Rosh Hashanah 2009, 5670

A Sephardic Tradition for Rosh Hashanah

My family has a unique culinary heritage, migrating from the Holy Land to Spain; my ancestors lived and flourished in the Golden Age for centuries.  The Golden Age was a time of tolerance in Spain’s history from around 711 to the 13^th century, an age of civility, poetry, enlightened medicine, and delightful cuisine.  If you visit Spain today, you will find influences left from the Sephardic people in food, art, architecture, poetry, and the ethnic makeup of the people in cities like Toledo, Barcelona, and Seville.  The history of Spain is full of famous Jewish physicians, advisors, and treasurers to the ruling caliphate.
When times changed and Jews faced the cruel expulsion edict by Queen Isabella (1492), my ancestors chose an escape route, heading east, along Mediterranean shores, and ultimately settling in parts of the Ottoman Empire centered in Turkey.  The Sephardic people took this route at the Sultan’s (ruler of the empire) invitation, as he welcomed us into his lands.
In these Mediterranean, cerulean blue skied islands and coastal towns my family found a safe haven where they would flourish for the next 400 years.  They lived a gracious life style indulging in the abundance of regional foods.  From an elaborate afternoon coffee time called La Tavla de Dulce (the tray of sweets) to this Rosh Hashanah feast, my mother, grandmother, and great grandmothers cooked and baked through the year.
The influences from Spain to the Eastern Mediterranean on the cuisine of the Sephardic people incorporated many flavorful ingredients in a context of Jewish dietary law, with rules about useable ingredients and combining.  This gives the cuisine a unique difference. Sephardic Jewish cuisine is a culinary heritage, rich with an enormous variety of vegetables,
grains, fruits, and spices that reflects the regions traveled by my family.  Now that I represent the next generation of Sephardic home cooks I put my American influence into the mix and the cuisine continues to evolve.
Some of the best ritualized tasting happens at the Jewish New Year’s Eve dinner, after sundown this year on September 18th.  Our tradition is to make a Seder, which means order, showcasing particular foods, each one with its own specific symbolism.  History has taught us that the future will always be uncertain, so we pray for blessings on our home, family, and on all humanity while indulging, with our guests, in this year’s fall harvest.
For me this meal is my way to show my deeply felt love for family, faith, and tradition.  I love to see faces light up as they see and taste the dishes I have prepared.  Food made with your hands and heart is a way to embrace all those whom you love.  Sephardic people traditionally believe in mysticism, the healing energy of prayer, and blessings.
Symbolic Appetizers for a Happy New Year
Most people associate this kind of Seder with Passover; however, the Sephardim and my other Middle Eastern Jewish friends do it for Rosh Hashanah as well.  At my Rosh Hashanah Seder, I incorporate as many symbolic foods as possible into the dinner starters. Honey, for example, is for a sweet year ahead; black eyed peas, thick,  rich and comforting, represent increasing one’s merits; pomegranate seeds, count for being as full of good deeds as the pomegranate is seeds for the coming year; and leeks, sweet and silky, are for overcoming adversity.  The round Challah signifies the circular ending and beginning of the years.  A cooked fish head represents the ideal of always being at the head and not the tail; a leader not a follower.
Plating these dishes individually or as an appetizer sampler allows my husband to make a ceremony before the meal.  First, we make a blessing on the wine.  We serve the raisin Challah tearing the yeast scented bread into moist strands, and drizzle honey on top.  Next, we dip fresh fall apples in the honey.  Crispy green Macintosh, sweet Honey Crisp, apple pie tasting Pink Ladies, and Jona Golds are all great choices.
Proceeding with some symbolism of biblical expressions, I might make Kufte de Prassa, leek and ground beef patties, fluffy and lightly crisp, so that we may vanquish our enemies.  Moist Medjool dates bring a good omen for peace, and vivid fuchsia beets represent overcoming adversaries.  We eat spinach to symbolize the removal of threats.  Fresh fish is served so that we may multiply like fish in the sea.  Evoking thoughts of autumn, squash and or pumpkin represent a petition to God, to tear up any evil decrees and to guard and protect us in the coming year.
Main Courses
Once we all have declared our desire to be inscribed in the Book of Life for the coming year and the tablecloth has honey dripped on it, it is time to serve the main course.  I choose easy to prepare straight forward fare that is mouthwatering and appetite inspiring.  The fragrance coming from my kitchen, announces to all the guests that there are more delights to come for the ones willing to eat a little more.  Instead of a traditional main course, I might make the following for dinner:
v    Prime Rib with Herb and Garlic Rub
v    Roasted Chicken with Citrus and Sumac
v    Brown Rice with Curry and Anaheim Chili
v    Roast Fennel with Shitakes
v    Steamed Blue Lake Green Beans
Fruit and Sweets for Dessert
Along with honey cake, moist and dense with coffee, I make Travados; a ground nutmeat turnover, akin to baklava in a compact mouthful, baked and then simmered in honey flavored syrup.  For the fruit, I pick grapes and an assortment of colored melons, such as Casaba, Crenshaw, or Honeydew.  Sweetened mint tea with fresh mint leaves, brewed until just before the tannin comes out, is a fine accompaniment.
Once I’ve served this splendid repast, and all are contented and reflecting on what the New Year will bring, I know that the tradition is secure for another year.  I am happy in seeing all my loved ones so satisfied.  The acknowledgement that life is not to be taken for granted but appreciated in all its glorious detail has been made.  Now I relax, enjoy the conversation, and pretend I am back in the Mediterranean somewhere near an inky black shore with stars overhead, reclining on silken embroidered Turkish pillows with an intricately woven Kilim rug underfoot.
Be sure to have help, after the guests leave, or even the next day, with washing all those little plates.
Linda Capeloto Sendowski lives in the Los Angeles area with her family and has been preparing the Rosh Hashanah dinner for her extended family and friends for 29 years.  Linda grew up in the Sephardic community in Seattle Washington where both her paternal and maternal grandparents settled after coming to the United States around 1910 from the island of Rhodes, Greece; Gallipoli, and Istanbul Turkey