Seasonal Cooking

At the beginning of the month we asked you to enter your slow cooker recipes. The editorial team pored over all the submissions and decided which recipes to try out on our families, and out of those recipes, which would be the final two to be voted on. Our finalists are Layer Slow Cooker Kraut and Slow Cooker Taco Soup. Just click on either recipe and find the thumbs up sign and vote.

Tamar’s top pick is the Layer Slow Cooker Kraut  and says: This dish sounded weird to me, but I thought it was different and something fun to try and it was. I would leave the sausage out of the pot and ideally cook on a grill and serve along side the kraut. The long cooking and the tomatoes and sugar do give the kraut a nice taste even for those that don’t usually like it. Serve with some potatoes as the recipe says and your meal is complete.

My top pick is the Slow Cooker Taco Soup. This dish was easy to assemble, and initially I was concerned that there was not enough liquid for it to cook the whole day in the slow cooker. I was proven wrong. This was a hearty soup, a meal in a bowl. I served it as suggested with pareve sour cream as a garnish – it finished it off beautifully. I reduced the amount of green chilis by half because some of the palates in this house are not used to heat, but there was still plenty heat. Serve this with a nice crusty bread and plenty taco chips. This is definitely going on the regular menu here in this house.

In order to vote, click on the recipe highlighted above and find the thumbs up sign and click. The recipe with the most thumbs up signs by 9 am EST Jan 30th 2012 is the winner. Click here for original contest details and prizes.

Click here to browse all of our Slow Cooker and Cholent Recipes.

Good Luck!

Last Thursday, the celebrity chefs responsible for feeding the stars at the Golden Globes on January 15th unveiled their dinner menu.  It has taken six months to prepare for this day and will take a team of 40 chefs and 100 kitchen staff members to make the magic happen. This year’s menu is created by executive chefs Suki Sugiura and pastry chef Thomas Henzi is not only elegant and mouth-watering, but also reflects the global nature of the Golden Globes.

Stars at the Golden Globes will enjoy food flown in from around the world and a decadent dessert topped with real gold shavings.  The menu they will enjoy includes the following dishes that a kosher cook can try to make at home:

Appetizer: Pistachio Crusted Pistou Ravioli with Wild Arugula, Smoked Tomato, Kabocha Compote and Burrata

Entree: Miso and Sake Lees Marinated Pacific Sea Bass with Grilled King Oyster Mushroom and Braised Prime Short Rib of Beef with Porcini Pine Nut Herb Ragout

Dessert: Trio of Chocolate Delice Almond Crunch Terrine and Acacia Honey

Here is our idea for a fun and festive Golden Globes dinner party menu (dairy) that is perfect to enjoy while watching the show.

Pumpkin Walnut Ravioli

Miso Glazed Sea Bass

Tiramisu

Winter is comfort food season. There is something about the cold howling wind and long nights that make me crave warm, comforting dishes. On these nights I don’t want an aggressively crunchy salad, or complicated dish with tons of ingredients and steps, I want a dish that warms my heart and soothes my soul.

I have a whole list of sentimental foods that fit the bill. They tend to be something from childhood, easy to digest, soothing and as easy as a pair of fuzzy slippers. They are home-style dishes and not complex “cheffy” recipes.

The great thing about comfort food is that it varies from culture to culture, person to person and day to day and everyone has their own dish compiled from family favorites.

For me, the comfort comes as much from preparing the food and smelling it as it cooks as much as it does from eating the actual dish. There is something very heart-warming about preparing food for myself and my family. No matter what the day has done to me with my crazy job, long drive home from work, traffic jams, winter weather and modern life in general, making a comforting dish heals the soul and invigorates the appetite.

My husband’s favorite birthday dinner is meatloaf! His birthday is in January or “deepest darkest winter” as he calls it, and he craves warm-welcoming comfort food. Dennis is a professional chef and can certainly make or ask me to make anything he wants and meatloaf is at the top of his birthday dinner list.

I like to make individual meatloaves instead of one big loaf and that way, everyone gets their own.   I call it my Loaves of Love.  The other advantage to individual loaves is that if you try to reheat a larger loaf, it tends to dry out. I like to make my meatloaves with ground beef because of the way beef stands up to the bold and tangy ketchup and I guess, it is what I grew up with and is most comforting.

