This coming Monday evening, as the sun slips below the horizon, we will begin our celebration of Rosh Hashanah, the Jewish New Year. Rosh Hashanah dishes traditionally tend toward the sweet and the circular: sweet for a sweet new year, and circular to represent the seasons that run one into the next, year after year, around and around. Instead of the usual braid, even challah is twisted into rounds at this time of year.
We eat lots of fruits, especially apples, pomegranates, dates, prunes, and apricots. Vegetables might include sweet potatoes, beets, carrots, and leeks (sliced into rounds of course). Round lentils and black-eyed peas are frequent additions to the table. And there is always lots of honey, especially for dipping bread and apple slices into. We usually have at least half a dozen varieties, including Lisa’s pomegranate honey, which is so good.
We usually eat fish, which represents our wishes for blessings in the coming year, although I’m not 100 percent sure of the connection. But here is an interesting bit of trivia: In some families, it is traditional at Rosh Hashanah to serve a whole fish, with the head intact, to symbolize the beginning (or head) of the new year. Trivia bit number two: I know of only one family who does this, and it is not us. But we were invited to their home to celebrate together once, many years ago, and I had a chance to witness this lovely custom in person.
Among the many beautiful recipes I saw this week, including such lovelies as roasted beets and pesto, green beans in tahini-honey sauce, and orange-pomegranate salad from the local News, was this gorgeous red lentil soup recipe from Jewish Slow Cooker Recipes, by Laura Frankel. Our friends have been known to share large pots of this soup with us from time to time, and I am always extremely grateful. It’s a perfect soup for making the New Year special. But don’t think that you need a special reason to make this soup; it’s the kind of recipe that will turn any meal into an occasion.
If you are inclined, you can also add a half-dozen whole, intact, raw eggs to this soup, and leave them to cook slowly in the juice of the soup, to be scooped out later, once the soup is completely cooked. Then rinse, refrigerate, and eat them whenever you’re ready, separately from the soup. The flavors of the soup are absorbed across the shells to make the eggs taste unbelievably good.
3 Tbsp. olive oil
3 medium carrots, peeled and diced small
3 stalks celery, diced small
1 large Spanish onion, diced small
1 medium bulb fennel, trimmed and diced small
4 cloves garlic, chopped
2 cups dry red lentils
1 cup dry chickpeas, soaked overnight and drained OR two 15-ounce cans of chickpeas, drained
1 28-ounce can crushed plum tomatoes with juices
2 tsp. ground coriander
1 tsp. ground cumin
3 Tbsp. fresh lemon juice
2 quarts vegetable stock
1 tsp. each Kosher salt & fresh ground pepper
Chopped cilantro (or flat-leaf parsley)
Saute the carrots, celery, onion, fennel and garlic (in batches if necessary) in a large pan on medium to medium-high until lightly browned. Transfer the vegetables to a crockpot.
Add the lentils, chickpeas, tomatoes, coriander, cumin, lemon juice and stock to the crock pot. Cover and cook on low setting for 8-9 hours. NOTE: If you use canned chickpeas, plan on cooking for just 4 hours.
Season with salt and pepper, with more to taste, before serving. Garnish with chopped cilantro or parsley.
L’shanah tovah, to a good new year!