FOOD DINING IN
Sweet Dreams Are Made of These Add apples to your High Holiday recipes to ring in a sweet new year.
G
ood and sweet are charming words echoed from one to the next in greetings, prayers to the foods we eat. Though each word is simple, the expectations are manifold: a new job, good health, new love, becoming a better Jew, a safer world. When we recite the Musaf prayers at Rosh Hashanah, with its messages of kingliness, remembrances and the blowing of the shofar when we received the Torah, we believe them. Throughout Jewish history Annabel Cohen food is our tangible symbol for hopes and desires. Just as we require food to live, we require ethics and principals to flourish. The most elementary association of food with religion is of the symbolic dipping of challah and apple slices into honey. It translates literally into sweetness and bounty. Heads of fish are long thought to symbolize the head of the year as well as the notion that one should have a future that’s the “tops.” Pomegranates with its abundant seeds symbolize mitzvot (may you have as many as there are seeds). Michigan folk can’t get enough apples. Look here to add apples to every part of the Rosh Hashanah celebration!
CHICKEN WITH APPLES, HONEY AND MUSHROOMS Ingredients 3 pounds raw chicken breasts (halved lengthwise — horizontally — if large) Apple Mushroom Sauce: v cup olive oil 2 cups chicken broth (canned is fine) 2 Tbsp. honey ¼ cup flour 2 cups 1-inch chunked apples, peeled 1 pound fresh sliced mushrooms 1 tsp. dried thyme 1 Tbsp. dried parsley flakes Salt and pepper to taste Directions Preheat oven to 325°F. Make the sauce: Heat oil in a large saucepan over medium heat. Whisk in flour and cook, whisking constantly, until slightly thickened. Add the remaining ingredients, whisk well and bring to a boil. Cook until reduced by a quarter. Arrange chicken in a large foil pan or baking dish. Pour sauce over. Bake for 30-40 minutes. Serve hot or bring to room temperature, cover with foil and chill for up to a day ahead. To serve, reheat in 300°F oven for 20-30 minutes. Makes 8-10 servings.
BRISKET WITH APPLES Ingredients Roasting sauce: 2 cups tomato sauce (or one can, about 14 oz.) 2 tsp. kosher salt ½ tsp. fresh ground pepper Water 2 Tbsp. red wine vinegar 1 Tbsp. dark chili powder 1 Tbsp. fresh minced garlic ¼ tsp. ground cayenne pepper Beef: ¼ cup canola or vegetable oil 1 beef brisket (about 5 pounds) trimmed of excess fat 2 cups chopped onions 4 cups 1-inch, chunked granny smith apples, peeled or unpeeled Directions Prepare roasting sauce: Combine all ingredients in a medium bowl and whisk well. Set aside. Preheat the oven to 300°F. Arrange the brisket in a roasting pan or disposable aluminum pan. Pour the roasting sauce over the beef. Scatter the onions around the brisket and cover the pan tightly with foil. Cook in the preheated oven for 3½ hours. continued on page 70 AUGUST 26 • 2021
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