The Meatloaves are glazed with my Homemade Ketchup and served with a mound of Olive Oil and Roasted Garlic Whipped Potatoes .  Making your own ketchup is easy and fast to put together and just a little bit of work will yield ketchup that is tastier and better than any store bought product.

I think I could make Jewish Chicken Soup in my sleep. My mother taught me the recipe and the rules before I could read. I’d stand on a chair and watch her clean the bird (“remember we have to take out all the stuff inside the chicken”). She showed me how to remove leftover pinfeathers, sometimes using a lighted match to burn off tiny hairs and then for a few minutes the kitchen would have an awful organic odor.

But all was forgotten as the soup simmered and the heady perfume of salty broth and sweet dill, meaty chicken and softening vegetables suffused through the house reminding us that a good dinner was on its way.

There is no magic so wonderful or remarkable as a bowl of Jewish Chicken Soup. People joke about its curative powers. But regardless of whether there are any real medicinal properties, there are few foods quite as comforting as this one, especially in the depth of winter when you need a little something to warm you up inside and out.

My Mom was adamant about the dill. She said it made all the difference to the dish, giving it an herbaceous lift that an ingredient such as mild mannered chicken can use. When a cousin married a Jewish woman from Ecuador whose Chicken Soup recipe included a green bell pepper instead of dill my mother was horrified.

She was also insistent on using a large kosher pullet, often difficult to find locally these days, and even when she was still alive, so she began to use the largest broiler-fryer she could find and sometimes a roaster. She insisted on a whole chicken (“much more flavor”) and sneered at a woman she knew who made soup with boneless chicken breasts (“you need to have the bones and skin to make a rich broth”).

I have to say her Chicken Soup was awesome, always a hit, always the first course at Passover (as well as Rosh Hashanah and more Shabbats than I can count).

Interestingly enough my mother always said she didn’t like soup, but as she got older she discovered how very comforting it could be. I’d visit and there she was, in her kitchen, bedecked in an apron, experimenting with new recipes, by now well beyond Jewish Penicillin. She could be simmering a bunch of vegetables in broth or cooking dried beans and peas with a bunch of marrow bones or adding a couple of hunks of fish to tomato chowder. Her house had a welcoming, reassuring smell that I can conjure up even today, many years later, as I try to replicate those soups in my own kitchen using the legacy of her wonderful recipes.  Now I pass them on to you to try.

Chicken Soup

Mom’s Pasta Fagiole

Fish and Tomato Chowder

Red Meat.  It’s a sign of joy, affluence, and celebration.  We avoid it during times of mourning and turn to it during special occasions, but the age old saying “there’s no celebration without meat and wine” is not always accurate.  I’ve had many a memory of an overcooked steak or goulash meat that sat in a slow cooker for much longer than would be considered healthy.

For years, my realm of red meat was limited to ground beef in spaghetti sauce.   I did not dare roast a brisket or slow cook a London broil for fear of over-cooking and ruining dinner.  As I have grown more adventurous as a cook, and been inspired by others, It turns out that cooking meat isn’t all that difficult at all.  I was lacking the attention to detail and a meat thermometer.

If you’re rolling your eyes and thinking “I don’t need a thermometer”, put your trust in me next time you make a roast, and indulge me.  Either you’ll notice the difference and thank me, or you’ll go back to your previous method and never think of it again.

My first meat thermometer was a gift, and yes, I rolled my eyes.  I figured I didn’t need a gadget to tell me how to cook, it took the fun out of it, it meant I was relinquishing control to a tool.  I got over it, and my food is better for it!  This is the gift of x-ray vision that can be the difference between “medium-rare” and “trash-can”.

When preparing this roast in seasonal ale think about when you are serving the dish.  Is this going to go from crock-pot to table or re-heated for the next day?  If you do plan to re-heat, make sure not to over-do it.  The marinating of the beef in ale gives it a wonderful tenderness and you can keep it in the gravy when re-heating too.  While I used a Trader Joe’s seasonal ale in this dish, any dark beer, Guinness or stout will work just as well.  The dark beers pair nicely with the prunes and pearl onions in this dish for a well rounded flavor.

