‘At one time, a Kashrut certificate meant limited cuisine. Not any more. Palates have changed and our expectations are greater’

This year has seen a rise in ‘celebrity chefs’ opening up kosher restaurants all over Israel, showing that the demand for gourmet food has hit the kosher market. At one time, a kashrut certificate in a restaurant usually signified unimaginative, limited cuisine. In fact, I have a ‘foodie’ friend who specifically would NOT eat in a kosher restaurant!

This is just not the case anymore – our palettes have changed and our expectations are greater.

Chefs Meir Adoni, Eyal Shani, and Moshe Segev have all opened kosher restaurants since last Rosh Hashanah and with that in mind, here are my New Year recipes with a celebrity twist.

My tip for Rosh Hashanah menu is not to make everything achingly oversweet – have something to cut through and balance the flavors.

Heavenly Chicken with Figs and Lemon

Ingredients

10 chicken pieces
2 lemons
5 fresh figs, quartered
2 tsp. cumin
2 tsp. paprika
2 tsp. cinnamon
1 thinly sliced red onion
3 tbsp. olive oil
2 tbsp. silan
2 tbsp. flaked almond – toasted
1 bunch chopped cilantro

Method

1 Preheat the oven to 200C.
2 In a large bowl mix the olive oil with the silan and then add the spices.
3 Once this is mixed, add in the chicken pieces and coat thoroughly.
4 In a roasting tray arrange the slices of lemon alternatively with sliced red onion.
5 Lay the chicken pieces on top and scatter over the figs.
6 Roast for an hour until chicken skin is crispy and the juices have soaked into the lemons.
7 Just before serving, scatter over toasted almond and chopped cilantro for the ‘chef twist’.

Roasted cauliflower salad

Ingredients

1 head of cauliflower broken up into florets
2 tbsp. olive oil
½ red onion
1 bunch rocket leaves
½ deseeded pomegranate

Dressing Ingredients

½ cup raw techina
¼ cup water
Juice of half lemon
2 cloves minced garlic
¼ tsp. salt
½ tsp. cumin
1 tbsp. honey

Method

1 Preheat the oven to 200C.
2 Arrange the cauliflower florets on a cookie tray with thin slices of red onion and drizzle with olive oil.
3 Whilst this is roasting, shake up the dressing ingredients in an empty jar.
4 Take the cauliflower out and allow to cool slightly.
5 Arrange the florets and onion on a platter with the rocket leaves and pour over the dressing.
6 Sprinkle over the pomegranate seeds.

Chef's tip – to make this a main course for a vegetarian/vegan guest, add a tin of drained chickpeas to the salad

Halva Brownies

Ingredients
200g margarine
250g dark chocolate
4 eggs
300g sugar
120g plain white flour
50g cocoa powder
100g walnuts
Pinch salt
120g halva – broken up into bite sized pieces

Method

1 Preheat the oven to 180.
2 Melt the chocolate and margarine together in the microwave and allow to cool slightly.
3 Whisk the eggs and sugar together with a pinch of salt until it is a pale cream foam.
4 Gently mix the chocolate mixture in with the eggs and fold in the flour.
5 Pour into a lined tray 20cm x 30cm.
6 Sprinkle over the walnuts and dot in the halva pieces.
7 Bake for 20 minutes.
8 To serve, cut into squares and dust with cocoa.

NB: Don’t worry if these seem slightly undercooked – they are deliciously gooey!