Roasted Fennel, Asparagus & Apple Salad - Going Green

In the late 90's I became one of the many fortunate people to befriend Marla Bennett. She was an incredible person, with a sparkle in her eye that was mesmerizing.  Those eyes turned into pools of warmth and care when she listened and commanded attention and respect when she spoke, they drew you into her laugh when she giggled and got you humming along when she sang.  As her emotions shifted so did the sparkle, and yet it was always present.   

In July 2002 Marla was victim to a fatal bomb attack in Israel at Hebrew University.  Marla's sparkle transformed from a physical sign in real time, to a spark that would ignite a wave of good work grounded in her passions for Jewish living and Israel.  These passions became her legacy. To say that Marla was adored and respected by many is to greatly understate. In just 24 years she had created a network of friends who were deeply impacted by her incredible personality, and she had made many contributions to Jewish education through her leadership with Hillel and Jewish camping, and her study of Jewish text and Middle Eastern political science.

Marla loved the story of Noah, and it stood out as a favorite amongst the portions of Torah we read throughout the year.  Each year, to honor her memory, some close friends and I celebrate Shabbat together when Parshat Noach is read.  We mark the occasion as "Rainbow Shabbat," and prepare a meal reflecting the full spectrum of colors in a rainbow.  While there are many great reasons to fall in love with the story of Noah, and the symbol of the rainbow, I must say that I never explicitly knew Marla's reason.  So, in her memory I've done some learning to link Marla to the rainbow.

THE RAINBOW: WHERE GOD & HUMANS CONNECT

Iguazu Falls, Argentina

The story of Noah and the flood serves as an important marker in time.  Not long after creating the world, God destroys it by flood out of grave discontent for the lack of humanity amongst the men and women who inhabit it.  Noah is singled out as a man of honor, and is called on to save himself and God's animal creatures.  When the flood is over, a rainbow appears as a sign that God will not again destroy the world.  Rabbinic wisdom distinguishes between two worlds based on this story.  Each world reflects a different mix of opportunity and limits.  In the Pre-Flood world the human lifespan stretched as long as the 900-year mark, giving people ample opportunity to experience life and make their mark. Yet, ultimately this world depended on a certain level of morality to carry on.  When God becomes dissatisfied with human behavior he wipes it out.  In the Post-Flood world the human lifespan narrows to the 100-year range, and the opportunity to experience life and make an impact is shorter.  The Post-Flood world, however, has an unending time continuum. God will not again destroy the world - regardless of how much we trash it.  People must be be more conscientious and coordinated in their efforts to work together within their lifespan, and to link their generation to the ones that came before and will come after. 

The rainbow is a phenomenon unique to the Post-Flood world.  Scientifically, a rainbow is seen when moisture rises from below to interact with the light from above.  Spiritually, this can be equated to the active relationship when people work together and interact with God.  While the world does not depend on these interactions for its existence, God created the rainbow as a physical sign to remind us of the importance of this relationship.  Witnessing a rainbow reminds us of our responsibility to be active caretakers of the world and each other, and to be active in our relationship with God.  The beauty of the rainbow and spectrum of colors is hardly a coincidence.  In this way, the rainbow is also our muse.  It urges us to be creative, inclusive, and peace minded.  The rainbow kicks our butt into gear.

...and there, in that rainbow, one can always see Marla's sparkle.  During her tragically limited lifetime she worked towards this very goal.  Her death was a sad example of human behavior at its worst, but for those of us who learn from her memory - directly or indirectly - we are now inspired to reach out to each other and up towards something higher.  Rainbows have come to remind me of Marla, and each year my friends and I create our own culinary sign through Rainbow Shabbat.

GREEN SALAD

My friend, and the founder of Rainbow Shabbat, was hosting the meal this year.  She assigned me the color green and salad as my dish.  Sounds like a no-brainer, but while it was an easy call for her, my mind melted in a flood of possibilities.  About a third of all vegetables are green (I'm making that up - but it seems likely, no?).  On the one hand there are so many from which to choose, but the trick was to identify a combination that blended well together both visually and gastronomically.  I pondered over the possibilities for a week and ultimately settled on two salads.

