The Great Pumpkin Cholent

So, All Hallow's Eve (Halloween for those into marketing) is over - celebrated by pagans and unfortunately some of our co-religionists, such as those at an Orthodox Union affiliated Shul near me that had a dinner with "Jewish Ghost Stories"  led by their reform-ordained "Kiruv Rabbi." Oh well, I don't go there.

Next up is Thanksgiving. I have no problem at all with Thanksgiving. In fact, I think that American Jews really should honor our holidays - I risked my life in combat for this country, and our national holidays do have a level of Kiddusha as long as we can freely practice Judaism here, which hopefully will be never ending.

So ... between the carved Pumpkins of All Hallow's Eve, and the luscious pumpkin pie (which CAN be made pareve, by the way, but with extra effort) of Thanksgiving ... I've been urged (okay, ordered by my significant other) to post about this wonderful recipe for Cholent in a Pumpkin.

Now remember a Pumpkin is, after all, another kind of squash. It's kosher. Period, end of sentence.

So, some years ago, the day after All Hallow's Eve, our local King Soopers was simply giving away all of its unsold pumpkins. I chose a couple from the pile, went home, and started looking for creative things to use them for.

I found an answer in this lovely little cookbook I bought years ago, entitled "Come for Cholent."  A tip of the hat to the author - Kay Kantor Pomerantz - for wonderful recipe ideas. (The book, by the way, looks to still be available at about $9. I checked at Amazon.). This book is a compendium of nothing but Cholent recipes, many of which I've made (you just GOTTA try her recipe called "Death By Cholent).

I haven't been able to reach Ms. Pomerantz, so I hope she doesn't mind my repeating what she suggests for Pumpkin Cholent, which she says is a dish of Syrian origin.

She suggests you take a pumpkin, cut off the top, scoop out the seeds and stringy stuff from inside, and then stuff the pumpkin with a chicken mix. She lists a pound of chicken to a half cup of diced onions, which you can brown if you'd like. Then she adds a half cup of rice, a can (10 ounces) of stewed tomatoes, a cup of kidney beans, a quarter cup of oil, four cubed potatoes, some cinnamon, salt and pepper, and water to cover. The stuffed pumpkin goes into a pan, a couple of inches of water are added around the outside, and the whole thing is wrapped tightly in foil and put in the oven. (I'd say if you have a cast iron Cholent Pot that's the right size, forget the foil and use the pot).

Whatta recipe!

Now I would suggest that the ingredients have to be scaled to fit the size Pumpkin the pagans celebrating All Hallow's Eve left over for us. I've also some suggested changes, ranging from the use of lamb to using sweet potatoes for the potatoes. Of course kidney beans are great, but a mix of almost any type of beans you like works too. And soak them, overnight, or at least cover with boiling water and let sit a few hours. Organic brown basmati rice would be a good choice for that part of the recipe. Indeed it might even be possible (though I haven't tried this) to leave out the meat and make a vegetarian or even Vegan cholent.

Cook as any other cholent, overnight.

And...the pumpkin becomes the pot for almost any variation of cholent you'd like to stuff in it, and you get to EAT THE POT!. I love it!!

Thanksgiving in July

Who says Thanksgiving comes in the Fall?

Why not celebrate Thanksgiving in July

- and write about it in August, to boot?

To explain: Our youngest child is home for her first visit in several years - the military gave her a month off and a round trip ticket from Israel. And high on her want list was a "real" Thanksgiving dinner, an American treat that its tough (though not absolutely impossible) to duplicate anywhere else in the world, Israel included.

So ... the menu is Thanksgiving in July. And as a Friday night Shabbat dinner, no less ... and yes, I know that traditionally Thanksgiving is on Thursday. But many years ago we switched to Pizza on Thursday, and Turkey on Friday night, combining the celebration and sanctity of the Sabbath with American tradition -- and as a Jewish U.S. Army combat veteran, I think I'm more than entitled to do that. (Okay, this past Thanksgiving we were invited to friends for Thursday night, so we actually had TWO Thanksgiving dinners. And with the one we just did in July, that makes THREE this year.)

