Rosh Hashanah gives Jews a sense of change and new beginnings. One of the ways to signal that renewal and optimism is to engage our senses: We listen to the shofar, we serve honey cake and round challahs, we enjoy the sweetness of apples dipped in honey.
But beyond those basics, what are the foods that make Rosh Hashanah special? A number of high-profile Jewish chefs were queried about which dishes and recipes are a must on their holiday tables.
Many of the dishes are family recipes, from mothers and grandmothers. But the chefs have added a fresh or contemporary twist on their mishpocha’s must-haves — with the hope that, by making traditional foods, cooks today will build bridges to future generations.
Andrew Zimmern is a chef, writer and creator-host of the Travel Channel’s “Bizarre Foods” franchise. The dish that defines his Rosh Hashanah table is his grandmother’s chopped liver.
“Nothing signals the turn of the season more than our Rosh Hashanah family meals,” Zimmern said. “I make my grandmother’s recipes at our seder and then I don’t cook any of them again until Rosh Hashanah. The demolition of my first batch of Henriette’s chopped liver is all of my own doing, usually alone in the kitchen, and then I have to make a second batch for everyone else. Food is culture. And we all live on through it.” (Note: This recipe is not kosher.)
Henriette’s Chopped Chicken Liver
2 large eggs
Ice
2 Tbs. unsalted butter
½ cup rendered chicken fat (shmaltz)
1 onion, finely chopped
2 lbs. chicken livers, trimmed
Kosher salt and freshly ground pepper
2 Tbs. finely chopped parsley
Matzah, for serving
In a small saucepan, cover eggs with cold water and bring to boil; cook over moderate heat for 10 minutes. Drain and immediately fill pan with cold water. Add ice and let eggs stand until chilled. Drain eggs, peel and coarsely chop.
In very large skillet, melt butter in ¼ cup of rendered chicken fat (available in refrigerated section of many supermarkets). Add onion and cook over moderately low heat, stirring occasionally, until softened and just starting to brown, about 10 minutes. Season livers with salt and pepper and add them to skillet. Cook over moderately high heat, turning occasionally, until barely pink inside, about 8 minutes.
Scrape the mixture into bowl of a food processor and let cool slightly. Add chopped eggs and pulse until the livers are finely chopped but not completely smooth. Add parsley and remaining ¼ cup of chicken fat and pulse to combine. Season with salt and pepper.
Transfer chicken liver to a bowl. Press plastic wrap onto surface and refrigerate until chilled, about 45 minutes. The chopped liver can also be refrigerated overnight. Serve with the matzah.
Alon Shaya is executive chef and partner at the New Orleans restaurants Domenica, Pizza Domenica and Shaya, and was named best chef in the South by the James Beard Foundation. For Shaya, challah is central to the Rosh Hashanah festivities.
“I love keeping our traditions alive,” he said. “Challah is such a key part of the celebration — both as a symbol of the year’s cycle, and because it’s just so delicious.”
Round Challah Rolls
Courtesy of Shaya restaurant
Makes 1 dozen 7-oz. rolls
For the challah:
â…› cup instant yeast
1 tsp. sugar
2 cups warm water
9 cups bread flour
2 Tbs. salt
1 cup sugar
4 eggs
1 cup extra-virgin olive oil
Sea salt or sesame seeds to garnish
For the egg wash:
2 eggs
1 yolk
3 Tbs. water
In mixing bowl, whisk together yeast, 1 tsp. sugar and warm water. Let rest or “bloom” until the mixture appears foamy (5 minutes). Once foamy, add flour, salt, 1 cup sugar, eggs and extra-virgin olive oil to the bowl. With electric mixer’s dough hook attachment, mix on low for 4 minutes. Scrape the bowl, increase the speed to medium and continue to mix until dough comes together, is smooth and pulls away from the bowl (approximately another 4 minutes).
Place dough in a big greased bowl. Cover tightly with plastic wrap and proof until doubled (about 2 hours). Divide into 12 pieces. Set pieces aside; cover with plastic wrap to avoid dough from drying and cracking. To shape the dough, take one 7-oz. piece. Roll into a rectangle (approximately 6 inches by 4 inches), fold in left and right sides by ½ inch and roll up dough from top to bottom. Seal the dough by pressing seams with the base of your palm. From here, begin to roll the dough back and forth with your hands, creating an even rope that is 14 inches long. Spiral the dough tightly, forming a coil. Tuck end of coil underneath the roll to ensure roll does not unravel. Place on a sheet tray. Cover with plastic wrap and let double in size for about 1½ to 2 hours. Preheat oven to 325 degrees.
