I'm sure you're already racking your brains out trying to figure out what to make for the chag. I know I am. Well, we start with the simanim (symbols). So let's do the rundown – leeks, dates, pomegranates, carrots, string beans, beets and we added recently watermelon. You have honey and sweet challah on the table and oh yeah, the fish head (maybe some of you have clothespins on your noses).
This year I want to do something different. I have a Yemenite cookbook written by Zion Levi and Hani Agrabria and will share one of their recipes with you - Stuffed potatoes, but first a cute story about cooking for our husbands:
There was once a wife whose husband loved stuffed cabbage. It was so much his favorite meal that he could eat it every day. But he had the horrible habit of saying each day after every meal: "It's good but not as good as my mother's". Disheartened, his wife didn't know what to do! One morning she prepared her specialty. She left it to cook and went out of the house to talk to her neighbors. She completely forgot about the cabbage cooking on the fire (the gossip was good). When she returned to the kitchen she smelled something burning. What could she do now? She had no choice but to serve the burnt cabbage and hope he wouldn't be angry. When he came home to eat his dinner she was very apprehensive. He proceeded to clean his plate and instead of being disgusted he said, "How delicious! It tastes exactly how my mother used to make it!"
Stuffed potatoes
Peel and core 10 large potatoes
In a skillet, sauté onions until golden brown then add chopped meat
Add the spices you like and cook till it's brown
Cool the mixture
Preheat oven to 375 F
Stuff the potatoes with the mixture (tightly) and place in greased pan- bake for 45 minutes
Before you are ready to take them out, you can pour more gravy over them.(I think rice would be a nice thing to serve with this dish)
Chag Samayach!!!!
In contrast to most people making their milchik kugels and cheese cakes I have decided to share an ancient Yemenite recipe with you that mostly the old generation still know and make but the younger generation don't have enough patience for today. I tried it, the results were phenomenal and I expect this is much what the "two breads" really looked and tasted like. Bitayavone!
Chag Samayach,
Leah Goldsmith
Lachooch
1 kilo white flour (you can use whole wheat)
50 grams dry yeast
Half a margarine
Quarter cup sugar
2 tablespoons salt
8 cups of warm water
(optional 1 teaspoon baking powder)
· Sift the flour into a very large bowl
· Add the sugar, salt and yeast- mix
· Add all the water and with a hand spoon, mix
· The dough will be very liquidy
· Wait an hour with the dough covered with a large soft towel
· Now, add the baking powder and mix around
· The dough should be very blob-like and jumping around in the bowl
· Wait now another hour
· Now you are ready to make lachooch!
· Take ouit a Teflon frying pan and rub some melted margarine on it
· Put it on a high flame and pour(like pancakes) dough to cover the entire pan
· Let it cook that way at least 6 minutes. DO NOT TURN IT OVER
· It should look all bubbly, like the surface of the moon
· Take off your lachooch, cool off your frying pan under the faucet and repeat the instructions of pouring in dough, frying it in melted margarine and cooling off the pan for the next one…….
· You may want to cover the lachooch as it is cooking with a seethrough top of a pot
·
Prepare- 2 cups whole wheat organic flour (Itamar's is the best!)
1 cup brown sugar
1 tablespoon baking powder
1 cup chopped nuts (walnuts are great)
Mix that up
In a separate bowl- 1 cup oil
1 cup sweet red wine (or cherry brandy mixed with water)
6 eggs
In a frying pan with a little water and maple syrup-
2 cups of- raisins, dried figs, apricots, dates and prunes
Sautee this concoction for about 15 minutes and add it to the wet ingredients
My daughter says it's good to separate the eggs and fluff up the whites but I wouldn't patchker with it so.
Place all of the above ingredients into a greased pan into a slow hot oven for 30 minutes.
Leah Goldsmith
Family and
agriculture in the heart of the Shomron are miraculous in view of the fact that
the summers are long, hot and dry. The winters are gusty with torrential rains.
The ground is usually semi-frozen. Thus vegetation is limited to two seasons,
spring and autumn. Spring begins in late February with the symbolic flowering
of the Almond tree; along with it all of nature bursts forth with an abundance
of fruit and vegetables. As the days warm up we bless the farmers
"congratulations" and "many blessings." A sign of the
redemption is when the land brings forth its fruit to her children and this we
merit seeing it is very special.
The first autumn rains bring with them
lively green colors seen on every hill and dale. The olive trees are finally
watered by these first rains. The quality of sunlight during these seasons
brings the vegetables to the highest excellence of taste, aroma, shape and
texture. Itamar exports many of its award winning merchandise to international
markets. Tomatoes, melons strawberries, cucumbers, peppers, are just some of
them all of them are organic.
This produce is what the people of
Itamar also eat in their homes. Our menus vary and include raw food, pickled,
grilled, baked, fried, baked or steamed.
I may mention that there is also a local
olive press here. Many people make their own olive oil for all their cooking
needs. The olive tree is native to the Shomron. Itamar also produces its own
organic whole wheat flour, honey, fruit leather, cheeses, yogurts, and organic
eggs. Spices like thyme, mint, and Zatar(oregano) grow wild in the cracks of
the rocks or in the open fields.
Just like fruits and vegetables give
strength to the body and spirit so does your friendship. Let's hope this site
can offer virtual sustenance to all of our friends.
Autumn vegetables in olive oil
1 bushel of
celery
3 carrots
1 potato
1 sweet
potato
5
tablespoons of olive oil
1/2 lemon
2 teaspoons
of sugar
A handful of
dill parsley and coriander
Peel all the
veggies and cut them into cubes. Put into a large pot. Pour over the olive oil
and squeeze the lemon. Turn off the flame. Add 4 cups of boiling water after sautéing
for 5 minutes. On a medium flame add all remaining ingredients and cook for
thirty minutes (you can add one cup of pearl barley to this recipe)
Leah
Goldsmith, Itamar
Preparing an unusual and beautiful decoration for the Sukkah
Items needed
·
1 or 2 medium sized balloons
·
Elmer's glue and a plastic cup
·
Different colored thread and yarns
·
Sewing needle
·
Patience
How to make it
Blow up your
balloons to the size you want.
Fill up the
cup with 1/3 glue.
Thread the
needle with the color of your choice of thread and punch a hole through the cup
of the glue with your needle and thread. Pull through and your needle will
become saturated with glue. You can do this many times with different colored
and textured threads. All of these are wound around the balloon until the area
of the balloon cannot be seen because of it being covered in threads. Place the
covered balloon for drying until the balloon shrinks and then gently pull the
shrunken balloon out of a crevice. Tie a thread at the top of your new
lampshade for the Sukkah! Don't place a candle or light inside because of a
fire hazard.
Chag Sameach!
Merav
Goldsmith, Itamar