Now, for the recipe!

Brisket in Seasonal Ale with Winter Fruits

I don’t tend to do much deep-frying in my kitchen. I would rather order foods like French fries in a restaurant than make them myself. But Chanukkah is the exception. During the eight days of chanukkah I break out my pot of oil and my thermometer and start frying up a storm. It is our custom to eat a different fried food each night of the holiday. We of course enjoy the traditional sufganiyot and latkes but I also like to make other fried treats that might not be commonly associated with Chanukkah, like buñuelos (Colombian cheese fritters) and fried wontons.

Banana Fritter

These banana fritters are the perfect quick and easy fried dessert for a weeknight during Chanukkah. I love sufganiot but they are a bit of a project to make. I don’t always have time on a busy day to make the dough and let it rise before rolling, cutting and then frying and filling the doughnuts. I save my sufganiot making for the weekend and stick to quicker recipes, like these fritters, during the week of the holiday when we are all busy. The batter whisks together in just moments, and the fritters are light, fluffy and bursting with fresh banana flavor.

For those who do not want to deal with deep-frying there is another traditional sweet that is ubiquitous at Chanukah and doesn’t require any cooking at all. Chocolate gelt. While it is fun and exciting to eat Chanukkah gelt the first few days of the holiday, I find every year that by the end of the eight days there is leftover gelt sitting around that no one really wants to eat. The chocolate gets nibbled slowly when there is nothing better around for a sweet fix, but much of it just sits in the cabinet until we have to toss it for Passover. These cookies are the perfect solution to that problem (or even a reason to buy extra gelt on purpose). A chewy peanut butter cookie surrounds a center of Chanukkah gelt and peanut butter filling. It is a peanut butter lovers dream.

Happy Chanukkah.

Chanukah is filled with nostalgia, memories of years past, childhood, and of our ancestors. Each house has its own customs and traditions which bring the Mitzvot closer to the heart.

Borrowing from both Sephardic and Ashkenazic traditions we opt to have latkes and doughnuts for our Chanukah treat, it’s like having dinner and dessert. A “healthy” meal of fried comfort foods; one week only! I think my kids look forward to this week all year. I try to get everything ready so we can eat while sitting snuggly in the afterglow of the blessings. Each year I ask myself whether to make doughnuts using yeast or a quick raised cake doughnut (one using baking powder or baking soda).

I tend to lean towards an old fashioned yeasty doughnut lofty in stature, with cavernous interior that begs to be filled with creams and jellies. The rising time is always daunting. Will it be ready in time, will the middle be light as a feather or a gooey mess. Yeast is an organic leaven which works slowly and is somewhat unpredictable but can yield a brilliant product with a full flavor. Then there is the cake doughnut, springy and graceful with a solid crumb using baking powder and baking soda which are chemical leaven. These are more dependable but can sometimes leave the taste buds flat and searching for more.

My practical side starts with the “quick” cake doughnut, adding nuts and fruit and other accoutrements to infuse the perfect flavor. Then dropping sticky dough into the hot oil and watching the crust turn golden brown I can’t help but think that the time I took embellishing my recipe could be equal to the time spent on a simple yeast doughnut with one rise. I end up making a big batch of yeast dough and keeping it in the refrigerator for the whole week, pulling out bits of dough to plop into the oil each night.

It’s just a matter of personal taste; my husband prefers the cake doughnut and the kids are ecstatic to be eating any doughnuts. Peering out of frosted windows I admire the soft glow of the Chanukah lights flickering and dancing. I cherish these moments of togetherness. I know that whatever I decide to provide as the perfect Chanukah treat, in years to come it is the laughter that will persist, a reminiscent smell, and the recall of the sweetness of the night.

Enjoy my recipe for Pistachio Apple Cake Doughnuts with a Cherry Jus.

