Carrots with Pomegranate Jam Glaze

There are several ingredients in my life that I cook over and over.

Salmon. I make it so often for Ed and me that we are turning into fish.

Except that I also cook a lot of turkey, so maybe instead of growing fins and swimming up river we will grow feathers and start saying "gobble gobble."

And carrots. They're my go-to vegetable because most people like them and even people who say they hate vegetables usually say carrots are okay. 

I will definitely serve carrots for Rosh Hashanah. Why?

Tradition!

Pomegranates are also traditional for the holiday, so a while ago I cooked carrots and pomegranates (in the form of pomegranate molasses) together once and the result was really delicious.

But recently I decided to rework my old recipe using pomegranate jam that I bought from Crafted Kosher. 

It's a keeper.

Also, you can make the recipe up to the point of actually roasting them, so it's one of those wonderful dishes you can make ahead during this crazily busy holiday time.

Carrots with Pomegranate Jam

• 1/4 cup pomegranate jam
• 2 tablespoons orange juice
• 2 tablespoons vegetable oil
• 1 teaspoon grated fresh orange peel
• pinch cayenne pepper
• salt to taste
• 1 pound carrots
• 1 tablespoon finely chopped fresh mint

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper. Place the pomegranate jam, orange juice, vegetable oil, orange peel, cayenne pepper and salt in a small saucepan. Bring to a boil over high heat, stirring to blend the ingredients, and cook for one minute, making sure the jam has melted. Peel the carrots and cut them lengthwise in half or quarters, depending on thickness. Place the carrots on the parchment lined baking sheet and pour the jam mixture over them. Roast the carrots, stirring occasionally, for 18-20 minutes or until they are tender and well glazed. Sprinkle with mint and serve. 

Makes 4 servings

Plum Cake with Oat Streusel

Plum Torte with Oat Streusel 

It wouldn’t be the Jewish High Holiday season if you didn’t see at least one recipe for Plum Torte.

I suppose it’s because the holidays come at around the same time as the harvest for those small, dark purple Italian prune plums and what could be better than dessert made with the newest, freshest, soon-to-disappear seasonal fruit? (Although the torte recipe is so versatile that my niece Rachel Vail, renowned children’s book author, once made it with pears.)

I’ve made several versions over the years, including the NYTimes recipe and my Aunt Beck’s famous apple cake made with plums.

This year I’m baking a new variation for the holidays. If Plum Torte is so delicious, can’t it be even better — and lovelier looking — with a streusel top?

Yes!

Here it is:

PLUM CAKE WITH OAT STREUSEL

CAKE: 

• Streusel (recipe below)

• 1/2 cup butter, melted and cooled

• 2 cups all-purpose flour

• 1/2 cup sugar

• 1 tablespoon baking powder

• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda

• 1 teaspoon salt

• 2 teaspoons grated fresh orange peel

• 2 large eggs

• 1 cup milk

• 12 Italian prune plums, pitted and sliced

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Make the streusel and set it aside. Lightly grease a 9-inch springform pan. Melt the butter and set it aside to cool. Combine the flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, salt and orange peel in the bowl of an electric mixer. In another bowl, combine the eggs, milk and melted butter. Pour the liquid ingredients into the dry ones and beat for about one minute, until smooth. Turn the batter into the prepared cake pan. Top with the plum slices. Cover with the streusel. Bake for about 45 minutes or until a cake tester inserted into the center comes out clean. Let cool in the pan for 15 minutes. Remove the outer ring from the pan and let the cake cool completely.

Makes one cake serving 8 people

STREUSEL:

• 1/2 cup rolled oats

• 1/3 cup all-purpose flour

• 1/2 cup packed light brown sugar

• 1/8 teaspoon salt

• 4 tablespoons cold unsalted butter, cut into small pieces

Mix the oats, flour, brown sugar and salt in a bowl. Add the butter and work it into the flour mixture until it resembles coarse crumbs. Set aside.

Plain Old Roasted Chicken

Some people think chicken is boring and unexciting, but I disagree, especially when it comes to a whole roasted chicken.

To me, a large roasted chicken coming out of the oven, crispy-skinned and glistening, fragrant with the aromas of a happy family dinner, is so impressive, so festive, that I always serve it during the Jewish High Holidays. 

