Rosh HaShanah Menu

Rosh HaShanah, also known as the Feast of Trumpets (Yom Teruah in Hebrew), is the beginning of the new year in Israel. It is also the first of the autumn biblical festivals. The two-day festival begins on the evening of the new moon that occurs on Tishrei 1 and 2 on the Hebrew calendar during the harvest season in Israel. This falls on October 3rd and 4th in 2016. Menus for this special day reflect the produce that abounds at this time with vegetables and fruit in the Land. A sample menu for Rosh HaShanah might look something like this:

Round challah with honey

Butternut squash soup

Beet, pomegranate, orange salad

Roasted carrots

Fish

Apple Cinnamon Walnut Cake

Recipes like these may be found online and in cookbooks. Enjoy researching the tastes that take advantage of the harvest flavors. Because it is the beginning of the year, a whole fish, including the head, is often served to symbolize that it is the head of the year. A stuffed red snapper recipe is included as an option (any white fillet can work such as sea bass, tilapia, flounder and cod).

Stuffed Red Snapper

Ingredients:

1                       red snapper (approx. 2 lbs. or 0.9 kg.), dressed

6 tbsp.             butter

½ tsp.             pepper

1½ c.               shelled almonds

1 tsp.               cinnamon

2 tbsp.             water

6 tbsp.             olive oil

1 tsp.                salt

¾ c.                 honey

3                       small onions

1                       pinch of savory spice

Preparation:

Clean the fish inside and out, dry, then rub it with salt and pepper;
Chop the onions, then fry them in four tablespoons of olive oil;
Transfer the fried onions into a baking pan;
Crush one and a quarter cups of the almonds, then mix them with honey;
Add to the mix cinnamon, water, half the butter, and the savory spice;
Stuff the fish with the resulting mixture, then place it over the fried onions;
Cover the fish with the remaining butter;
Bake in a 400° F (204° C) oven for about ten minutes, then continue at 350° F (176° C) until the fish flakes easily with a fork. Brush it repeatedly with oil, while baking;
Garnish the stuffed red snapper with whole almonds (optional).

Serves 4

It is customary on the first night of Rosh HaShanah to dip an apple slice into honey and say a blessing for the new year; “May it be Your will to renew for us a good and sweet year.”

Recipe is from King Solomon’s Feast, Culinary Delights from the Cuisine of Biblical Israel, Cvia Rodin and Tibor S. Rodin, Ph.D.