The first was a Green Asian Fusion Salad.  It came together like this - I went to an Asian market and perused the green options.  I decided that if it was sold at an Asian market, and if it was put into a salad, then the salad was inherently Asian.  ...throw in the word fusion just to be safe, right?  I started with greens, and mixed in some ribbons of Thai basil for a tangy kick to alert the taste buds that something unique was going down.  I added crisp, blanched broccoli and chopped, sweet sugar snap peas.  These served as my solid, dark green vegetables.  To grow lighter in color, texture and taste I added Japanese cucumbers and juicy kiwis.  I had hoped to find green papaya (sounds nice and exotic, no?), but they didn't have any.  Feeling like the salad needed one final touch, I grabbed an avocado - figuring that if it appears in US sushi rolls, then it has got to be Asian,.  I constructed the salad in concentric circles, alternating dark and light shades of green and topping it with squeezed lime juice and a Japanese dressing that came in a green bottle and had a green looking plant on the label.  It was called, Japanese Green Dressing - at least in my translation of the Japanese characters on the label.  The tasters gave it a thumbs up.

The second salad was more simple, and I think more noteworthy.  Less can indeed be more.  This salad also reflected a spectrum of green colors ranging from the dark green of spinach and asparagus to the almost translucent green of the fennel.  Now, fennel is understated as it shares a flavor with black licorice.  Licorice has no business being black and fennel-like, but properly prepared fennel - as a vegetable - is quite yummy.  Mine was roasted with garlic and green basil, seasoned with salt and pepper.  Since I already had a roasting pan prepared, I decided to fire up the asparagus as well to develop a nice, smokey flavor.  The salad was screaming for a tart, fruity dimension to balance the earthy fennel and asparagus, so onto the roasting pan went some green apple segments topped with a bit of salt and a drizzle of agave nectar (similar to honey).  With savory and tart flavors in place, the final touch needed to be a sweet crunch.  I had a bag of green pepitas (pumpkin seeds) in my cupboard, and decided to candy them by melting sugar in a pan, adding the pepitas to toast and sprinkling themwith some freshly ground salt and pepper for a kick.  Delicious!

This particular year's Rainbow Shabbat was pretty significant.  The bomber responsible for Marla's death was being held by the Israeli government, but was released this past week as part of the deal that freed Israeli solider Gilad Shalit after five years as a hostage.  Lest those close to Marla feel angry over his release, Marla's mother makes clear the importance of Gilad's current life over avenging Marla's death in a moving article in the San Diego Union Tribune.

Oh, and the rest of the menu included:

• YELLOW Split Pea Soup
• RAINBOW Challah (yes, in my rather observant neighborhood you can purchase a multi-colored challah at the time of Parshat Noach)
• Roasted Fennel, Apple, Asparagus GREEN Salad
• YELLOW Lemon Chicken
• RED Roasted Tomatoes
• ORANGE Sauteed Carrots 
• PURPLE Roasted Potatoes
• BLUE Lemonade (thanks to Blue Curacao liquor)
• BLUE Cake
• RAINBOW Fruit Salad

ROASTED FENNEL, APPLE & ASPARAGUS SALAD

Serves: 8

Ingredients

1 bulb fennel

14 stalks asparagus

2 small green apples, cored

3 Tbsp. chopped, fresh basil

2 garlic cloves, minced

Freshly ground salt & pepper

Olive oil spray
1 tsp. honey or agave nectar

10 oz. fresh spinach (bagged or rinsed thoroughly and roughly chopped)

