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Sukkot & Thanksgiving Bring Double the Celebration

As I write this, Rosh Hashana and Yom Kippur are behind us—but wait! The celebrating continues with Sukkot, the ancient harvest holiday of thanksgiving. By the time you read this, Sukkot too will be a memory as we look forward to the secular holiday of Thanksgiving. Some say the Pilgrims had Sukkot in mind at the first Thanksgiving. We’ll never really know, but no doubt those religious settlers were familiar with the ancient texts and commandments, and no wonder a joyful meal of thanks would coincide with the fall harvest. Lucky us—Jews get to celebrate two Thanksgivings!
   In a Jewish home, even secular holidays get the Jewish touch, and I found an intriguing Thanksgiving appetizer in Michael Solomonov and Steven Cook’s new cookbook “Zahav Home” (Harvest, $40): Butternut Squash Baba Ghanoush with Pomegranate Seeds and Pepitas. The pomegranate has a long connection with Jewish history. It is one of the seven species mentioned in the Bible consumed by the Israelites and is imbued with special holiness. Tradition tells us that each pomegranate contains 613 seeds, corresponding to the 613 commandments in the Torah, though I doubt that anyone has counted.  
   “Baba ghanoush is traditionally made with eggplant, but the combination of roasted vegetable and creamy tahina was too good to dedicate to just one produce item,” the authors write. “Here we use the ubiquitous for–good-reason butternut squash, but this is a perfect opportunity to experiment with the fun squash varieties that show up in the market before Halloween (kobocha, honeynut, crookneck, Blue Hubbard—just save spaghetti squash and other stringy varieties for another dish!). The addition of pomegranate and toasted pumpkin seeds make this dip a fall fantasy.”
   “Zahav” is Hebrew for gold, and home cooks who adore the bold flavors of Israel will think they have struck gold with these 125 easy-to-follow recipes. Yes, you can smear jarred amba on spatchcocked chicken or jarred harissa on lamb. Middle Eastern selections reside comfortably next to some Ashkenazic classics as well: You’ll find both red and green shakshukas and Romanian eggplant with garlic confit as well as matzo ball soup and potato kugel. The pair’s tips and techniques and sequential photos demystify spatchcocking chicken and braiding challah. Flummoxed by the process of collecting those pomegranate seeds? While the usual instruction is to accomplish this over a bowl of water, you lose the juice and with it pomegranate’s unique, luscious flavor, say the authors. “Halve the pomegranate over a big bowl, whack the back of each half with a big wooden spoon, and the seeds just pop out,” suggests Cook.
   “Zahav Home” is the fourth cookbook for Award-winning chefs and bestselling authors Solomonov and Cook, co-owners of the CookNSolo group of Israeli-style restaurants, most notably Zahav. The idea for “Zahav Home’ was born during the pandemic. “With no idea what else to do, we did the only thing that made us feel close to normal. We cooked,” writes Cook. “Cooking and eating together was our salvation. It occupied our hands and our minds. And every once in a while, one of us would cook something that would startle us into saying: ‘this would be really good on the menu.’ A little glimpse of hope for the future. As the weeks turned into months, and as we cooked our food at home, we grew convinced that these recipes could become a book. These recipes reflect the flavors of Zahav that have seeped into our veins (and our clothes) the last 15 years.”
   The authors soon realized that restaurant cooking is not the same as home cooking and that they needed to bring the flavors of Zahav into the home kitchen minus the labor. “How do Zahav’s signature ideas make the trip home from the restaurant?” Solomonov asks. “The most obvious way is through a strategically stocked home pantry, which is why we put our pantry section right at the front of this book. When we cook, we are literally nurturing ourselves and the people we love. It is an inherently generous act, the meaning of which should never be minimized.”
   Kugel for Thanksgiving? Why not! This year I’m surprising my guests with Pumpkin Kugel with Pecan Streusel from “Nosh” (The Collective Book Studio, $35) by Micah Siva, a collection of over 80 plant-forward recipes celebrating modern Jewish cuisine. Without being preachy, Siva invites the modern cook to incorporate plant-based alternatives and flavors into one’s culinary repertoire.
   This kugel gets its ultra-creamy texture from coconut cream, in my opinion, an under-used parev ingredient in the kosher kitchen. “It is anything but traditional, with a soufflé, pudding–like texture that is a mash–up of a sweet potato casserole, kugel and pumpkin pie,” writes Siva. With its warm spices and crunchy pecan topping, it’s a great choice  for Sukkot or Thanksgiving.