‘Chanukah, Oh Chanukah come light the menorah. Let’s have a party. We’ll all dance the hora.’ You know the rest, but what are we going to do on December 24 and 25 when we’re not ready to peel potatoes again or heat up oil for the latkes one more time? We’ll go out for Chinese, of course. How did this Jewish connection between Chinese food and December 24th get started? Some say that Chinatown in New York City was close to the Lower East Side and the restaurants there were open that night, so the rest is history.

Wonton Soup

You don’t have to go out in the freezing cold in your down coat. Pull out your wok, give it a good dusting, make a few phone calls, invite a few friends and family, and start chopping. Soup calls everyone’s name in the winter, so try Won Ton Soup or Hot and Sour Soup. Egg rolls are another favorite. Fill them with bean sprouts and shredded cabbage, then let the frying begin.

Lemon Chicken

Think about Sweet and Sour Chicken, easy to make ahead, but keep the chicken and sauce separate until you’re ready to serve. For something a bit more tangy, try Lemon Chicken. If you’re cutting down on calories and oil during Chanukah, try Egg Drop Soup, Ground Beef in Lettuce Cups, Mu Shu Chicken, Chinese Chicken Salad, without the chicken or fried vermicelli noodles, but still delicious, and Almond Cookies to round out your meal. Add store-bought fortune cookies. Do an exchange after each has read their own. Make it into a game of ‘Whose fortune do you want?’

Almond Cookies

If your crowd wants a movie, try ‘Freaky Friday’ with Jamie Lee Curtis. Find out what happens when mother and daughter are caught fighting in a Chinese restaurant and get each other’s fortune cookie.

We’re just days away until the first candle is lit on your family’s Chanukah menorah. It’s never too soon to get out your holiday check list. So, did you buy a new box of candles yet? Are your pounds of potatoes and onions purchased for batch after batch of latkes? More important than anything else, especially if you have children, are all of your gifts bought, wrapped, labeled, and hidden?

Some years ago we started a Nathan family tradition, attempting to combat the mad rush we usually experience while preparing for the holiday. More like a family concept than a tradition, I should note… This two-step idea just made sense to us so feel free to adapt it into your family’s Chanukah routine…

Forget about a present for each night of Chanukah. Buy what really strikes you as a good gift; frivolous, perfect, or the thing (s)he’s been begging for….whatever. Buy it, wrap it, and don’t freak out about the nights that aren’t covered. Read on…

Make it a “Family Night” instead. After the candles have burned out and everyone is wondering about not having received their gift yet, as on all other nights of Chanukah, go on and do something. That’s right – do something instead of give something. Head to the ice cream parlor, or the skating rink. Catch a movie at the Cineplex with the whole family, or rent a video and pop up some sweet kettle corn. This is called family time and is more precious than any gift you can put a bow on.

On one of those nights that you’re trying to infuse some family time into the Chanukah celebration, the chef in me suggests that you get into the kitchen. Choose a recipe that everyone can participate in. You can prepare the family supper, or a special treat such as cookies, cake, or even the Chanukah specialty, latkes — crisp, warm and delicious. Let someone else scrape his knuckles on the grater this year! Even younger children can mix the meichel, so don’t be afraid to give everybody a job! If you’re looking to prepare something different, try the sweet Apple Latkes with Spiced Sour Cream or the Provencal Potato Latkes, with Roasted Red Pepper Relish found in my cookbook, Jeff Nathan’s Family Suppers.

And if you really want to try something out of the ordinary for Chanukah, here’s a terrific recipe for Tuscan White Bean Salad. This recipe honors an abundance of the ever present oil of Chanukah, while staying away from the frying.

Wishing you all peace and happiness this holiday season!

Nothing brings out our primal instincts in cooking more than preparing food on an open spit. What was once a necessary cooking method requiring nothing more than meat, fire and a big stick has now become all the rage in the best markets and butcher shops.  Walk down any main street and you will see large rotisserie ovens turning and churning out freshly roasted chicken, juices dripping down the window pane and appetites growing with every step.  The good news is; these succulent birds can be easily prepared at home for a fraction of the cost.