2 Tbsp. sugar

1/2 cup pepitas

Instructions

1. Preheat oven to 400° F.  Cut out the fennel core (lay the bulb down and cut out a 1-inch triangle from the base) and cut off the branches.  Cut the fennel into four quarter pieces.  Place on baking sheet and sprinkle with 1/2 the garlic, 1 Tbsp. basic, salt and pepper.  Spray with olive oil and place in oven for 15-20 minutes.
2. Break off bottom ends of asparagus stalks.  Cut apples into eight slices.  Add to baking sheet.  Sprinkle the asparagus with rest of garlic, 1 Tbsp. basil, salt and pepper.  Sprinkle apples with final Tbsp. basil, honey and a light dust of salt.  Spray with olive oil and return baking sheet to oven for an additional 15 minutes.
3. Chop roasted fennel, asparagus and apples into bite sized pieces and toss in salad bowl with spinach.
4. Place the sugar in a small pan on stove top over medium-low heat and wait for it to melt into a puddle.  Add pepitas, sprinkle with salt and pepper, and stir to coat.  Toast for 3-5 minutes, stirring occasionally and ensure that the pepitas don't burn.  Remove from heat and let cool under one minute (if you let it sit too long it will harden and stick to pan.  Break up the pepitas and sprinkle onto salad. 
5. Toss with dressing of your choice.

SHE'ELAH: Think of a rainbow moment you have experienced - a time when you felt yourself or your community reaching out and up and being met by a light from above.  Describe this moment, and whether you can ensure its recurrence.

Conquering an Apple Honey Challah

Growing up my family always ate Shabbat dinner together. The Friday night meal was central to our celebration and observance of Shabbat, and included candle lighting kiddush, and motzi over challah. My memories of our Shabbat challah during my childhood are quite distinct. While an wonderful cook, my mom is a fearful baker and figured out a clever shortcut to producing home baked challah. Each week she purchased a Kinneret frozen challah dough, braided and packaged in a tiny blue box. All the baker had to do was pop it out onto a baking sheet, let it rise in the windowsill for an hours, cover it with an egg wash, and bake it. Presto - mom's version of homemade challah. Not to complain ... challah is challah, and the Kinneret frozen dough baked fresh was still better than the mass produced loaves we ate during oneg Shabbat at day school.

Years later my father decided to take over the challah preparations. Initially he tackled it by use of a bread maker, but has since abandoned the machine and does it all by his two hands. Typically I find any excuse to poke fun of my dad, and give him a hard time ... but not when it comes to baking challah. The man is a master. He can make just about any challah - varying numbers of braids, shapes, fillings, toppings, doughs. For years I was frozen in his shadow, not even daring to try and bake a challah on my own. About a year ago, however, I decided to conquer my fear and asked him for his recipe and insider tips. While my challot are just not as good as his, I was relieved to learn that I could do it!

With a year of practice under my belt, and a request from friends to bake challah for their sukkah dinner party, I decided to stretch myself and tackle a more complex recipe - a round Apple Honey Challah adapted from SmittenKitchen.com. The dough itself was fairly easy to make, and is hardly sticky (one of the more annoying aspects of many challah dough recipes). The filling is also rather easy to put together. My troubles began when it came time to roll the apple filled dough into ropes - OY! The recipe called for 2 peeled and chopped apples, but I recommend downsizing to 1 1/2 at most. There were just too many chunks for apples. You also have to read through the weaving procedure a couple of times to really take it in. It seemed confusing until I had the ropes in front of me and didn't have to pretend visualize.

That being stated, I was pretty darn impressed with how it came out for my first try, and definitely recommend the recipe!

