A New Way To Eat Apples and Honey
It’s tough being creative year after year with holiday cooking. Every year I try to draw inspiration from the season and the holiday customs. And just when I come up with a fresh new idea, I realize I already did that, 5 years ago.
My personal custom on Rosh Hashanah is to make a simanim-inspired menu. The goal is to get the whole mind-body-soul-food connection thing to click in my stomach and then in my brain. Sure, there are loads of simanim to work with – but the challenge is to use them in unexpected ways. (And don’t tell me to do apple pie and a honey cake. I’ve gotta do those anyway, or hubby will pout.) I know y’all want a little something special. Is that true? Tell me now – so I can stop torturing myself if I don’t need to.
Anyhoo, here goes my creative use of all those farm fresh apples this Rosh Hashanah: Apple and Parsnip Soup.
Don’t know why I didn’t think of this before. This one has no added sugar, with just a hint of sweetness from the apples. It’s similar in flavor and texture to a deliciously thick, savory, earthy, root vegetable soup. You can use vegetable broth in place of chicken broth if you want to make it pareve; and you can thin it out to a consistency of your liking by adding more broth and blending it longer. Finish it off with a drizzle of honey or olive oil and garnish with a few thin raw Granny Smith apple slices for a fresh, crisp, crunch.
What’s your creative idea for a simanim-inspired soup recipe? Try to work with these popular simanim: leeks, gourds, spinach, apples, honey, beets, dates, carrots, pomegranates. You get extra points if you use thepiece de resistance — a fish or lamb’s head!
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About jamie geller
Jamie Geller is a bestselling author of the wildly successful QUICK & KOSHER cookbook...
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When I think of green apples (granny smith, my favorite) I think of swiss cheese and then my mind turns to cheese fondue – I love green apples dipped in wonderful hot, garlic infused, cheese fondue. This might be a bit much for a Rosh Hashanah meal but a wonderful apple dish.
I’m working on artisanal farfel. Farfel is a great siman. Farfallen–over, finished, the old year (or week) gone and a new one upon us. Ring out the old, ring in the new, don’t dwell on past failures, begin again now, all in one misshapen little noodle called the Ba’al Shem Tov’s tzimmes. You can dress it up as pilaf with leeks (another symbolic food), and mushrooms or have it plain but farfel deserves a second chance. I’m running a one woman campaign to bring back farfel. Want to join?
I do, my sister asked me to work on a healthy farfel and when I was preparing an interview with Mitchell Davis he had a homemade farfel recipe and says once you make it you can store it for 6 months I am intrigued but still intimidated.
If you are short on time, put the simanim in the soup–pumpkin and leek are great though I wouldn’t recommend dates or a fish head. Also don’t forget the carrot tzimmes, mehren for prosperity, shaped like gold coins. That’s an ancient Ashkenazi siman.