Parshat Eikev

Two cute and easy recipes can spice up your Shabbat Parshat Eikev meal!

1. Shivat Haminim Salad (the 7 species) – This salad incorporates 4 of the yummiest 7 species.

text (Devarim, 7:8):

אֶרֶץ חִטָּה וּשְׂעֹרָה וְגֶפֶן וּתְאֵנָה וְרִמּוֹן אֶרֶץ זֵית שֶׁמֶן וּדְבָשׁ:

a land of wheat and barley, vines and figs and pomegranates, a land of oil producing olives and honey

Ingredients:

• 1 head lettuce
• 1 small red onion
• 1 red pepper
• 1 cucumber
• 1 ripe pomegranate (seeds only)
• fresh figs
• dried dates
• yellow raisins

Combine ingredients in large salad bowl and serve!

Dressing: honey vinegrette: olive oil, light vinegar (wine, cider, or salad), 2 tsp honey, salt, pepper, garlic powder, to taste.

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2. Fruit Crumble with white and honey drizzle. This yummy dessert can be made with your favorite fruits. The drizzle on top is a subtle but lovely way to incorporate the parsha.

text (Devraim 10:9):

עַל הָאֲדָמָה אֲשֶׁר נִשְׁבַּע יְ־הֹוָ־ה לַאֲבֹתֵיכֶם לָתֵת לָהֶם וּלְזַרְעָם אֶרֶץ זָבַת חָלָב וּדְבָשׁ:

…on the land that the Lord swore to your forefathers to give to them and to their seed a land flowing with milk and honey.

Land Flowing with Milk and Honey

Fruit:

• 4 apples
• 3 peaches

Peel and thinly slice the fruit and mix together (you may use other fruits as well). Lay it in a pan or dish.

Crumble:

• 1 cup white sugar
• 3/4 cup flour
• 1/4 cup oats
• 1 cup margarine
• cinnamon to taste

Combine all ingredients and mix well. Mixture should form a crumble. Sprinkle this generously on top of the fruit.

Bake at 350 for about 45 minutes.

Let the fruit cool.

Drizzle:

• honey
• 200 grams confectioner’s sugar
• 1 stick margarine
• 1/2 tsp vanilla extract

Combine sugar, margarine and vanilla to form white icing. Place in a ziplock bag, snip the corner, and drizzle on top of the crumble (I did a thick line, squiggled across the top). Before serving, drizzle honey on top of the white line of icing.

Parshat Ki Tetzeh

For this week’s parsha themes, I suggest one, or both, of the following recipes:

For my appetizer, I will be serving individually plated Spaghetti and Meatball Bird’s Nests. This is a reference to the famous mitzvah in this week’s parsha: shiluach haken, sending a mother bird away from her nest before removing the eggs to eat (Devarim 21:6-7). There are deep ethical implications for this concept that can be discussed at your meal.

The text:

כִּי יִקָּרֵא קַן צִפּוֹר לְפָנֶיךָ בַּדֶּרֶךְ בְּכָל עֵץ אוֹ עַל הָאָרֶץ אֶפְרֹחִים אוֹ בֵיצִים וְהָאֵם רֹבֶצֶת עַל הָאֶפְרֹחִים אוֹ עַל הַבֵּיצִים לֹא תִקַּח הָאֵם עַל הַבָּנִים

If a bird’s nest chances before you on the road, on any tree, or on the ground, and [it contains] fledglings or eggs, if the mother is sitting upon the fledglings or upon the eggs, you shall not take the mother upon the young.

שַׁלֵּחַ תְּשַׁלַּח אֶת הָאֵם וְאֶת הַבָּנִים תִּקַּח לָךְ לְמַעַן יִיטַב לָךְ וְהַאֲרַכְתָּ יָמִים:

You shall send away the mother, and [then] you may take the young for yourself, in order that it should be good for you, and you should lengthen your days.

Spaghetti and Meatball Bird’s Nest

• 1 box angel hair pasta (or spaghetti) (Or: angel hair pasta nests)
• Chop meat
• bread crumbs (or matzah meal, or rice)
• eggs
• 1 Onion
• 1 jar tomato sauce
• 1 can cranberry sauce
• sweet chili sauce (according to taste, I use about 1/2  a cup)
• salt, pepper, garlic powder – to taste

Preheat oven to 375.

Boil pasta. Strain the water, set aside.

Optional: toast some of  the noodles for color and texture

Make the meatballs: mix the chop meat with filler of choice (I use bread crumbs), add eggs, salt, pepper, garlic powder.

Sauté onion.

In a bowl, combine tomato sauce, cranberry sauce, and sweet chili sauce. Add sauted onions. Mix well.

In a deep baking dish, spoon a thin layer of sauce to the bottom. Make balls of the meat mixture, add them one at a time to the bottom of the dish. Add sauce in between layers. When all the meat has been balled,  pourthe remaining sauce on top of the meatballs, making sure they are covered.

Bake for about 45 minutes, or until a meatball sliced is no longer pink.

Presentation: take a handful of pasta, arrange in the shape of a nest (see image above). Add several meatballs in the middle, and you’ve got a “nest” with eggs! No mother bird in sight!

*For a sweet dessert version of the bird’s nest idea, see this  ChallahCrumbs.com recipe

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Another way to incorporate a theme from this week’s parsha is my “mixed breed” chicken rolls. In this week’s parsha, the Torah describes 3 different types of kilayim, mixed breeds that are prohibited:

• crossbreeding seeds
• crossbreeding animals
• shaatnez - wool and linen together in a garment

The text:

לֹא תִזְרַע כַּרְמְךָ כִּלְאָיִם פֶּן תִּקְדַּשׁ הַמְלֵאָה הַזֶּרַע אֲשֶׁר תִּזְרָע וּתְבוּאַת הַכָּרֶם:

You shall not sow your vineyard [together with] a mixed variety of species, lest the increase, even the seed that you sow and the yield of the vineyard [both] become forbidden.

לֹא תַחֲרֹשׁ בְּשׁוֹר וּבַחֲמֹר יַחְדָּו:

You shall not plow with an ox and a donkey together.

לֹא תִלְבַּשׁ שַׁעַטְנֵז צֶמֶר וּפִשְׁתִּים יַחְדָּו:

You shall not wear a mixture of wool and linen together.

As a play on this, I thought it would be fun to mix 2 types of meats together.

“Mixed Breed Chicken Rolls”

• boneless chicken breast
• pastrami deli slices
• kethcup
• mustard
• mayonnaise
• paprika
• oil
• breadcrumbs

Brush mayonnaise on each cutlet on each side. Put slice of pastrami on one side. To the same side, add a dab of ketchup and mustard. Dip non-pastrami side in bread crumbs. Roll up.

Put in baking dish rolled side down. Sprinkle with paprika. Drizzle oil on top. Bake 45-60 minutes at 350 degrees.

SHABBAT SHALOM!