We call them sweet potatoes. That is, I always have. On my recent visit to the States, I found that they’re called yams. Either way, it’s a recipe that fits in well with the upcoming three-day Rosh HaShanah/Shabbat holiday because you can cook it ahead of time. Kept in a tightly-closed container, it keeps well for two days in the fridge. No mayo, eggs, or other fragile ingredients, and the combination of sweet potatoes (or yams) with lentils and onions is tasty, satisfying and colorful.

If you have vegetarians at the table, this is a good way to show you care.

Sweet Potato and Lentil Salad

Ingredients:

3 cups of washed, but not peeled, sweet potatoes sliced in bite-sized circles

1/4 cup black or green lentils

1/2 cup of salted water for cooking the lentils

1 medium onion

Juice of 1/2 lemon, or more if liked

3 tablespoons olive oil

2 teaspoons of maple or silan date syrup

salt and pepper

3 large scallions, green parts only

Method:

1. In a small pot, cook the lentils, covered, in the salted 1/2 cup of water. Cook over a small flame and taste to make sure the lentils are tender. If they look like they’re drying out but still not tender, add a tablespoon or two of water.

2. Meantime, cook the sweet potato slices in plenty of lightly salted water till tender; about 10 minutes. Keep a sharp eye on them because they should not cook till mushy. Once mushy, they won’t serve for salad.

3. Slice the onion thinly.

4. In a small bowl, make a dressing of the lemon juice, olive oil, syrup, and a little salt and pepper.

5. While the vegetables are still hot, put them in a bowl with the sliced onions and pour the dressing over all. Stir gently, with a wooden spoon.

6. Allow the salad to cool, covered. Taste it and add more of the dressing ingredients if wished. Slice up the scallions and scatter them over the salad, mixing gently once more.

7. Chill the salad, covered, and serve cold or at room temperature.

The Little One gave this salad the Teen Food Seal of Approval and is noshing on the leftovers  as I type.  A palpable hit!

Okay, light eaters – here’s another easy dish for the Rosh HaShanah table.This features the juicier dark meat of chicken, covered in a nutty, herby, almond crust to protect it while baking. I fixed it for Shabbat so I could photograph it for you – but never said so to the Little One, who ate two.

It takes 10 minutes to prepare and about half an hour in the oven. Figure on 1-2 pieces per serving, depending on people’s appetites. The adults ate one each and were satisfied, but hungry growing young people in your house may want more.

The first thing is to get deboned chicken thighs (in Israel, Pargiot). The next thing is to prepare one bowl for the beaten eggs and another bowl for the crumb/almond mix.

Then…but I’m giving it away. It’s so fast to make, it’s fun.

Chicken Thighs in an Almond Crust

adapted from Al HaShulchan magazine, July 2009 edition

8 portions

Ingredients:

8 deboned chicken thighs

100 grams – 1/2 cup sliced, blanched almonds

200 grams – 1-1/4 cup dry bread crumbs

2 eggs

1/4 teaspoon soy sauce

2 garlic cloves, crushed

1/4 teaspoon crushed, dried thyme

1/2 teaspoon salt

freshly-ground black pepper

olive oil to drizzle

Method:

Preheat oven to 180° C – 350° F

1. In one bowl, mix the almonds and bread crumbs.

2. In the other bowl, beat the egs with the soy sauce, crushed garlic, salt, and some pepper.

3. Dip both sides of the chicken thighs in the egg, then in the crumb mixture.

4. Roll up and place each piece of chicken on a baking tray lined with baking paper. If lots of the crumb mixture has fallen off the pieces, just pat some back on.

5. Drizzle with olive oil. Cover all loosely with a sheet of foil. Don’t tuck the edges in. You want to keep the almond crust from burning, but to bake, not poach, the chicken.

6. Bake 30 minutes. The crust should be golden and the chicken tender.

Note: This dish reheats nicely on a hotplate or in a dry skillet over a flame-tamer. Keep the chicken tightly covered with foil when reheating, so it doesn’t dry out.

