Rosh Hashanah

Can be prepared in 45 minutes or less.

Residents of Maghreb use semolina to make tiny pasta pellets called kesksu in Arabic. Unlike pasta made with other types of wheat flour, pasta made from semolina does not become mushy during cooking. The old-fashioned way of making these pellets is to mix semolina flour with water, roll the dough into tiny balls, sift it over a medium-meshed wire sieve to remove any excess flour, then steam the final product over boiling water or a stew. Instant couscous, available at most supermarkets, is prepared by adding boiling water. Although not as fluffy as the classic type, it is more than acceptable for seffa and easy to prepare. Israelis make a larger form of couscous, which is lightly toasted; do not substitute for the regular type. In the Maghreb, couscous is both everyday fare—served in most households, both rich and poor, several times a week—and a food for special occasions. It is most commonly used as the base for flavorful meat, poultry, fish, or vegetable stews. For special occasions, however, it is sweetened and topped with dried fruits and nuts. Seffa is also made by mounding couscous on a platter and sprinkling sugar on top instead of stirring it. Seffa with dried fruits is a traditional Moroccan Hanukkah dish. For Rosh Hashannah, it is sprinkled with pomegranate seeds or small grapes. On Tu b'Shevat and other special occasions, it is garnished with datils rellenos (stuffed dates) and dried fruit. Moroccans prefer desserts rich and sugar, and their seffa is generally sweeter than Tunisian versions.

In my family we always inaugurate the Jewish New Year with our first apple dessert of the fall season. The tradition in Andra's home is to begin the year with a round challah and to end it with a cake topped with concentric circles of sliced apples. This dessert is very similar to Jewish apple cake, a Polish dessert that was very popular in church cookbooks throughout Maryland. I believe it is called Jewish because it is an oil-based rather than a butter-based cake. Andra's version is particularly easy, attractive, and delicious.

"One thing I cannot get out of my head" said Ben Moskovitz, owner of Star Bakery in Oak Park, Michigan. "Was the food better growing up in Czechoslovakia or were the people hungrier there? My mother made a honey cake for the holiday, and it was so delicious. Honey was too expensive for us, so my mother burned the sugar to make it brown. Here I use pure honey, but I still think my mother's cake was better and I know I am wrong. The taste of hers is still in my mouth." Mr. Moskovitz's European honey cake follows, with a few of my American additions. Other European Jewish bakers interviewed for this book also bake with white rye flour and cake flour when we would use all-purpose flour. I have included both choices.

The quinces in this stew are not combined with sugar and therefore will not change color. They require only 45 minutes of cooking time to become tender. This flavorful dish is even better when made a day ahead.

An easy-to-make infused oil makes a big difference in the taste of these potatoes.

A sprinkling of cinnamon brings even more depth of flavor to the caramelized onions that garnish this exotic dish.

Abe experimented until he came up with the lightest, fluffiest, most Jewish-motherly matzo balls imaginable.

The abundant use of leafy greens is one of the hallmarks of the food of the African continent in general. Here, the familiar collard green, which has become emblematic of African-American cooking, is given an Ethiopian twist in a dish that can be served either warm or at room temperature.

Pletzel This onion bread — whether formed into individual rolls or, as we did here, into a flat loaf (similar to Italian focaccia) — can be found in Jewish bakeries all over New York City's Lower East Side. We used nigella seeds (often called black onion seeds, although that's a misnomer), with their subtle nutty flavor, for the topping instead of the more typical poppy seeds. Active time: 1 hr Start to finish: 3 3/4 hr

Order the lamb from your butcher, and buy the pomegranate juice at a Middle Eastern market or at a natural foods store. Begin preparing this richly flavored main course one day ahead.

Taiglach (little pieces of fried dough dredged in honey) are eaten for celebratory occasions like Rosh Hashanah, Sukkot, Simchat Torah, Chanukah, Purim, weddings, and births. Ceciarchiata means "chickpeas" or "little bits" in Italian. This festive taiglach is similar in nature to the French croquembouche, though it's a crown, not a mountain. It is a spectacular centerpiece with its clusters of dough and nuts, and is totally addictive.

This is one of those recipes that has pretty much disappeared in the United States, but those who remember it rave about it. A fluden, which comes from fladni or fladen, "flat cake" in German, is just that, a flat, double-or often multilayered flaky pastry filled with poppy seeds, apples and raisins, or cheese. It was originally common to southern Germany and Alsace-Lorraine, later spreading east to Hungary, Romania, and other Eastern European countries. Often flavored with honey, it was eaten in the fall at Rosh Hashanah or Sukkot and is symbolic, like strudel, of an abundant yield. I have tasted apple two-layered fluden at Jewish bakeries and restaurants in Paris, Budapest, Tel Aviv, and Vienna, sometimes made with a butter crust, sometimes with an oil-based one. But only in Paris have I tasted the delicious fig rendition, a French fig bar, from Finkelsztajn's Bakery. (Figs, my father used to tell me, were often eaten in Germany as the new fruit on the second day of Rosh Hashanah.) This recipe is a perfect example of the constant flux of Jewish foods. Today, with the huge population of Tunisian Jews in Paris, it is no wonder that the Finkelsztajn family spike their fig filling with bou'ha, a Jewish Tunisian fig liqueur used for kiddush, the blessing over the wine on the Sabbath. You can, of course, use kirsch or any other fruit liqueur instead.

"In our family we have a saying that the Greek kitchen is the original twenty-four-hour diner: It never closes," writes Georgia I. Chletcos of Upper Darby, Pennsylvania. "The great thing about these home-style dishes is that they're generous to the cook and to everyone else: You don't have to be a pro to prepare them, there's always plenty to share, and you'll have a delicious meal on the table in no time." This light soup is based on a traditional Greek recipe called avgolemono.

Jewish chicken soup is usually served with thin egg noodles or with matzah balls. The zucchini is my, not MGM's addition.