And can I tell you the other benefits?

Chicken is extraordinarily versatile. You can season it so many ways that you will never run out of ideas. Spice it with Baharat or sprinkle it with fresh chopped rosemary. Or just salt and pepper. Drizzle it with Balsamic vinegar and a bit of orange peel. Baste it with orange juice or wine or chicken stock. Give it some heat with jalapeno peppers or harissa or make it sweet and mild by cooking it with apples and honey.

I could go on, except I need to tell you that making roasted chicken is EASY.

Here’s the proof:      

Roasted Chicken

• 1 roasting chicken, 5-6 pounds
• 1 tablespoon olive oil 
• salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste
• garlic powder and paprika, optional
• ras el hanout, baharat, garam masala, harissa, chopped fresh herbs to taste, optional
• 1 to 1-1/2 cups chicken stock, white wine or juice

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees. Remove any pinfeathers and extra flesh and fat from the chicken. Take out the package of giblets inside the cavity (you may save these pieces for stock, except for the liver, or roast them along with the chicken). Brush the olive oil all over the chicken. Sprinkle with salt and pepper and optional seasonings. Place the chicken breast side down on a rack placed inside a roasting pan. Roast for 15 minutes. Reduce the oven heat to 350 degrees. Roast the chicken for 15 minutes. Pour the stock (wine or juice) over the chicken and roast for another 15 minutes. Turn the chicken breast side up. Roast the chicken, basting occasionally, for 45-60 minutes, depending on the size of the chicken, or until the chicken is cooked through (a meat thermometer inserted in the thickest part of the breast registers 160 degrees or 165 degrees in the thickest part of the thigh). Remove the chicken to a carving board and let rest for 15 minutes before carving. Serve with pan juices (you may strain the pan fluids if desired, and/or reduce them to desired thickness by boiling the fluids in a small saucepan over high heat).

Makes 6 servings

Carrots with Pomegranate Molasses Glaze

For me, the sight of the first autumn pomegranates isn’t a culinary experience so much as an emotional one. I picture my mother, young and beautiful, opening the door because my great uncle, my feter, has come to visit. He adored my mother —and she adored him — and I think he walked all the distance from his synagogue to our house, just to see her.

He came bearing gifts for us kids, my two brothers and me: root beer lollypops with pretzel-like twisted handles.

And pomegranates.

My brothers and I would peel off the thick pomegranate shell, bite off chunks of the glossy seeds and swish them around in our mouths. We downed the tangy juice and spit out the pits, phtoo, phtoo, phtoo to see whose went farthest. My mother rolled her eyes back in mock exasperation.

I can’t look at a pomegranate without thinking of my mother’s Uncle Mendel (she called him Max).

I haven’t actually eaten a pomegranate in quite a long time. These days the closest I’ve come is pomegranate juice, because it’s so healthy, and pomegranate molasses, because it’s so deliciously tangy and so useful. Like as a glaze for carrots, which I am going to serve as a side dish for Rosh Hashanah.

But I also bought a whole pomegranate yesterday and will feast on it like in the old days, when I was a kid and my mother was still with us and feter used to visit.

Now, if only I could find me some root beer lollypops.

Carrots with Pomegranate Molasses Glaze

2 pounds carrots

1 tablespoon coconut oil

1 tablespoon vegetable oil

salt, freshly ground black pepper, cinnamon, ground cumin, cayenne pepper

3 tablespoons pomegranate molasses

2 tablespoons chopped fresh mint

Preheat the oven to 425 degrees. Line a large baking sheet with parchment paper. Peel the carrots and cut them into strips (about 3-inches long, 3/8-inch wide). Place the strips on the parchment paper. Pour the coconut oil and vegetable oil over the carrots and toss to coat the carrots completely. Sprinkle the carrots lightly with salt, black pepper,  cinnamon, cumin and cayenne pepper. Toss again.

Roast the carrots for 15-18 minutes, stirring the strips 2-3 times. Pour the pomegranate molasses over the carrots and toss to coat them. Roast the carrots for another 6-8 minutes, stirring once or twice, or until tender and glazed. Place the strips in a serving bowl, sprinkle with mint and serve.

