Soup’s done, turkey’s ready to roast, challah is baking (and the house smells too wonderful to leave, so I’m not going to). Vegetables washed and trimmed, prepared for cooking. Sweet potato casserole finished. It’s holiday time. Festive dinner, candles, apple slices and honey.

Dessert of course.

What?

My mother’s famous Apple Crisp. She used to make it every autumn. It was one of my Dad’s favorites and I like to make it for the Jewish holidays because it brings back such wonderful memories of my parents. I miss them both.

My Mom made her Apple Crisp with Raisin Bran but yesterday, when I shopped for the dinner, I bought Oat Bran flakes and used them instead. Guess what?

It was as delicious as ever.

Here’s the recipe. Make it anytime you want something especially delicious for dessert. Maybe too late for Rosh Hashanah, but definitely perfect for a Yom Kippur Break-the-Fast or, even better, for Sukkot.

Lily Vail’s Famous and Wonderful Apple Crisp

5-6 tart apples, peeled and sliced

1/4 cup sugar or honey

2 tablespoons melted butter

1 teaspoon cinnamon

1/4 teaspoon salt

3 tablespoons butter

1/3 cup sugar

1 tablespoon all-purpose flour

2 cups raisin bran or oat bran flakes

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Place the apple slices in a baking dish. Add the 1/4 cup sugar, melted butter, cinnamon and salt and toss the ingredients to mix them completely and coat the apples with the seasonings. In a mixer bowl beat the butter, 1/3 cup sugar and flour together until well blended. Add the cereal and stir until the mixture looks like crumbles. Scatter the crumbles over the apples. Cover the pan with foil or a lid. Bake for 25 minutes. Remove the cover and bake for about 15 minutes or until the apples are tender and the top is golden brown and crispy. Best when still warm. Makes 6 servings

Need a quick soup for Rosh Hashanah? Try this Carrot and Parsnip Soup, which comes from my book Hip Kosher. Just a few ingredients. And ingredients can be substituted to make it fit in a meat, dairy or pareve meal. It can be frozen too, so you can make plenty and store it for when it’s cold outside and you need a good, light, but nourishing starter for dinner.

And also — it’s loaded with vegetables. That’s a good thing.

Carrots and parsnips are both sweet vegetables, which makes this soup particularly nice for Rosh Hashanah, when sweet foods are in order. While not quite as ubiquitous as honey, carrots have always been a key High Holiday food. The Yiddish word for carrot is “mehren,” which means to “increase” or “multiply,” and thus underscores wishes for good fortune and good deeds in the new year.

So here it is. Good, cheap and easy to make.

Carrot and Parsnip Soup

2 tablespoons olive oil

1 large onion, chopped

2 medium garlic cloves, chopped

1 teaspoon finely chopped fresh ginger

1/2 pound carrots, peeled and chopped

1/2 pound parsnips, peeled and chopped

1 teaspoon ground cumin

3/4 teaspoon ground coriander

salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste

4 cups vegetable or chicken stock

Heat the olive oil in a soup pot or large saucepan over medium heat. Add the onion and cook for 2-3 minutes, or until the onion is slightly softened. Add the garlic and ginger and cook for another minute. Add the carrots, parsnips, cumin, coriander and salt and pepper to taste and stir. Pour in the stock and one cup water. Bring to a boil, then lower the heat to a simmer. Cook, partially covered, for about 25 minutes or until the vegetables are tender. Puree the ingredients, return the soup to the pan and reheat to serve. Makes 4-6 servings

For cream soup: use vegetable stock; add 1/2 cup half and half cream; reheat.

For dairy soup: prepare soup with vegetable stock and serve with a dollop of plain yogurt or dairy sour cream

Garnish: with croutons or pita crisps

Pita crisps: brush pita bread wedges with olive oil and bake for 5-6 minutes at 400 degrees (or until crispy and browned)

The brining chicken and turkey thing that’s come along in recent years is nothing new to anyone who is kosher or who has ever eaten a kosher chicken or turkey. Kosher birds are all brined, which is what makes them so ultra-juicy-and-delicious. They are soaked and salted for religious reasons, but no matter why, they are good, good, good. So even if you are not kosher, if you haven’t had a kosher chicken cooked in soup or roasted in the oven, you are missing out.

Also, if you are too busy cooking for the holidays or just plain old busy in general to cook regular dinner and you happen to live near Stamford, CT., you should know that Fairway has new rotisserie kosher chickens for sale and they are terrific. You know how when you walk into a store and you can smell coffee or bread and it makes you want to buy more food? Well at Fairway it’s the kosher chickens. You go in, smell the smell and want to light some candles and sit down to dinner.