To achieve rotisserie nirvana, you can, of course, invest in a countertop rotisserie.  The manufacturers of “slice them and dice them” fame make affordable and practical models for your home, as does Cuisanart other name brand kitchen appliance companies.  The results are good and the clean up is generally easy.  If the weather is not a factor, you can brave the elements and cook your bird on an outdoor spit, your gas grill most likely comes with an attachment and the bird can roast outside, lid down until juicy perfection.   Some indoor ovens come fitted with a rotisserie option, and all you need to do is follow the manufacturer’s instructions, keep a watchful eye and spin your bird to delicious results.

Why is rotisserie so popular, and why are the results so wonderful?  Easy answer.  When the bird rotates on a spit it browns and cooks evenly.  Much as the convection feature in your oven promises the heat and air will circulate around the bird, the rotisserie guarantees it.  Additionally, the unnecessary fats drain off and the bird does not sit in those nasty juices. Furthermore, the internal juices of the bird distribute as the bird turns, so even the breast meat which can tend to dry out, will be as moist and juicy as the dark meat.

But what to do if you do not have a countertop gadget, a rotisserie attachment to your oven, warm winter coat or open fire pit with a trained caveman standing by?  You can achieve a very similar result by standing the bird up on its legs and letting it roast in the oven in an upright position.  The result is not exactly the same and certainly the entertainment value is reduced, but it is a great option for those who want rotisserie goodness without the contraption.

Season your bird as you would a good roast chicken, crank the oven heat up, perch your bird on a prefabricated stand that was designed for just this purpose, or use a good old beer can to keep the chicken propped up and standing tall.  And enjoy rotisserie chicken throughout the year. Enjoy my recipe for Beer Basted Chicken.

I’m sitting in my office with a fleece jacket on and the baseboard heater turned to high in an attempt to compensate for the cold temperatures that arrived last night with the first snow of the season. As I do every year, as soon as the cold weather arrives and the snow hits the ground I start thinking about which soups I’m going to prepare in my kitchen.

Now, I don’t want you to think that hot soups are only appropriate in the late fall and winter – there isn’t really a time when a bowl of soup isn’t appreciated. But there’s something about watching through the kitchen window as snowflakes fall and a pot of chicken soup simmers gently in my warm kitchen. And if you’re lucky enough to have somebody cooking soup for you, there’s nothing better than walking in from the frigid cold and being hit with the steam and aroma wafting out of a pot on the stove.

Most soups are really easy to make. For some recipes, you just toss everything into a pot, bring it to a simmer and cook until done. Other soups may involve a little sautéing before you add the liquid and bring it to a simmer. A few soups are more complicated, and may involve straining and pureeing – but even these register low on the difficulty scale.

There are a few things to remember when making soup:

1. Recipes are just guidelines and most soups are forgiving if you want to make substitutes. If a recipe looks great to you but it includes 1 parsnip and you hate parsnips, make the soup anyway – just substitute a carrot for the parsnip.
2. Don’t be afraid to experiment. Some of my best pots of soup were a result of seeing what vegetables I had in the fridge and which beans and grains were hanging out in my pantry.
3. Taste is subjective and the level of seasoning I like in a dish may not be what you like. Don’t be afraid to taste and season. One of the best things about soup is that you can season as you go, unlike when you’re baking a cake. If you’re concerned that a recipe may be too salty or peppery, don’t add the full amount at the beginning. Add a portion, then taste as it cooks. You can always add more. But be aware – adding salt to a recipe doesn’t just add saltiness, it also enhances other flavours in the pot. So an extra pinch of salt may make all the other flavors pop.
4. Find a broth/stock that you like and keep some on hand. First choice is always to have homemade stocks in the freezer but for most of us there isn’t enough time in the day to make sure they’re always stocked up. Find something you like, whether it’s a powder, in a can, box or from the grocer’s freezer and use that.
5. Finally, use good ingredients. Good ingredients prepared simply can make an astonishingly tasty pot of soup.

Here are a few of my favourite recipes, all quite different, from my cookbook Soup A Kosher Collection. Baked Potato Soup is hearty and creamy and you can garnish it any way you like. Pear Soup with Feta, Pecans & Balsamic Reduction may sound a little too different for you, but please, try it. It’s a simple recipe with great flavours – one of my favourite flavour combinations ever. Finally, Chicken Gumbo Soup – a perfect meal in a bowl for a chilly night.

