Posts Tagged "gluten-free"
Festive Shavuot Sutlage (Rice Pudding)
Shavuot is like sealing the deal on a marriage contract. It is the celebration of G-d’s giving of the Torah to the Jews at Mount Sinai. This is the moment when the Jews became a nation, when they accepted G-d’s commandments and pledged to be “a kingdom of priests and a holy nation,” (Exodus 19:6). Like any other wedding, the most important question is, “What did they eat?” In Exodus 33:3, G-d tells Moses to go to the land which had been promised to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, “Unto a land flowing with milk and honey.” It is said that when G-d gave the Torah, there was no time to perform...
Read MoreBerbere: The Ethiopian Curry
Published in The Philadelphia Jewish Voice When the Ethiopian Jews began arriving in Israel in 1984, they brought with them a spice mixture called berbere. Like curry, berbere is a combination of spices that gives Ethiopian cuisine its distinctive flavor. These flavors are one of the newest additions to the fusion that is modern Israeli cuisine, especially for shabbat dinner. Although modern Ethiopia is a landlocked country, it has a long history of spice trading. In the 5th Century BCE, the Kingdom of Axum included modern Eritrea, northern Ethiopia, northern Sudan, Yemen, and southern Saudi Arabia. Square-rigged trading ships departed Axum via the...
Read MoreShavuot Centerpiece: The Savory Cheesecake
Published in The Philadelphia Jewish Voice Traditionally, Shavuot is celebrated with sweet cheesecakes and blintzes, redolent of cinnamon, raisins, and sugar. It is what we eat as we celebrate the giving of the Torah at Sinai. The basic unsweetened cheesecake is a neutral palette. It invites creativity! Many cultures have a tradition of preparing savory cheesecakes. For this year’s celebration, surprise your guests with something a little out of the ordinary. Prepare a piquant cheesecake for a special holiday treat. The Ancient Greeks are credited with inventing the cheesecake. Archaeologists discovered cheese molds from 2000 BCE on...
Read MoreLet Our Children Cook!
Published in The Philadelphia Jewish Voice In my family, the fun of Passover begins long before the Seder. It starts with perusing all of our cookbooks and discussing which recipes will be prepared. It continues with the shopping expeditions for all the specialty Passover supplies. The celebration begins with the cooking. In many homes, children are excluded from this step. I believe that it is important to welcome the little ones into the kitchen, and to encourage them to prepare something that is kosher for Passover. By cooking with us, children absorb treasured family recipes, and the laws of kashrut for Passover in a hands-on way. This is a very special...
Read MoreVenetian Passover Dishes: A Taste Of Multiculturalism From The Past
Published in The Philadelphia Jewish Voice Visiting Venice is an incredible adventure! Architecturally, it is one of the most sumptuous cities in the world. Its Jewish history goes back to the tenth century, when Jewish traders first came to Venice to engage in commerce. By the 1500s, Venice had the world’s first ghetto, in which Italian, Spanish, Portuguese, and German Jews coexisted. The community practically disappeared after World War II. Currently, only about 500 Jews live in Venice. It is possible to sample some Jewish Italian specialties in Venice’s only kosher restaurant, which is run by the CHABAD in the Ghetto Nuovo. In order to really...
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