High Holy Day main courses and side dishes

Thanks everyone for all the great e-mails and messages about my photo with the “Shofar So Good” apron by Davida Aprons (www.davidaaprons.com) and for following the “Cooking With Beth” blog. My daughter Rachel, who was married in May, has already laid claim to the new apron. I support her in her efforts for embracing our holiday traditions. We have a date later this week to make honey cake together in her new home.

It is wonderful to know that my fellow www.jstandard.com readers are trying some of the recipes and enjoying the blog. Share the site with friends as well. Comments are welcome and I do accept some submissions. In the meantime, enjoy all the holiday preparation and most important, enjoy your families and all the traditions that go along with the holiday. As promised, here are some other recipes for the new year. Shana Tova and a sweet year filled with all good things. Happy cooking!

Brisket for 10
-Hilda Luria

5 pounds first cut brisket-lean (sometimes this has to be special ordered)
1 envelope onion soup mix
roasting pan
foil
*note from Beth– another friend told me she had a similar recipe and adapted it by adding a can of whole cranberries as well

Take two pieces of foil, one horizontal, one vertical and lay brisket in the middle.
Sprinkle the onion soup mix on top, spread it out, and rub it in well. (this is where my friend added a can of whole cranberries)
Cover brisket by folding side of foil, making sure it is sealed tight.
Place new foil in roasting pan the same way you did before and place sealed meat in the new foil as well. Close up the sides well.
Put in oven at 450 degrees for 10 minutes. Drop temperature to 250 degrees for 3 hours.
Open the brisket and look at it. Poke it gently. It should be tender. If it is not, put it back in for another 1/2 hour.
Slice the brisket and let it stay in the pan- covered loosely.
Heat at 350 degrees for another 1/2 hour before serving.

Tzimmes
-Hilda Luria

3 pounds flanken
1 bag baby carrots
1 pound dried apricots
1 box small pitted prunes
4 large sweet potatoes- raw, peeled, and quartered

Cook flanken in a pan on the stovetop and sear on both sides. Cut into small pieces.
Fill large pot 3/4 full with water, enough to cover the ingredients, (not the meat), boil together, and cover.
In about an hour, add the meat.
Pour the mixture into a baking pan, cover, and bake at 350 degrees for about 1 1/2 hours until meat is tender.

Eggplant Rice Pilaf

-Miriam Gray
(Miriam created this vegetarian dish when her daughter was a vegetarian)

1 large eggplant
3 eggs beaten
flavored breadcrumbs
1 box rice pilaf
vegetable oil
2-16 ounce cans tomato sauce
onions
minced garlic
salt, pepper, Italian spices

Wash eggplant before slicing. Slice eggplant lengthwise into thin slices—1/8-1/4 inch thick
Rinse slices. Dip slices into beaten egg mixture and then cover with breadcrumbs
Brown quickly in skillet in vegetable oil. The eggplant does not have to be cooked through.

Tomato sauce: SautÃ© onions and minced garlic. When onions are golden brown, add cans of tomato sauce. Add salt, pepper, Italian spices and simmer for 20 minutes. While the sauce is cooking, cook rice pilaf according to directions. Do not overcook. The pilaf should be moist.
Lightly grease a 10×13 inch pyrex dish. Spoon sauce to cover the bottom. Add breaded eggplant to cover. Spread rice pilaf to cover the eggplant and then put another layer of eggplant. Pour the tomato sauce over the top layer. Bake at 350 for 25 minutes. (Glassware has a tendency to cook faster.)
For a dairy meal you can add sliced mozzarella cheese on top of the casserole.
To make another layer, use 2 boxes of rice pilaf and add sauce as you layer the eggplant.
You may want to leave some sauce to add when you serve this.

Potato Knishes
-from Miriam Gray- adapted from Nancy Resman’s recipe

Pepperidge Farm Puff Pastry
potatoes —use about 3 pounds for both pastry sheets
package of onion soup mix
non-dairy creamer (to make this pareve)
margarine (to make this pareve)
onions
1 egg
salt and pepper to taste

Boil potatoes until ready for mashing. While the potatoes are cooking, set the pastry sheets out to defrost. DO NOT TRY TO HANDLE THEM UNTIL THEY ARE SOFT BECAUSE THEY WILL BREAK IF NOT DEFROSTED. While potatoes are cooking and pastry shell is defrosting, sautÃ© an onion til golden brown. When potatoes are soft, mash with margarine, add non-dairy cream, slowly add one package of soup mix, a tablespoon at a time, tasting as you go. (The soup mix is spicy). Add the onions. Mash until light and fluffy. Use a hand mixer to be sure the batter is well mixed. Add salt and pepper to taste.
Cut pastry shell sheet into squares cutting along the lines of the folds. Fill the bottom with the potato mixture and cover with a matching square for the top. Pull the softened dough so the top piece is larger than the bottom and pinch the sides to seal closed. When all the “knishes” are formed, brush the top with beaten egg and bake at 375 til golden brown.

Baked apples
Aviva Weiner

4 hard red apples cored
1/4 cup raisins
4 tsp. brown sugar
1 cup grape juice (can use any juice, just nothing acidic)
Pecans or walnuts (optional)

Remove a strip of peel from the middle of the apple
Fill the center of each apple with raisins
Top with 1 tsp. brown sugar
Sprinkle with nuts (optional)
Pour grape juice over apple tops

Bake at 350 degrees, uncovered. Check them in about 45 minutes.

Cooking with Beth

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