APPLE HONEY CHALLAH

from www.smittenkitchen.com

Yields: 1 challah

Bread Ingredients:
2 ¼ tsp. (1 standard 1/4-ounce packet) active dry yeast
1/3 cup plus 1 tsp. honey
1/3 cup neutral oil, plus more for the bowl
2 large eggs plus 1 large yolk
1 ½ tsp. table salt
4 ¼ cups all-purpose or bread flour, plus more for your work surface

Apple Filling:
1 ½ medium baking apples (ex: MacIntosh), peeled, cored and in ½- to ¾-inch chunks
Squeeze of lemon juice, to keep them from browning

Egg Wash:
1 large egg
Coarse or pearl sugar

Instructions:

1. Whisk yeast and 1 teaspoon honey into 2/3 cup warm water and let stand until foamy, a few minutes.
2. With a stand mixer: In the bowl of a stand mixture, whisk together yeast mixture, oil, remaining honey (1/3 cup), eggs and yolk. Switch to dough hook and add 4 ¼ cups flour and salt. Use dough hook on a moderate speed until it pulls all of the flour and wet ingredients together into a craggy mass. Lower the speed and let the dough hook knead the dough for 5 minutes, until smooth, elastic and a little sticky. OR, By hand: In a large bowl, whisk together yeast mixture, oil, remaining honey (1/3 cup), eggs and yolk. Add flour all at once and stir with a wooden spoon until you get a craggy mass of uneven dough. Turn dough out onto a floured counter and knead it into a smooth, elastic dough, about 5 to 8 minutes. Try to use as little flour as necessary when kneading the dough; you don’t want to toughen the bread. A bench scraper can make it really easy to remove it from the counter if it gets stuck in a spot.
   
3. Both methods: Transfer dough to large oil-coated bowl, cover with plastic wrap and set aside for 1 hour, or until almost doubled in size.
4. Add apples to dough: Turn dough out onto a floured counter and gently press it down into a flat, oblong shape. The shape does not matter so however it goes, it goes. Spread 2/3 of apple chunks over 1/2 of the flattened dough. Fold the other half over the apple chunks and press the dough down around them, flattening the now lumpy dough. Spread the remaining 1/3 apple chunks over half the folded dough. Fold the other half over the apples, pressing the dough down again. Your dough packet will likely be square-ish. Fold the corners under with the sides of your hands and form the dough into a round. Upend your empty bowl over and set it aside for another 30 minutes.
5. Weave your bread: Divide dough into 4 pieces. Roll and stretch each one as carefully as you can into a rope — don’t worry about getting it too long or thin, just 12 inches or so should do. If any apple chunks fall out as you form the ropes or at any other time in the forming of the loaf or risings, just poke them back in with your finger. Arrange two strands in each direction, perpendicular to each other, like a plus sign. Weave them so that one side is over, and the other is under, where they meet. So, now you’ve got an 8-legged woven-headed octopus. Take the four legs that come from underneath the center and move them over the leg to their right, i.e. jumping it. Take those legs that were on the right and again, jump each over the leg before, this time to the left. If you had extra length to your ropes, you can repeat these left-right jumps until you run out of rope.
6. Just as you had with the folded packet of apple dough above, tuck the corners/odd bumps under the dough with the sides of your hands to form a round.Transfer the dough to a parchment-covered heavy baking sheet. Beat egg and sugar until smooth and brush over challah. Let challah rise for another hour but 45 minutes into this rise, preheat your oven to 375° F.
   
7. Bake your loaf: Before baking, brush loaf one more time with egg wash and sprinkle with sesame seeds (optional). Bake in middle of oven for 40 to 45 minutes. It should be beautifully bronzed; if yours starts getting too dark too quickly, cover it with foil for the remainder of the baking time. The very best way to check for doneness in any bread but especially on ones like this where the wetness of the apples can slow down the baking time a bit, is with an instant read thermometer —center of the loaf should be 195° F.

SHE'ELAH: During the high holiday season it is tradition to eat challot with a round shape.  There are many interpretations for this practice.  One draws the meaning of the Hebrew word "shanah," most often translated as "year."  The root of the word "shanah" has two specific, conflicting meanings: 1) "repeat/cycle" 2) "change".  Each year our cycle repeats, but each year is also filled with great change.  As you look at the round challah give thought to these questions: In what significant way did my life change this past year?  What change do I want to pursue in the upcoming year?

