inspirational, iconic symbol of justice, decency, grit and the fight for gender and social equality.
For me Rosh Hashanah is a celebration of autumn, friends, family and food. As a recent addition to an established Jewish family and circle of friends, I have enjoyed the camaraderie of dining tables packed shoulder to shoulder with charmingly quirky individuals who faithfully took turns reading meaningful stories about Jewish life, culture, history and faith all the while punctuating the verses and anecdotes with nonstop joking, laughter and gossip. It is this unique juxtaposition of seriousness and jocularity that provides insight into the enduring character of the Jewish diaspora.
So it was with some regret that I undertook a celebratory meal for just the two of us "little old people", certainly a far cry from the joyous evenings of other times; but I was determined to recreate the flavors I associate with Rosh Hashanah, namely, apples, honey, cinnamon and pomegranates accompanying roasted meat and freshly baked challah.
Dinner began with challah which I mixed up and proofed the night before using a quasi no knead method, and baked in the morning after a twelve hour rest in the fridge. This was my only disappointment. While it certainly turned out well enough, it didn't really rise sufficiently and was very difficult to handle. I plan to revisit challah using the Jeffrey Hamelman recipe recommended by my friend Maggie, professional baker/goddess extraordinaire.
The New York Times was the source of the main course: Sheet pan chicken pieces with roasted plums and red onions. I was not prepared for this to be a flavor bomb, thinking it would be a subtle and sweetly satisfying dish. In actuality it was a sweet, herby, tangy and succulent treatment for chicken pieces. Bcause I was a little low on fresh thyme I added about a half teaspoon dried thyme to the marinade, otherwise following the recipe to the letter. It was delicious and will likely feed us throughout the week.
Eni had scored two bunches of beets, gold and red, at Publix a week earlier. Roasted and tossed with a sweet lemon vinaigrette, some chopped cucumber and pistachios and pomegranate seeds, they provided the perfect foil for the tangy, herby chicken.
Dessert was rugulach and a shared apple cherry hand pie, just enough for two people. (Actually, as pictured in the blog header, I made two pies, but the second one went to Eni.) I soaked dried cherries in Triple Sec before adding them to the apple mixture just prior to loading the pie tin. The flavors complimented each other spectacularly. Once again Eni's unintended contribution to the effort paid huge dividends. In early March she shopped for our groceries before my local Publix joined Instacart, and mistakenly purchased White Lily light baking flour instead of all purpose. I had never even heard of it despite having lived in the Southern US for nearly 30 years. Imagine my surprise when I learned that it is the flour of choice for all those prize winning southern pie bakers. I now use it at the rate of 50/50 with all purpose flour, butter, salt, a little sugar and about a teaspoon apple cider vinegar mixed into the ice water. My crust has never been flakier. Highly recommend.
In a departure from my usual standby, I substituted Dorrie Greenspan's rugulach dough recipe for the Barefoot Contessa inspired version. Unlike Ina Garten, Greenspan uses neither sugar nor other flavoring in the dough yielding a neutral flakey contrast to the filling. I divided the recipe into two varieties and opted to streamline Greenspan's fussy multiple ingredient laden fillings. Version one was raspberry pecan--sprinkled with sugar crystals instead of cinnamon sugar. The tangy dough was the perfect complement to the light filling. The second variety was nutella, chocolate pieces, cinnamon and nuts. Clearly, here I went all out, and the effect was like eating a tiny morsel of chocolate babka where once again the neutral dough let the filling shine.
Baked goods....
The whole meal...