How about Rosh HaShanah Lite this year? The High Holidays are starting off right before Shabbat, so we’re looking at a three days of festive eating. But does it have to be three days of heavy eating? It gets to the point where all you want to do is lie down and digest, instead of putting your mind to the state of your soul.

We all have cherished holiday recipes, foods that the family looks forward to and whose taste is inextricably tangled up with memories of holidays past. Even if they’re infused with fat and sugar, we’ll serve them.  But the meal can remain reasonably light if only one such dish is placed on the table, and if plenty of attractive salads and cooked vegetables are served.

In the spirit of lighter eating, then, here’s an easy carrot salad made tangy with lemon and pungent with cumin. It’s part of every mezze in Israeli restaurants and Sephardic homes.

Moroccan Carrot Salad

adapted from Saffron Shores by Joyce Goldstein

serves 6 as an appetizer, 4 as a side dish

Ingredients:

4 medium or 3 large carrots, peeled

1 clove garlic

1/4 cup fresh lemon juice

1 teaspoon ground cumin

1 teaspoon sweet paprika

1/8 teaspoon cayenne flakes

2 tablespoons olive oil

salt

Method:

1. Cut the carrots into thick slices; peel the garlic clove and crush it with the side of a heavy knife.

2. Have a saucepan with salted boiling water ready; cook the carrots and garlic in it for 10 minutes or until the carrot is tender.

3. Drain the carrots and garlic – save the cooking water for rice or cooking another vegetable, or use it as part of the liquid in stock. Place them in a deep bowl.

4. Immediately, season them with the lemon juice, spices, and olive oil, stirring gently. Add salt little by little, to taste.

Serve at chilled or at room temperature.

In my last post, I promised some festive recipes for Rosh HaShanah that sit easy on the stomach. Turkey breast, stuffed with dried fruit and nuts, and sometimes rice or couscous, fits the ticket. This is how you do it.

Buy, for 6 servings, one-half boneless turkey breast. Either ask the butcher to cut a pouch into it, or do it yourself at home. It’s surprisingly easy. The half-breast resembles a longish triangle. Insert a long, sharp knife into the widest part and carefully, not to poke holes in the flesh along the way, just slide the knife along till you have a pouch. Move it from side to side gently to enlarge the opening. The meat is very tender and will readily tear, so go slowly. That’s all there is to it; the turkey breast is ready to be stuffed.

Something to remember about cooking a turkey breast: unless you get it with the skin on, it will dry out in a blink, so  protect it by using in a roasting bag, or make a bag of foil for it.

And before it goes in the oven, splash some good olive oil all over it to keep it moist, then season it with paprika, salt and pepper, and your favorite herbs. A little white wine or cognac, or soy sauce, or chicken soup, or a tablespoon of each in any combination, adds flavor and keeps the moisture factor up.

Turkey Breast Stuffed With Fruit and Nuts

serves 6

Ingredients:

1 half turkey breast

1/2 cup mixed, chopped dried apricots, cranberries, raisins

1/2 cup mixed chopped nuts: walnuts, pecans, hazelnuts, pine nuts

1 small onion, chopped

1/2 teaspoon dried thyme or 1 teaspoon fresh thyme

1/2 teaspoon salt

freshly ground black pepper to taste

optional: 1/2 cup cooked rice

2 tablespoons white or light red wine, or 2 tablespoons cognac, or chicken soup, or a mixture of 2 teaspoons soy sauce with any of them

paprika

an additional 1/2 teaspoon salt

2 tablespoons olive oil

A sprig of rosemary or two small bay leaves

A handful of scallions

1  peeled and slightly mashed garlic clove

Method:

1. Mix the fruit, nuts, optional rice, onion, salt, pepper, and wine. Stuff the mixture into the turkey breast.

2. Sprinkle paprika and additional 1/2 teaspoon salt all over the breast. Pour the olive oil over the breast and spread it on all sides. If any stuffing falls out, just scoop it up and place it under the breast when baking it.

