Rosh Hashanah, the Jewish New Year, begins tonight at sundown. High Holiday foods tend toward the sweet and the circular: sweet to represent our wishes for a sweet new year, and circular to symbolize the seasons that run one into the next, round and round, year after year.

So it is traditional to eat many different kinds of fruits, especially apples, prunes, pomegranates, dates and apricots; and sweet vegetables such as beets, carrots, sweet potatoes, and leeks (sliced into rounds, of course), as well as black-eyed peas and lentils. And lots of honey, especially for dipping bread and apples.

We eat fish, too, to represent our wishes for blessings in the coming year. Rosh Hashanah is the time of the year when it is traditional to serve a whole fish, with the head intact, to symbolize the beginning, or head, of the new year. I know only one family who observes this custom (it is not my own family), and we were once honored to have been guests in their home.

Among a great many recipes I reviewed this past week, and some of which I have already prepared, including such lovelies as roasted beets and pesto, butternut squash drizzled with tahini and date honey, and delicata squash with roasted pumpkin seeds and pomegranates, I will share this gorgeous red lentil soup recipe from Jewish Slow Cooker Recipes by Laura Frankel. 

Generous friends once sent over a huge container of this divine soup, and I am happy to be able to share it with you here. It’s a perfect soup to make the New Year ever so special. But don’t think that you need a special reason to make this soup. This is the kind of recipe that will turn any meal into an occasion. The fact that it’s a crockpot recipe means that you can make it the day before, or start it in the morning so it’s ready in time for dinner.

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
3 cloves garlic, chopped
2 cups red lentils
1 cup dried chickpeas, soaked overnight and drained OR two 15-ounce cans, 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
Kosher salt & fresh ground pepper to taste
1-2 cups cilantro or flat-leaf parsley, rinsed well and chopped 

Sauté the carrots, celery, onion, fennel, and garlic in your largest frying pan on medium-high heat until vegetables are beginning to brown at the edges. Transfer the vegetables to a crockpot.

Add to the crockpot the lentils, chickpeas, tomatoes, coriander, cumin, lemon juice and stock. Cover and cook on the low setting for 8-9 hours.

Stir gently, and season with salt and pepper to taste. Serve with chopped cilantro and/or parsley. 

L’shanah tovah u’metukah, to a good and sweet new year! 

**NOTE: If you use canned chickpeas, add them late in the cooking so they cook for just 2-3 hours.