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Rosh Hashana: A Meal With Merit - Pomegranate Recipes

September 09, 2008
By Tamar Ansh

With Elul upon us and the school year just beginning, most of us are out of 'summer vacation' mode and well into 'getting back into the swing of things'. So here are some special recipes for the upcoming holiday season. They are Rosh Hashana themed but obviously not limited to that holiday alone!

Wishing you and your families a very happy and sweet New Year!
All the best,
Tamar Ansh


Tamar Ansh is an author, freelance recipe developer, and food columnist. Her articles have appeared in Jewish publications worldwide. She has published 4 books so far which include: Splitting the Sea (Targum Press), inspirational stories on finding one’s soul-mate; Let's Say Amen!, an illustrated children's book about the holiness of Amen (Feldheim Publishers); her first cookbook, A Taste of Tradition (Feldheim Publishers) which is both gluten free and kosher for Passover. Her most recent book is called A Taste of Challah (Feldheim Publishers, 2007). It is a photographic guide to baking and shaping beautiful challahs, and includes many other healthy and interesting bread types as well. Visit www.TasteofChallah.com to see all her books online, as well as other, not yet published, challah and bread recipes. She will be coming on a short book tour and speaking in two different places in the Tri-State area the week of March 4-9th! See her website for details and locations.



Fruit and Pomegranate Chicken

image
(c) Tamar Ansh
2 onions, diced
2 cloves garlic, diced
1-2 stalks celery, diced, optional
4 tablespoons olive or canola oil
1 cup flour
1 teaspoon pepper, divided
2 teaspoons paprika, divided
8-10 dried apricots
10 dried dates
4 medium carrots, peeled and shredded
3/4 cup pomegranate juice
2 cups semi-dry white wine
1 tablespoon parsley flakes
1 or 1 & 1/2 whole chickens, cut into eighths and skinned




In a large, deep pan, pour in 2 tablespoons of the oil and start to saute the onion, garlic and celery. Sprinkle on the paprika and half the pepper. After 10 minutes, stop sautéing and push these vegetables to the side of the pan. If your pan is small, remove some or most of the vegetables to a plate and reserve for later use.

In the meantime, place the flour and half the pepper in a plastic bag and shake it to mix it up a bit. Place each piece of chicken in this bag and shake to coat lightly. Brown each piece of chicken on both sides - in the hot pan with the leftover veggies - for just a few minutes. Add the last 1-2 tablespoons of oil as needed so the chicken won’t burn when browning. Remove the browned chicken pieces to a plate.

Pour the pomegranate juice and white wine into what’s left in the pan. Turn down the flame if you haven’t already done so, and stir it up until it bubbles. Return the chicken pieces and shredded carrots to the pan along with the rest of the sautéed vegetables. Turn up the heat until the sauce begins to bubble; then turn it down to a small simmer.

In a small bowl, take out 1 tablespoon of the flour left in the bag. Add the parsley flakes to it and sprinkle this lightly over the cooking chicken. Layer the dried fruit pieces all over the top of the chicken and in between the pieces as well. Cover the pan and allow the chicken to finish cooking on simmer until done, about one hour from this point. Serve on a beautiful platter alongside some steamed bulgur grains or brown rice. Garnish with a few pomegranate seeds for color, contrast and taste.


Pomegranate Juice & Strawberry Sorbet

5 lbs. / 2¼ kilos fresh strawberries
1½ cups sugar
1/8 tsp. salt
¾ cup fresh orange juice
2 cups fresh pomegranate juice
1/3 cup sweet white wine

Wash and clean the strawberries very well. Remove all the green tops.

Puree half of the strawberries in the food processor together with the half of the sugar, salt, and orange juice. Pour this out into a large bowl. Repeat with the second half of the strawberries and other ingredients. You are doing this in two batches so that the strawberry juice won’t leak over the top of the food processor. Add in the pomegranate juice and wine.

Pour the entire mixture into a large, deep pan, 9x13 size or a bit larger. The pan should only be ¾ of the way full, otherwise when it freezes and expands, it will leak in your freezer. If there is more sorbet left over, pour the remainder into a smaller container. Freeze overnight until solid.

The next day, remove the ices from the freezer and allow them to defrost for 15 minutes. Cut the frozen ices into four or five large chunks. Place the chunks into the mixing bowl of your mixer (or, alternatively, into an ice cream maker, if you have one), fitted with the flat beater. Beat the chunks of ice for a few seconds at a time, turning the machine on and off, until the ices start to turn creamy. Then beat them for a few minutes until they are the consistency of sorbet. Scoop the sorbet out from the mixing bowl with a spatula and refreeze until it is time to serve. Remove the sorbet from the freezer 10 minutes prior to serving for easier scooping. Delicious and healthy!


Pomegranate Glazed Apple Strudel Squares

image
(c) Tamar Ansh
NOTE: You don’t need the mixer for this recipe, as it's easily done by hand

4 cups flour
1 ½ cups trans fat free or reduced fat margarine (it’s a company called “eitz zayit” in Israel)
1 ½ cups sugar
2 eggs
7 medium sized apples of your choice
1 T. lemon juice

½ cup sugar
1 tsp. cinnamon

Preheat the oven to 350°F / 180°C.

In a large bowl, combine the flour and margarine. Cut it together until it is crumbly. Add the sugar and mix a bit again. Beat the eggs slightly with a fork in the glass they’re in. Add to the flour mix and combine all until you have a chunky, dry looking crumble mixture. Take off almost ¾ of this mixture and pat it down firmly into a large pan, about 11x14 or 16x10 inches. (It’s about one and a half times the size of an ordinary 9x13 pan.)

