Dishes for Rosh Hashanah and other High Holy Days

Celebrating during a pandemic: We will still eat apples and honey.

Sept. 15, 2020

This year, those who celebrate the High Holy Days of Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur will “attend” synagogue observances via internet broadcasts and forgo the large gatherings that characterize the season’s festive feasts. While some might engage in smaller, socially distant outdoor get-togethers within their quarantine bubbles, most will sit down to holiday meals with only their households.

So what’s a cook to do? Perhaps, if nothing else, breathe a sigh of relief. There won’t be the usual fun and fanfare, but there also will not be the endless planning, shopping, cooking, entertaining, dishwashing and late-night cleaning up.

Fewer guests gives you the time and energy to experiment with more ambitious cooking. Think of it as a low-risk opportunity to try something new.

On the heels of the quarantine sourdough craze, you can gussy up challah for the new year.

Apple and honey challah

1 hour 15 minutes

Serves 10

Round challah with seven seeds

Active work time: 35 minutes Total preparation time: 3 hours plus 1 hour cooling

Serves 16

Spinach- and ricotta-stuffed challah

1 hour 20 minutes

Makes 2 loaves, 8 to 10 slices each

The Hebrew names of Rosh Hashanah’s symbolic foods are plays on words, each expressing a wish for the coming year. Often eaten one at a time as a Seder in a ritual order, these foods also can be cooked and eaten together.

Carrot and pomegranate soup

1 hour 45 minutes

Serves 4 to 6

Pomegranates represent the wish that our good deeds may increase like the seeds of the fruit.

Whole fish roasted in sea salt with aromatic herbs

40 minutes

Serves 4

Serving the head of a fish symbolizes the wish that we may be as the head and not as the tail.

Beet and pomegranate salad

1 hour 20 minutes

Serves 6

With beets, we wish that our enemies may be dispersed.

Roasted one-pan chicken with leeks and barley

1 hour 20 minutes

Serves 4

Leeks fulfill the wish of enemies being decimated.

Carrots with honey, lemon zest and thyme

35 minutes

Serves 4

Carrots represent the wish that our merits may increase.

Boozie's apple cake

1 hour 15 minutes

Serves 12 to 16

Apple and honey sorbet with pomegranate sauce

40 minutes

Serves 6 to 8

Apples and honey symbolize the wish that we may be renewed for a good and sweet year.

For Yom Kippur eve, try this matzo ball soup with a twist.

ONE TIME USE - QUEENS, NEW YORK - Apr 2, 2019 - Making Passover recipes by Adeena Sussman and various LA Chefs. CHARD STUFFED MATZOH BALLS WITH ROASTED LEMONS AND MINT BROTH.

Kismet’s Chard and Leek Matzo Ball Soup

2 hours

Serves 8 to 10

Break the fast with seasonal salads and a dip to go with leftover challah. Finish with a stunning fig cake.

Beet and burrata salad

1 hour 30 minutes

Serves 4

Clockwise from top: Luxurious tarama or salmon spread, Christmas lima bean spread, rustic almond tapenade and five-spice carrot-cashew spread can all be made ahead. Keep the breadbox stocked too.

Five-spice carrot-cashew butter

40 minutes

Serves 10 to 12 (2 cups)

Caramelized fig cake with lemon anglaise

1 hour 15 minutes

Serves 8

Sukkot’s eight days of dining can feature the “seven species,” which are barley, grapes, pomegranates, dates, figs, wheat and olives. These foods are native to Israel and were brought to the temple as first fruits for harvest festivals during biblical times.

You will probably have enough leftovers to see you through the final meals of Simchat Torah and Shemini Atzeret at the season’s end. Still, it’s always nice to have a new dish or two.