Recipe photos courtesy of Whitecap Books 

“Of course I’d be honored to write a Thanksgiving post for JoyofKosher.com but there’s only one problem…we don’t celebrate Thanksgiving.” I’m Canadian, my wife is Czech, our kids are Israeli and even though we’ve been living in the States for nearly eight years we’ve never really gotten into it. There are a number of reasons we don’t, none of them religious. As a Rabbi I feel that celebrating Thanksgiving is perfectly permitted, maybe even sensible. But as a family, especially a rabbinic family, we rarely have quiet times. Every weekend is busy; of course Shabbat is packed, but then so is Sunday. (Oh yeah, and my wife dislikes turkey.)

Thanksgiving for us is one of the few times we can count on everyone else being busy and leaving us to ourselves. I’m a University Chaplain and a Hillel Rabbi and the campus is like a ghost town during the Thanksgiving recess. The streets are empty, no one calls us, and we have a chance to have what I imagine a weekend is like for people who are not Shabbat observant. A little quiet, some leaf-raking, a bunch of football and some nice food.

Since we use this as an opportunity to embrace the stereotypical American weekend experience, at least the one we imagine, I usually go a little crazy and design a menu worthy of any Superbowl party buffet table. I channel my inner junk-food-junky and make kosher versions of party food standards. Over the years this has ranged from subs to hoagies, sheet-pans of over-the-top aged cheddar cheese nachos, deep-fried cheese, really, deep-fried anything.

We don’t normally eat this way; we live in a city without any kosher restaurants. In fact I feel strongly about not eating this way. But once in a while it’s ok to indulge and I think it might even be good for our kids to taste these foods at home and realize that they are a treat and not a normal diet.

What follows are a few recipes loaded with indulgences. This isn’t a menu per se, rather it is a list of recipes and treats that you can make as part of a meal or a buffet or just to totally indulge.

• The Quebecois Hot Chicken Sandwich – the Poutine’s big brother
• Hand cut fries cooked in rendered chicken fat
• Sauce Poutine/Velouté for both of the above
• Buffalo wings with Soy Cream Dip served with hand cut fries
• Beef sliders with a variety of toppings

While Poutine has gained fame across the continent for its brilliant combination of french fries, gravy and cheese curds, we shouldn’t forget that Quebec’s homegrown fast food industry has other delights. The Hot Chicken Sandwich is an amazing combination of roasted chicken, white bread and Poutine sauce.

We begin with the sauce, which is based on a traditional sauce called a velouté, essentially a roux combined with veal, beef or chicken stock. In the case of Poutine sauce it can also be augmented to include extra pepper, some acid, whatever is to your taste.

Any one of these dishes is a meal in itself and each one can be adapted to more healthful eating. The sliders can be made of lean meat and more vegetable and carbohydrates filler can be used to reduce the amount of red meat consumed. The toppings I’m suggesting are also pretty over the top but a variety of fresh vegetables and low salt/sugar condiments are also possible.

The wings are baked and a lot of their fat renders off. They can be coated with jarred sauces, BBQ sauces, many other options. Homemade honey mustard is a particularly good choice for those avoiding salt and processed sugars.

All the potatoes can be baked, instead of fried, with a minimum of fat, especially if using a non-stick pan. Consider recipes on the internet that use egg-whites to help create crispy coatings on fries.

The hot chicken sandwiches are very adaptable. There is a pareve vegan powdered gravy on the market that is passable and can adapted to your taste. Consider changing up the bread, serving more peas, whatever you feel is best for you and your family and guests.

Enjoy Thanksgiving, we will. Don’t call or write, we will be too busy eating to answer.