There are also some new packaged side dishes made from the local Sweet on You cafe and catering place. The ratatouille (in the photo) is wonderful. Hot, warm or cool. They also have sides of quinoa (with Moroccan seasonings), Couscous, Roasted Potatoes and Lemon Rice Pilaf.

I used to shiver at the thought of honey cake. The old Rosh Hashanah dessert, every year, year in, year out. Too sweet, too sticky, too oozing with whatever it was that it oozed with.

Tastes change. I now love honey cake and don’t think it’s too sweet at all. I do use a good honey, not the store brand, and I can taste the difference. 

So, now that it’s time for Rosh Hashanah and all things honey, it’s time for me to get out Aunt Belle’s recipe. She was known for only this one recipe and it is a good one. She made her honey cake spicy. And citrusy. And this, too, makes the big difference. The seasonings and refreshing flavors or orange and lemon cut the ultra-sweet honey rush.

This is a good cake (which you can freeze, by the way).

Here’s the recipe. But in case you hate to bake, you can buy a good honey cake for the holidays here: http://www.koshercarepackages.com/

Aunt Belle’s Spicy Honey Cake

3-1/2 cups all-purpose flour

2-1/2 teaspoons baking powder

1 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon cinnamon

1 teaspoon ground ginger

1/4 teaspoon grated nutmeg

1-1/2 tablespoons grated fresh orange peel

2 teaspoons grated fresh lemon peel

2 cups honey

1 cup strong coffee

1/4 cup vegetable oil

4 large eggs

3/4 cup sugar

sliced almonds

Preheat the oven to 325 degrees. Lightly grease two 9” x 5” loaf pans. Line the pans with parchment paper, then lightly grease the paper. Set the pans aside. Sift the flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, ginger and nutmeg together into a bowl. Stir in the orange peel and lemon peel and set aside. Heat the honey, coffee and vegetable oil together over low-medium heat for a minute or two, just enough to blend them together easily. Set aside to cool. In the bowl of an electric mixer set at medium speed, beat the eggs and sugar for 2-3 minutes or until well blended. Stir in the honey mixture and blend it in thoroughly. Add the flour mixture and blend it in thoroughly. Spoon the batter into the prepared pans. Scatter some sliced almonds on top. Bake for about 1-1/4 hours or until a cake tester inserted into the center comes out clean. Cool in the pans for 10 minutes then invert onto a cake rack to cool completely. Makes 2 cakes

I am a little obsessed with honey right now. It’s not just that we eat so much of it on the Jewish holidays, it’s also about the worker bees.

Because I know how diligent honeybees are. Gathering nectar and storing it in sacs in their tummies. Handing over the harvest to more worker bees back at the hive, who actually chew the nectar, changing it from sucrose into glucose and fructose.

After that more worker bees put the liquid into honeycombs, where it becomes thick and syrupy as its water content evaporates.

It reminds me of the (mostly) women who gather ingredients at the store and don’t hand over the harvest but actually spend more time changing the ingredients into delicious dinners and lunches and desserts and wrap up everything and put it in the fridge or freezer so everyone in the family can eat well, especially during the holidays.

But the work is gratifying, as it must be for the bees. Because it’s when family comes and it’s really nice when everyone buzzes around the home fires.

Besides, a new year always seems to start off hopeful, doesn’t it? So we can celebrate even though — and maybe even because — we’ve worked so hard.

But back to the honey.

This year, in addition to serving apples and honey, I am cooking all sorts of savory honey-infused items. Like the Roasted Cider Chicken recipe I posted yesterday. And these really tasty Braised Short Ribs, a recipe you can make way ahead and freeze!

Braised Short Ribs with Honey

5-6 pounds short ribs with bones or 4 pounds boneless

all-purpose flour

4 tablespoons vegetable oil

2 large onions, sliced

2 cloves garlic, chopped

1 cup bottled chili saice

1/2 cup red wine

1/4 cup apple cider vinegar

1/4 cup honey

1 bay leaf

1 teaspoon ground ginger

salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste

Dredge the meat in some flour and shake off the excess. Heat 2 tablespoons of the vegetable oil in a large saute pan over medium heat. Add the meat, a few pieces at a time and cook them for 3-4 minutes per side or until lightly browned. Remove the meat to a dish and set aside. Pour the remaining vegetable oil in the pan. Add the onions and cook, stirring occasionally for about 3 minutes. Add the garlic and cook briefly. Return the meat to the pan. Pour in the chili sauce, red wine, water, apple cider vinegar and honey. Add the bay leaf and ginger, stir the ingredients and spoon the sauce over the meat a few times. Sprinkle with salt and pepper if desired. Cover the pan, turn the heat to low and cook for about 4 hours or until the meat is tender. reduce the sauce if desired: skim the fat and cook at high heat. Makes 6 servings

I’m in an apples and honey frame of mind these days because the Jewish High Holidays are coming. So next Wednesday night, when Rosh Hashanah begins at sundown, my family will be snacking on slices of apples dipped in honey. Just like my family did when I was a kid. Just like other Jewish families do and have been doing for generations.

