Rosh Hashana, meals edition

[magid]

Welcome back to the food channel...

I'm invited out to dinner first night (though I need to ping someone about when I'm expected where); unclear whether I should bring something or not, especially since some of the others are oenophiles, and I am not that nuanced.

I'm hosting first lunch. We're eight, and these are the constraints: no eggplant, minimal gluten (read: gluten for motzi purposes only), reasonably accessible for somewhat unpredictable kid palates.

The menu:

• wine/grape juice, challah (which will be When Pigs Fly bread, since I like it so much, and I just wasn't up for making bread this week)
  
• apples and honey (both local, the former picked by me!)
  
• hummus, pickles, and olives
  
• chicken baked with rice (in an attempt to be sorta kinda Persian-ish, I put a layer of thin slices of potato on the bottom (a la Persian rice with potatoes), and added carrots and garlic to the rice (a la shahee polo); the idea is that the potatoes will get crisp when I warm this on Shabbat. Hopefully.)
  
• "baby" artichokes, likely with something like zaatar as a dipping sauce
  
• roasted sweet potato with onions, cayenne and cumin
  
• roasted red peppers with onion and thyme
  
• green salad (current plan: mesclun, red leaf lettuce, yellow tomatoes, radishes, and a balsamic vinaigrette)
  
• honeydew melon
  
• baked apple dessert (one involving apples, honey (this one from Land's Sake), lemon juice and zest, bits of marzipan, and cinnamony sweetened rice-flour crumb topping; the other using everything but the honey and lemon juice; totally experimental, but hopefully at least acceptable)
  
• tea, perhaps liqueurs

The cooked foods are either in the oven or done. I'll make the salad at the last minute. If I suddenly feel like I need another vegetable, I can always add red sauerkraut. The rest of what needs to happen is straightening and organizing so my house is less of a mess. Oh, and I suppose I should've tried to avoid nuts, as per some people's minhag (also pickles, I think), but I just didn't want to figure out something else. I did make a point of having carrots, and putting extra thyme on the peppers (English puns count as well as Hebrew ones, right?).

Second dinner is currently solo.

And I just got an invitation to second lunch across the river; hopefully that will work :-)

Comments

[doeeyedbunny.livejournal.com]

Yum! Looking forward to it :-)

[magid.livejournal.com]

Looking forward to having more time to chat with you :-)

(Is your icon a bunny biting a Maccabee?)

[trainingmom.livejournal.com]

what is "When Pigs Fly bread"

[magid.livejournal.com]

here
(note that while the bakery has supervision (both bread (pareve) and bread puddings (milchig; they put in a separate oven for them)) the other products do not)

[doeeyedbunny.livejournal.com]

Nope, it's Sir Bedevere.

[magid.livejournal.com]

He didn't bravely run away in time, I see.

[(Anonymous)]

Shanah tovah, Magid.

[magid.livejournal.com]

And shana tova to you too!
I hope it was a good holiday.

[magid.livejournal.com]

The approximate menu from dinner out Shabbat evening (I'm definitely missing a wine or two):

Laurent-Perrier Rose Brut Champagne
challah and honey
apples and honey

chickpea croquettes with greek salad topping
autumn wild rice rissoles with cranberry sauce
Yarden Katzrin Chardonnay 2005

chutney-glazed Cornish hens with hazelnut and dried fruit bread stuffing
Israeli couscous with roasted butternut squash and lemon
roasted Brussels sprouts and cauliflower with an orange-tarragon sauce
Yarden Ortal Vineyard 2004 Syrah

apple strudel
nut strudel
Prix Reserve 2006 Napa Valley Late Harvest Chardonnay

liqueurs and dessert wine

lunch notes

[magid.livejournal.com]

There are lots of olives left over, no pickles.

The chicken went over well, but I still overcooked; 3 chickens is too much for 8 people plus a decent amount of leftovers. Also, the potato slices on the bottom did get crunchy in the right ways when reheated on the plata.

I also made too many vegetables in general.

The rice flour is only so-so for crumb topping; the texture is odd. I know that was the only gluten-free flour I found at that particular supermarket, but next time, do try to have at least something else to mix in (chickpea flour, perhaps).