You're listening to Big Blend Radio's cooking with Ruth Show featuring Ruth Milstein, author of the Gourmand award-winning recipe book "Cooking with Love" ventures into the new Israeli cuisine. Welcome everyone. It is time to chat with Ruth Milstein, author of "Cooking with Love" ventures into the new Israeli cuisine about Rosh Hashanah. Rosh Hashanah is coming up the evening of October 2nd through October 4th of 2024, but you might be listening to this in 2025. But if so, it doesn't matter when you're listening to it, we're going to be talking about delicious recipes that Ruth has created to have a wonderful Rosh Hashanah and celebrate the Jewish New Year. We're going to talk a lot about chicken. We're going to talk a lot about vegetables, salads, and yeah, really good recipes for the whole family and friends to come together and celebrate a new year. And boy, I think we need some levity and some fun in life. So I say, even if you're not Jewish, let's have a new year, right Ruth? Welcome back. How are you? Thank you so much. How are you? Doing good. Doing good. Are you excited about a new year? We kind of all feel like we need some fresh beginning, don't we? Thank you now. Something fun. Yeah, I like it. The time is great. It's not so hard, not so cold. And the gathering. You can see people that you can see them for six months or years sometime. And food, food, food, and wine, and wine, and wine, all the fun. So this is celebration. So you like to celebrate New Year's for two days, and then you get, you know, the regular New Year's. Now two days, then you get, so you get three New Year's. Yeah, I think this is because Hanukkah is not as much fun as Christmas, right? But we like Hanukkah. I like Hanukkah too, because it's good food. Hanukkah is not really legit. It's different. Hanukkah is not really legit. And it's for seven days. Yeah. And you get little presents. You get little presents. A lot. Seven presents, every day presents. See now, that's good. That's good. One second. One second. If you have 10, 10 at end, each one of them. And answer each one of them. That's why they don't have to be such big presents, right? They're little presents. The geeze. The geeze. The geeze. If he's late, why not? Yeah, I do. What day? I have a car a day. Why not? No kidding, but, but this is, this is so fun because, you know, we look at the foods and what they, what they mean. So I know we're talking a lot about chicken and we'll get to that in a second, but from what I've read and what we've talked about over the years, I believe honey, apples, and pomegranate. Those three things are a mainstay in the dishes, right? Yes. The honey for honey is. It's simple for honey is. The honey. Always honey. So sweet. So you want a sweet. And that apple and pomegranate, that's also part of it. That's a mainstay, but that's, isn't that always been a mainstay in most Israeli food? Yes. Yeah. Honey notes, honey notes, but honey for us is, you know, always. So do you just, what do you do with it? Do you use it in the recipes? Do you have it on pancakes or, you know, what, what, how do you, how do you even, do you just take a taste? Honey just, just taste it. We just taste it. We don't eat it because we have a big meal. Okay. It's a symbol. The honey has a symbol or just you just, you know, you just taste it. Okay. And you can't food. There's so much food. You want to eat honey. Oh, maybe you can have a honey dessert at the end. Do you get dessert? I like the dessert. That's a good thing. Let's, let's talk a little bit. You can, you can also, you can bake honey cakes. The honey cake is for us asana. But when, when you are around the table and you pray in whatever, yes? Mm-hmm. They, everybody touch a little bit honey, you know? A little bit honey. It's for, because there is some blessing to the rabbi or somebody in the house, yes? The rabbi, when they do it like outside in hotel or something, you have to touch a little bit honey or the symbol. Okay. So, it's nice, it's nice, it's a symbol, it's nice and fun. Hmm. Is this, is it more religious celebration too? And you think about the blessing? Yeah, the, the blessing is, therefore, happy New Year, happy New Year and we touch a little bit. Honey, it means sweet year. We want a sweet year. I do. We all, we all need a sweet year. I like this. And then, you know, and then we can really force it. We, we, we, we are the sweet year. Sweet year. And then, if we, we need to reinforce it on December 31st, we reinforce that. You know, it's like, we get to add on and make