Wishing You a Sweet New Year!

Frances Maggin's Applesauce Cake - the recipe comes with a great story!

Rosh Hashanah, the Jewish New Year, begins at sundown on Wednesday. It is a time of joy and anticipation, as well as an opportunity for consideration and reflection.

It's traditional to usher in the new year with apples and honey and other treats, in hopes of a sweet new year. So here are some of my favorite holiday recipes, which I hope you'll enjoy - for Rosh Hashanah, for breaking the fast after Yom Kippur, to celebrate fall, or just 'cause ... :)

Shanah Tovah! [shah-NAH toh-VAH]


Frances Maggin's Applesauce Cake

Pomegranate Molasses-Glazed Carrots

Helen's Apple Cake (Craig's mother's recipe)

Southern Honey Cake

Apple Almond Kugel (one of my most requested recipes)

Challah

Cider-Braised Chicken (Jeremy's favorite chicken dish)

Quince-Glazed Baked Yams

Honey Cakes with Caramel Frosting

Sauteed Apples a la Mode

Applesauce Bars

Vanilla Cakes with Caramelized Bananas (pictured above)

Sugar Cookies

Banana Oatmeal Pie

Grilled Brie with Cherries and Almonds

Orange, Date and Almond Salad

Maple Almond Sweet Potatoes

A perfect side dish whether you're serving turkey, ham, goose, Turducken, or Tofurkey, these sweet potatoes enhanced with maple syrup (Grade B, which is darker and richer, no less - a tremendously thoughtful gift from my friend Kate!) are easy to make ahead and to reheat, so your holiday meal isn't any more chaotic than is necessarily inherent to putting on a feast. It was unanimously agreed at Thanksgiving that this was the best sweet potato dish I've ever made. And since I love sweet potatoes and cook with them all the time, that was exceptional praise, indeed!

Maple Almond Sweet Potatoes

2 very large white or light orange sweet potatoes
1 very large Red Garnet yam
3 tablespoons butter, at room temperature
1/3 cup brown sugar
1/3 cup maple syrup (Grade B preferred)
1/2 cup praline almonds (or candied almonds)

Preheat oven to 425F.

Place the sweet potatoes and yam into a 13"x9" baking dish, and prick them with a fork. Bake for 90 minutes or more, until very soft and starting to caramelize a bit.

Cut the sweet potatoes and yam in half cross-wise, then again lengthwise. Take each portion and scoop the flesh into a large mixing bowl, discarding the skins. Mash with a fork.

Stir in the butter, brown sugar, and maple syrup; place into a serving dish. Finely chop the almonds and sprinkle on top.

Makes 8-10 servings.

Sausage-Apple-Yam Shepherd's Pie

It is incomprehensible to me, but my son - yes, Jeremy, who's usually such a cooperative eater - doesn't like Shepherd's Pie. It has all his favorite foods in it: meat, gravy and, particularly, mashed potatoes. I often top it with grated cheese. He hates it. What's a mother to do???

Make a variation on the theme, that's what. Use breakfast sausage, chopped apple, cider, and sweet potatoes ... et, voila! One of Jeremy's favorite dishes of all time!

Yeah, technically a "shepherd's" pie is made with lamb. But there's still ground meat for a base, there's gravy, and there's a kinda-sorta mashed potato on top. This dish is sweeter, though, more colorful, and a nice twist on tradition.

Now, this isn't technically a Hallowe'en recipe: there's no candy corn, and there are no spider webs made out of frosting. But the topping is orange, like a pumpkin! So, since "Trick or Treat"-ing comes on Wednesday and you might still be seeking ideas for your dinner or a party, I thought I'd offer this dish as well as some links to previous posts about the festivities:

Jack-o'-Lantern Pizza
Hallowe'en Dipped Marshmallows
Sweet 'n' Salty Caramel Corn Mix
Jack-o'-Lantern Cheeseburgers

Sausage-Apple-Yam Shepherd's Pie

• 2 very large sweet potatoes
• 1 pound breakfast sausage, hot or mild
• 2 large Honeycrisp apples, peeled, cored, cut into 1/2" dice
• 3 large scallions, chopped fine
• 1 teaspoon kosher salt
• generous sprinkling freshly ground black pepper
• 2 tablespoons butter
• 2 tablespoons cornstarch
• 2 cups apple cider
• pinch of nutmeg
• 1/4 cup brown sugar

Preheat oven to 425F. Prick sweet potatoes, then bake for 90 minutes until very tender. Let cool until you can handle them.

