The Cheater’s Braise and New Year Honey Braised Chicken

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Nosherium Nude Bee Honey Braised Chicken

Last year, I put together several recipe roundups for Rosh HaShanah and the High Holy Days. In those posts, I showcased the traditional symbolic foods – apples and honey, squash, long beans, fish, pomegranate, etc. This year, I’m bringing you recipes using many of those symbolic foods and my approach to holiday cooking – preparing beautiful tasty food well ahead of time with excellent ingredients and minimal fuss. My Chai-Spiced Honey Cake is the perfect example – bake it in advance and freeze it!

As it happened, Nude Bee Honey contacted me, offering to send me a gift set of four of their single-varietal honeys for the new year. What could be better than showcasing beautiful honey for Rosh HaShanah?

 

Nosherium Nude Bee Honey Grapes

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Chai-Spiced Honey Cake

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Nosherium Chai-Spice Honey Cake Loaves

Rosh HaShanah is upon us once again! The Jewish New Year begins Sunday October 2nd at sundown, and I just can’t wait to celebrate!

 

This is my first new year as a married lady, my second as a food blogger, my third living in the Bay Area, my fourth since moving back to the USA from Israel. My husband and I are hosting a dinner for the first night of the holiday, starting the new year with dear friends, good food, and a damn fine playlist.

 

Like a every Jewish holiday, there are traditional foods to be had – apples dipped in honey for a sweet and fruitful new year, long green beans and leeks, crown-like pumpkin or other golden squashes, new fruits, the list goes on. Check out my curated recipe roundup posts from last year for lots of inspiration – Meaty, Pescatarian (that’s SF foodie for fish), Vegetarian, and Desserts.

 

My personal must-have dishes are as follows:

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Round-Up: Esther’s Vegan Purim Feast

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Nosherium Vegan Purim Cover

Purim. The most debaucherous of Jewish holidays. Equal parts Halloween and Mardi Gras, with a pinch of drunk bacchanalia and drag show. This ain’t no subdued party. This is Purim!

 

We celebrate clever, brave Queen Esther and pious, courageous Mordechai in their victory over villainous, treasonous Haman. There are plays and pageants of the story, costume parties, and we are commanded to feast and celebrate. And oh boy, do we celebrate!

 

This year, I’ll pay tribute to a lesser known aspect of Esther’s story. She entered the King’s harem alone as a young woman, during the kingdom-wide search for a new queen. At the urging of her kinsman, Mordechai, she kept her Jewish heritage a secret. According to tradition, she may have still found a way to observe the laws of kashrut (kosher) in the harem by only eating legumes and fruits. This is my round-up of vegan recipes worthy of a queen’s feast!

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