As the last decorations come down from the Succah –gourds and all – and we prepare to dive into our year’s activities, I can’t help but wonder and ponder…what on earth do we do with these gourds anyway? Not to say that their place as a Succah decoration is an unjust existence, but c’mon…what does one actually do with them? Quite a lot, it seems, or at least so I discovered after doing some research (we love Google!). With over 700 known species, the gourd seems to have infinite craft and artistic possibilities and has been used by people throughout the world for musical instruments, pipes, masks, canteens, water jugs, dippers, birdhouses, bath sponges and as decorative pieces with intricate etched designs. So important were gourds to Haitian people in the early 1800s that gourds were temporarily made the national currency. But this is a cooking article, so I am clearly more interested in the edible possibilities. Some of the most delicious members of the gourd family include squash, pumpkin, cucumber and melons.

With the return of cooler weather, winter squash is back…and may just be the perfect warming ingredient, bound to qualify any dish as “comfort food” with all its sweet, orange creaminess. Though Butternut and Acorn squash happen to be the most common and known supermarket varieties of winter squash available, there are many other terrific kinds worth trying – Sweet Dumpling, Banana, Kabocha and Buttercup varieties, just to name a few. Each type has its own special flavor and texture. Using a new variety or a combination of a few may add a new flavor or dimension to your next squash dish.

Curried Squash Soup with Frizzled Leeks

One of the most commonly asked questions about winter squash is how to handle and prepare it, due to its thick peel and hard texture. Don’t be discouraged – a good peeler, a sharp chef’s knife and some “elbow grease” can make all the difference in your preparations. Even with that said, some prep tips are always helpful.

Some winter squash have a thin or smooth enough rind to be peeled with a good peeler, such as Butternut or Buttercup squash. The easiest way to take these squash apart is the following:

1. Trim ends
2. Cut the squash in half lengthwise
3. Using a good peeler, peel away the tough skin
4. Scoop out the seeds
5. Cut as needed (i.e. chunks, cubes)

Once prepared in this way, it can be boiled, roasted, steamed, sautéed, etc. and used in your favorite dishes.

Other squash, such as Acorn squash or Sweet Dumpling, are difficult to peel as the natural grooves make peeling hard to maneuver. With these types of squash, most people opt to cook it unpeeled – simply scrub, halve, seed and bake. The skin is edible, however, if tough, the cooked flesh can simply be scooped out of its “cup” and eaten, discarding the skin. I like to roast it this way drizzled with maple syrup, olive oil, salt, pepper and cinnamon – simple, yet delicious! Additionally, these small-sized squash make them ideal choices as “stuffing” squash.

Squash puree is easy to prepare for baking recipes:

To pre-bake squash halves (any kind): simply cut in half, scoop out the seeds, and bake cut-side down at 375-400 degrees Fahrenheit until fork tender (about 45 minutes). Once baked, the cooked flesh can be scooped out of the skin and mashed or pureed in the food processor for other recipes.

• Winter squash store very well – they’ll last the “winter” in a cool, dry, well-ventilated location (like a basement). Check on a regular basis for rot and use within three to six months.
• Refrigerated, cut pieces of winter squash will last up to a week stored in plastic storage bags or tightly saran-wrapped.
• Choose firm, well-shaped squash that are heavy for their size and have a hard, tough skin. Do not choose those that have sunken or moldy spots. Avoid squash with cuts or punctures in the skin.

Some helpful equivalents in your squash adventures may include:

• 1 pound peeled squash = 1 cup cooked, mashed
• 2½ pound whole squash = 2¾ -3 cups pureed
• 1/3-½ pound raw unpeeled squash = 1 serving

Here are some wonderful fall recipes bound to warm you up on a chilly night even once your Succah is down. It may not be a marimba or a vase, but recipes like these certainly remind us to celebrate the gourd family!

Curried Squash Soup with Frizzled Leeks
Autumn Rice Pilaf with Butternut Squash

I’m so happy to have an opportunity to guest post on Joy of Kosher. I met Tamar in New York a few months ago. We had a fun lunch together at a dairy kosher restaurant in Manhattan. When we discussed writing a guest post for Sukkot, my mind began spinning with all of the wonderful dishes I could share. Autumn is my favorite season, and seasonal autumn produce plays a major role in my Sukkot menu. Harvest foods take center stage. That’s why my Autumn Sweet Potato Soup is so perfect for Sukkot. Root vegetables, squash, warm spices, a touch of cayenne—delicious!