3. Place the stuffed, seasoned breast in the roasting bag or in a tent of foil. Add the wine and the fresh herbs.

Close and puncture the roasting bag as per instructions. Or make the foil tent. Place the breast on a long strip of foil; pick up the edges of the foil at right and left and bring them together, pinching them at the top to make a tent-like package. Pinch one side closed but leave the other side open for ventilation so that you get roasted, not poached meat.

Bake at 350°F, 180°C for 1 hour. Check after one hour for doneness. If the meat still seems too pink, bake it another 15 minutes. Once you’re sure it’s done, remove from the oven at once. Let the meat rest for 10 minutes before serving.

Now: let’s say you were too nervous with the knife and wound up making huge holes all over the meat. Never mind. Slice it all the way open and just stuff the stuffing inside like this:

Fold one half over the other and press it down.

If it’s really flopping open, tie it up with kitchen string. The cooking juices will seal the pieces together again and the cooked dish will look like the photo at the top.

Here are slices of a turkey breast I stuffed with the optional rice:

This is excellent cold, too.

The radio asks us not to run power-guzzling appliances till 5:00 PM.  I open windows and push the thought of air-conditioning out of my mind. Yeuw, it’s hot in here.

All that, then a reader’s plea for hot-weather recipes. It made me want to sit down and drink a large gin and tonic, with plenty of ice in it. Only I’ve banished gin and tonic as a calorie-cutting measure. So I had to sit down and think, instead. And this is what I think:

Jewish cooks worldwide are probably gritting their teeth in anticipation of this year’s 3-day Rosh HaShanah/Shabbat extravaganza in this Year of Climate Change. But even in hot weather, we like hot food. Jewish custom indeed demands at least one hot dish at a festive meal. Some folks drink a cup of tea to be exempt, but most of us enjoy at least a little something hot, no matter what the thermometer reads. The difference to our comfort is keeping it light.

I suggest that over the long, hot holiday, at least two meals be dairy. Lots of salads. Think fish. Chicken or turkey instead of beef or lamb. Cholent? Only for masochists.

You’ll have seen most of these recipes in other roundups, but they’ve been chosen for easy cooking and lightness.  Next posts, some new suggestions and recipes.

Dairy and Fish

Polenta. Filling, but not heavy. To make the meal festive, top the polenta with a fancier-than-usual sauce. Serve steamed broccoli on the side. Drink a chilled rosé with it – lemonade for the kids.

Fish Baked in Coconut Milk

Ground Meat

Mafroum. Okay, it’s a patchkerai. But if you A) use ground turkey instead of beef, it’s not heavy; and B) add a plain steamed vegetable, you have an entire, satisfying, and festive meal.

Poultry

Roast Chicken with Figs. If figs have gone out of season by the holidays, substitute whole, small, sweet pears.

Tajine of Turkey with Dried Fruit. Serve this with rice or couscous.

Curried Turkey Salad. I often serve this on hot Shabbat afternoons. Cold and colorful, sweet/savory, and yum. Easily made, and only needs rice to accompany it.

Vegetables

Eggplant and Tahini Salad. Also known as eggplant carpaccio.

Majadra: lentils and rice. A good side dish, but for a dairy meal, serve it as the main dish, with two or three favorite cheeses and a big salad.

Peperonata. Sautéed bell peppers with fresh herbs. An unusual salad or relish.

Sweet Potatoes Roasted in Date Syrup. What’s good on Passover is good on Rosh HaShanah, too.

Crisp-Skinned Potatoes. Lacking baby potatoes, use 1 medium potato per person, cutting each into 4 pieces. The potatoes, that is.

Zucchini Fritters. Like anything fried, best eaten as soon as done. But if you lay them a shallow platter lined with paper towels, they stay crisp on a hot plate till dinner time.

Cake and Cookies

Honey Cake. What else?…

Tahini Cookies. Easy-peasy to make. Delicious to munch. Make a lot.

Light Desserts

Pears in Wine. There’s always a lot of wine around the house at this time of year. Use some to poach these subtly-spiced pears.

