Holidays are such special times. These annual, calendar celebrations bring families and friends together, usually around a table laden with food. Often that food is specific to the particular holiday – whether replete with symbolism or reflective of what is seasonably available or even recalling of the family’s home countries. In other words, my maternal family is Greek-Jewish coming from the northwestern city of Ioannina. Often, my holiday cooking takes advantage of recipes common to that area. Although I often sneak in gefilte fish – enjoyed by 100% Ashkenazi Constant Companion – and matzah ball soup – a favorite of Daughter.

For this year’s Rosh Hashanah dinner, the three of us gathered for the annual blessings over wine, bread, and candles. New fruits of the season are also blessed with the shehecheyanu, a prayer that expresses gratitude to God for new experiences. Earlier in the day, Daughter had picked a basket full of star fruit or carambola from a generous neighbor’s yard which we enjoyed after the blessing.

Of course, I was crazy this year … On the morning of the eve of Rosh Hashanah, I led a bus tour of the city for a group of British tourists! After getting home about 3:00, I rested a bit, then dove into the cooking. Knowing what was ahead of me, I started the soup the day before. I found all the zip-lock bags filled with vegetable trimmings distributed throughout the freezer waitaing to be used in a soup. They went into a large pot and simmered for an hour or two as the base of a lovely vegetable broth. The next morning, I brought the broth to a boil and put a whole chicken in with a bag of chopped onions, carrots, and celery; simmered after reaching a boil for about an hour. I cheat here and add the flavoring package from the commercial matzah ball soup mix. When I got home, as everything was cooking, I took the soup out of the refrigerator, boned the chicken, and heated it up. For the matzah balls, I use the mix and follow the directions to add oil an eggs, and refrigerate. Finally, I cook the matzah balls in the soup, not water as recommended on the box.

Our menu was the matzah ball soup, roast turkey breast in pomegranate and date molasses, jeweled rice, and a fennel and celery salad. I decided that we could forego dessert this year, it was a really rich meal that did not need it. And I had no time to make the pavlova I was hoping the serve!

Roast turkey breast in pomegranate and date molasses.* Preheat the oven at 400 degrees F. I used a large sweet potato cut into 1-2” chunks, small carrots, and peeled shallots that had been in the pantry too long. Toss vegetables in oil and distribute in your roasting pan. Mix together ½ cup of date molasses (silan) ¼ cup pomegranate molasses, 1/3 cup of oil, and 2 tbsp soy sauce. Prepare your turkey breast and put it in the roasting pan, moveing the vegetables aside. Spread the liquid mixture generously over the meat and the vegetables. Roast according to the weight of the meat (mine was about 4 pounds, at 20 minutes per pound that was 1 hour 20 minutes; I took it out a bit earlier as turkey breast tends to cook dry). Baste the meat several times while cooking.

*This recipe, often prepared for company, is originally for chicken with eggplant and small potatoes. I often add butternut squash and red onions, depending on what’s in the pantry.

Jeweled rice. I’ve seen numerous recipes for this elegant rice dish over the past few years. It’s often cited as “Sephardic.” From my knowledge, Jews from claim ownership of jeweled rice. Historically, it was not eaten by other Sephardic Jews. I like being specific about origins of recipes, rather than homogenizing sources.

Combine 1 ½ tsp salt, 1 tsp sweet paprika, ½ tsp turmeric,* ¼ tsp cumin, with 1/8 tsp black pepper.  Heat 2 tbsp olive oil in a deep pan with a lid; add 2 cups of rice (basmati is best+) and the spices, stir well and cook over a medium heat for 3-4 minutes making sure all the rice is coated with the oil and spices. Add 3 cups of water. Bring to boil, cover, and cook for 20 minutes over a low heat. Let the rice sit another 15 minutes covered.

While the rice is cooking, heat 2 tbsp olive oil. Add 2 chopped medium onions; cook about 20 minutes stirring frequently. Remove. Heat 1 tsp olive oil and add 10 chopped dried apricots, 6 chopped dried figs, ¼ cup dried cherries, ¼ cup pistachios or pumpkin seeds, Cook over a low heat for 2-3 minutes, stirring frequently. Add the onions, fruits and nuts and 1 12/ tsp lemon juice or orange zest to the rice and toss well. Before serving sprinkle pomegranate seeds on top (oops, I now realize I forgot this step).

*I imagine an authentic recipe would have saffron instead of turmeric.

+Many recipes recommend washing basmati rice 2 or 3 times. I find the rice comes out so much more tasty when washed.

Fennel and celery salad. This fresh salad has become a family favorite. I made it when we hosted a delightful group of filmmakers from India. The recipe can be found at https://creativelyannette.com/2020/01/21/challenging-dinners-diners-guests-with-requests/.

For more Rosh Hashanah recipes see the following posts – 9-25-2022, 8-30-2021 & 9-14-2021, 9-17 and 21-2020, 9-17 & 21. 2017.