This soup’s broth has roots in an African food tradition. Peanut butter is stirred in at the end of cooking, thickening the soup and giving it a delicious flavor. While it might sound a bit strange, trust me on this one. The peanut butter enhances all the other spices, giving this soup layers and layers of delicious flavor. Your guests will never guess the secret ingredient. It’s a substantial soup, perfect for a chilly autumn evening in the sukkah. It’s also super easy to prepare, and can be served as a chunky soup or as a puree.

If you end up keeping some leftover soup in the refrigerator, add a little broth when you reheat. The soup can become quite thick when it’s chilled. Adding some broth will help the soup to reheat smoothly. Enjoy!

"Soup may be served as-is (chunky with texture), or you can puree the soup with an immersion blender for a smoother texture. Serve garnished with chopped roasted peanuts or fresh thyme leaves."

What a response I got when I decided to write about pomegranates!  It seems that everyone has some bit of trivia to share about this funny little fruit!  For instance, in Jewish as well as Chinese lore, the pomegranate (also known as the Chinese Apple) symbolizes fertility.

The pomegranate differs from the fruits we’re most familiar with.  We don’t eat its outside as it doesn’t have edible flesh; we only eat its seeds…and there are 613 of those!  If you’ve got some free time on your hands and don’t mind them being stained red, you can count them for yourself!  Years ago my kids and I tried to count them just to check and that was no easy task! The number 613 might sound familiar since there are as many commandments in the Torah.  In addition to the equal number of mitzvot, there are other pomegranate-to-religion relationships….  Pomegranates once adorned the hem of Aaron’s robes and consequently are often found on the crowns of modern day Torahs.   Pomegranates are said to have been in the Garden of Eden way back when, and are definitely all over Israel now.

In the United Sates, the fruit is harvested in October and November ~ perfect timing for our festive tables at Rosh Hashonah, Yom Kippur, Sukkot and Simhat Torah.  And speaking of the festive table…there are a number of ways to use the pomegranate during the holidays.  Bowls full of individual seeds are certainly the most popular.  The edible, translucent red pulp covered seeds disappear handful after handful.  It is labor intensive to separate each seed from the bitter membrane of the pomegranate, but the tasty treat is worth it and here is an easy 3 step process for seeding a pomegranate.  Just recently I’ve begun to see packages of the ready-to-eat seeds… now that’s a treat!   If you’re not in the mood to painstakingly pry each seed from the membrane, you can simply cut the pomegranate into wedges, like apples, and leave the eating process a little more casual.  It’s not fancy watching someone tear the light colored membrane out of their mouths, so cutting the fruit into wedges might be better for when there are no guests around!

I have to admit, there aren’t really 613 culinary things to do with a pomegranate, but there is more than just counting the seeds and eating them.  I buy a whole bunch of pomegranates at the beginning of the holiday season and use them continuously.  Since they age well, I store them in the refrigerator for up to two months to get me through early winter.

Whether it’s a quick snack, an ingredient, or a garnish, the pomegranate does not go without notice!  As a drink, it’s delicious when adding pomegranate juice to a glass of seltzer, ginger ale or a martini.  Pomegranate juice is readily available year round, too.  And it’s great for making sauces and vinaigrettes, as well.

At the New Year, it’s traditional to indulge in sweets and honey, yet in contrast, we avoid eating nuts at this time and so it’s a perfect time to replace nuts with pomegranate seeds.  At other times of the year though, I enjoy combining pecans, walnuts or almonds in a salad.  And for a fruit salad or platter, I add the bright red seeds for an eye catching edible garnish.

After the holidays, try the tart and sweet taste of pomegranate seeds with the mellowness of goat cheese in a field green salad with toasted pecans and a drizzle of pomegranate vinaigrette.  Or you might also enjoy the flavor and unexpected crunch of a Pomegranate seed Salsa over grilled chicken any night of the week.  Combine grapefruit, orange, cilantro, red onion, lime juice and pomegranate seeds and let the flavors marry for a while before serving.  My real favorite though is the following honey sweetened Pomegranate Chicken recipe.

The Abigael’s team and I wish you and your family a new year filled with peace, love and joy.