Honey adds special touch to Jewish New Year Honey Chocolate Fudge Bars. Photos by Dan Kacvinski. Food coordinated by Judy Zeidler The use of honey for Rosh Hashanah symbolizes a sweet year and dates back to biblical times, when refined sugar was unknown. Its sweetness adds a distinctive flavor to a variety of dishes in addition to dessert: It can be used as a glaze for everything from carrots to broiled…

As the sound of the shofar officially closes the long day of Yom Kippur prayer, people head home a little weary but spiritually uplifted. It has been a tradition for our family to gather upon returning from synagogue for a break-the-fast meal. It began when our children were growing up, and we prepared a light brunch-style dairy supper. In many Jewish homes, a favorite way to break the Yom Kippur…

Eggplant Marmalade. Photos by Dan KacvinskiThe eggplant has an important place in my kitchen and is one of my favorite vegetables to serve during Sukkot, the seven-day harvest festival that begins this year at sundown Sept. 30. The beautiful, glossy purple eggplant is appreciated and used extensively in Italy, Greece and France, as well as most Middle Eastern countries. Eggplants come in many shapes and sizes. While most are purple, one mild variety…

Panzanella (Tuscan Tomato and Bread Soup). Photos by Morgan Lieberman We just returned from another amazing adventure in Italy, one of many since our first visit 40 years ago. This was a short trip to see the Christo art installation “The Floating Piers” on Lake Iseo in northern Italy. It also gave us an excuse to visit our friends in Tuscany and Lake Maggiore. One of our special, innovative lunches…

Lorraine and Harris Zeidler prepared more than 150 kreplach, inviting family and friends to their traditional Rosh Hashanah kreplach tasting. Photo by Lorraine Zeidler I am always impressed by the fact that food plays such an important role during the holiest of Jewish holidays, and kreplach — dough wrapped around meat and boiled, fried or baked — is certainly one of these dishes. Traditionally, it is served between Rosh Hashanah, the Jewish…

Food plays an important role during Passover — from the six symbolic items on the seder plate to those foods avoided during the eight-day holiday, like chametz (leavened grains) and kitniyot (legumes). But the dinner that follows the seder on the first two nights, when family and friends gather to retell the story of the Jews’ exodus from slavery to freedom, can leave a host slaving away in the kitchen….