Fruit Soup

Well, have I convinced anyone to forgo beef? Or even break with tradition and serve dairy a few times?

Stay tuned, more recipes with a hot holiday in mind coming up.

Leafy greens are one of my favorite foods. But not that of the Little One. To get them into her, I have to get sneaky and combine them with a buttery crust, preferably some mushrooms, and cheese. She thinks it’s a dairy meal, I call it vegetarian. So what does she get?

Quiche.

Actually I’m embarrassed about this quiche. It’s delectable to eat – looks pretty on the table – satisfies my Jewish Mother Feed’em Requirements and there’s never a scrap left over. But Elizabeth David, food writer whose scholarly, elegant works I’ve been re-reading, would turn her nose up at it. Quiche, according to the late, great Ms. David, real quiche, needs only cream and eggs, and “a small amount of streaky bacon.” No cheese. No vegetables of any description.

Oh dear. Well, times have changed. The classic Quiche Lorraine is still a thing of wonder (minus the bacon for kosher folk), but the cheese-and-veg-loaded tart is accepted by all as quiche too. So here mine is.

Years ago I found that the basic crust recipe from Molly Katzen’s The Enchanted Broccoli Forest works best for me. I don’t even get the food processor out to mix it up. I just rub the butter into the salty flour, scooping up more flour from the bowl to release any butter clinging to my fingers. I like the friction of grainy flour in my hands. The work relaxes me. But for those who don’t like that idea, just whirl your crust ingredients in the food processor.

Spinach and Mushroom Quiche

Ingredients for Crust:

1/4 cup cold butter, diced

1 cup flour

1/2 teaspoon salt

water or milk – by tablespoons, as needed*

Method:

1. Rub the butter into the flour, or put the flour into the food processor and add the diced butter – till the mixture looks like coarse sand. Add the salt.

2. Add the liquid, one tablespoon at a time. * Note about the liquid for crust: Molly Katzen’s recipe calls for “up to 3 tablespoons.” That’s for American flour. Working with Israeli flour, I always need up to 5 tablespoons for the dough to hold together. Go slowly and stop adding liquid as soon as the dough holds together.

3. Make a ball of the dough, wrap it up in plastic wrap or a clean plastic bag, and chill it for an hour in the fridge.

Meantime, prepare your filling.

Ingredients for Filling:

2 cups fresh or frozen spinach

1 medium onion, chopped

1/2 cup sliced mushrooms

3 eggs, beaten

1 cup milk, buttermilk, or loose sour cream

salt and pepper to taste

Firm cheese to slice and lay over crust – about 200 grams – 7 oz. or 3/4 cup * Israelis: I use  Hemed cheese. Katzen recommends Swiss or Cheddar as this first cheese.

1/2 cup another, mild cheese, for filling. Brie is good, but any mild cheese is good too.

Method:

1. If using fresh spinach, wash it and steam it quickly in its own rinse water. Add no salt. If using thawed-out frozen spinach, steam it with no added water or salt. Chop it up coarsely.

2. Chop the onion. Sauté it in a little olive oil or butter till it’s beginning to soften. Slice the mushrooms and add them to the pan. Sauté the vegetables till the mushrooms start to release their liquid. Season with salt and pepper. Remove the pan from the fire.

3. Beat the eggs in a large bowl. Add the milk and beat again. Add a pinch of salt and another of pepper. Set the bowl aside – in the fridge if the kitchen is hot.

4. Slice the first cheese. Chop the second cheese into large dice.

Assemble the Quiche:

1. Roll the dough out and fit it into your baking pan. I usually place a sheet of baking paper on the pan first because I hate to scrub out baking pans. But it’s not as pretty.

2. Fit the slices of firm cheese over the raw crust.

3. Mix the sautéed vegetables into the spinach; mound all on top of the crust.

4. Pour the beaten egg/milk mixture over and into the vegetables. Dot the cubed cheese all over.

Transfer (carefully) to the oven, pre-heated to 375° F -190°C. Bake 35-40 minutes.