Pumpkin Kugel with Pecan Streusel

Yield: 6 serving

1 (29 ounce) pumpkin purée

1 cup canned coconut cream, at room temperature

2/3 cup brown sugar or coconut sugar

1 1/2 teaspoons ground cinnamon

1 1/2 teaspoons ground ginger

1/2 teaspoon ground cardamom

1/8 teaspoon ground cloves

1/2 teaspoon sea salt

1/4 cup cornstarch or potato starch

1/2 teaspoon baking powder

Pecan topping

1 cup raw pecans, roughly chopped

1/4 cup all-purpose flour, gluten–free, if preferred

3 tablespoons brown sugar or coconut sugar

3 tablespoons coconut oil, melted

1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon

1/4 teaspoon ground ginger

Whipped cream or vegan whipped cream, for serving (optional)

1. Preheat oven to 350°F. Generously grease 8-inch pie dish with cooking spray or coconut oil.

2. In medium bowl, whisk together pumpkin purée, coconut cream, brown sugar, cinnamon, ginger, cardamom, cloves, salt, cornstarch, and baking powder. Poor pumpkin mixture into greased pie dish.

3. Topping: In bowl, combine pecans, flour, brown sugar, coconut oil, cinnamon, and ginger and mix well. Spread evenly over kugel.

4. Bake 1 hour or until set. Let cool slightly (it will firm up while cooling). Top with whipped cream before serving, if desired.

Note: Tightly wrap kugel (in the pan) with plastic wrap and store in refrigerator for up to four days. To freeze, let cool completely, wrap in a layer of plastic wrap and foil, and freeze for up to 3 months. Reheat in microwave or oven at 350°F until heated through.

Source: “Nosh” by Micah Siva

Butternut Squash Baba Ganoush

2 pounds butternut squash

1/4 cup olive oil

1 teaspoon salt

1 cup basic tahina sauce (recipe follows)

1 pomegranate, seeded

1/2 cup pitas, toasted in dry skillet

1. Preheat oven to 425°F.

2. Cut squash in half lengthwise and remove seeds. With tip of sharp knife score insides of squash in a cross-hatch pattern, then slather cut sides generously with oil and season with salt.

3. Roast cut side up until very tender, about 90 minutes. You may notice flesh separating from skin. When cool to the touch, scoop out flesh and transfer to large bowl. You’ll need about 2 cups squash; save leftover squash for another recipe.

4. Stir in basic tahini sauce until it’s nice and creamy and evenly mixed. Scatter pomegranate seeds and pitas on top. Serve with pita or your favorite cracker.

Basic Tahina Sauce

Yield: 2 cups

This is one recipe that hasn’t changed a bit since we started using it at Zahav 15 years ago. It’s a dip, a sauce, a salad dressing, and, of course, an indispensable component for making great hummus.

5 garlic cloves

5 tablespoons lemon juice (from 1 1/2 lemons)

3/4 teaspoon salt

1 cup tahina

1/4 teaspoon ground cumin

About 3/4 cup very cold water

1. In food processor or high-powered blender, purée garlic, lemon juice, and 1/2 teaspoon of the salt. Blend until you have a coarse purée. Let mixture stand 5 to 10 minutes to let garlic mellow.

2. Pour mixture through fine–meshed strainer set over large mixing bowl, pressing on solids to extract as much liquid as possible. Discard solids. Stir in tahina and remaining 1/4 teaspoon salt. Whisk everything together until smooth, adding water a few tablespoons at a time until you have a thick creamy sauce.

Note: Tahina will keep in refrigerator up to a week or frozen up to a month.

Source: Zahav by Michael Solomonov and Steve Cook

Jlife Food Editor Judy Bart Kancigor is the author of “Cooking Jewish” (Workman) and “The Perfect Passover Cookbook” (an e-book short from Workman), a columnist and feature writer for the Orange County Register and other publications and can be found on the web at www.cookingjewish.com.