Sarah Lasry  for Kosherstreet .com  -Yom Tov Recipes  

SWEET & SAVORY NEW YEAR: There is nothing like a dish that combines the intensity and spiciness of savory food with the delectable flavor of sweetness. The sweet and savory combination will make a great addition to any course on your Yom Tov menu. Whether it be an appetizer or a dessert, fruits added to meat and vegetables, or sweet honey fused with full-bodied red wine, this tangy combination will give your cooking a burst of surprising new tastes. Why not have a meal this Rosh Hashanah that will echo our wishes for the future: a life in which the spicy moments always end with a sweet surprise.

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Pomegranate Poppy Seed Salad

When pomegranates are really in season (end of nov) my family and I are real fans and they eat them all the time as a great snack or add in to salads and other dishes. Now with Rosh Hashanah less than a week away, this pomegranate salad could not be more fitting as a side dish to any of the meals you are serving.

Salad Ingredients:

1/2cup sunflower seeds

¼ cup confectioners’ sugar

½  tsp. cayenne pepper 

1 Head Romaine Lettuce, chopped

1 Pomegranate, seeded

1 pint blueberries

½ cup chopped up fresh dates

¼ cup blanched slivered almonds 

For the Dressing:

½ cup olive oil

2 ½  tbsp. white vinegar

2 tbsp. poppy seeds

1 tsp. garlic powder

Pinch of salt

Pinch of black pepper

1 packet of Splenda (or 1 ½ tsp. sugar) 

In a small frying pan toast the sunflower seeds for about 1-2 minutes. Pour into small bowl and add the confectioners’ sugar and cayenne pepper and mix well. Set aside.

In a larger bowl add the rest of the salad ingredients and the sugared sunflower seeds –mix well. 

In a small bowl add all the dressing ingredients and whisk well together. Pour over salad and mix well. Plate and serve.

Chicken Paillards with Clementine Salsa

Clemintines are my go-to “healthy” snack when I am feeling guilty about craving potato chips and want to be “good” about my diet choice. I am always stocking up on them and have had to be inventive on how to use them up before they turn dry. This is one of my favorite recipes and  have used it with both fish and chicken. 
 

4 5-ounce chicken breast halves

4 clementine’s, peeled, diced (about 1 cup)

1 cup cherry tomatoes, quartered

1/2 cup finely diced red onion

1/2 cup finely diced celery

3 cubes of frozen fresh basil  (or ¼ cup coarsely chopped fresh basil)

2 cubes of frozen fresh cilantro (or ¼ cup coarsely chopped fresh cilantro)

4 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil

1 ½ tsp. kosher salt

Pinch of black pepper

2 tablespoons fresh lime juice  

1 ½  cup orange  juice

Place chicken breast halves between 2 sheets plastic wrap or parchment paper, spacing apart. Using mallet, pound chicken to 1/4-inch thickness.  (the thinner the better) Cover and  chill.

Mix clementines with the tomatoes, onion, celery, basil and cilantro in a medium bowl along with 2 tbsp. olive oil. Season with salt and pepper. Cover; let stand at room temperature.

Uncover chicken; sprinkle generously with salt and pepper. Heat 2 tbsp. olive oil in large nonstick skillet over medium-high heat. Add chicken and cook until slightly browned and cooked through, about 3 minutes per side. Transfer chicken to platter. Add orange juice to skillet and deglaze the pan using a wooden spoon scraping up all the good brown bits left by chicken. Add the clemitine salsa mixture to the orange juice and bring to a boil, mixing constantly. When salsa starts to boil add the chicken and cover skillet. Lower flame to medium and let the chicken and salsa cook until juice has reduced by half, stir often, cook for about 8 minutes. Remove chicken to a platter and spoon salsa over and serve.

Tip: DO AHEAD:  the chicken breast can be pounded thin and prepped 1 day ahead.

Rosh Hashanah Fig Cake with Honey Cream Glaze

For this recipe I used the Oxygen brand date and walnut jam –  for those of you who don’t eat nuts on Rosh Hashanah, feel free to use any fig , date or prune jam that you like. This brand has some terrific flavors and I am a huge fan. This recipe would also work brilliantly if baked as a muffin or individual cake – a great presentation for YOM TOV dessert.

I kept this cake Parave for practical purposes, but I am sure if I made it in the dairy version it would be even more awesome. (just a thought)

Ingredients:

2 cups halved fresh figs

2 tbsp. turbinado sugar or granulated brown sugar

3 tbsp. honey

1 cup sugar

2 ½ cups unbleached all purpose flour

2 ½ tsp. baking powder

1 tsp. table salt

2 large eggs

4 tbsp. melted margarine

¼ cup vegetable oil

¾ cup Tofutti Sour Cream

¼ Soy Milk

1 ½ tsp. vanilla extract

1 jar (8-9 oz) of Oxygen Date & Walnut Jan or Fig or your favorite date, fig or prune Jam

Directions: 

Step 1: Place your cut figs into a 9 x 13 pan. Sprinkle the sugar over the figs generously and then drizzle the honey. Set your oven to high broil and bake the figs for about 3 minutes until the sugar has caramelized. Remove from oven and let cool completely.

Pre heat oven to 425. Grease your 10 inch Spring Form pan with non-stick cooking spray.

Step 2: In a medium mixing bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder and salt. In another large mixing bowl, whisk the large eggs and sugar together until thick and homogenous. Then slowly whisk in the melted margarine, Tofutti sour cream, soy milk and vanilla until combined. 

Step 3: Add the flour mixture into the egg mixture and mix together with a rubber spatula until just combined. ( the batter will be very lumpy with few spots of dry flour; do not overmix)

Step 4: Then add  the fig jam into the batter , mixing until just combined.

Step 5: Using the spatula pour the batter into the spring form pan, tapping gently as you pour to settle and even out the batter. Sprinkle a little more turbinado sugar on top before baking.

Step 6: Bake in oven for about 20 minutes until top of cake is golden and just firm. Rotate cake from front to back halfway thru baking time. Cool muffins in spring form pan for about 5 minutes then transfer onto wire rack and cool for another 15 minutes.

NOTE: If you are making  do step 1-4. Then scoop out batter into the muffin tins. Using chopsticks or a skewer, gently swirl jam filling into batter using a figure eight motion. Sprinkle sugar on top and bake.

Step 7: Make the Icing.

¼ -1/2 cup confectionery sugar

1 cup Tofutti Sour Cream

1 tsp. lemon juice

3 tbsp. honey

Mix everything together  the confectionary sugar, sour cream,  lemon juice  and honey in bowl – add more confectionery sugar depending on how thick you like your glaze to be. Whisk until smooth. Spread glaze over cooled cake entirely. Add figs on top as desired and drizzle  honey generously over the entire cake.