Sign up for Weekday J and get the latest on what's happening in the Jewish Bay Area.

Food coverage is supported by a generous donation from Susan and Moses Libitzky.

When Michelle Tandowsky, Camp Newman’s advisory board chair, asked her friend Barb Shenson to teach a cooking class for the mid-September Jewish Food & Wine Retreat at the Jewish summer camp, there was only one possible answer.

Shenson describes herself as “a Jew by food.” So “whenever someone asks me to do anything Jewish, it’s an automatic ‘yes.’”

Shenson, a caterer, cooking instructor and cookbook author, has taught many Jewish cooking classes over the years at Peninsula and South Bay synagogues.

“To me, sharing the joys of not only food, but what to put on your table for a Jewish holiday, is so important,” she said.

Given the time of year and a request from retreat organizers, she agreed to demonstrate how to prepare three Sephardic side dishes for Rosh Hashanah: bourekitas (small pastries) with a leek and feta filling, honey-roasted carrots with pomegranate seeds, and an apple almond tart.

“Many people get stumped over what vegetable to serve as a side,” she said. “Green beans and asparagus get tired after awhile.” 

Leeks are a symbolic Rosh Hashanah food in Sephardic tradition. The Aramaic word for “leeks” is similar to the word meaning to cut off or destroy.

“Leeks symbolize hoping those who wish us ill will be cut off and their bad intentions punished,” Shenson said, while noting that the recipe is a twist on one she learned in a cooking class in Israel.

While carrots, honey and dried fruit are in tsimmes, a traditional Ashkenazi dish, Shenson will showcase a recipe for honey-roasted carrots served with pomegranate seeds. 

The apple almond tart is Shenson’s answer to honey cake, a traditional dessert she admits she’s never been a fan of. The tart uses almond flour, a popular ingredient in Sephardic baking, plus the flavor goes well with nearly any fruit.

Shenson is a Bay Area native who grew up in San Rafael — her parents were founding members of Congregation Rodef Sholom — and now lives in Foster City. She is co-owner of Catering by Barb and Stephanie.

Her grandmother, who lived in the Sunset District in San Francisco, was the cook in the family and always hosted the holiday meals. Her grandmother kept kosher, and Shenson remembers going with her to the kosher butcher on McAllister Street, then a Jewish area, where she’d buy live chickens.

“I go back that far,” she joked.

“My grandfather didn’t like to go to temple on Erev Rosh Hashanah, so my grandmother would do a huge dinner instead,” she said.

The meal always began with chicken soup with kreplach. 

“There isn’t a year that goes by that I don’t make them,” Shenson said. While the recipe she uses is pretty much her grandmother’s, she has implemented one significant upgrade. She uses her pasta machine to make the dough for the meat-filled dumplings.

While Shenson has expanded her holiday menus over the years, kreplach are always served on Rosh Hashanah.

“It sounds so crazy, but something bad will happen if I don’t make them. They’re like a good luck charm,” she said. 

Shenson is her married name, but no relation to the owners of Shenson’s Kosher Market, which had a 100-plus-year run in San Francisco. Regardless, one of her uncles worked at the famed Stage Deli in New York.

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by J. The Jewish News (@jewishnews_sf)

Shenson attributes her love of food to not only her grandmother’s legendary holiday dinners, but her father’s love of San Francisco’s best restaurants. She recalls eating with her father at lauded restaurants like Stars and remembers her mortification when he casually asked Stars chef-owner Jeremiah Towers, who happened to be standing at the door one time, how many times he turned the tables in a day. (As an accountant, he was curious about such things.) She scolded her father for not showing the chef proper respect.

She took a cake-decorating class when she was 12 but really started cooking after she got married as an undergraduate at UC Berkeley. When her husband’s grandmother gave her a subscription to Gourmet magazine, she read it cover to cover, often going in search of some of the more obscure ingredients.

She began her career as a software tester. It was only when she got laid off more than two decades ago that she took a teacher training course with HomeChef, a company founded by Judith Ets-Hokin, the mother of former J. cooking columnist Rebecca Ets-Hokin. Shenson became a cooking instructor and cooking school manager. That kickstarted her culinary career, which has also included running cooking demos for high-end kitchen appliances. 

She worked for years with Stephanie Lucas, a personal chef and caterer. The two got along so well that they decided to strike out on their own about a decade ago and launched Catering by Barb and Stephanie.

They focus on seasonal, international cuisine. Shenson said no two menus are ever alike.

During pandemic lockdowns, they started a weekly meal-delivery service to stay afloat while in-person events were canceled. They called it “Dinner at Your Door,” and the name stuck. Each week, they send out an email alerting their subscribers to the menu. Delivery is every Wednesday. It remains a core part of their business, Shenson said.

While Shenson hasn’t set her own Rosh Hashanah menu yet — besides the kreplach, of course — she knows she’ll be making a holiday dinner because that’s non-negotiable in her family.

“You get what you give. And if you set up an annual holiday dinner, your kids just know and they’ll be there,” she said. “There’s never a question of ‘Are you doing it or not?’ They just know.”

Here are the recipes that Shenson plans to demonstrate during her cooking class at the retreat.

