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Kosher Carnival

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Not a Kosher Carnival

My wife blogs a Kosher Carnival collection of recipes and other culinary ideas which, I understand (I just do a fancy omlette and the chicken soup; no expert am I), is quite popular. Here, send in stuff.

Anyway, here's one story I came across which is definitely not "kosher". Although I do wonder that if it was the wife who threw the onion - would she have been arrested.

Des Moines police investigate attack by onion

A Des Moines man went to jail Wednesday afternoon for allegedly throwing an onion at his wife.

The police report begins: "(The victim) states her husband had been drinking and they got into an argument."

James Izzolena, 54, of 3515 Sheridan Ave., was charged with domestic assault causing injury. Police said he became upset with his wife, Nicole Izzolena, 27, and tossed an onion at her, striking her in the back of the head. She told police it made her head hurt. James Izzolena admitted throwing the onion, police said, but he claimed he did not intend to hit her with it. He was being held without bond pending a court appearance today.

Hmm, did she cry?
(sorry, couldn't avoid that)

Joan Nathan and I

Joan Nathan is running a recipe/cooking blog for the NYTimes in this pre-Rosh Hashana period.

I checked it out, - after all, my wife not only cooks but blogs a Kosher Carnival (and I have lurking secret hopes of eventually being a better cook than I am now, which is not saying much but I do make a not-that-bad chicken soup). Joan nor anyone else there hadn't yet mentioned tzimmes.

So I asked:-

68. September 11th, 2007 4:31 am
Is Tzimmes missing from this collection? No one has new recipes for it?

— Posted by Yisrael Medad

and her reply:-

70. September 11th, 2007 6:12 pm
#68 Yisrael
You are right! No one asked for Tsimmes. But the carrot souffle with pecan topping that I used in tomorrow’s New York Times is just like a tsimmes. Otherwise, look in my books.
Happy New Year!
Joan Nathan

Well, that's my good culinary deed for the new year.

Oops, at leasst one recipe, yes?

CARROT, PRUNE, & POTATO TZIMMES CASSEROLE
Yield: 8 servings

1 Onion, chopped
4 tablespoons Chicken shmaltz
1 pound Brisket of beef
1 pound Prunes, tenderized
3 cups Water
5 Carrots
4 Sweet potatoes
1/2 cup Honey
1 teaspoon Salt
1 tablespoon Lemon juice
2 tablespoons Potato flour

Saute onion in 2 tbsp shmaltz. Heat a pot; sear meat on all sides, turning until brown. Cover bottom of pot with sauteed onions. Add meat, prunes, and water. Cook 1 hour on low heat, covered.

Scrape carrots. Wash; slice into thin rounds. Pare sweet potatoes; cut into thick rounds. Add carrots and potatoes to meat and prunes, distributing well around meat. Add honey, salt, and lemon juice; cook til tender. Shake pot gently from time to time, but do not stir. Water can be added to prevent sticking.

Make thickening by browning potato flour in 2 tbsp melted shmaltz, adding 1/4 cup liquid from meat-and-vegetable combination. Stir until smooth, cooking over moderate heat about 5 minutes. Turn thickening into the tzimmes; shake pot gently. Turn whole contents into casserole. Cover; bake in 350 F oven for 2 hrs. Remove cover for last 1/2 hr. to brown top. Do not mash vegetables. Tzimmes is not attractive if "mushy".

From: Nancy Berry (nlberry@prodigy.net)

Actually, I prefer a sweet potato in my tzimmes.

Go fool around here.

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UPDATE

My wife's blog sent me here.

Kosher & The Church

My wife who manages Kosher Carnival would love this, I think:-

NEAR a prairie dotted with cattle and green with soy beans, barley, corn and oats, two bearded Hasidic men dressed in black pray outside a slaughterhouse here that is managed by an evangelical Christian.

What brought these men together could easily have kept them apart: religion.

The two Hasidim oversee shehitah, the Jewish ritual slaughtering of meat according to the Book of Leviticus. The meat is then shipped to Wise Organic Pastures, a kosher food company in Brooklyn owned by Issac Wiesenfeld and his family. When Mr. Wiesenfeld sought an organic processor that used humane methods five years ago, he found Scott Lively, who was just beginning Dakota Beef, now one of the largest organic meat processors in the country.

Mr. Lively adheres to a diet he believes Jesus followed. Like Mr. Wiesenfeld, he says the Bible prescribes that he use organic methods to respect the earth, treat his workers decently and treat the cattle that enter his slaughterhouse as humanely as possible.

“We learn everything from the Old Testament,” Mr. Lively said, “from keeping kosher to responsible capitalism.”

Humane, sustainable practices like Mr. Lively’s are articles of faith for many Americans concerned with the way food gets from farm to plate. But they are even more deeply held matters of faith for a growing number of farmers and religious groups. In the past few years protecting the environment has emerged as a religious issue. Now, something similar is taking place in the way people of faith view their daily bread.

Christians, Jews and Muslims who see food through a moral lens are increasingly organized and focused on showing their strength. The Religious Working Group on the Farm Bill, a national coalition of more than a dozen religious organizations, is lobbying Congress for legislation to help small farms. The National Catholic Rural Life Conference is helping congregations and universities in the Midwest buy local produce from family farmers.

Environment-minded Jews are asking the leaders of Conservative Judaism to rewrite their kosher certification rules to incorporate ethical concerns about workers, animals and the land. Hazon, the Jewish environmental organization, has set up community-supported agriculture programs, or C.S.A.’s, in which customers purchase shares of a farm’s harvest.

“This is the first time I have seen such a deep and growing involvement of the faith community,” said Brother David Andrews, who is on sabbatical from his job as executive director of the National Catholic Rural Life Conference and has followed these kinds of issues for 30 years.

If this nascent cause was taken up by large numbers of churches and synagogues, the economic effect alone could be profound. “The religious movement is a huge force,” said Arlin S. Wasserman, the founder of Changing Tastes, a consulting firm in St. Paul that advises food companies and philanthropic organizations on trends in food and agriculture. “Already, religious institutions oversee the production of $250 billion per year in food if you bundle together halal, kosher, and institutional buying.

“Religious leaders have been giving dietary advice for decades and centuries, telling us to eat fish on Friday or to keep kosher in your home. What we are seeing now are contemporary concerns like the fair treatment of farm workers, humane treatment of animals and respect for the environment being integrated into the dietary advice given by the churches.”

And there's more there.