Place sausage into a large saucepan; break up sausage and cook it over medium heat. When sausage is half done, add apples and scallions; saute for 5 minutes, then add salt and pepper. Cover and cook for 10 minutes, until apples are tender.

Meanwhile, melt together butter and cornstarch. Slowly add cider, stirring it into the butter mixture until incorporated before adding more liquid. Once all the cider has been added, bring to a boil and cook for 5 minutes.

Place the sausage mixture into a casserole dish, then stir in the cider gravy.

Cut the sweet potatoes in half, then scoop out flesh into a mixing bowl. Mash sweet potatoes, then spread over the sausage. Sprinkle the brown sugar over the top.

Bake for 45 minutes.

Serves 6-8.

Pomegranate-Glazed Sweet Potato Spears

Sweet potatoes aren't just for Thanksgiving.  One of the guests at the first Seder I attended at Passover brought a rich, sweet casserole featuring this gorgeous vegetable; and my very dear friend Candace, of Mi Chiamo Candace, recently posted about a flavorful spiced Roasted Sweet Potato Salad.  So with all this attention being paid to them, I've been craving sweet potatoes, which I adore.

This is a ridiculously simple preparation in which the sweetness of the main attraction contrasts with, and complements, the tartness of the pomegranate molasses.  And the house smells so, so good while this dish is baking.  These spears were fabulously delicious; I was sorely tempted to eat the entire batch instead of sharing!

This is an easy accompaniment to chicken, pork, burgers ... even turkey!

Pomegranate-Glazed Sweet Potato Spears

2 large sweet potatoes, peeled, cut lengthwise into 3/4"-wide strips
1/4 cup extra-virgin olive oil
1/8 cup pomegranate molasses
3/4 teaspoon kosher salt

Preheat oven to 375F.  Line a baking sheet with foil.

In a large bowl, toss the sweet potatoes with the oil and the pomegranate molasses.  Place in a single layer onto the baking sheet and sprinkle with the salt.  Bake for 1 hour until the sweet potatoes are glazed, caramelized, and tender.

Serves 6 as a side dish.

Harvest Stew

I love my crockpots! I only have two now - Mama Bear and Baby Bear, as I call them. I gave the enormous Papa Bear one away to someone in need. But the ones I have left are perfect for making dinner and for keeping dips warm, respectively.

It takes almost no effort to put together the ingredients when using a crockpot, and then to let your dinner simmer away - without the need for monitoring - so that it can be ready for your return home after a long day.

This stew is a perfect way to eat something warm and nutritious on a chilly Fall day while also celebrating the bounty of the harvest; it's a stellar example of seasonal cuisine, featuring pumpkin, sweet potato and apple cider.

This hearty dish is vegan - yes, vegan! - if you use the soy chorizo noted in the recipe; carnivores are welcome to substitute a spicier treyf ([TRAYF] = not kosher) pork variety of the sausage, though.

Either way, it's a great meal to come home to. The house smells amazing, and your dinner will warm your soul.

Harvest Stew

2 tablespoons oil
1 12-ounce package Trader Joe's soy chorizo
1 large yellow onion, chopped
3 large garlic cloves, minced
1/4 teaspoon red pepper flakes
1 tablespoon kosher salt
1 teaspoon seasoned salt
1 cup corn
1 15-ounce can pureed pumpkin
1 sweet potato, peeled, cut into 3/4" dice
1 15-ounce hot chili beans, undrained
1 teaspoon chili powder
2 teaspoons coriander
1 tablespoon cumin seed
1 cup Uncle Ben's Whole Grain Brown and Wild Rice Medley
1 32-ounce container Imagine creamy sweet potato soup
1/2 cup apple cider
generous splashes of cayenne pepper sauce

Heat the oil in a medium skillet over medium heat; add the chorizo and saute for 5 minutes; place in a 6-8 quart crockpot.

In the same skillet, saute the onion, garlic, red pepper flakes, salt and seasoned salt until the vegetables are softened; add to the crockpot.