sure, you know, and celebrate, do you get to have champagne? This is an important thing for a New Year. To me is, you know, bubbly. Do you get to do that? Sometimes it's not in the ocean, sometimes it's the end of the year. Oh, okay. Okay. But you get wine. Wine. Okay. Now let's, let's talk about some of the side dishes that you, you, we're going to be featuring everyone. There's a link in the episode notes. It's going to a page of recipes of roots that are perfect for Rosh Hashanah. And the first one is definitely a very traditional Jewish dish or Israeli dish. It is rice with dried fruit. And I think this is very Mediterranean and almost Middle Eastern to Ruth with this recipe. Yes. Yes. And it's mostly nice on the table. Mm. It's also very important. It looks like a cake almost the way you've got the rice and then the dried fruit in it. And so it's, it's pretty. So this is something you could do again for another holiday, maybe even the next New Year or Thanksgiving even, right? Yeah. I'll do that. I'll do that. I'll make it out of the holiday or something. Mm. Okay. So this is, this is a celebration dish. It doesn't like the food because it's sweet. Mm. Okay. That's the part of it. Right. And that speaking of sweet, you also have some fantastic salad recipes that have some sweetness to them. We've got beet and apple salad with yogurt dressing. And this salad, the dressing also has some honey in it. It's got apples in it. Beets are very healthy. So that, to me, symbolizes a healthy New Year as well. They're very good to lower your blood pressure in all kinds of good things. Look it up. Y'all. It's good. And antioxidants. So I feel like this is a very, and yogurt's good for us, I believe. Um, a very healthy, but delicious and colorful recipe, Ruth. It's very important, the color on the table. Yes. Yep. Yeah. Have some color and beauty to it. And then another recipe for salads, because salads sometimes could be a starter, right? You have the salad, then the big meal or, yeah. So, but the rice, the dried, dried fruit with the rice, that's something you can have on the side the whole time, the whole meal. And the other recipe you have is spinach, chicken, salad. Spinach and chicken salad with apples and nectarines. So that makes it, the nectarines are still, you can still get them depending on where you are. But when I, you know, this recipe is fantastic because it's a little chicken, right? You've got the little snow peas, if you want them, scallions, sweet apple, granny Smith apple, a nectarine, mandarins, some walnuts, if you want. And then the sauce has olive oil, sesame oil, maple syrup, some mustard, black pepper with the sauce, the salad dressing for this, because this is like a meal to me when I look at this recipe. Can you swap out because it's Russia, Shawna? Can you swap out the maple syrup for honey? Yes, absolutely. Cool. That makes sense. And you can change things out in these recipes affording. Absolutely, absolutely. This is a beautiful, beautiful, from a music and music. This is such a beautiful, beautiful salad. Yes, the only thing at home, use it, use it. Even, even, you have it home and there is no holiday, you use it for every day. The sea is going to get old. Everything is going to get old. Yeah, you don't want that. We don't want that. Yeah, use it. And then you can start your fridge over, you know, have a clean slate for the new year, you know? The other recipe you have is chicken and avocado salad. Now, that's fantastic. You're in California, so you know this is a favorite dish, but it's colorful. You know, you've got olives, but the avocado to me gives some sweetness. And then also the dressing, again, you have maple syrup and lemon, wine vinegar, olive oil, black pepper. So you could do, again, maple syrup or honey for this. Yes, absolutely. But what is going on, so I have to tell you, when it goes to China, it's different. I just remember when I was a child and when I was a dad also, we celebrate on still the morning. Mm-hmm. It wasn't like 2-3 hours or something with the guests, with everybody till the morning. Mm-hmm. The morning, so we need more food. We need a lot of food. What do you do for breakfast? What about breakfast? No, this would include breakfast. It was like a long, long night. Okay. And not only us, we have the neighbor. We have the neighbor. We have each other. We have all. And it's fun. It's night holiday. Night holiday. Because everybody happy. Everybody happy. You hear everybody singing or talking. It's nice. Nice. Oh, that's fun. And you know, and the other thing with having kids in the family and if you're going to go like, you know, maybe start in the next day in the afternoon, one of the recipes I think is going to be a big hit for everyone is your chicken pot pies. Like, who doesn't love a good pot pie and they look fantastic. They're easy to make. And I think this is a really good recipe for, you know, to have like, because you can reheat those pretty easy, right? If you make a pot pie. