Dana Shrager, founder of DanasTable.com, grew up in a “very foodie household.”
“My mother was an amazing cook,” Shrager, who specializes in Jewish holiday recipes and healthy-ish dinners, told the Journal. “She was very well known for her dishes within her wider social circle, and people constantly asked her for recipes.”
As Shrager got older, she wanted to make those recipes too. Her grandmother, aunts and cousins had this repertoire of family recipes. When Shrager got married, she wanted to make those recipes too. There was one problem.
“I asked the older relatives for their recipes, and I got very little information,” she said. “I got [an incomplete] list of ingredients, very few measurements and pretty much no directions, other than, ‘Cook for 1 hour at 350 degrees.’ Everything is 1 hour at 350.”
Shrager started doing research – this was pre-internet, so that meant looking in cookbooks and following their examples. She matched the flavors she remembered with the ingredients on the notecards and created more precise recipes.
“That was the start of my recipe development,” she said.
Shrager runs the Jewish Cooking Facebook group, which is a great resource for people who are trying to recreate their own family recipes.
“They’re coming in the group, hoping somebody else’s grandma will give them recipes that are like their grandma’s recipes,” she said. “People also come in the group with the troubles they run into in the kitchen.”,
They write things such as, ‘My ‘brisket isn’t soft,’ ‘my matzo balls fell apart’ or ‘I want a kugel, but I want it a certain way.’
Shrager, along with others in the group, are excited and ready to answer questions. Members span the globe and are interested in all sorts of Jewish cuisine.
“Some people in the group are very food adventurous,” she said. “They’re excited about the Jewish Italian recipes that I’ve started to develop. They want Israeli recipes. They’re just looking for global flavors.”
One recipe people have been talking about, Shrager explains, is tzimmes. It’s a carrot dish, usually in a sweet sauce, and often made with honey and dried fruit. People enjoy it at Rosh Hashanah to welcome a sweet new year and at Passover, as well.
“People will sometimes write, ‘I’m looking for a tzimmes recipe, but I want a recipe where the carrots don’t get mushy.’ ‘I want one not quite as sweet,’” she said. “I really listen to what people talk about in the group, and I think, ‘How can I adapt this recipe and give it a modern twist. How can I address these concerns that people run into?.”
For Shrager’s tzimmes (the recipe is below) includes parsnips, roasted with the carrots (rather than boiling them), to give it a different texture. You can also add sweet potatoes.
“I like the parsnip and the carrots together, because they have a similar shape and size. so it’s very easy to cut them the same size and roast them the same amount of time,” she said. “It’s just a little bit more of an effort to cut your sweet potatoes into the same size wedges, but you definitely can.”
To give it a modern twist and a little flavor, Shrager adds Sephardic seasonings (Baharat), which is cumin, nutmeg, cinnamon and pepper. She also puts in sliced dates, so you get the dry fruit in there, which is traditional in the recipe.
“I drizzle some honey on top, which looks really beautiful, and sprinkle some pomegranate and parsley,” she said.
This very colorful, festive easy-to-make recipe is a modern interpretation of tzimmes.
“This is a roasted carrot recipe, so there’s no reason why you can’t have it year round,” she said. “You could have it for Shabbat, you could have it for a side dish anytime you’d like.”
For more recipes and tips, check out DanasTable.com and the Jewish Cooking Facebook Group.
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Roasted Tzimmes Recipe
A modern take on the traditional Jewish dish tzimmes. This roasted carrot and parsnips dish makes the perfect side dish. It is great for holidays or any time of year!
Ingredients
Tzimmes
2 pounds rainbow carrots peeled and cut into 3” spears
1 pound parsnip about 4 large, peeled and cut into 3” spears
1 red onion peeled and cut into medium semi circles
¼ cup orange juice juice of about 1 fresh orange
2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
3 tablespoons date syrup or honey divided
1 tablespoon Baharat seasoning
2 teaspoons Diamond Crystal kosher salt
8 pitted dates sliced in quarters
pomegranate seeds optional garnish
fresh mint torn into pieces, optional garnish
Tahini Drizzle
¼ cup tahini stirred
1 tablespoon lemon juice juice of about ½ lemon
½ teaspoon garlic powder
½ teaspoon Diamond Crystal kosher salt
¼ teaspoon ground black pepper
3 tablespoons water
Preheat the oven to 400°F, and line a large baking sheet with parchment paper.
Place the chopped carrots, parsnips and onion on the baking sheet. Pour orange juice, olive oil and 2 tablespoons of date syrup (or honey) over the vegetables. Then sprinkle the vegetable mixture with Baharat seasoning and salt. Toss to evenly distribute the ingredients. Then spread the vegetables out into a single, flat layer on the sheet.
Cover with aluminum foil, and roast in the oven for 30 minutes; then uncover and roast for about another 25 minutes. Vegetables are ready when they are flecked with golden brown and are soft when pierced with a fork. If vegetables get browned before they are fully soft, cover again until tender.
While the vegetables are roasting, make the tahini drizzle. Whisk together the tahini, lemon juice, salt, pepper, garlic powder and water in a medium bowl until smooth. Add more water if needed to thin out the mixture.
When the tzimmes comes out of the oven, taste for sweetness, and if desired, drizzle an additional 1 tablespoon date syrup (or honey), and toss to coat.
When ready to serve, drizzle the tzimmes with the tahini drizzle, and decorate with sliced dates and (optional) pomegranate seeds and fresh mint.
* * *
For a sweet potato variation, reduce the carrots and parsnips to 1 lb each, and add 1 lb of sweet potato cut into thick spears; about 1 large sweet potato.
To make this dish ahead of time, prep the vegetables and make the tahini sauce the day before, and store in the refrigerator. Toss together and roast right before serving for optimal results.
Store leftovers in the refrigerator covered for 3-4 days. (I do not recommend freezing this.) To reheat, cover and warm in a 350°F (175°C) oven for about 10 minutes. Once warm, uncover and heat at 400°F (205°C) for about 5-10 minutes to re-crisp a bit. Then, before serving, drizzle with tahini and garnishes.
Debra Eckerling is a writer for the Jewish Journal and the host of “Taste Buds with Deb.” Subscribe on YouTube or your favorite podcast platform. Email Debra: tastebuds@jewishjournal.com.
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