Chanukah in Israel is truly something to behold. The words Chanukah
Sameach or Happy Chanukah can be found printed on food packages, store
windows, and even in pixilated letters on the front of buses. There is
generally a happy festive air about but it is the sufganiyah or the
jelly doughnut that really makes it worth being in this country on
this holiday.

It definitely seems to me that this greasy and delicious treat, has
gone more the way of the hamentashen, then say the rugelach. While the
rugelach can reach over the border of cinnamon and chocolate it
usually remains within those bounds. Rather, the sufganiyah and
hamentashen have more flavors that compliment their plain and
delicious batters while appealing to a greater spectrum of pallets.
Yet, I will venture to say that the sufganiyah has overtaken the
hamentashen and entered the 21st century in style. It is a vixen.

Dulche de leche—must I say more? Yes dear readers you saw it here…
dulche de leche sufganiyot. ( And just when you thought you couldn’t
eat another one you pass another shop window with another magnificent
display of lightly powdered doughnuts and you remember that Chanukah
comes once a year and there might just be a bit more room in your
belly or in your newly developed love handles. )

Much like how the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade ends with the Santa
float I saw Chanukah approaching from a meter away. My local macolet
or mini-mart started selling sufganiyot at the start of November. I
valiantly resisted the urge and decided to wait until the holiday
truly began. I can’t say it was a sound decision because one week
prior to the start of the holiday the parties began and doughnuts of
every quality were being offered hand over fist. It was then that my
virtuous self-control ended and I was left to my own abandon. As I
hinted to before, the holiday only comes once a year and I’ve heard
that once it ends so too do the sufganiyot. Do you think that it’s a
coincidence that Tu Bishvat, the New Year of the Trees, is what is up
at bat and the shops will be flooded instead with dried fruit? While I
love dried fruit, I think it may still be a sad and rude awakening.
Chag sameach.

We took this last year, looking out through our front window on our front yard under two feet of snow. For all you folks who get snow regularly in winter, this was an epic storm for Portlanders, the most snow we had in the city in 40 years. This year there’s no snow on the first night of Chanukah, but it’s plenty cold. Wherever you are, whatever weather you’ve got, chag sameach!

It’s latke season, which also means it’s time to buy applesauce, dig out the applesauce you made in the fall, or make some from scratch now. This simple recipe fills up the house with a delicious aroma of cinnamon, and can easily be frozen in plastic or glass freezer containers to enjoy throughout the winter. Add a bit to your buttery sweet potato latkes,  parsnip carrot latkes, or spicy potato latkes; or have some plain as a snack – it’s delicious with granola or walnuts mixed it!

To make applesauce: Core apples, and peel if you prefer sauce without  skins. Cut apples into quarters, and fill as many as you’d like into a pot. Add water – you should add half the amount of water as apples. Simmer until cooked down to your liking. Add cinnamon and clove to taste. Delicious hot or cold!

Take your favorite latke recipe and substitute an equal amount of shredded parsnips and carrots for the potatoes (if you want them to be even more colorful, you can also add shredded zucchini, if you don’t mind that zucchini isn’t seasonal this time of year for most of us). The result is a lighter, more flavorful latke, and the parsnips and carrots make for a sweeter, more complex flavor than traditional potato latkes. Not to mention you can pretend you’re eating healthier because you’re eating veggie latkes instead of all those carbs (just forget about the whole fried in oil part). Chag sameach!

Holiday accommodations span far wider than hotels and motels.

Whether a host, guest, family member, friend, neighbor, colleague, or otherwise, the holidays are a time when we are all brought together under many circumstances, and required to deal with each other in ways unlike most other days. It brings out the best and worst in everyone.  For me, it often feels like these decisions define me. I have always struggled in balancing truth with tact, and tend to be either far too blunt and direct or completely spineless. And of course I also struggle with wanting so very much to accommodate without compromising my principles or even identity.