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yeah, that's, that's, I, I love pot pies. You know, it's, it's comfort food. We're getting towards fall, depending on where you live. And he doesn't like a good pot pie. This is a good, good, and you can have wine with it. And you've got some great pairings from Howard on what you can pair with this. And, but this is easy. Put your different, you've got chicken breast and you've got carrots and potatoes and onions and peas and you can change it up to a lot of wine. A lot of wine. You also have orange zest in this, which is interesting because one of your other recipes is sweet orange coconut glazed chicken. So that gives us some more of that sweetness you're talking about, right, is kept in that recipe. Mm. Because we need to have sweet here. Okay. Yawning with sweet here. And doesn't the coconut milk has a little sweetness to it as well. But coconut, bring a lot to the recipe. Every recipe, coconut. But coconut, make sure it's still easy. Yeah. Yeah, you want it fresh and you always want everything fresh. Not fresh, get frozen vegetables that are frozen like because they're the second option of how because they're frozen as they're picked, you know, so you're getting them pretty good and they keep the nutrients. But this recipe also has honey in it, which is fantastic. But I want to ask you Ruth, what is it about chicken that is such a big deal for Rosh Hashanah? Why is so chicken dishes? Yeah. Yeah. Okay, so now we eat chicken, not meat. There is no reason not to eat meat. You can eat meat also. But in Rosh Hashanah, we eat chicken. It's just life. Yes. No, it's one thing. It's meat. No problem. I don't know why. Well, it's more cost effective, I think. And I was googling. Maybe costing from for many, many, many years, many, many years that time they didn't eat meat. They didn't eat meat like I'm talking about hundreds and thousands of years back. Yeah, who ate with me at the time? Well, if you're eating red meat all day and all night, I think your stomach is not going to be happy with you. A little bit is okay. I saw one person had a recipe for brisket. And that's the only meat I've seen that's not poultry, like that's not chicken. Even turkey would be too heavy, right? So it seems like chicken is what the tradition is. So that's, you have another really good recipe. I think that's great for families and, you know, delicious. The same kind of vegetables, again, is your chicken casserole in root vegetables. And that's very much a Israeli dish. And I think something that we're going to want to eat all the time. I mean, this is a great end of week recipe for, you know, make it on Sunday. And then you have leftovers for the Monday. So this is another perfect one for Rosh Hashanah, right? Yes. Yeah. Sorry, we have three holidays, one after the other. One month, we have Rosh Hashanah, we have Yom Kippu, and we have another holiday for seven days, seven days. Wow. In one month, it's one month. And the children is off. Wow. Yeah. Children is off. Most of the month. Yes. Yom Kippu, tell us about that a little bit. Yes. Yom Kippu is one day. One day. That's holy. That's a holy day. Yes. And Rosh Hashanah, two days. Rosh Hashanah, Yom Kippu, and after the reason. Another, another holiday, like for one week. One week in the one week, it's not, one week, it's only one day. It's real holiday and the race is called house holidays that people go to work and everything. Oh, okay. Not going to school. They're off. Yes. You've got Sukkot, right? Coming up. Sukkot. Sukkot. Sukkot. Sukkot. Children off school. But the dark going to work. Everything is open. I mean, they go to work. Everything is normal. No. Sukkot is that way. I was going to say Sukkot, isn't that when you eat cheese? Or am I getting the wrong holiday? No? No? No, it's good. It's not cheese. No. No. It's a board. It's a board. Oh, that's it. Sorry. I'll get there. Shavot. That's right. And then the other one I was looking for. The other one. Because I was born there. Okay. The Simchat Torah. Is that, am I getting this right? Yes. We