Makes 8 servings

An InLinkz Link-up

Texas Style Brisket with Apricot Honey Glaze

Texas Style Brisket with Apricot Honey Glaze

If you’re a kid, September means school.

If you’re a tree, September means gold and red leaves.

If you’re Jewish, September means brisket.

That’s because Rosh Hashanah is in September and although I haven’t done an actual, scientific study, there’s little doubt in my mind that brisket is the most popular dinner entree for Rosh Hashanah.

Everyone’s grandma has a special family recipe, but even though the seasonings may be different from family to family and some versions are sweeter than others and some include vegetables while others don’t, Rosh Hashanah Ashkenazi-style brisket is typically braised in lots of liquid and served with pan gravy.

Unfortunately my family won’t eat braised brisket and pan gravy.

When I prepare brisket, it’s always barbecued, more like Texas-style. I have some relatives in Texas, so I guess it’s okay. 

The meat is slooooow-cooked first, so it’s soft. But then it’s crisped up on the grill (or roasted in a hot oven or under a broiler), so it gets those gorgeous, crunchy, blackened burnt ends that are slightly chewy and lusciously sticky. 

Texas-style brisket with Apricot/Honey Barbecue Glaze. It’s what’s for Rosh Hashanah.                                                       

Texas Style Brisket with Apricot Honey Glaze:

Brisket:

• whole brisket of beef (about 8-10 pounds)

• salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste

• 2 large onions, sliced

Barbecue Sauce:

• 2 tablespoons olive oil

• 1 medium onion, finely chopped

• 2 cloves garlic, chopped

• 1 small chili pepper, deseeded and chopped

• 2 cups ketchup

• 1/2 cup apricot jam

• 1/2 cup cold brewed coffee

• 1/4 cup honey 

• 1/2 cup apple cider vinegar

• 2/3 cup brown sugar

• pinch of ground cloves
  
  To make the brisket: Preheat the oven to 225 degrees. Place the meat in a large roasting pan and sprinkle with salt and pepper if desired. Scatter the onions on top. Cover the pan tightly. Bake for 7-8 hours or until the meat is soft and tender. Remove the meat and onions. Puree the onions and pan juices to use for gravy over mashed potatoes (or noodles, other starches). Let the meat cool. Trim any large pieces of fat that have not melted. Set aside.

NOTE: you can make this with a smaller chunk of meat (cooking time shorter).

About a half hour before serving, remove the meat from the refrigerator and place it in a large roasting pan. Preheat the oven to 425 degrees. Slather some of the barbecue sauce over the meat and roast for about 15-20 minutes, turning the meat once and brushing it occasionally with more of the sauce (you will probably use a little more than half the amount of sauce). Slice and serve. OR: broil the brisket or reheat on a preheated outdoor grill.

Makes 10-12 servings

To make the barbecue sauce: Pour the olive oil into a saucepan over medium heat. Add the onion, garlic and pepper and cook for about 2 minutes to soften them slightly. Add the ketchup, jam, coffee, honey, cider vinegar, brown sugar and cloves and stir to blend them. Bring the mixture to a boil, reduce the heat to a simmer and cook uncovered, stirring frequently, for 12-15 minutes or until thick.

Date Honey Cake

I’ve fallen in love with Date Honey. Actually it isn’t honey, the kind made by bees, but a syrup made from dates. It’s thick (though not as thick as bee honey) and robust (but not as strong as molasses) and gloriously sweet, (though not overpowering).

I’ve used it on/in so many foods that I’ve had to order a few more jars (there are several brands online; I haven’t seen any in my local supermarkets). I like it best on plain yogurt, though some of the official “tasters” in my life said it was best over ice cream.

Beyond how delicious it tastes, I’ve also learned that in the bible, when it talks of honey, it means date honey, not bee honey (in most cases).

I love learning stuff like this.

All of this means that this year, I am making my Aunt Belle’s family-famous honey cake using date honey. Not that Aunt Belle’s cake isn’t still a big winner; just that Date Honey Cake is something new and I want to share it with my family and friends.

Date Honey Cake is not as heavy as regular honey cake, a fact that might be appealing to those who complain that Honey Cake is too dense.

