Around the Shabbat Table (14 page)

TRIM
the lamb of as much visible fat as possible. Wipe with damp paper towels and pat thoroughly dry. In a 10- to 12-inch heavy skillet, heat 2 tablespoons of the oil until hot, but not smoking. Sear the lamb over medium-high heat, in batches, if necessary, to avoid crowding the pan, until evenly browned on all sides. Transfer the meat to a platter and set aside.

WIPE
out the fat from the skillet and heat 2 tablespoons fresh oil. Add the onions and sauté over medium-high heat, lifting and turning them until golden brown, about 15 minutes. Salt and pepper well and stir into the limas and rice. (Don't wash out the skillet yet.) Salt and pepper the lamb all over and arrange on top of the onions, limas, and rice. Strew the garlic cloves over the lamb.

IN
a small bowl, stir together 1 cup of the tomatoes, the lemon zest and juice, thyme, and salt and pepper to taste, and pour over the garlic layer.

PREHEAT
the oven to 200°F.

FINISH
the eggplant boats: rinse the eggplant flesh under cool, running water and then squeeze it dry with your hands, extracting as much of the bitter juices as possible. Pat dry with paper towels. Heat the remaining 2 tablespoons oil in the skillet, add shallots (or alternative onions), and sauté until softened, about 5 minutes. Add the eggplant flesh and cook over medium-high heat, stirring, until tender, 2 to 3 minutes per side. Stir in the ground beef and sauté until the meat loses its red color. Stir in the remaining
¹
⁄
₂
cup tomatoes, and salt and pepper to taste. Cook, stirring, for 2 minutes. Stuff the eggplant shells with the meat mixture and cover with the reserved eggplant lids. Arrange these eggplant boats on top of everything in the casserole.

POUR
in the broth. Bring to a gentle boil on top of the stove and simmer 10 minutes. Cover the casserole tightly with foil and the lid, place in the oven, and cook for 8 hours, or overnight.

TO
serve, cut the eggplants in half or thirds. The lamb will be meltingly tender and falling off the bone, so you need not serve each guest an entire shank. Instead, dish out some lamb pieces, accompanied by limas, rice, and a piece of the velvet-soft stuffed eggplant.

ISRAELI SALAD

yield:
6 TO 8 SERVINGS

A breakfast staple on Israeli kibbutz tables for many years, this salad has become wildly popular in Jewish communities worldwide. The refreshing mix of juicy vegetables and herbs is especially good served alongside unsauced roasted or grilled foods.

The salad is endlessly variable. For extra crunch and color, you can include slices or cubes of carrot and radish. Other delicious additions: tiny pieces of peeled lemon flesh (especially mild Meyer lemon), bite-size pieces of toasted pita bread or
Za'atar Matzohs
, olives, or for dairy meals, crumbled feta or goat cheese. Or sprinkle with a little oregano in place of the za'atar.

The moist vegetables that make the salad so refreshing can also render it watery and dilute the dressing. Salting then draining the cucumber and tomatoes helps eliminate some of their juices. Cutting the vegetables into tiny cubes, though very attractive, produces a lot more vegetable water, so I prefer pieces cut all the same size, but not too fine. If the salad does become watery despite all precautions (it naturally exudes juices as it sits), serve it with a large slotted spoon and pass some extra dressing at the table.

3 cucumbers, peeled if waxed or if peel is bitter-tasting or thick, seeded, and cubed

Coarse kosher salt

5 or 6 tomatoes, cored, seeded, and cut into small pieces

3 large sweet red peppers (I also like to add a couple of fresh, mildly hot red peppers, like smoky aji dulce or Hungarian wax peppers), seeds and membranes removed, flesh cut into cubes

1 cup thinly sliced scallions (about 5), white and light green parts only

1 cup chopped flat-leaf parsley

¹
⁄
₂
cup mixed fresh herbs (preferably at least 2 of the following: dill, mint, cilantro)

FOR THE DRESSING

About
¹
⁄
₄
cup best-quality extra virgin olive oil

About 3 tablespoons fresh lemon juice

1 large garlic clove, minced

About
³
⁄
₄
teaspoon ground cumin, preferably freshly toasted and ground

Salt and freshly ground black pepper

About 1 teaspoon smoked paprika (optional)

About 1 teaspoon grated lemon zest (optional)

Optional garnish: za'atar

LINE
a colander or wire-mesh sieve with a double thickness of paper towels. Add the cucumbers and toss them with 2 teaspoons salt. Cover with more paper towels and weight the cucumbers down with a heavy object like a can of tomatoes. Set the colander over a bowl, and let drain in the refrigerator for 1 hour.

IN
a large serving bowl, toss the tomatoes with
¹
⁄
₂
teaspoon salt, and set aside until the tomatoes throw off a small pool of juice.