got the Torah. We got the Torah. Yes. Okay. So these are the ones. You're good. You're good. Yom Kippur, Sukkot and Simchat Torah. Those are all holy days. It's holy. Yeah. Holy. Holy. So religious. The day that we fast. Okay. Oh, you need to fast after this party that you're with all this food. Oh my gosh. It's like, you know, God said, that's it, man. You know, so yeah, that's enough of that. You've eaten enough. But, but it's a good way to start a new year. Yes. And then Chan, Hanukkah comes in December 25th through January 2nd. So, I mean, you're celebrating. I mean, that's going to be, this makes me feel better about 2025. There are so many holidays altogether. I feel like this may create some unity in the world. So I feel like, you know, hearing that Rosh Hashanah is happening, I'm celebrating. I'm not Jewish, but I'm celebrating because I want to. And I love to celebrate all the time. Yeah. Will you celebrate all the holidays, Ruth? I love you. Yeah. Yeah. I'm going to make chicken. I'm going to send you a picture of a chicken dish. I'm going to cook chicken. I'm going to cook chicken. I'm going to, I'm just for you, Ruth. I'm going to do it. It's going to happen. Yeah. Well, now you've got this other recipe, which is, I'm going to ask you this because you've got chestnuts, chicken legs with chestnuts. Now, chicken legs, this is probably one of the most economical thing you can get meat-wise, poultry-wise, I think, chicken legs. And so this is an interesting dish that you're doing with chestnuts. So is that an Israeli recipe? And it's very easy, especially give it to children because they, we call them. Do you want ice cream? I said, yes. We didn't eat chicken legs. We call it. We like, we eat them because they don't want to eat. They don't want to eat meat. They don't want to eat chicken. So we say, do you want ice cream? Yes, chicken legs. Because they can hold it like a drumstick. And you can hold it like chicken. They can, they can hold the chicken like ice cream. And eat it. Okay. Like we see them. Well, you have a, you have another, it works for, get them to eat some food. And the other recipe you have for chicken legs, I don't know if this is going to be good for kids, but I think so because the alcohol does cook off, is chicken legs in white wine and figs. Now, isn't figs also a symbol of sweetness? Yes, fig is sweet. Yes. Chicken legs in white wine and figs. Hey, I think this, you know, and it looks delicious. It looks absolutely delicious. It's got some mushrooms in there. Time, you know, red figs. And you've got honey in this recipe too. And with the figs, it's amazing. Honey, honey. Yeah, it's, it's in this recipe. So that's perfect. And this is a lot of recipes, man. We've got a lot. The other one, I think that is really interesting and will present really beautifully is this chicken roulade with spinach. And this really, you've wrapped this, this spinach around. I mean, it's, you're using the chicken as the roulade and then you're stuffing the spinach in the middle. And it looks really beautiful how you do this. And you've got a podcast on it before, but this is really cool how you've done it. You know, it looks beautiful. Because for this, to look also nice, just, you know, if it's nice, you, you're eating different. You enjoyed it different. Mm-hmm. Yeah, yeah. Yeah, this is the plate. The plate, the plate is nice. Also, it's mini. Mm-hmm. And this is supposed to be nice, especially with food, but it's nice. Now, do you, well, do you decorate, do you decorate the table with different colors or their colors associated with this? It's white. White, white, white. Oh, nearly. We want everything to be new year. Everything good to be hundred percent. Everything want to be, you know, it's not colorful. It would be colorful, though. Table closed, white, table closed, white, everything white, white, white. And everyone here is my tip. If you spill the red wine on the white tablecloth, get hydrogen peroxide immediately and put it on there and it will work immediately. And don't scrub it in, let the hydrogen peroxide suck it up and then you dab it off and it will be gone and it works like a charm. Listen, we do not travel anywhere without our hydrogen peroxide. But you then you'll see that half my clothes have red wine stains on them anyway, but so what, you know, that's okay, but, but this is like, what a wonderful list of recipes for everyone to try out. I mean, you've got 10 recipes and I know we've probably got more in the archives, but these are the ones that