This fall is getting away from me, especially with the Jewish holidays falling (no pun intended!) so late this year. We celebrate both Jewish and Christian holidays in our family – as my daughters often say, we are equal-opportunity Holidayists.
Here are two classic recipes that we pull out at this time of year – some of our favorite food, and some of our favorite days. I always appreciate the joy of Rosh Hashanah, and the feeling of a fresh start after Yom Kippur. Hopefully both of these will become a staple in your breaking of the fast; I also highly recommend trying chive cream cheese with your smoked salmon, which has become a recent favorite in our house.
Shana Tova!
RUGALAH
Serves: makes 2 dozen
Prep time: 1/2 hour, plus two hours to chill dough and 20 minutes to bake
Ingredients
- 4 ounces cream cheese (half of a package)
- 1 cup flour
- 1/8 teaspoon salt
- 1 stick unsalted butter, but into small pieces
- 1 teaspoon vanilla
- 1 egg plus one egg for eggwash
- powdered sugar for rolling out dough
- Turbinado raw cane sugar
- filling of your choice: cinnamon, raisins, nuts, chocolate, peanut butter, speculoos, Nutella, fruit preserves
Directions
- In a food processor, combine flour and salt, adding cream cheese and butter.
- Pulse several times and add the egg and vanilla.
- Pulse again until dough begins to form large pieces.
- Turn out the dough on to a powdered sugar-covered surface and make two balls of dough.
- Flatten dough into discs, wrap in plastic wrap and refrigerate for at least an hour, though dough will keep for several days.
- After an hour, preheat oven to 375 degrees.
- Roll out dough on powdered sugar into a round; dough should be about ¼ inch thick.
- Spread the filling in a thin layer over the dough; don’t overdo it or the filling will ooze out of the dough while it’s baking.
- Cut the dough into 12 equal-sized wedges, and beginning with the wider edge, roll the pieces of dough into little crescents, tucking the tip of the dough under when placing it on a Silpat-covered baking sheet.
- Brush eggwash on rugalah and sprinkle with Turbinado raw cane sugar.
- Put rugalah into refrigerator to cool for 30 minutes before baking.
- Bake for about 20 minutes, until tops are golden brown.
- Serve.
BEEF BRISKET
Serves: 6
Prep time: 5 hours
Ingredients
- 1 four-pound brisket of beef
- 2 teaspoons salt
- pepper
- 2 cloves of garlic, peeled
- 2 tablespoons canola oil
- 3 leeks, cut into thin slices
- 2 onions, peeled and chopped
- 1 ten-ounce can of tomatoes
- 1 ½ cups red wine
- 2 stalks celery with leaves, chopped coarsely
- 1 bay leaf
- ½ teaspoon thyme
- ½ teaspoon rosemary
- 1 cup beef stock
- ¼ cup chopped parsley, and parsley for garnish
- 2 potatoes, peeled and cut into three-inch chunks
- 3 carrots, peeled and sliced into three-inch segments
Directions
- Preheat oven to 325 degrees.
- Sprinkle salt and pepper over brisket and rub with garlic.
- Place chopped onions and leeks in bottom of casserole dish.
- In a heavy saucepan, sear brisket in canola oil until browned.
- Place brisket, fat side up, on top of the onions and leeks in the casserole dish.
- Cover with beef broth, tomatoes, red wine, celery, bay leaf, thyme and rosemary.
- Cover and bake for four hours, basting with pan juices.
- Add parsley, potatoes, and carrots, and bake uncovered for half an hour.
- Brisket should be tender enough that you can easily stick a fork in it.
- To carve, place brisket fat side down and cut across the grain in the thinnest slices possible.
- Pour the hot juices and cooked onions and leeks over the meat, garnish with parsley, and serve.
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