PREPARE
the dressing: combine the ingredients in a jar and shake to blend well. Taste and adjust seasonings; it should be deeply flavored, as the juices exuded by the vegetables will continue to dilute it.

WHEN
you are ready to serve the salad, discard the juice the tomatoes have released, and pat them dry. Rinse the cucumbers lightly, squeeze to rid them of as much water as possible, and pat them dry. Add the cucumbers and the remaining salad ingredients to the bowl, and toss with enough dressing to moisten all ingredients thoroughly. Taste and adjust seasoning. If desired, finish with a liberal dusting of za'atar (1 tablespoon or more, to taste). Pass any remaining dressing separately.

RHUBARB-PRUNE TSIMMES

yield:
ABOUT 4 SERVINGS

When it comes to combining foods, I'm not one for hard and fast rules. I've been seduced by cheese cake made supernal with a zap of ground chiles, and I adore savory meats, poultry, and even fish perfumed and mellowed by fruits. But unmitigated sugariness makes my mouth say dessert; fruits must have a spicy or tart accompaniment to segue gracefully into a main course. To me, a tsimmes (sweetened, festive fruit and vegetable stew, with or without meat) of sweet fruits is one-dimensional without some tang or heat.

To provide well-nuanced character here, I add the sprightly bloom of fresh rhubarb to sweet-and-sour prunes and fragrant honey for a meatless tsimmes irresistible as a side dish or condiment for poultry or meat. Make this tsimmes in spring or early summer with big-flavored field rhubarb or year-round with the milder lipstick-pink hothouse variety.

2 cups chopped onion

2 tablespoons mild olive or canola oil

2 garlic cloves, finely chopped (2 teaspoons)

Salt and freshly ground black pepper

¹
⁄
₄
cup fragrant honey (floral like lime or orange blossom, or herbal like lavender or thyme, would be perfect)

¹
⁄
₄
teaspoon ground cinnamon

1
¹
⁄
₂
cups carrots, scrubbed (and scraped if desired), cut into 1-inch chunks

1 cup prune juice

1 pound rhubarb, ends trimmed (discard leaves—they can be toxic), tough strings removed with a vegetable peeler, and stalks cut into 1-inch pieces (4 cups)

1
¹
⁄
₂
cups pitted prunes, halved, or quartered if large

IN
a 10-inch, heavy skillet, sauté the onion in the oil over medium heat until wilted, about 5 minutes. Stir in the garlic and cook for a minute or two. Sprinkle generously with salt and pepper to taste, turn the heat down to medium-low, cover, and sweat the mixture slowly, stirring occasionally, until the onions are quite soft but still pale-colored, 10 to 15 minutes.

ADD
the honey and cinnamon, and mix until well distributed. Add the carrots and cook, stirring, for about 5 minutes.

ADD
the prune juice and bring the mixture to a boil. Add the rhubarb and the prunes and simmer over moderate heat, stirring every once in a while, until the rhubarb is soft and the carrots are tender but not falling apart, 12 to 18 minutes.

TURN
the heat up to high and boil the mixture, uncovered, until the liquid in the pan is thick and syrupy. Taste and adjust seasoning.

SPINACH CHEESE SQUARES

yield:
6 TO 8 SERVINGS

Mediterranean Jews so adore fresh spinach that little mountains of the leftover emerald “tails” are a hallmark of their holiday cooking. Called
ravikos
by Sephardim and
testine di spinaci
by Italian Jews, these stems are slow-braised until they turn almost red. They are usually served Thursday nights, when it is customary to eat lightly in preparation for the next day's feasting, and a large stockpile of them has accumulated from the Sabbath preparations.

The leaves often end up in light, eggy vegetable gratins, a Sephardi specialty, especially popular at the
desayuno,
a festive brunch served after morning services on Sabbath and holidays.

Notwithstanding spinach's bad rap, even kids seem to love these crustless, cheesy squares, here freshened up with plenty of green herbs. Good hot, warm, or at room temperature, they make a fine lunch, brunch, or light supper. Or cut them into bite-size pieces for a marvelous hors d'oeuvre. They freeze beautifully.

2 pounds fresh spinach or two 10-ounce packages frozen leaf spinach, thawed

3 tablespoons unsalted butter, plus additional butter (or oil) for greasing the pan

¹
⁄
₂
cup chopped shallots or 1 cup chopped onion

Salt and freshly ground black pepper

4 ounces cream cheese (
¹
⁄
₂
cup), softened

4 ounces of crumbled feta (1 cup; break it up well using your fingers)

¹
⁄
₂
pound farmer cheese (7.5 ounce package is fine)

4 large eggs

2 teaspoons dried oregano or mint