Honey Roasted Carrots with Goat Cheese, Pomegranate Arils and Fresh Herbs

Adapted from Tieghan Gerard’s “Half Baked Harvest Every Day”

Serves 4

• 2 lbs. medium carrots, peeled (about 12)
• 2 Tbs. extra-virgin olive oil, plus extra for drizzling
• 2 Tbs. honey
• ½ tsp. garlic powder
• ½  tsp. dried thyme or ½ Tbs. fresh thyme
• Salt and pepper to taste
• Generous pinch of Aleppo pepper
• ¼ cup pomegranate arils (seeds)
• ¼ cup goat cheese, crumbled
• 2 Tbs. chopped parsley

Heat oven to 400 degrees. Toss carrots with olive oil, honey, garlic powder, thyme, salt, pepper and Aleppo pepper. Place on parchment-lined baking sheet. Roast 30-35 minutes or until tender. It may take longer depending on thickness of carrots.

Remove from oven, cool slightly and place on serving platter. Garnish with pomegranate arils, goat cheese and parsley. Drizzle lightly with additional olive oil. Serve warm or room temperature.

Caramelized Leeks and Feta Bourekitas

Makes 24

Note: This recipe uses an easy-to-make pastry dough. However if you prefer not to make the dough, 1 package (2 sheets of puff pastry) can be substituted. See instructions below for using puff pastry.

Dough 

• 2¼ cups flour 
• 1 tsp. salt 
• 1 tsp. baking powder 
• 7 Tbs. cold unsalted butter, cut into 10 pieces
• 1 cup sour cream 

Filling 

• 2 Tbs. olive oil
• 1 tsp. unsalted butter
• 2 large leeks, chopped, 2½ to 3 cups
• ¼ tsp. sugar
• ¼ tsp. salt
• 2 cloves garlic, chopped
• 1 Tbs. chopped fresh oregano or other fresh herb such as dill, thyme or mint
• 1½ cups crumbled sheep’s milk aka Greek feta (do not use the pre-crumbled style)

Topping 

• 1 large egg, lightly beaten
• Sesame seeds 

For the dough: Add flour, salt and baking powder to food processor. Pulse for 3 seconds. Add butter and pulse in 10 second intervals until the flour is a coarse mixture.

Add sour cream and process until dough comes together. Remove dough from processor. On lightly floured work surface, lightly knead until it comes together into a ball. Chill dough for 15 minutes in refrigerator.

For the filling: Heat oil and butter over medium heat. Once hot, add leeks, sugar and salt. Stir to combine and lower heat to medium low. Sauté for 10 minutes. Add garlic and fresh herb of choice. Sauté an additional 5 minutes. Remove from heat and let cool to room temperature.

In bowl, mash together leek mixture and feta. Season to taste with salt and pepper.

Heat oven to 350 degrees. Divide dough into 24 large walnut-sized balls. On lightly floured work surface, use palm of your hand or rolling pin to create flat circles of dough 3½ -4 inches across.

Place teaspoon of filling in center of each circle. Fold in half to form a semi-circle. Pinch edges to seal. You can also crimp with tines of fork. Place on parchment-lined baking sheet. Brush bourekitas with egg wash and garnish with sesame seeds. Bake for 25 minutes until golden brown. Let cool for 10 minutes.

To freeze bourekitas before baking: Prepare, fill and seal the pastries. Do not coat with egg wash. Place unbaked pastries in single layers on baking sheet. Place in freezer. When frozen solid, transfer to airtight container. To bake: Heat oven to 350 degrees. Remove bourekitas from freezer (no need to defrost) and arrange on parchment-lined baking sheet. Brush with egg wash and sprinkle with sesame seeds, Bake for 30-35 minutes till golden brown.

If using puff pastry: Thaw 1 package (2 sheets) puff pastry, per package instructions. Heat the oven to 375 degrees.

Unfold 1 pastry sheet on a lightly floured surface.  Roll the pastry sheet into a 16-by-12-inch rectangle. Cut into 12 circles about 3½ inches across.  Repeat with remaining pastry sheet, making 24 in all.

Spoon 1 tsp. feta mixture on half of each pastry circle. Brush edges of pastry with water.  Fold in half to form a semi-circle. Pinch edges to seal or crimp with tines of a fork. Place on parchment-lined baking sheets. Brush pastries with egg wash and sprinkle with sesame seeds. Bake for 15 minutes or until bourekitas are golden brown. Let cool for 10 minutes.

Apple Almond Tart served with Honey Whipped Cream

Serves 8

• 2 cups almond flour
• ½ cup plus 2 Tbs. granulated sugar, divided
• ⅓ cup all-purpose flour
• ½  tsp. salt
• 2 eggs, lightly beaten
• ¼ cup milk
• 1 tsp. vanilla
• 4 Tbs. butter, melted, plus 2 Tbs. cut into small cubes
• 2-3 baking apples such as Granny Smith or Honeycrisp (can substitute any seasonal fruit)
• Honey Whipped Cream (recipe below)

Heat oven to 350 degrees. Butter a fluted 9-inch round baking dish, tart pan or pie dish with 1-inch depth.

In medium bowl, stir together almond flour, ½ cup sugar, flour and salt. Stir in eggs, milk, vanilla and melted butter. Stir until smooth. Pour batter into prepared dish.

Peel apples. Cut apple away from core and cut into ¼-inch slices. Place sliced apples in decorative pattern into batter.

Sprinkle with 2 Tbs. sugar. Scatter butter pieces over tart.

Bake until golden brown and slightly puffed, 40-45 minutes.

Honey Whipped Cream: Place 2 cups cold heavy cream, 2 Tbs. honey and 1 tsp. vanilla in deep bowl. Whip until soft peaks form. Store in refrigerator until ready to serve. Serve tart warm or room temperature, garnished with whipped cream.