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Dear Hostesses,

If your Shabbat and Passover Holiday table setting decor is starting to look about as old as your wedding photos, then its time to wipe your table setting slate clean and dare to think past your same old table cloth and boring white napkins. Update your holiday table scape and watch your friends and families eyes light up as they enter the room. Sometimes we just never get to uncover the rainbow of creativity hidden under our daily “to do” list of cleaning and cooking. Well,  The Jewish Hostess has appeared here on your laptop just to give you that extra nudge to spark the FABULOUS  inner hostess within!

1- Start with your holiday theme and color scheme. Is it a holiday? A dinner party? Are you in the mood for a hot bright color on your table? OR just a calm romantic feel?

For my modern/rustic Tu bishvat table photo shoot this year, I wanted to inspire my Jewish Hostesses with the fresh feeling of trees, nature,and the beautiful  fruits of the Shiv’ah Minim of Israel.

I found a gorgeous hot pink cherry blossom fabric from the Marimekko shop in Crate and Barrel and had it cut to size. I left the edges raw on both ends because:

1- I really don’t sew, and

2- the raw edge fit in perfectly with the rustic look.

I borrowed the tree trunk bases, and the plastic monstera leaves (also pictured below- on the jungle themed Purim table) from my sister in law. For tons more table setting pics , recipes, and details about this Tu Bishvat  table setting, please visit me at The Jewish Hostess.com.

Below, I used ombre blue macarons in plastic canisters to create a modern day sweet menorah centerpiece for my Hanukkah table decor. Silver and blue carried the evening with placemats, silverware, dreidels, and royal blue cake pops as place card holders. The lit candles in the center added a soft ambiance to the room as everyone served themselves at the buffet.

2- Use elements from the holiday theme on your table. This past Rosh Hashanah, I used 2 white curvy horns (you can see one of the horns in the center of the table below) that I found at a gift show in NYC. I also bought miniature honey jars from Amazon. Mini white tasting spoons held pomegranate seeds in front of each place setting.  My homemade Rosh Hashanah jelly apples were the hit of the night!

I also bought wooden honey dippers online,and  I purchased burgundy velvet to use as napkin rings at 99 cents a yard.You don’t have to spend a fortune on napkin rings, and oh, what a difference a napkin ring does make!

3- Mix the old with the new! The dishes navy and gold dishes  above were my mom’s. I still remember them being stacked up in the dining room for my brother’s disco/dinner party in the 70s. Mix your old dishes with modern stemware,  flatware and simple dishes like the Annie Glass dinner plates above.

4- Change your  table scape STYLE ! Just like we get tired of putting on the same outfit every other day, that’s how you should feel with your table scape. You should see the proud look on my married girls  faces every time they bring their families over for shabbat.  Once in a while I even get a slight nod of recognition (did I see a smile??) from my teenage son before he rushes out of the house. One time he even helped me fold the napkins for our  last year’s Tu Bishvat table !(below).

(p.s.)If you think that I actually potted those beautiful hyacinth plants for Tubishvat, well I’ve got a secret to share! I actually picked them up at the flower district on 28 street in NYC. Brought them home, and threw some bright orange kumquats onto the moss. In the center of the crated grass I placed a cake plate and mounded some new fruits atop. Voila!

5- Reinvent your  old drinking glasses, bowls, ribbons, table cloths and more:

The table below was one of my first creative holiday tablescapes. Two days before Purim, I ran to the 99 cent fabric shop and found the animal print, used sterling drinking glasses given to me as a wedding gift and transformed them into vases. I Bought some Purim masks online, stuck them into my “NEW” vases with flowers from the corner store. I then bought a silver chain trim and cut and glued the trim into napkin rings. As you can see, I mixed blue black, burgundy and red, (colors that I wouldn’t think of using on my table) and it was even prettier in person.

Think of floating flowers in bowls, using pretty salad plates to pass appetizers, and pretty  wood baskets to hold your challah rolls.

6- Layer! Layer, Layer!

The table below was created by my sister in law and I for a jungle themed Purim. We layered a bridge table cloth (turned it on the diagonal), bought plastic monstera leaves online, layered with wooden disposable plates, cheap jungle themed fabric used as napkins, and tied it all together with wooden napkin rings. Again, we had a ball at the flower market picking out bright tropical leaves and flowers. Remember to pop out your table with COLOR!(#8 below) I rummaged through my closets and found an orange (my favorite color) salad bowl that looked amazing and added another layer of dimension to our table scape. Can you see the hanging jungle themed paper lanterns in the back room? Another layer that added to the ambiance of the evening.

7-  BE CREATIVE!!! One of my favorite tables were from a Passover table setting contest that I ran last year. Two teenage girls surprised their mom for the holiday and created their Passover table decor from scratch. Blue fabric was folded into a runner and laid across the center of the table representing the splitting of the sea. Their family name was printed in gold lettering and attached to each hagaddah on top of  each place setting. Sequin trim was transformed into napkin rings, and blue vases with simple flowers topped it all off. Imagine how great their mom felt!

8- Use COLOR to EXCITE!!! Studies have shown that bright colors add to the hunger factor, and  instantaneously put us in a good mood. Below, my neighbor used striped Mexican blankets and pillows that she owned,   to dress up her holiday decor. (You can actually find Mexican table decor HERE)

Always remember to use flowers, bright candles,or  an eye popping napkin to shake up a ho hum table.

9- Create your own place cards! For the Sheva Berachot table that I whipped up in honor of my niece’s wedding, I had an inked stamp made up with their name, ordered lime green ink and had every guest’s  name printed on each place card. Since we had the groom’s family over for the first time, every new guest had a comfortable place to sit. I placed the teens together, and the bride and groom’s parents next to us. It made everyone feel important and added a touch of color to the table. (more pics of this table to come soon….)