This dairy, vegetarian dish is light yet filling – comfortable for lunch or dinner these hot days. Keep it in mind for Shavuot, too. Enjoy!

Listening to a few friends’ menus, I notice lots of dishes loaded with cheese, and lots of starchy foods – most of them stuffed with cheese. Bourekas, blintzes, and lasagna, all at one meal. Even salads must have cubes of feta on Shavuot, apparently. I mean – I often fix a big salad dotted with feta. But lasagna followed by eggplant parmesan followed by cheesy baked potatoes followed by…a big stomach ache. Where’s the balance here?

The Israeli dairy industry depends on everyone buying lots of soft and hard cheeses for Shavuot. They push dairy as hard as they can in their advertising. And I must say that many of the recipes they provide look divine. I love dairy, darn it. And carbs, I love carbs too.

Darn it.

Three factors keep my Shavuot menu cheese-moderate. One is, my son-in-law’s custom is to eat two meat meals on Shavuot and keep the dairy only for the third meal, at the evening of Shavuot day. Since my married daughter and her family spend every Shavuot with us,  I honor his custom.

Another is that my husband, who also loves cheese, can tolerate only small amounts of dairy.

And then, there’s my own feeling, as explained above.

But don’t get me wrong – there will be dairy on the table.  I bought an irresistible chunk of sheep’s milk Tomme for holiday cooking and post-holiday eating. The grownups look forward to my New York cheesecake, so I’m baking one. I made a strawberry ice cream to indulge my little grandsons, who I know will ignore the cheesecake. That’s it.

The menu for the one dairy meal (subject to change at my whim):

• Challah
• Choumous
• Stuffed vine leaves (hand-made but bought at the shuk)
• Sliced tomatoes with an herb vinaigrette, and plenty of sliced cucumbers for the little ones
• Orange-glazed salmon
• Eggplant casserole, which nobody but Husband and I will eat
• Spinach quiche for the eggplant haters
• New York Cheesecake - strawberry ice cream

Here are more suggestions for Shavuot. Enjoy, and eat in good health!

Soup:

Potato-Leek Soup

Mushroom Soup

Artichoke and Mushroom Soup

Baked Dishes:

Spinach Gratin

Qeijadinhas, Brazilian Cheese Tartlets

Cheese-Stuffed Tomatoes

Rice:

Risotto with Nettles and Carrots (substitute spinach for nettles)

Fish and Eggs:

Fish Baked in a Walnut Crust

Grilled Fish in a Spicy Lemon Marinade

Shakshouka, Mimi’s Way

Bread:

Herbed Cheese-Swirl Bread

Desserts

Rice Pudding With Drunken Raisins

Flim-Flam Flan

Malabi, Middle-Eastern Milk Pudding

and the very best for last…

Wicked, Wicked Cheesecake with Dulce de Leche and Whisky Glaze

Truth is, this recipe works fine for Passover too. But while I’m telling the truth – I’m frankly relieved to have done with the endless shopping, cooking, serving, and washing up that was this year’s Passover. The last stray fork is back in its box, we’ve repacked all the dishes and cookware – everything is safely stored away till next year. Now I can put the word “chometz” out of my mind for another 11 months.

And it’s springtime. Spring in central Israel lasts a couple of weeks at the most, but we’re enjoying fresh winds and a prolonged cooler-than-usual feeling.  Evenings are chilly. Soup is still a good choice.

I’m a little embarrassed to admit that I made this soup with frozen artichoke hearts. Fresh artichokes have been in season for many weeks, and we have been eating them – but I had this bag of frozens…and a little basketful of mushrooms…and a craving for a simple soup. So I cooked. And it’s good – very good. The faint taste of lemon and a final swirl of butter complement the artichokes perfectly.

