If sleep deprivation and time disorientation are tools of interrogation, I would have told you anything by the end of last week. From Labor Day until the first days of October, I spent many, if not most, of my waking hours, and some half-asleep hours, preparing for or celebrating Jewish holidays. During Sukkot, which comedian Jon Stewart defined as “How many holidays can Jews fit into one month,” Marc and I ate out four times and had guests in our Sukkah twice.
That’s close to an entire week of eating late and getting into bed even later. Despite the bags under my eyes and the few extra pounds around my middle, I really enjoyed stepping out of my routine, getting outside and spending time with friends and family.
The food has been interesting and mostly really good. There were some unexpected pleasures, such as a scrumptious vegetarian zucchini soup and being served tasty London broil after we had eaten so much chicken we were clucking. There were some crave-worthy dishes that I enjoyed but only allow myself to eat at celebratory meals, including a fried South African-style gefilte fish and an extra slice of a cake made with ginger ale. And there were the recipes I plan to duplicate, such as a colorful baked squash and a chicken roasted with apples.
Because Sukkot meals are eaten outside in the sukkah, the temporary booth-type structure you build each year, I tend toward barbecue during the holiday. For my niece and nephew, we slathered beef ribs with a Texas-style rub, smoked them on the grill and then finished them in the oven. (Beef ribs are another “celebratory” food that seldom grace our table, and we sent home the leftovers.) We finished the meal with a non-dairy lemon meringue pie.
The next night, with a gaggle of g-dchildren and their mother, we served shredded barbecue brisket sandwiches, baked beans and coleslaw. While we somehow had eluded the raindrops long enough to eat the entrée in the Sukkah the night before, the barbecue brisket meal was strictly an indoor affair with hail, roars of thunder and flickering lights.
Then, I made a full meal for Shemini Atzeret, which technically is a separate holiday from Sukkot. It is our tradition to leave the Sukkah, sadly, and eat inside on that day.
The weather in Atlanta had moderated a bit, so I started with a sweet-and-sour cabbage soup from my mother’s recipe. I remember writing a creative essay about the soup when I was in the sixth grade; my teacher, a friend of the family who had been served the soup many times, said she could hardly read the essay because she was drooling so vociferously.
(An even better compliment to the soup came from a dear friend who, when we discussed whether G-d acts in the world at Shemini Atzeret lunch, said he found hints of the divine in the cabbage soup.)
Marc so liked the Moroccan carrots I served at Rosh Hashana, that they made a reappearance at Shemini Atzeret. The carrots were served with lamb-potato moussaka, made with no dairy products, and herby lemon chicken breasts. Green beans and salad rounded out the meal. Pumpkin bars, honey cake and pineapple were on the dessert tray.
(I was able to find non-dairy cream cheese icing, made by Pillsbury, so the pumpkin bars actually had the traditional topping.)
At the beginning of the holiday, I baked and froze challah, the traditional Jewish egg bread. For this holiday, we served the last of the mammoth round raisin challahs and a smaller whole-wheat loaf. None of the wheat bread remained, but the leftover raisin challah, about half, got tossed into the freezer. In its next life, it will be a bread pudding made with almond milk and probably served at Thanksgiving or Chanukah.
Two recipes are below. The first is my approximation of my mother’s cabbage soup. The second is a variation and some suggestions for Cooking Light magazine’s lamb moussaka.
Mom’s Cabbage Soup
(Plan on 2 ounces of chuck roast for every person and one medium cabbage per 12 servings.)
24 ounces of chuck roast, weighed after trimming
1 medium to large green cabbage
1 envelope low-sodium onion soup mix
2 cans pareve condensed tomato soup (available in many store brands)
1 can no-salt-added tomato sauce (about 12 ounces)
Sour salt and brown sugar (or Brown Sugar Twin) to taste
Black pepper to taste
Trim away the fat and rinse the chuck roast. Pat dry and cut into 1 inch chunks. Put in a stockpot, cover with water, add the packet of onion soup mix and cook on medium-to-low heat until the meat is beginning to soften, about 30 minutes. Add the tomato soup with two cans of water. Add the tomato sauce. If the soup is still too thick, add more water, a half cup at a time until you get a full-bodied, not thin, broth. (If you mistakenly add to much water, thicken the soup with another can of tomato sauce.)
Continue cooking on low heat until the meat is soft. While the meat is cooking, prepare the green cabbage. Begin by cutting out all of the hard core. With a half cabbage at a time, slice off thin crescents and then break them up further as needed.
Add a teaspoon of sour salt, available in kosher markets and most grocery stores, and a tablespoon of brown sugar. Taste. Add more sugar or sour salt as preferred but be careful with the sour salt. A little goes a long way. After the first tablespoon of real brown sugar, you can use an artificial brown sugar if you prefer. Add black pepper.
When you are satisfied with the flavor, add the cabbage. Cook on medium heat just until soft; overcooking will produce that soggy cabbage smell and taste. Serve and enjoy.
Lamb Potato Moussaka from Cooking Light Magazine
I’ve made a few alterations to make this recipe kosher.
Ingredients
· Cooking spray
· 2 pounds peeled baking potato, cut into 1/4-inch-thick slices
· 1 cup chopped onion (about 1 medium)
· 2 garlic cloves, chopped
· 1 pound ground lamb
· 1/2 cup chopped green bell pepper
· 1/2 cup chopped red bell pepper
· 1 cup no-salt-added tomato sauce
· 1 teaspoon salt
· 1 teaspoon ground cumin
· 1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
· 1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
· 1/2 cup finely chopped fresh flat-leaf parsley
· 1 cup soy milk
· 2 large eggs, lightly beaten
Preparation
1. Heat a large nonstick skillet over medium heat. Coat pan with cooking spray. Add one-third of potato slices to pan; cook 3 minutes on each side or until lightly browned. Transfer potato to bowl. Repeat procedure with cooking spray and remaining potato slices.
2. Preheat oven to 350°.
3. Recoat pan with cooking spray. Add onion, garlic, and lamb to pan; cook 3 minutes or until lamb begins to brown. Add bell peppers, tomato sauce, salt, cumin, black pepper, cinnamon, and parsley; cook 10 minutes.
4. Arrange half of potato slices in a 13 x 9–inch baking dish coated with cooking spray. Arrange lamb mixture over potatoes; top with remaining potato slices. Combine soy milk and eggs in a small bowl; pour over potato mixture. Bake at 350° for 30 minutes or until top is golden and set. Remove from oven; let stand 10 minutes before serving.
When I make this again, I probably would double the lamb and spices and cut the potato slices thinner to reduce carbohydrates. I also would add a bit more cinnamon and cumin plus ground red pepper and some oregano on the top.