Once proofed, apply egg wash (below) to each roll and sprinkle with sea salt or sesame seeds. Bake for 10 minutes. Rotate pan and continue to bake until golden brown (5 to 10 minutes).
Egg wash: Whisk all ingredients together in a small bowl until smooth and well combined. Store in fridge until ready to use.
Joan Nathan is the author of 10 cookbooks, including “Jewish Cooking in America,” and for her, it’s all about the chicken soup. Courtesy of her 103-year-old mother, this recipe is a bit of a mash-up of various cultures, Nathan said.
“She loves getting chicken specials, and [she] also loves dark meat, so she adapted the recipe to what she likes to eat,” Nathan said, such as escarole, a leafy green vegetable. And “her matzah balls, coming from my father’s German tradition, are deliciously al dente.”
Pearl Nathan’s Chicken Soup with Matzah Balls
From “The New American Cooking”
(Reprinted with permission from Knopf)
For the soup:
20 cups water
6 whole chicken legs
2 celery stalks sliced into 2-inch chunks
2 whole carrots cut into 2-inch chunks
1 large onion peeled and quartered
1 parsnip cut into 2-inch chunks
2 Tbs. chopped fresh dill
2 tablespoons chopped fresh flat leaf parsley
Salt and freshly ground pepper to taste
8 oz. escarole
For the matzah balls:
3 Tbs. chicken fat or vegetable oil
6 large eggs, separated, well beaten
1 tsp. salt
¼ tsp. grated nutmeg
1¾ cups matzah meal
1 Tbs. chopped fresh flat leaf parsley
12 cups water
Soup: Put the water in a soup pot, add chicken legs and bring water to a boil. Simmer slowly for 2 hours, uncovered, skimming off the fat and foam as they rise to the top. After 2 hours, add celery, carrots, onion, parsnip, dill and parsley. Continue cooking slowly, uncovered, for another hour. Set a strainer over large bowl and strain the soup. Season it to taste with salt and pepper. Refrigerate soup, covered, overnight.
The next day, peel off the layer of fat that has formed on the surface. Bring the soup to a boil in a large pot (or freeze it for another day). Before serving, swirl in the escarole and add the matzah balls, cooking for a few minutes.
Matzah balls: In medium bowl, mix chicken fat or vegetable oil with eggs, salt, nutmeg, matzah meal and parsley. Refrigerate for a few hours or overnight. Bring the water to a boil in large pot. Take matzah mix out of the refrigerator and, after dipping your hands into a bowl of cold water, gently form balls the size of large walnuts. Add salt to the water and drop in the balls. Simmer slowly, covered, for about 20 minutes, remove from water with a slotted spoon and add to the soup.
Nir Mesika is the founder and executive chef at Timna, a modern Israeli restaurant in New York City that was dubbed the best new restaurant of 2015 by USA Today.
When Mesika was growing up in northern Israel, Rosh Hashanah was all about his mother’s short ribs. What makes it special, he said, is that “the family was waiting for it all day long” so they could gather to “share it from the same pot on the center of the table.” This recipe is a twist on his mother’s staple.
Braised Short Ribs with Squash Purée and Roasted Corn Salad
For the short ribs:
1 Tbs. olive oil
2 Tbs. grapeseed oil
2 lbs. short ribs, cut into individual ribs (3-inch pieces)
Kosher salt and black pepper
1 carrot, chopped
1 white onion, chopped
2 celery sticks, chopped
1 bottle dry red wine
3 bay leaves
2 sticks cinnamon
3 cloves
1 liter chicken stock (or water)
1 Tbs. silan date syrup
1 bunch fresh thyme
For the squash purée:
1 Tbs. smoked paprika
1 Tbs. cumin
4 Tbs. olive oil
3 sage leaves
1 lb. squash, diced
Salt and pepper
Tabasco sauce, optional
For the roasted corn salad:
2 ears yellow corn
Butter
1 tsp. sriracha sauce
1 Tbs. ginger chopped
1 red onion, sliced
1 jalapeño pepper
1 lime
1 bunch fresh cilantro
Salt and pepper
Olive oil
Short ribs: Place a large pot on stovetop over high heat and add olive oil and grape-seed oil. Season the short ribs well with fresh black pepper and kosher salt, place the meat in the pot and sear on each side until the short ribs develop a nicely browned, charred color. Add chopped carrot, onion and celery and caramelize well (about 5-10 minutes) until the vegetables are tender. Add the red wine, spices and chicken stock (or water). After cooking for 10 to 15 minutes, add the silan and fresh thyme, cover the pot and let simmer for 3 hours. Remove the short ribs once they are falling-off-the-bone tender and let rest.