Here’s the recipe:

Date Honey Cake

1-3/4 cups all-purpose flour

1/2 cup almond flour

1-1/2 teaspoons baking powder

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/2 teaspoon cinnamon

1/2 teaspoon ground ginger

1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg

2 teaspoons grated fresh orange peel

1 cup date honey

1/2 cup cold, strong coffee

1/4 cup vegetable oil

3 large eggs

1/3 cup sugar

sliced almonds, optional

Preheat the oven to 325 degrees. Lightly grease a 9” x 5” loaf pan. Line the pan with parchment paper, then lightly grease the paper. Set the pan aside. Mix the flour, almond flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg and orange peel together into a bowl. Set aside. Mix the date honey, coffee and vegetable oil together and set aside. 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 pan. Scatter some sliced almonds on top if desired. Bake for about 1 hour or until a cake tester inserted into the center comes out clean. Cool in the pan for 10 minutes then invert onto a cake rack to cool completely.

Makes 12 servings

Cream Cheese-Sour Cream Rugelach

Shhhh, don’t tell anyone that I already made these and they are hidden in baggies in my freezer downstairs.

Because if my family knows that there are some of these already baked they will take one — just a nibble, just ONE, and then another and then another — straight out of the freezer. Or thawed. Or rewarmed. Any way at all.

Is there anyone who doesn’t love Rugelach?

Well, not in my family.

Which is why they are hidden, because nobody eats just one. It is impossible. And I need them for my annual Yom Kippur Break-the-Fast.   

Cream Cheese-Sour Cream Rugelach

1/2 pound butter

1/2 pound cream cheese

4 cups flour, sifted

3/4 teaspoon salt

1 cup dairy sour cream

filling

Beat the butter and cream cheese together in a mixer at medium speed until smooth and uniform. Add the flour and salt, blend them in slightly, but not completely. Add the sour cream and mix until a soft, smooth uniform dough has formed. Cut the dough into 6 equal pieces. Wrap each piece and refrigerate for 6 hours or until thoroughly firm and cold. Preheat the oven to 375 degrees. Roll each piece of dough on a lightly floured surface about 1/4-inch thick. Spread equal amounts of filling on top. Cut each circle into 8-10 wedges. Roll the wedges from the wide end to the pointy end. Curve slightly to form a crescent. Tuck in the pointy end so it is on the bottom. Place the crescents on an ungreased cookie sheet. Refrigerate them for 30 minutes before baking. Bake for about 30 minutes or until lightly browned. Makes 48-60

NOTE: you may roll each circle jelly-roll style and cut the rolls into Rugelach cylinders.

Chocolate-Raspberry Filling:

6 tablespoons melted butter

1 cup raspberry jam

8 ounces finely chopped chocolate

1/2 chopped finely chopped nuts, optional

Brush each dough circle with some of the melted butter; spread the raspberry jam on top, scatter the chocolate over the jam, scatter the nuts over the chocolate.

Cinnamon-Raisin-Nut Filling:

6 tablespoons melted butter

3/4 cup sugar

1-1/2 teaspoons cinnamon

3/4 cup raisins

1/2 cup finely chopped nuts

Brush each circle with some of the melted butter. Mix the sugar and cinnamon together and sprinkle each circle with equal amounts of the cinnamon sugar. Scatter with raisins and nuts. 

News Times

I read your article today in the news times…wonderful! I wanted to add that I make rugalach all the time and for myself I put splenda instead of sugar on the rolled out dough! For the base I use  a fruit spread or jam sweetened with fruit juice or jam with no sugar, then nuts and raisins. People can not tell the difference, and for our diabetic friends , they LOVE it!

take care,’

Barbara

Hi Barbara

Thanks for this message. I’ve never baked rugelach with Splenda but it’s good to know how delicious it is. So important for people who can’t eat sugar. 

Ronnie

Mandelbrot

See these slices of Mandelbrot? I offered one to a friend of mine who is Italian-American and he said “I love biscotti. Thanks!”

And of course he was right. Mandelbrot is the Jewish version of biscotti: cookies (or biscuits) that have been baked twice. First you bake the sweet dough in the form of a low cake and when it is finished baking and cools, you slice the loaf and toast the slices until they’re dry and crispy.

In my family we prefer the slices soft, so I serve Mandelbrot after only one baking, which means they actually aren’t exactly bi-scotti. But they are really good. At your house you can do it either way of course.