Polenta in a Fruit Crisp? It CAN Be Done!

Each year I spend the first night of Sukkot with the same family friends and it has become a custom for me to bring along a homemade Applesauce Cake with Caramel Sauce. Suffice it to say, I think the cake is good (read the blog entry for the full rundown), but also wanted to shake things up a bit by bringing an apple based alternative dessert. I didn't want to do another cake, and with Thanksgiving approaching, felt I should avoid the pie route too. An apple crisp seemed to be a good idea, as crisps are typically well received and pretty hard to mess up - fruit, sugar, some spices, a sweet topping ... what can go wrong?


I set out to find a new recipe with a unique twist to kick it up a notch. After some intense research (code for - "I spent a few minutes searching my favorite recipe sites...) my eyes narrowed in on an Apple-Cranberry Crisp with a Polenta Streusel Topping. The recipe came from SmittenKitchen, a fantastic blog I discovered through my friend Abby, and is originally from culinary master Michael Chiarello.  I adapted a bit to keep it parve (non-dairy).

The polenta topping is certainly what sold me on the recipe. A traditional topping for fruit crisps seems to be a combination of brown sugar, flour, butter and some assortment of crunchy items - oats, nuts, etc. Polenta comes from cornmeal, and therefore this topping was more like a cornbread than a traditional crisp topping. Since most sukkot include some dangling ears of corn, this topping seemed apropos for the holiday. My topping was pretty thick and covered the full amount of fruit (I typically think of a streusel topping as having peaks of crunch).

I'm sure you can mix and match this recipe, trying out different fillings (peach berry) with the polenta topping or this apple-cranberry filling with a more traditional toppings. Play around - and enjoy!

APPLE-CRANBERRY CRISP with POLENTA STREUSEL TOPPING

Adapted from Michael Chiarello via Bon Appetit, December 2007

Serves: 10 - 12

Topping
1 tsp. aniseed
1 ½ cups pastry flour
3/4 cup polenta (coarse cornmeal)
½ cup sugar
1 ½ tsp. baking powder
¼ tsp. salt
½ cup (1 stick) chilled unsalted butter or margarine, cut into 1/2-inch cubes
1 large egg, beaten to blend

Filling
2 cups fresh cranberries
1/3 cup white sugar
2/3 cup (packed) golden brown sugar
2 tsp. finely grated lemon peel
1 ½ tsp. finely grated orange peel
1 tsp. ground cinnamon
½ tsp. salt
¼ tsp. freshly ground black pepper
2 lbs. Granny Smith apples, peeled, cored, cut into 1-inch cubes
2 Tbsp. fresh lemon juice
Vanilla gelato, ice cream or soy-cream

Instructions

1. Toast aniseed in small skillet over medium heat until slightly darker in color,about 3 minutes. Place seeds in processor. Add next 5 ingredients; blend 5 seconds. Add butter; blend, using on/off turns, until mixture resembles coarse crumbs. Transfer mixture to large bowl. Drizzle egg over and stir until ingredients are evenly moistened.
2. Preheat oven to 375° F. Combine first 8 ingredients in large bowl; stir to blend. Add apples and lemon juice; toss to blend. Transfer filling to 11×7x2- inch glass baking dish (or other shallow 2-quart baking dish).
   
3. Crumble topping finely over filling. Bake dessert until apples are tender, juices bubble thickly, and topping is crisp and golden, about 1 hour. Cool 15 minutes. Serve crisp warm with gelato.

SHE'ELAH: What's your favorite combination of fruit for a crisp?

The Ridiculous Applesauce Cake

Each year my family spends the first night of Sukkot in the the home of my childhood rabbi. They always build a beautiful sukkah, prepare a nice meal and invite fun company - it is a great opportunity to reconnect with family friends. The evening is pretty routine, and I enjoy the traditional progression of the evening from shmoozing in their living room to the chanting of brachot and tasty meal together. More so, it's fun to relive stories from childhood and to dust off (literally) the same photographed song sheets we use each year to sing the two distinctly Sukkot-themed songs in their repertoire. ...but I digress.

