Hanukkah Holiday Feasts: 12 '18

 When it comes to eating Hanukkah can pose a seriously bad news /good news dilemma.

• The bad news is that Hanukkah comes but once a year.

• The good news is that it lasts for eight great food-filled days and nites. 

• The bad news is all that great food can really pack on the pounds,

• The good news is that there is a healthy alternative. 

 For many Americans, Jewish food is synonymous with the Ashkenazi dishes served in New York-style Jewish delis across the country. The Eastern European countries of Germany, Poland, and Russia where these dishes originated had cold harsh winters, so meals consisted of high carb grains, root vegetables, and stews. Many ingredients were brined, peppered, or soured to help preserve them. And many of these Ashkenazi dishes call for fruits which also added much-needed calories in the cold climate.  As delicious as they are, eight days and nights of calorie-laden Ashkenazi dishes can really pack on the pounds. 

 

Fortunately, there is a legitimate kosher alternative.  It's called Sephardic cooking.  Sephardic Jews lived in Spain and Portugal until about the 15th Century when the Inquisition pushed them out of those countries.  From the Iberian Peninsula, they migrated to countries like Greece Turkey and Morroco.

Because of the Mediterranean climate, they lived in Sephardic Jews had access to fresh vegetable fish, fruit, and spices.  The Sephardic diet became an extension of the Mediterranean diet with influences from all the countries around that Sea.  In their new homelands, these Jews adapted their dishes to suit the kosher law, while utilizing the local crops to create healthy flavorful food that is still compliant with kosher law.

Fortunately for us, the South Eastern United States,  has a large Sephardic Jewish population, so recipes and ingredients for Sephardic Hanukkah dishes are more readily available.  This has made it a  lot easier for us plan menus that include some of Bruce's Eastern European  Jewish traditions, while countering their caloric intake by pairing them with a low carb recipe from my Sephardic collection.

 So here are a few of the meals we had for the 2018 Hanukkah Holiday.

Sun December 2  

Classic Sephardic Chicken with 40 Cloves of Garlic,

Honey-garlic-green-beans,

Mashed butternut squash

 Sufganiyot

 (air fried/baked (not deep fried) jelly doughnuts)

-/-

 

December 3

Sous vide beef chuck roast 

With burgundy orange sauce 

Mashed yams

Kale and roasted beet salad( not shown)

with maple balsamic dressing

-/-

December 4
Sephardic  pan-seared grouper
Pumpkin polenta with pepitas and goat cheese

While cod or salmon is  common on the Ashkenazi Hanukkah menus in the Northeast,  it is hard to find either fish fresh in the Southeast, so I fell back on the Sephardic style and pan sear a grouper we picked up fresh off the local shrimp boat. 

-/-

 December 5

Crispy pan-fried panko potato latkes 

While family recipes vary, most people observing Hanukkah will eat some version of the  potato pancakes called latkes at least once during the holiday. It is traditonal to fry the latkes in oil in remembrance of the oil that miraculously burned for eight days. Bruce like to dip his latkes in either sour cream while I like home-made apple sauce with mine.

-/- 

 

 December 6

Baked beef, lamb and eggplant meatballs 

on a bed of 

Roasted fennel with

Roasted red bell pepper sauce

-/-

 December 7

Savory Kugel 

 This is a great example of how the same Kosher dish  can differ widely dependent upon the origins of its cook.
Kugal, at its heart is basically a mac and cheese dish.

An Ashkenazi Kugel almost always has raisins or currants and is somewhat sweet;  a Sephardic Kugal is prepared without fruit and often uses more pungent cheeses and herbs to add flavor and zest. 

I  made ours with mushrooms leeks and feta cheese.

-/-

December 7
Seared-lamb-chops-with-rosemary-and-garlic

Twice baked latkes

Steamed artichoke 

-/-

 

 December 8  

Sous Vide veal chop 

with mashed potatoes 

and tri color salad

 -/-

 December 9

Matzo ball soup 

and  a mixed green salad 

After a week of feasting we needed something light and healthy to relax our digestive tracts.

 -/-

And what you ask, was Bruce's favorite recipe?

Probably the Sufganiyot.

He doesn't get them hot out of the oven very often,

 

 so he scarfed the whole plate down while they were still warm and fresh .