It wouldn’t be Rosh Hashanah without that. 

But besides the usual apples and honey snack, I like to make food that has apples and honey in it. Like this Roasted Cider Chicken, which I will probably make for dinner the first night of the holiday. 

Roasted Cider Chicken

2 cups apple cider

2 tablespoons honey

6 whole cloves

6 thin slices fresh ginger

1 roasting chicken, 5-7 pounds

2 tablespoons softened margarine, vegetable oil (or butter)

salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste

2 teaspoons fresh thyme leaves or 1/2 teaspoon dried thyme

1 small red onion, sliced

2 tart apples, peeled, cored and quartered

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees. Combine the cider, honey, cloves and ginger in a small saucepan. Bring to a boil over high heat and cook until the liquid has reduced to one cup. Discard the cloves and ginger. Set the liquid aside. Rinse and dry the chicken. Place it on a rack in a roasting pan. Rub the chicken with the margarine or vegetable oil (or butter if you are not kosher) and sprinkle with salt, pepper and thyme. Place the chicken breast side down on the rack. Scatter the onion in the bottom of the roasting pan. Place the pan in the oven. Immediately reduce the oven heat to 350 degrees. Roast for 30 minutes. Pour the reduced cider over the chicken. Roast for another 30 minutes, basting the chicken once or twice, then turn it breast side up. Place the apples in the pan. Roast for another hour or so, or until a meat thermometer inserted into the thickest part of the breast reads 160 degrees F. Baste several times during the roasting period. Remove the chicken to a carving board. Strain the pan fluids, remove the fat and pour the fluids into a small saucepan. Let the chicken rest at least 15 minutes before carving. While carving, cook the pan fluids to reduce them to a syrupy consistency. Serve the chicken and fluids separately. Makes 6-8 servings

How to Eat Our Peas

Last week President Obama told us that we have to “eat our peas.” Of course, he was speaking metaphorically about the need to reach a deal on the debt ceiling. And his reference to peas kind of made it seem as if peas weren’t such a favorite and that eating them was more of a have-to than a want-to.

I always thought everyone liked peas. Growing up it was right up there with carrots, corn and green beans that we ate every week. And so did my friends. Most of the moms I knew, including my own bought boxes of frozen peas and carrots that were cut up into tiny dice, so we got a little of each at dinner and it was nice and colorful. 

But during the summer my mother bought fresh peas and my brothers and I helped shuck them because after we opened the pod and spilled the peas into a bowl we would chew on the pods, which were pleasantly crunchy and we loved when the grassy tasting juices spurted into our mouths.

Those fresh peas were awesome. Yes, even kids ate them. My mother would simmer them, drain them and then roll them in a little melted butter. If you ever want your kids to eat their peas, or try any vegetable, this is definitely one way that might work.

But if you don’t love peas straight out, maybe you’d like this recipe for Cold Summer Pea Soup. It’s a riff on the thick and steamy winter Dutch pea soup but uses fresh peas instead of dried. You can make it with pancetta or bacon and even vegetarian soy bacon if you’re kosher or vegetarian. The vague smoky flavor is reminiscent of the hot winter version. But you can also leave the bacon out and serve it garnished with chopped chives.

Cold Summer Pea Soup

4 ounces pancetta, bacon or soy bacon

3 tablespoons olive oil

1 medium onion, chopped

1 large Yukon Gold or all-purpose potato, peeled and chopped

6 cups vegetable stock

6 cups shelled peas (or use 3 10-ounce packages thawed frozen peas)

3/4 cup plain yogurt or buttermilk

sat and freshly ground black pepper to taste

plain yogurt or dairy sour cream

Dice the pancetta, if used and fry it (or the bacon or soy bacon) in a soup pot for a few minutes over medium heat until crispy. Remove the pieces, crumble them and set them aside. Pour the olive oil into the pan. Add the onion and potato and cook, stirring occasionally, for 2-3 minutes. Add the stock, bring to a simmer, cover the pan and cook for 10-12 minutes or until the potatoes are tender. Add the peas and cook for 5 minutes. Remove the pan from the heat and remove the cover. Let the soup cool. Puree the soup in a blender or with a hand blender. Whisk in the yogurt or buttermilk. Taste for seasoning and add salt and pepper to taste. Serve with a blob of yogurt or sour cream. Garnish with the crumbled bacon. Makes 6 servings