A number of years ago I was an eager, emerging baker and offered to bring something for dessert. After pouring through the recipe books I settled on a cake that seemed appropriate for the holiday: Applesauce Cake with Caramel Sauce. The recipe seemed simple enough, and I was attracted to the applesauce twist, some bold spices, and the bonus of a yummy sauce. In my opinion the cake was good enough - the spices give it a distinct flavor, the consistency is moist (in the way you want a cake to be moist), and the sauce certainly adds a sinful touch. Good, but certainly not anything particularly amazing. My own family seemed to concur.

Well, my rabbi and his family went bonkers. The men in the family enjoyed their first slice ... and their second. There was about 1/2 a cake left after everyone had finished eating, and yet, when the cake plate was returned to me from the kitchen at the end of the evening, it was completely cleared and cleansed. Not a single crumb left. "Where did the rest of the cake go?" I wondered. The answer - directly into their refrigerator to be consumed through the rest of the holiday.

When invited back the next year I again offered to bring a dessert. "That would be so nice - we really enjoyed the cake from last year" was the response to my offer. I picked-up on the not too subtle hint. When I arrived at their home, their eldest son answered the door and asked, "Did you bring it?!?" he asked with an intense look in his eye as he stared me down while blocking the doorway. I was thrown into a bit of an inner-panic! What was it that he was expecting me to bring with such great anticipation? I held up the only item I could offer - the cake. "Thank goodness!" he exclaimed and moved aside so that I could enter. The evening proceeded as it always does - shmoozing, eating, singing, benching ... and then a completely cleared and cleansed cake plate returned to my hands.

Thus began the tradition of the Applesauce Cake with Caramel Sauce on the first night of Sukkot. Again, I think the cake is good, but clearly there are others who think it is something really special! Each year I am greeted at the door with the same glaring look from some of the family - seeming more like addicts craving their annual hit than like gracious hosts - followed by a string of anticipatory comments as we lead up to dessert, during which time the harassment ceases only because their mouths are full with this ridiculous Applesauce Cake.

APPLESAUCE CAKE w/CARAMEL SAUCE

Serves: 12

Cake Batter Ingredients
½ cup butter or margarine, softened

½ cup extra virgin olive oil
2 cups sugar
2 eggs
3 cups flour, sifted
1 ½ tsp. nutmeg
1 Tbsp. cinnamon
1 tsp. ground cloves
1 Tbsp. baking soda
2 ½ cups applesauce
2 Tbsp. corn syrup
1 cup raisins or chopped dried apples
1 cup chopped walnuts

Caramel Sauce Ingredients
½ cup butter or margarine
1 cup brown sugar, packed
2 Tbsp. light cream or soy milk
2 tsp. vanilla extract
¼ to ½ cup powdered sugar, sifted

Instructions

1. Cream together butter, sugar and olive oil. Add eggs one at a time, beating for 30 seconds after each egg.
2. Sift together flour, nutmeg, cinnamon, cloves and baking soda. Set aside.
3. Combine applesauce and corn syrup in a small bowl. Add to creamed mixture alternately with sifted ingredients. Fold in raisins/apples and nuts.
4. Pour batter into prepared pan. Bake 1 ½ to 2 hours until cake tests done when tester is inserted (from multiple angles). Cool cake in pan on wire rack for 10 minutes. Remove from pan and cool completely. Drizzle caramel sauce on top see below).
5. Prepare caramel sauce: In a medium saucepan combine butter, brown sugar and light cream. Heat until melted. Add vanilla and remove from heat. Using a hand mixer, beat in powdered sugar and mix thoroughly. Pour sauce over cooled cake and sprinkle with extra chopped nuts to decorate.

Adapted from California Sizzles

SHE'ELAH: What is the most unique sukkah decoration you have seen?