After All Those Feasts

If you've visited here before, you know that I'm Jewish and that I don't really worry about the kosher food part of being Jewish...no mixing dairy and meat, no eating of shellfish...etc.,...I'm not ready to give up my shrimp or lobster. Please keep reading, all this will be clear after the next few paragraphs.

Jewish High Holidays have begun. In fact, Rosh Hashanah is over and Yom Kippur is next week. I'm a little more focused on Jewish traditions these days. For the last two nights we've had delicious, over-the-top traditional Jewish New Year feasts...

Monday was at good friends who live right on the coast not far from Peggy's Cove and even if the food wasn't so delicious it would be worth the drive just for the view from their living room and dining room. Bunny used to be a caterer, so naturally dinner was fantastic...a beautiful homemade holiday challah for the blessings, chicken soup with matzo ball, followed by excellent gefilte fish lovingly made by Rhona, another friend. Then...even though we all really could have stopped right there...the main course...roast turkey AND roasted lamb, sweet potato, squash and prune tsimmis (basically a soft baked pudding), roasted asparagus, homemade potato knishes (I might have forgotten something). Of course no feast is a feast without a fabulous dessert. Bunny made a spectacular apple tart in phylo that had everyone swooning.

So we rolled home and probably didn't finish digesting that dinner when we had to head over to Joanna (my daughter) and Ezra's last night. Another homemade holiday challah (I guess I'll have to whip one up for next week, too), more delicious chicken soup with matzo balls (I decided to make something totally different for my dinner next week, just before the big fast...roasted vegetable soup), homemade chopped liver that everyone told her to go into business. It was fantastic. A lovely mixed greens, strawberries & grapes salad with balsamic vinaigrette. Again, that really was more than enough food for anyone, but who could resist the main course with so many dishes from her childhood....brisket slowly roasted with lima beans and onions which makes its own awesome gravy to spoon over bow ties and kasha. (bow ties are farfalle and the challenge in Halifax is to find the medium grain kasha or buckwheat groats. Joanna had to use large kasha grains...still delish). Side dishes...green & yellow beans with cherry tomatoes quickly sauteed with a little garlic and oil; squash and apples (to be the tsimmis). Dessert was homemade honey cake, some of the plum sour cream kuchen I made this week and over-the-top cupcakes from a new shop in downtown Halifax...I'll have to get you all the details.

So....and finally I'm back to the first paragraph and the reason for the post. For weeks now, I've been craving a pasta recipe in Ricardo's Magazine, Fall 2008. It's Spaghetti with Pesto Chicken Meatballs. The recipe calls for stock and heavy cream, but I felt the need to replace the cream with white wine...two reasons...1. I think I've used up my months calorie count over the last two days, so heavy cream is definitely to be avoided. 2. Cream is dairy, no way around it... and so, at least at this time of year, I felt I should leave it out of the dish. And I used Sobaya Wheat & Buckwheat pasta for a healthier option.

But, not-kosher genius that I am, I didn't remember that the pesto I used has Parmesan cheese in it....if you can't see it does it count?

I know...we should have had a simple salad, but Presto Pasta Night is coming up too quickly and Ulrike (she and her sons are terrific pasta makers) of Kuchenlatein is hosting this week. So...I guess dieting will have to wait. Don't forget to send her your pasta dish...ostwestwind AT yahoo DOT de.

What do you eat after a overdoing things at holiday time?