An example from my own experience. One Passover, a couple showed up, stoned, and presented me with a cake. Not exactly the Elijah I was expecting. And this was a real, Italian bakery, flour and butter laden, gorgeous cake. I had no idea what to do. Part of me was humiliated, because they know I am observant. Part of me was terrified not to be a gracious host, or to spoil the otherwise wonderful occasion. Part of me (a really big part of me) wanted to slap them silly. So what did I do? I put it out on a non-Passover plate and kicked myself for the rest of the holiday. Not my greatest moment.

There are other dilemmas. What do you serve for Thanksgiving? Do you send holiday cards? Do you attend Christmas parties or invite non-Jews to your Chanukah gatherings? Is a cookie exchange acceptable? Do you nibble on the catering at the company holiday party? I feel like November and December are fraught with these kind of decisions. And while the actual choices are very important, often the process and conversation are equally if not more significant. If you refuse that holiday ham, can you do it in a way that does not offend? How do you not break bread without breaking faith? What can you offer to mitigate your refusal?

I’d like to hear more of your stories. How do you accommodate for the holidays?

If you are looking for a Chanukah gift for a foodie (say… yourself!), or some new recipes for any of the Jewish holidays, then there’s a new book out that will be of help. Aviva Allen, author of the 2007 The Organic Kosher Cookbook, has just released a Holiday Edition. Ms. Allen provided me with a free copy for this interview and review.

Ms. Allen is a nutritionist in Toronto, CA, with a private practice. She also teaches private cooking lessons and Smart Food shopping. Smart Food shopping lessons introduces the client to new foods and how to prepare them, how to read labels, healthy substitutions, and more.

Ms. Allen’s interest in healthy cooking, eating, and education were originally piqued when she participated in the ADAMAH farming fellowship. She then went on to attend the Natural Gourment Institute in New York, followed by an internship back at the Isabella Freedman Jewish Retreat Center, cooking healthy, vegetarian food.

Ms. Allen wrote her first cookbook, because she felt that Jewish food was mostly “a lot of brown food” and utilized “a lot of margarine and Crisco to make the food pareve.” She explains that “there are a lot of so-called healthy kosher cookbooks out there but they have a lot of [those unhealthy ingredients].”

Ms. Allen’s new cookbook is broken down by holiday and what traditional foods are eaten at each one. She supplies recipes for healthier versions of these dishes. It is an ideal book for anyone who wants to keep kosher and also eat organic.

She explains, “There are so many different food sensitivities, preferences, and restrictions. A lot of the time you are making food for someone coming over and it’s helpful to look in the book and know what to make for them.” The book has symbols indicating for each recipe if it is vegetarian, gluten-free, passover-friendly, and if simple substitutions can be made to accommodate any of the above restrictions. There is also an index indicating all of the vegan recipes.

The cookbook includes organic, kosher chicken and fish recipes, but no beef. At this time, there is no kosher, organic beef available in Canada, where Ms. Allen is based.

Here is a recipe for Ms. Allen’s Spicy Potato Latkes, just in time for Chanukah preparations:

Spicy Potato Latkes (vegetarian)

Yield: 10-15 latkes

5 cups SHREDDED YUKON GOLD POTATO (2 lbs. potatoes)

3 Tbsp. GRATED ONION (1 small onion)

1 Tbsp. MINCED JALAPENO PEPPER (seeds removed)

3 EGGS

2 tsp. SEA SALT

2 tsp. CHILI POWDER

1/2 cup WHOLE WHEAT OR WHOLE SPELT FLOUR */**

EXTRA VIRGIN OLIVE OIL FOR FRYING

Procedure:

1. Preheat oven to 425 degrees F.

2. Place shredded potatoes in a towel, a little at a time, and ring out the liquid.

3. Place into a large bowl and mix together with all other ingredients (except the oil).

4. Heat 3 Tbsp. olive oil in a frying pan at a medium-high heat. Place a heaping tablespoon of mixture into your hands and flatten to form a disc while squeezing out excess liquid.

5. Fry latkes until golden brown onto both sides, adding more oil as necessary. Place latkes on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper and bake for about 10-15 minutes.

