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OxfordPress.com

Sukkot recipes

Rabbi David Sofian of Temple Israel and his wife, Simone, have been building a sukkah for the past 32 years and enjoy having friends over to share meals.

"Usually I try to make soups or stews which keep during services and are easy to serve along with a salad and maybe a (nondairy) noodle kugel," says Simone Sofian.

Here are two of her favorite recipes:

Cabbage Borscht

"This is David's grandmother's recipe. Her name was Anna Schwartz Feinberg and a wonderful cook by everyone's account. The recipe calls for 3 pounds of chuck or even brisket. I use flanken because we don't eat that much meat and just want the taste in our soup."

12-ounce can frozen lemonade concentrate, defrosted

1 1-pound can tomatoes

3-pound chuck steak or five or six pieces of flanken (beef short rib)

1 small cabbage, shredded

1 medium onion, chopped salt

salt, sugar, lemon juice and pepper to taste

Mix together the defrosted lemonade and tomatoes. Add meat, cabbage and onion and enough water to just cover it and bring to a boil. Simmer for one hour then taste for salt, sugar, lemon juice and pepper. It should be sweet and sour to your taste. Make sure there is enough salt before adding other ingredients. The salt brings out the taste of the sweet and sour. Simmer for at least two more hours. This is best made once day in advance. Refrigerate and skim off the extra fat and remove meat from the bone before reheating.

Litvak Strudel

"The only thing I always make for Sukkot is my grandmother's (Jenny Graysach Lotven) pastry which we call Litvak strudel. Unlike a regular strudel which is made with a dough similar to filo, this strudel is made with Muerbeteig, a sweet pastry."

Muerbeteig

2 cups flour

dash of salt

2 tablespoons sugar

1 cup unsalted margarine

2 egg yolks

dash of brandy or white wine

Preheat oven to 375 degrees.

Mix flour, sugar and salt. Using a food processor or pastry blender, cut in margarine until the mixture resembles coarse crumbs. Add the egg yolks and a dash of brandy or wine. Mix together until it comes together in a dough and refrigerate.

Filling:

Preserves or jam (flavor of your choice)

2 cups of dried fruit and nuts (see below)

In a food processor grind coarsely nuts and dried fruit.

Divide the dough into three pieces. One piece should be a little bigger than the other two. Roll the larger piece into a square that will fit into the bottom and sides of an eight or nine inch square pan. Brush the dough with some preserves (raspberry, current, apricot, strawberry). Put in half of the nuts and dried fruit. Roll out a second piece of dough and fit over the filling. Brush with the preserves. Add the rest of the nuts and dried fruit. Roll out the third piece of dough and fit over the top. Fold the sides down over the the top and press with a fork to seal. Prick the top with the fork. Bake 45 minutes until the crust is golden brown. Cool in pan and unmold.

Cut into small squares or rectangles to serve.

• You can use any combination: apricots, prunes, apples, currents, raisins, cranberries, almonds, pecans, walnuts, etc.

Contact Meredith Moss at (937) 225-2440.