Artichoke and Mushroom Soup

Serves 6

Ingredients:

8-12 frozen artichoke hearts (a 400-gram bag)

1 onion, chopped

1 teaspoon salt

1 cup of chopped fresh mushrooms, setting two handsome ones aside for decoration later

3 tablespoons oil

2 garlic cloves, peeled

a pinch of thyme

2 teaspoons lemon juice – or just a hearty squeeze from a cut lemon

1 bay leaf

salt and pepper

2 cups of milk

3 scallion sprigs, chopped

6 teaspoons of butter

Method:

1. Put the oil, the onions, and the salt in a soup pan. Sauté the onions till they’re just wilted.

2. Add the mushrooms, minus the two set aside for later.

3. Add the artichoke hearts. They can go in whole – they’re rock-hard when frozen.

4. Season with salt and pepper; add the bay leaf.

5. Cook everything over medium heat for 10 minutes, stirring.

6. Add water to cover the vegetables, and the lemon juice.

7. Bring to a gentle boil, lower the flame, and simmer the soup for 30 minutes.

8. Test the artichoke hearts for done-ness by piercing one with a knife. If it’s not entirely cooked, give it another 5 minutes.

9. Remove the bay leaf. Add the thyme. Remove one whole artichoke heart and chop it into coarse dice, reserving it for later.

10. Blend the soup. The longer you blend it, the thicker it will become. But it won’t become very thick.

11. Stir the milk in. Cook for 10 minutes and taste for seasoning. Add salt and pepper to taste.

12. Put the chopped, reserved artichoke heart back into the soup. Slice the reserved mushrooms and add them.

13. Cook another 2 or 3 minutes – just long enough to cook the mushrooms through.

14. Swirl a teaspoon of butter into each bowl as you serve. Scatter chopped scallions over each serving.

Close your eyes, inhale that artichokey aroma, and eat the first spoonful. Delicious.

Ah, leafy greens. And since it’s Passover, potatoes. Together, a savory vegetable dish to round out the holiday menu.

I like this plain and pareve, myself, but if needing to use up leftover chicken, I’d dice up a cupful and add it to the filling.

Or if I needed a dairy dish, I’d add a cup of firm cheese, likewise diced. The tomato sauce agrees with both, while the mashed potatoes bind extra ingredients together.

One of the pleasant things about working with Swiss chard is that you don’t need to soften the leaves in brine or in boiling water, as with grape or cabbage leaves. Just cut off the hard white stems (save them for soup) and roll the flexible green part up once its filled. The packages don’t look tidy and cigar-like, but you can say that the look is rustic.

Swiss Chard Rollups

serves 6

Ingredients:

1 large bunch Swiss Chard – about 8 leaves.

3 medium potatoes, cooked, mashed, and seasoned with salt and pepper

2 medium onions, chopped

3 ripe tomatoes, peeled and chopped coarsely

3 cloves garlic, crushed

olive oil

juice of 1/2 lemon

1/4 cup water, stock, or dry white wine

1 sprig of thyme, or 1/2 tsp. dried oregano

1 bay leaf

salt and pepper

Method:

1. Cover the bottom of a skillet or shallow pan with olive oil. In it, fry the onions till golden. Reserve half of the onions and keep the other half in the skillet, maintaining a medium heat.

2. Add the chopped tomatoes, thyme or oregano,  bay leaf and garlic to the skillet. Stir.

3. Add the 1/4 cup water and the lemon juice and stir again. Cover the skillet and let the sauce form over medium-low heat.

4. Add the reserved onions to the mashed potatoes and mix well. Taste for seasoning.

5. Spread a leaf of Swiss chard on a flat surface, shiny side up. Place a tablespoon (or two, if they fit) onto the broad, stem end and roll it up, tucking the sides in as you go. Do this for each leaf. If you have scraps of leaf, you can put them together, fill them, and roll up as if they were one.

6. Place the rolled leaves in the simmering sauce. Cover and cook over medium-low heat for 30 minutes. Check once or twice to make sure the dish isn’t drying out – if it looks as if it might, add a little water (or stock, or wine).

Serve and eat in good health.

The Chocolate Lady doesn’t post often, but her Pesach Survival Guide is wonderful. If you like humorous, useful foody prose laced with Yiddishisms – go there, gentle reader, go there.