Add the corn to the same skillet and cook for 2-3 minutes, stirring occasionally, until it is lightly toasted and some of the kernels are golden; add to the crockpot.

Add the remaining ingredients to the crockpot. Cook on "low" for at least 8-10 hours, and serve hot.

Makes 10-12 servings.

Yam 'n' Cheese Sandwich

Nope -- that's not a typo. I didn't mean to say "ham 'n' cheese". I'm currently staying at the vegetarian and kosher home of a friend, after all; ham is completely and utterly verboten!!!

So one night recently, I made myself a Yam 'n' Cheese Sandwich ... well, really a quesadilla, but that's a sandwich, right? Two pieces of bread with stuff in the middle. And the stuff was leftover yams transformed into a meal with the addition of some onions and some cheese.

Jeremy relies upon sandwich meat for a quick food fix, since he can simply reach into the refrigerator and start eating 6 seconds later; and sometimes I wonder whether Tom doesn't love hot dogs more than he does me, as he'll put them into virtually anything!

But my "go to" meal seems to be quesadillas -- they couldn't be easier, and I always have tortillas around for wrap sandwiches or burritos/enchiladas or some such thing. Fry 'em up, eat within 5 minutes!

Thus, when I found myself with leftover roasted yams, some whole wheat tortillas, some Muenster cheese slices, a scrap of onion to use up, and about a tablespoon of taco seasoning floating around, I threw it all together into something a tad more glamourous -- and infinitely more nutritious -- than any of the individual parts.

I know it sounds a kinda weird, but I've eaten roasted squash enchiladas at vegetarian restaurants; the sweetness of the vegetables goes quite well with the creaminess of the cheese and the toasted tortillas. And really, the mashed yams are virtually the same consistency as the refried beans traditionally used in these types of dishes.

So, give these quesadillas a try -- trust me! I wouldn't steer you wrong, I promise ... :)

Yam 'n' Cheese Quesadillas

1/2 tablespoon butter
1/4 cup sliced onion
1 teaspoon taco seasoning
2 large whole wheat tortillas
3 slices Muenster cheese
1/3 cup mashed pre-cooked yams

Heat the butter in a small skillet over medium heat; add the onion and saute until translucent. Add the taco seasoning and cook for 1 more minute.

Place 1 tortilla into a large skillet. Tear the cheese into 2-3" pieces, and place half the cheese onto the tortilla.


Spread the yams over the cheese, and top with the onion.


Place the rest of the cheese over everything, then top with the second tortilla.


Cook over medium-high heat for a few minutes per side, until toasted and golden. Let rest for 1 minute before cutting into 4 pieces.

Serves 2.




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Yam I Am

My good friend and co-worker, Cindy, took a trip with her family to Israel this summer. She very generously brought back presents for everyone in the office -- beautiful jars of jams and jellies.

I was enormously flattered when she gave me a jar and said, "Do you like quince?" Of course I do -- thank you! "Oh, good. I knew I could give Mary the quince jam."

Not only is the jam lovely in the usual ways, i.e.: on toast. But I used it for my recent holiday dinner as a key ingredient: I topped some sliced yams with a mix of butter and jam, then baked them in the oven for awhile. The yams were tender, sweet, luscious ... they were absolute perfection.

I thought it would be difficult to top my usual yam dish -- bake the yams like potatoes, scoop the flesh from the skins and mash in some brown sugar and a bit of both butter and apple cider. But I'd wanted some variation on the theme this year.

My little risk of just winging it on the spur of the moment with no recipe or even a fully formed notion of a plan worked out beautifully, thank goodness. The yams prompted me to think of this line from Dr. Seuss' Green Eggs & Ham: "They are so good, so good, you see!"

Quince-Glazed Baked Yams

2 large yams, peeled, cut into thick (not quite 1/2") slices
1/3 cup butter, softened, divided into 2 equal portions
1/4 cup quince jam
3 tablespoons brown sugar

Preheat oven to 400F.

Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil; add yam slices and cook for 10 minutes until tender. Drain.

Grease a baking dish and cover the bottom of it with a layer of yams; dot with bits of butter.


Repeat layers until finished with both yams and one portion of the butter.

Melt the remaining portion of butter and stir in the jam. Spread this over the top of the yams, then sprinkle with the brown sugar.

Bake the yams for 30 minutes, then serve and enjoy ... :)