just stood out as perfectly beautiful. So the tablecloth, everything is white and symbolize this cleanliness and purity, things that you want when you go into a new year. But the food is definitely colorful, sweet, and then spicy too. It seems like some is sweet with a little bit of not over spicy, but not too sweet either that it's going to be too much sweetness, right? So it's a nice balance, but I want the honey cake though. If you want more, you can always, you can just add. But when it comes to honey and all these types of things, it's nice, fresh. And the chicken, chicken, you want to buy it frozen or not frozen? I never buy frozen, only frozen. There you have it, fresh, and when you look at the chicken in the market, any tips on... You look at me, the chicken look at me. It's like, yeah, if you talk to the chicken, do you talk to the chicken when you go in there? You go, hey little chicken? Yes, we have the same language. She's talking to the chicken. But yeah, sometimes it looks yellow. Is that a good thing or a bad thing? I look at him. And when you catch it, it's soft. Okay. And look at the date on it too. I mean, you don't want it if it's five days old. Do you talk to the butcher when you go to the market and ask them if it was frozen first? Because sometimes I wonder. I don't buy frozen. How do you know that if they didn't freeze it first and then you get... You know what I mean? I'm buying the kosher. Oh, okay. There is no frozen, all, you know? Okay. You bring it, sometime in half hour it's gone. And you know who buys it? Yeah. They put the people that don't eat the kosher. They like... Oh, because they don't want the time. They don't know. They don't know sometime, but they're buying. Just buying. Just buying. Yes. That's cool, though. That's cool. This is exciting, Ruth. And listen, happy Rosh Hashanah. Is there a saying? Thank you so much. Thank you so much. How do you say happy Rosh Hashanah in Jewish? How do you say it? Tanatovah. Tanatovah is the main good year. Ah. You have a good year. Tovah is good. Tovah. Tovah is good. And there is a lot of girls, a lot of girls, that's the name. First name is Tovah. Tovah. Tovah. If you know if girl is name, her name is Tovah. She's a good girl. She's good. She's good. Good. Tanatovah is good. Good year. It's what we wish each other. What we want. Mm-hmm. Yeah, we do. Everybody wants a good year. Yes. And with Tanatovah, we also, we said it for the free. We said it also on Yom Kippu. And after Yom Kippu, we have another holiday to put. No, the one that we sit outside with Suka. Yes. Also, we said Tanatovah. Tanatovah. Yes, all the month. Yes, all the month. We have free holidays. And then... Another Torah. Yes, with the Torah. And the children of school, they make their parents cookie. Oh. All right. Yeah. Of school. Of school. Most of the month of school. Yeah. Good for them. Good for them. Good family time. That's good family time. Ruth, always a pleasure. Thank you so much. And everyone, we wish you of Jewish faith or not a Happy New Year. And we will be back next month. October, we're going to be talking about root vegetables. Perfect for fall, you know, fall flavors, how to caramelize them. Different, you know, casserole dishes and things like that November. Ruth is going to talk about Thanksgiving, how to have a healthy and delicious Thanksgiving, how to prepare for it. And then also December, we're going to start talking about Hanukkah recipes. So we're going to talk about oil, latkes. We're going to talk about latkes, aren't we? Because I know you oil is part of that. You love latkes, I remember. I know. I can't wait. I'm like, come on. Let's do Hanukkah now. I want Hanukkah. But Hanukkah is about oil and light, right? That's what that celebration is. So we have a good lineup for the rest of the year. Thank you, Ruth. You take care. Everyone, don't forget Ruth, thank you. Thank you. There's a website to go to. How she gives you a big hug. Thank you for having me. Thank you. And everything, everything, right? She's never going to stop saying that. Y'all, fresh, fresh, fresh. Because I saw people, it didn't come right. It didn't come right. Well, you voted. I have a next door from next door first. No. No. Keep it fresh. I think we should change the podcast to keeping it fresh with Ruth. Thank you for listening to Big Blend Radio's Cooking with Love Show featuring Ruth Milstein. Keep up with Ruth and her recipes and her books at Ruth Milstein.com. You can also keep up with Big Blend Radio at bigblendradio.com. [MUSIC]