Squash purée: Heat oven to 375 degrees. In a bowl, mix the smoked paprika, cumin and olive oil together, then add the sage and diced squash. Season with salt and pepper to taste. Place the mixture on a tray and put into the oven for about 40 minutes, until squash is tender. After squash has cooled, put it in blender and grind until texture is smooth. Finish with salt, pepper and a touch of Tabasco sauce, if desired.
Roasted corn salad: Butter corn and coat with sriracha sauce. Place on a tray and roast in the oven at 375 degrees for 40 minutes, or until the corn develops a charred color. Cut kernels from the cobs with a sharp knife and place into a bowl. Add ginger, sliced red onion, a few slices of jalapeño peppers, the juice from 1 lime, cilantro leaves, salt and pepper to taste, and a drizzle of olive oil; mix well.
To serve: Begin plating by spreading squash purée on the bottom of the plate. Add roasted corn salad. Place a few pieces of short ribs on top, with a few spoonfuls of the jus from the stock in the pot. Finish with a drizzle of olive oil and fresh thyme.
Lior Lev Sercarz is the owner of La Boite, an upscale spice shop in New York City, and author of “The Art of Blending” and the forthcoming “The Spice Companion.”
“Rosh Hashanah has always been about family for me, and this honey cake is my take on a favorite [holiday] food from my childhood,” said Sercarz, who grew up on a kibbutz in Israel. “I add spices like I do in all of my cooking, use silan [date honey] to modernize the recipe and reflect the season, and olive oil to connect my family here in New York City to my father’s groves back home in the Galilee.”
Spiced Honey Cake
2 extra-large eggs
¾ cup light brown sugar
2 cups all-purpose flour
¾ tsp. baking powder
½ tsp. baking soda
1 tsp. salt
1 Tbs. Reims N. 39 spice blend (or 1½ tsp. each ground ginger and nutmeg)
1 Tbs. whole anise seed
2 Tbs. sesame seeds
½ cup pomegranate juice
½ cup olive oil
1 cup silan, divided (¾ cup and ¼ cup)
Juice of 1 orange plus zest
Cream the eggs and sugar together in a large bowl or in a stand mixer with a paddle attachment. Beat for 3 to 4 minutes or until noticeably lighter in color and texture. Mix together all dry ingredients (except sesame seed) in a bowl and preheat oven to 350 degrees.
Add pomegranate juice, olive oil, ¾ cup silan, orange juice and zest to the eggs and sugar; stir well to combine. Gently incorporate the dry ingredients, mixing until it just comes together; a few lumps are OK. Pour into 2 greased or lined 8-inch loaf pans and bake for 30 to 40 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean. Remove to a rack to cool and brush the tops with the reserved silan; sprinkle sesame seeds on top.
Itta Werdiger Roth, founder of the Brooklyn pop-up restaurant the Hester, is going with a pomegranate chicken recipe. “Pomegranates are not only in season but they are also one of the symbols of Rosh Hashanah,” Roth said. “It’s a win-win situation!”
Pomegranate Chicken
Courtesy of My Jewish Learning
1 pomegranate
1 whole chicken
1 large bunch leeks, cleaned well and sliced into rounds
1 to 2 heads heads fennel, sliced into wedges (reserve fronds/tops and roughly chop)
Salt and pepper
2 Tbs. olive oil
2 cups Pom (or similar) pomegranate juice
2 Tbs. corn or potato starch
¼ bunch tarragon, chopped
¾ cup honey
2 Tbs. balsamic vinegar
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Remove the pomegranate seeds and discard the skin. Place the chicken in a roasting pan and sprinkle the leeks, fennel and 1/3 of the pomegranate seeds around, over it and inside the crevice. Combine salt, pepper, olive oil and most of the tarragon and fennel fronds in a bowl and rub it all over the chicken.
Mix the remaining wet ingredients in the same bowl, then whisk in the corn or potato starch until smooth. Pour over the chicken and vegetables and roast for about 1½ hours until the skin is crispy and, when pierced with a knife, the juices of the chicken run clear. Use the rest of the pomegranate seeds as a gorgeous colorful garnish together with the extra tarragon and fennel fronds.