6. Serve with Avocado Sour Cream. (If you want to know this recipe, you’ll need to check out the cook book! –Laura).

Notes

* Substitute 1/4 cup brown rice flour for gluten-free version.

** Substitute an equal amount of whole wheat matzah meal for Passover-friendly version.

Enjoy!

Book image and recipe reprinted with permission of the author.

Serves: 4 as a main course, more as an appetizer, easily multiplied
Total Time: 45 minutes (including chopping)

1 large sweet potato (yam), peeled and grated
1 medium onion, grated
1 c walnuts, coarsely chopped
1 T sage
1/2 c flour, or 1/4 c flour and 1/4 cup whole wheat flour, or 1/4 c flour and 1/4 c cornmeal
5+ eggs, beaten
1 T salt plus more to taste
1/2 T ground black pepper, to taste
olive oil
butter or margarine (optional)

Tip: To speed up the chopping, I chop the nuts in the food processor, then grate the sweet potato and onion in the food processor without cleaning the bowl.

1) Combine grated sweet potatoes, onion, walnuts, sage, salt, and pepper in a large bowl. Toss thoroughly.
2) Stir in the eggs. Mix well until mixture looks uniformly slick. Add another egg if necessary for batter to hold together.
3) Heat 1 T oil and 1 T butter or margarine (or 2 T oil) in a skillet. Use an ice cream scoop to scoop out batter. Fry 1-2 minutes/side.
4) Drain on towels (clean dish towels or paper towels).
5) Repeat as necessary, keeping early batches crisp in the oven on a 300-degree baking sheet.
6) Serve plain, or with applesauce and/or lowfat sour cream. Try sprinkling a little nutmeg and/or black pepper into the applesauce.

Calling all New Yorkers!  If you’re around on Sunday, December 13th at 2pm, join me at this fun Jewish food event!

CULTURE IN THE CUCINA
How Rome’s Jews are Cooking up the Past and Future

While Jews have lived in Italy since the 2nd century BCE and are credited with popularizing staple ingredients like eggplant, fennel and pumpkin, the notion of an “Italian Jewish cuisine” is difficult to define. Still, a handful of traditional dishes – like Carciofi alla Guidia (deep fried artichokes) and Pizza Ebraica (a fruit cake-like dessert) – have managed to endure over time.

Food writer, Leah Koenig, will discuss how certain traditional recipes have attained iconic status in Italy’s oldest and largest Jewish center, Rome. She will also explore how today’s urban Jews relate to their culinary heritage. New York’s Jews have their bagels, knish and egg creams. What dishes do Italians turn to when they need a nosh, and how do these foods connect them to their past and their future?  *Bonus! Italian Jewish Chanukah recipes and tips on where to find Jewish Italian food in NYC.

EVENT DETAILS and more photos of Rome’s delicious food culture below the jump…

Culture in the Cucina
Sunday, Dec 13 – 2:00pm
Park East Synagogue 164 E 68th St.
$5 admission
Presented by the Jewish Historical Society of New York

Woman lunching in the Jewish ghetto

sweet, fried dough dessert - Pizzarelle

Rome's ancient Jewish bakery, Boccione

Menu at a Ghetto restaurant

Kosher Italian wine

Pizza Ebraica - charred to perfection

Shabbat challah, Friday afternoon

all photos: Leah Koenig

Not everyone suffers from this problem, but I personally have leftover holiday candy. Mine is a half bag of Sunspire chocolate drops, which I bought as dreidel game “gelt.” It turns out you don’t need an entire 10-ounce bag of M&M wannabes to play a good game of dreidel, and being one of the only women on the planet who does not require frequent intake of chocolate (some kind of hormonal imbalance, I’m sure), I had these things sitting around for the past two weeks.

I did notice them sitting there and I did think about snacking on them. Somehow, though, I couldn’t get into the idea of crunching down on the sugary candy shells and the room temperature chocolate inside.