What we had was an almost traditional Thanksgiving menu... with just a few caveats. The first is that Kosher turkey in this part of the country now runs $60-$80, up from $15-$20 for the exact same bird, on sale, just three or four years ago, which is a bit pricey So for this dinner we went with just Turkey breast (bought on sale frozen some months ago) ... actually two of them ... which turned out to be not such a bad choice at all.

But on with the meal:

It being Shabbat Kiddush comes first - for this meal we used a nice Merlot as our kiddush wine.

Next, of course, comes HaMotzi - wonderful home made Challah. I must admit that I didn't make the Challah. That was my wife's doing, with my grandson's happy hands helping (he was in town visiting too!). But at least the recipe was my doing, a classic Challah recipe I modified both to work a bit better given the high altitude at which we live, and to cheat a bit by using a bread machine for the initial steps. But more on that recipe in some future post.

So far, you might complain, there's been no sign of "Thanksgiving," nor is there for our next course - Gefilte Fish, which is definitely not a dish I would imagine that the Pilgrims made. But what the heck, it is Friday night, and maybe the Pilgrims DID eat some kind of fish at their meal. (And I bet it was fresh, not the pre-chopped frozen stuff we made.)

Oh, well. Perhaps some of the Chamutzim we had on the side - Pickles, Olives and Roasted Sweet Red Peppers - were on the "real" Thanksgiving menu.

But wait, now we finally come to our first sign of Thanksgiving - the L'Chaim, made over a drink called a "Turkeyball." For those who have never heard of the Turkeyball - which I suspect is just about everybody - it's a cocktail based on Wild Turkey bourbon. You take an ounce of Wild Turkey, 3/4 of an ounce of Amaretto, and a "splash" of Pineapple juice (1/4ounce to be strict, as much as you'd like is perfectly fine). Shake them all with ice, and then either strain into a little glass, or pour over crushed ice and garnish with a mint leaf or two (fresh from our weed patch out back).

Next - the soup. I'll discuss my classic Chicken Soup recipe some time in the future, but let it be said that the Pilgrims may well have had some type of soup made with fowl. Of course I doubt they had matzoh balls in it, as we did. But hey, it WAS a Shabbat dinner.


Finally ... after a tossed green salad ... the main attraction: Turkey.

The trick is to keep the Turkey breast moist and juicy while cooking it thoroughly. The secret these days is to use an oven roasting bag. Indeed with the bag you can even let the Turkey sit keeping warm for an hour or more without it drying out.

The recipe I used: Rub the Turkey breast with a blend of spices (I used one tablespoon each of garlic powder, poultry seasoning, sage, and thyme) mixed with two tablespoons of Olive Oil (did I mention Extra Virgin?). Put a tablespoon of flour into the cooking bag (they claim this keeps it from exploding), then the Turkey breast. Finally, for obvious reasons holding the bag opening up, pour in a cup of chicken broth (okay, I used powdered mix to make it, shame on me, and kind of dumb to boot considering the fact that I had a big pot of fresh chicken soup simmering right there in the kitchen) to which you have added a quarter cup each of chopped celery, onion and carrots.

Now, tie up the bag, make a few slits in the top, and roast at 325F. It will probably take at least 2-2 1/2 hours, depending on the size of the Turkey breast.

As for the rest of our meal, that was indeed "pure" Thanksgiving.

On the side a cranberry-orange sauce: One bag of cranberries (craftily bought cheaply after the "real" Thanksgiving and frozen for just such a critical time of need such as this), a cup of sugar, and a cup of liquid. The liquid is the juice of an orange, and enough water to make up a cup. Before juicing the orange wash it, zest it, and throw the zest into the cranberry pot. Bring to a boil, cook 10 minutes, and refrigerate overnight. Pure Cranberry delight, far better than your basic sauce, which is made without the orange.

Also on the side: a sweet potato-pineapple casserole with marshmallow fluff. A friend with whom we traditionally share Thanksgiving is the specialist in this dish, so I won't (well, I can't) detail how it was made.


For desert, our friend brought Pumpkin pie. After all, what's a Thanksgiving dinner without Pumpkin Pie?

But, not wanting to be outdone, I finished off with a chocolate pie - using a marvelous non-dairy (Pareve) recipe I found years ago and which has become a family tradition. Next time I make it, I'll reveal the recipe, which is so simple its almost criminal that the pie is so good.

The Kosher Kook's Inkredible Pareve Chocolate Silk Pie