Mandelbrot (like biscotti) can be plain or be swirled with chocolate or contain chopped nuts and/or fruit. This is our favorite family version. 

It freezes well in case you want to make some in advance.

Mandelbrot

• 1/2 cup butter or margarine

• 1 cup sugar

• 3 large eggs

• 2-1/2 to 3 cups all-purpose flour

• 2-1/2 teaspoons baking powder

• 1 tablespoon brandy or apple juice

• 1 teaspoon almond extract

• 1/4 teaspoon salt

• 1/2 cup chopped nuts

• 1/3 cup cut up candied cherries

• 1/3 cup chocolate chips

• 1/3 cup raisins

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Lightly grease a cookie sheet. Cream the butter and sugar together in the bowl of a mixer set at medium speed for about 2 minutes or until creamy and well blended. Add the eggs one at a time, beating after each addition. Add 2-1/2 cups of the flour, baking powder, brandy, almond extract and salt and beat at medium speed until the ingredients are thoroughly blended. Blend in the remaining flour if the pastry is very sticky. Fold in the nuts, cherries, chocolate chips and raisins. On a lightly floured surface, divide the dough into thirds and shape each piece into an oval loaf about 1-1/2 to 2 inches thick. Place the loaves on the cookie sheet. Bake for 25-30 minutes or until the loaves are golden brown. Remove from the oven and let cool. Serve sliced, as is, or toast the slices for extra crispness.

Makes 3 loaves. 

NOTE: sometimes I cut the dough in half, rather than thirds, to make larger loaves/slices. These need a few more minutes of baking time.

Applesauce Sour Cream Coffee Cake

I love when apple season starts. Mostly because I think the apples for sale in the market are tasteless and boring and the new varieties are way too sweet. I prefer the old fashioned apples I can get, but only once a year, at the local orchard.

Winesap, Gravenstein, Stayman. These taste like I remember apples tasting when I was a kid. The way apples are supposed to taste. Crisp, tart and sweet at the same time. Fresh. With real floral-fruit flavor that makes it seem as if it was just picked, not stored in a bin for a few months.

I don’t think of myself as a food snob who only buys at specialty stores and sneers at supermarkets. I shop at supermarkets all the time.

But apples are another story. So I eat them and cook with them mostly in the autumn when I can get the good ones. Rhode Island Greenings for pie. Winesaps and Northern Spys for cake. Jonathans and Romes for baked apples.

This week I’m thinking about Apple Cake because Rosh Hashanah is just a few weeks away and apple cake of one kind or another is always on my menu for the new year holiday. 

Applesauce Sour Cream Coffee Cake

• 1/3 cup sugar

• 1/4 cup butter

• 1/2 cup applesauce

• 1/3 cup sour cream

• 1 large egg, beaten

• 1 tablespoon freshly grated lemon peel

• 1-1/2 cups all-purpose flour

• 1 tablespoon baking powder

• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda

• 1/2 teaspoon salt

• 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

• 1/4 teaspoon nutmeg

• 1/3 cup milk

streusel topping:

• 1/4 cup brown sugar

• 3 tablespoons cold butter

• 6 tablespoons all-purpose flour

• 1/4 teaspoon salt

• 1/3 cup chopped nuts

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees. Lightly grease an 8” square cake pan. Beat the sugar and butter together with a hand mixer or electric mixer set at medium speed for 1-2 minutes or until the mixture is smooth and creamy. Add the applesauce, sour cream, egg and lemon peel and beat the ingredients for 1-2 minutes or until smooth. Sift the flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, cinnamon and nutmeg into a bowl. Add half the dry ingredients to the butter mixture and beat until well blended. Add half the milk and beat until well blended. Repeat until all the flour and milk have been used up. Pour the batter into the prepared pan. Combine the streusel topping ingredients and mix them with your fingers, a pastry blender or two knives until the mixture is mealy. Sprinkle over the batter. Bake for 30-35 minutes or until a cake tester inserted into the middle of the cake comes out clean. Let the cake cool in the pan 10 minutes then carefully invert the cake twice onto a cake rack to cool completely. Turn the cake right side up to cool completely.

Makes 8-10 servings