For the apples, different varieties lend a different flavor. I like to use whatever old apples I have sitting in the fridge, so the last time I made the dish it was a combo of all three colors of apples. And of course it was delicious.

Peel the apples and slice them/ pare them by hand into a large bowl. Sprinkle the lemon juice over them. Combine the ½ cup sugar and the cinnamon together over the apples and toss the whole mixture so it is coated evenly. Place this apple mixture all over the top of the crumbs in your pan. After it’s even, crumble over it the rest of the crumbs mixture. You may want to crumble the remaining crumbs a bit more by hand before sprinkling all over so you will be left with less lumpy pieces after it bakes on top of it.

Bake for 45 minutes until it is slightly golden all over and a drop darker by the edges. It smells amazing while baking! Remove from the oven and let it cool. After it’s cooled, cut it into squares and set aside.

Pomegranate Glaze:
1 ½ cups powdered (icing or confectioners) sugar
(don’t use regular white sugar it will not work!)
2 ½ T. oil
1/8 tsp. lemon juice
4-5 T. hot pomegranate juice or syrup
(yes, they have it in Israel, it comes in large glass bottles and is relatively easy to find, especially closer to Rosh Hashana time)

Place the pomegranate juice / syrup into a glass and heat it in the microwave for 40 seconds on high. Alternately, place the glass it’s in into a bowl of hot water to warm it up. It does need to be hot in order to turn into a good glaze. Put the powdered sugar in a plastic bowl, add in the oil and lemon juice. Add in the first 3 T. of hot pomegranate liquid. Start to mix it with a spoon. It should begin to thicken almost immediately. If it’s too thick, add more hot liquid by small, very small, increments until it is thick enough to drip but is not runny. If it’s too thin, add small amounts more of powdered sugar and keep mixing by hand until it is a nice thick, but not too firm consistency. Take your spoon and drizzle it all over in thin lines on top of your by-now-cooled-down apple strudel squares. There’s no food coloring in this picture, this is really how it comes out when using pomegranate liquid. Enjoy! This can be frozen in the pan until the day of use. Just remove it from the freezer about 3 hours before you need it, then present your squares on a nice platter or in cupcake holders, and serve.


Delicious Egg Challah

I made up this recipe years ago when I was first experimenting with challah recipes, and kept tweaking it until I was happy with both its taste and its texture. For those who are looking for a genuine, easy-to-work-with, home style egg challah, this is the recipe of choice… This recipe was not printed in my challah book, A Taste of Challah (Feldheim Publishers). Though you can look there for pictures and step by step instructions on some great ideas for rounded challah shapes. Or check out the step by step directions for the woven round challah

Makes:
4 large loaves or about 20-25 small individual sized rolls

Remember, that if you have a small family or don’t want to use so much challah at once, you can either opt to halve this recipe. Or follow the freezing tips and advice on page 42 of A Taste of Challah, Step Seven out of ‘Seven Steps to Amazing Challahs’.

2 ounces/ 50 gram cube of fresh yeast
3-4 cups very warm water, divided
¾ cup canola oil
¾ cup sugar, divided
1 & ½ T. salt
5 eggs
17 cups freshly sifted flour (2.3 kilos of flour)
1 more egg for glazing later on
seeds for sprinkling the tops of the challah, optional

Sift your flour and set it aside. In a small bowl, combine 2 cups of warm water, the yeast, and ¼ cup of the sugar. Cover the bowl loosely and leave it to activate for about 8 minutes.

In the mixing bowl combine:
oil
salt
rest of the sugar { ** for Rosh Hashana, if you want them sweeter, add in an extra 1/3 cup sugar at this point** }
rest of the water
the 5 eggs
8 cups of flour

Start to mix it so it becomes a thick mixture. Check your yeast to make sure it activated properly. Once activated, pour it into your mixture and continue to knead. It should turn into a sticky dough. Keep adding in the rest of the flour in increments until it is all kneaded in. If the dough is too firm, add bits more oil and water until it is smooth, pliable and non-sticky. Turn the dough out onto an oiled surface and knead for a few minutes by hand to ensure that all the pieces from the bottom of the mixing bowl are equally incorporated.

Separate challah at this point, with a blessing.

Place your dough in a large plastic bag to rise in the fridge overnight or several hours. If you plan to shape and bake it immediately, leave it to rise on your counter for an hour or until double in bulk. Follow braiding and rising techniques in chapters 2-4 of the book. Preheat your oven about 20 minutes prior to when the challahs will be ready to bake. Brush the risen challahs with the last egg, and add on toppings of your choice. Bake as directed, at 360° / 190° until golden brown on top and bottom.
Enjoy!


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Recent Comments

I'm always looking for recipes that are traditional, but a bit different. Seems like I finally hit the jackpot. Thanks Tamar Ansh! What interesting recipe ideas! posted on 09/22 at 10:15 AM.
I get rave reviews everytime I make one of Tamar Ansh's recipes. Thanks for publishing these for the holiday. I can't wait to try them too! Ruth posted on 09/22 at 10:38 AM.
I truly never anticipated the multiple uses for pomegranate and of course the nutritional value this food source adds to the diet. Thank you so much for introducing this product to us. Kudos to Tamar! sarah posted on 09/22 at 11:14 AM.
Thank you for the recipes. I will try them this year.. they are refreshingly different and interesting. B.White posted on 09/22 at 10:08 PM.


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