Then, the other night, I hit on a way to use my candy — and any other holiday chocolate dregs. Hot chocolate! Considering how my local D.C. Starbucks, ACKC, and even the wacky frozen yogurt people over at Mr. Yogato are getting into it, I’m shocked that I didn’t think of it sooner. Maybe it took walking by Max Brenner in NYC, which plunged my thoughts into the rich lava flow of hot chocolate I tried at their Herzaliya branch. When I got home, the next time I glanced at the abandoned bag, I knew what to do.

So here it is — a spicy way to bring new life to your leftover candy.

Gelt-Ridden Mexican Hot Chocolate

For each 12-ounce mug:

• 1/4-1/2 cup leftover chocolate candy, chopped if in bar form or shaped like large coins
• 1 cup milk
• 1/4 cup water
• 1 pinch each of ground cayenne, nutmeg, cinnamon, allspice, cardamom, and/or ground cloves
• 1 splash vanilla extract

In a small saucepan, heat 1/4 cup of the milk until just steaming. Remove from heat and add chocolate. Stir until chocolate is completely melted. If the little buggers (the chocolate pieces) refuse to entirely melt this way, gently heat the milk mixture until they do, or put over a double boiler.

Gradually add the rest of the milk and the water, whisking as you go. When the mixture is blended, return to the stove, turn the burner to medium, and add the spices and vanilla extract. Heat until steaming once again, or boil briefly for a South American scorched flavor.

Serve hot in big mugs, and sip as you put away your Chanukah decorations.

Photo from Cheaty Monkey.

While I’m having trouble wrapping my head around the fact that Hanukkah is here again (time really flew since last year’s latke fry), I do have an assortment of gift, party, and tzedakah ideas in mind for this year’s Festival of Lights.  Here are eight suggestions—one for each night.

DIY, Together: Partner up with a friend or two to make something simple and delicious like organic pickles, applesauce, jam, chutney, trail mix, or granola.  Recipes abound online, and you can package your gifts in reusable glass jars.

Another Spin: Not of the dreidel, but of the DIY meme.  Try your hand at homemade chocolate gelt or Hanukkah-themed chocolate lollipops.  There are lots of molds to choose from online, and it’s as easy as melting some sustainable, organic, vegan chocolate chips.

Can Can, Can You: Host a Hanukkah party and ask everyone to bring one or two cans of food to donate to your local food bank.

A Matter of Taste: Host a Hanukkah “tasting” potluck party.  Ask everyone to email you the recipe for the dish they’re bringing.  Input all of the recipes from the party into a shared, online recipe book on a site such as epicurious or all recipes, and send the link to your guests after the party.

Hard to Shop For: We all have someone in our life who has it all.  How about “giving them” something like this MercyCorps Agricultural Mercy Kit.  $40 supports a program that provides training, seeds and farming tools to help impoverished families set up and maintain gardens.  There are also a number of Israeli charitable organizations focused on feeding those who are hungry in the Holy Land.

Share the Love: Support local family farms by joining a CSA.  This can be a great gift to yourself and your family, or even to give to a friend or relative—just make sure they’re cool with the weekly or bi-weekly pickup.

A Tisket, a Tasket: Fill reusable baskets or tote bags with fun food products from environmentally and socially-conscious companies such as Peaceworks, a company that promotes peace in regions of conflict.  You could easily fill a basket with natural, kosher, vegetarian pestos and tapenades, fruit and nut bars, and cooking sauces from Peaceworks alone.  Best of all, with their products on the shelves of 15,000 stores across the United States (not to mention available online), they won’t be hard to come by.

Let Someone Else Schlep: If you simply haven’t got the time to shop this Hanukkah, let Nagaya do the work.  Green Prophet tipped me off to this great little company, which offers gift baskets filled with gourmet organic fare produced by small Israeli businesses.  There’s also Vegan Divine, which offers eco-friendly Hanukkah gift baskets filled with natural, vegan, organic gourmet munchies.

[Image by Lisa Brown, from Lemony Snicket's The Latke Who Couldn't Stop Screaming]