So Rosh Hashanah starts Friday night at sundown. Goodbye, 5766, hello 5767! We are having another couple over for dinner and have been crafting our menu. As it stands now:
Brisket (made to Abby's mother' secret recipe)
Broccoli Rabe with Garlic
Mizhoura (Tunisian Pickled Carrots with Harissa)
Homemade Challah with Saffron and Golden Raisins
Honey Cake
The last two items will be interesting. The brisket we can make in our sleep - we have made it probably a dozen times together. Honey cake nearly destroyed our relationship. We attempted my grandmother's recipe several times before giving up on it - yellowish and brittle, it reminded me of something that they feed elementary school students for snack. A recipe from online produced a loafy cake with a horrid burnt aftertaste. Both times, dessert ended in bitter fighting and recrimination. This is a new recipe that includes a syrup - sort of a Turkish or Arabic style. We'll see.
The Challah is a Chernowizter style from "A Blessing of Bread" by Maggie Glezer, a really cool compendium of Jewish bread, cake and roll recipes. Her flam pletzl is the closest that I have found to my other grandmother's spectacular and now lost onion pletzl recipe. I once ate an entire cookie sheet of that pletzl on Thanksgiving, a feat even more remarkable given that I was probably seven at the time. Anyhow, the challah will be in a spiral, with saffron and golden raisins to spruce it up for the New Year. I am pretty new to bread baking (though I have brewed a bit, and they are similar processes) and a bit spooked by it all, but I am willing to make the effort. Again, we'll see.
So if I am remiss about updating for a few days (more remiss than usual, that is), forgive me as I am pretending to be a real cook. And, if it applies to you, l'shanah tova. A peaceful year, too, please.
L'Shanah Tovah. See you on the flip.
Please post Secret Brisket Recipe. (ha.)
Posted by: Phil | September 22, 2006 at 11:28 AM