Food

I like the idea of a one-recipe dinner. Protein, carbs and veggies all in one cohesive dish.

The cute little acorn squash that are everywhere in the markets these days work as perfect “bowls” in this recipe, to fill with whatever your heart desires.

Squash are prolific this time of year, and there are dozens of varieties – butternut, spaghetti, delicata, buttercup, hubbard – even pumpkin is in the squash family. The acorn is sweet, but not as sweet as the butternut, and is usually a great size for feeding two people.

When I told one of my co-workers that I was starting a recipe column, she had two words for me.

“Main courses.”

“What?” I asked.

“Main courses,” she said, that’s what people need, more main course ideas!”

Well, I’m more than happy to oblige with this recipe for pretzel-crusted honey mustard chicken.

Summer is undoubtedly the best season for fruit desserts. Crumbles, cobblers, pies, buckles, made with the best peaches, strawberries and raspberries of the crop. But fall is still a great baking season, with apples, pears, squash and pumpkins overflowing in every market.

For some people, salad is a dirty word. Images of limp, overdressed greens have put many people off the idea entirely. But when I make a salad, I like to banish the lettuce (or spinach, arugula, bok choy) entirely, and let the mix-ins shine, like in this confetti corn salad. By getting rid of the leafy greens, the salad also stores much better and can be enjoyed over several days. You can make it Thursday night or Friday and it will sit perfectly in the fridge until Shabbos.

The first time I ever made this soup was in a tiny Manhattan apartment for an improvised Super Bowl party - the kind where you mute the game and avidly watch the commercials.

It was a frigid February, and I figured a hearty bowl of soup would be perfect for my small gathering.

But as I hunted around my closet-sized kitchen, I realized I had no saucepan even close to big enough for this recipe. I was disheartened, until I spied my crockpot in a closet. Suddenly, all was well again with the world.

As the weather is beginning to cool I'm desperately trying to hold on to the last vestiges of summer. I know that before long I'll be stepping in slush puddles at the curb, wearing four pairs of socks and pulling my gloves on and off every time I get an e-mail.

So in an effort to delay that as long as possible, I'm still cooking with summer ingredients, like in this Zucchini Galette. Galette is a fancy (and French) word for a free-form tart, and you can make them savory or sweet - filled with apples, berries - even chocolate - or tomatoes, cheese and squash.

With entries from Asabia (a Middle Eastern dish of phyllo pastry dough filled with nuts, meat and potatoes) to Zaban (a Moroccan nougat), Gil Marks’ just-released “The Encyclopedia of Jewish Food” (Wiley) leaves little uncovered.

Each fall after the High Holidays have passed, the Jewish people move from comfortable homes into impermanent huts in backyards, driveways and on balconies for the festival of Sukkot. By eating and living in these fragile shelters, we train ourselves to temporarily subordinate our gashmiut (materialism) to the value of ruchaniut (spirituality).
 

Like many setups, this one started with some Jewish mothers.

Brooke Saias, who was working for Hazon, the Jewish environmental organization, thought it would be a good idea to bring a CSA (community-supported agriculture project), to the synagogue community where she had been raised, Congregation Sons of Israel in Briarcliff Manor.

“When she came back this past winter, we talked to the rabbi, who was very interested,” said Sharon Saias. “He’s very interested in sustainability, and he championed this.”