10- Try NOT to let your guests know that you were sweating in your bathrobe cooking all day!!! (see photo below)

NOW ITS YOUR TURN! I hope that  I’ve inspired you to dig into your storage closets, run into a fabric shop, borrow table decor from a friend, and browse your local florist for unique vases, containers and gorgeous flowers, and maybe you will  decide to make place cards for your guests!

p.s. Be happy!!! There is nothing more fun than knowing that you’re beautiful table scape has added to the ambiance and excitement of the evening.

One last request- TAKE PICTURES!!!!!! I CAN’T WAIT TO SEE YOUR HOLIDAY TABLES!!! CLICK HERE to email your pics to me.

Happy Holidays!

XoXo

Marlene
p.s. don’t miss the newest table setting ideas and easy healthy recipes once a week to your inbox! CLICK HERE!

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Portobello Cranberry and Wine Brick Roast for Shabbat:

This recipe was inspired by The Kosher Palette Cookbook. The recipe is so easy to put together on a Friday morning for Shabbat.  When the sauce ingredients are simmered together, you would never know that there is a can of cranberry sauce in there- but that coupled with the cooking wine gives it unbelievable flavor! I love when an unexpected guest rings the bell on a Friday afternoon and they say how good the house smells!!! When you make this roast- it will be one of those days!!! If you are more of a brisket  roast hostess, please comment below with brisket roast tips for this recipe.

Please let me know how you like it! Marlene

p.s.- I didnt have time to snap a pic of the finished roast before Shabbat started, but I managed to snap a pic as it was sliding into the oven.

Kosher Brick Roast Recipe Ingredients:

• 1 cup Marsala cooking wine (my sister in law used half Kesser wine and it came out great)
• 1 cup of Imagine or Passover chicken broth
• 1 can of whole or jellied cranberry sauce
• 1/4 cup all purpose flour
• 1 large onion, sliced
• 6 garlic cloves chopped
• 3 sprigs fresh rosemary (my sister in law didn’t have rosemary and it turned out great)
• One 4 0r 5  lb brick roast
• 4 portobello mushrooms sliced

Directions for this Shabbat recipe:

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
2. Whisk wine, chicken broth, flour, onion, cranberry sauce, in a saucepan and heat on a low flame  until melted and boiling for about 10 minutes.
3. Rub roast all over with salt, pepper, garlic, and place sliced onion and rosemary on top.
4. Pour cranberry sauce mixture on top and cover.
5. Roast for about 1 and one half hours and then add half of sliced portobello mushrooms for another half hour.
6. Cool, slice, and re-heat for 45 minutes to an hour before serving.
7. Saute the rest of the portobello mushrooms in garlic and top as a garnish before serving.

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Susan Menash happens to be another favorite person in my life. Her talent is knows no bounds- just check out her  photography website HERE and you will know what I mean. I especially love the pictures of the seniors on her site as there are so many great stories waiting to be told…..

I love her seder plate creation from 2011 as it teaches us that a little imagination goes a long way….

Enjoy! Marlene

“Hi Marlene,

I used 2 rectangular vases from Crate and Barrel but you can choose to use up to a dozen small vases as your base. I had a piece of glass made up  24 inches by 12 inches. (You can use any clear tray or any thick piece of glass ) I filled my vases up with water, orchids, (last longer in water) and topped with my glass seder tray.

I was thinking of putting red or blue tropical fish to symbolize the parting of the Red Sea sea  but I didn’t want to be stuck with the live fish after the seder.

Now that I think of it, I should have given the fish away as Afikoman gifts for my grandchildren.

Susan Menash”

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Thank you Gloria Kolbrin from Kosher Cookbook for this new recipe for roast duck- a perfect Passover recipe. Although I personally have never cooked duck before, I know that many of my family members would love it. Maybe now it won’t seem so intimidating! Thanks Gloria! 

Perfect for Passover:

ROAST DUCK IN MIXED FRUIT SAUCE M SERVES: 8

This is a mouth watering recipe that is relatively simple to prepare save for cleaning the ducks.  Major TIME saving hint: Get pre-roasted unseasoned ducks and then braise them in the sauce!

Prep time: cleaning kosher duck-endless- ask butcher for help

Prep time: 5 min. Roasting: 1 ½- 2 hours   Sauce- 10-15 min.

Braising & Glazing- 45 min.

INGREDIENTS

• 2 ducklings
• 2 lemons
• 12 ounce jar black currant preserves
• 24 ounces cranberry juice
• 1 teaspoon allspice
• 1/3 cup potato starch dissolved in 1 cup water
• 24 ounces frozen mixed fruit (blueberries, strawberries, peaches)-defrosted
• Optional-1 tablespoon Passover cherry liqueur

EQUIPMENT

• 1 large roasting pan
• 1 non stick roasting rack
• Medium saucepan
• Long handled fork

DIRECTIONS

1.     Preheat oven to: 375 F.

2.     Clean ducks thoroughly. Rinse inside and out with cold water. Cut one lemon in half and rub the skin of the ducks with the lemon halves. Place ducks, breast side up, on the roasting rack in the roasting pan. Place pan in the oven and roast 30 minutes. After 30 minutes, begin to prick the duck all over with a long handled fork. Be careful not to get spattered with fat. Remove some of the melted fat with a baster if it begins to crackle too much in the pan. Continue to prick ducks every 15 minutes until they are browned. Ducks need about 15 minutes per pound to properly cook. When the breasts have browned, I like to flip the ducks over so that their backs can brown as well. Prepare the sauce while the ducks are roasting.

3.     Put juice, preserves and allspice in the saucepan.

4.     Squeeze remaining lemon. Remove pits. Add lemon juice to saucepan.

5.     Stir ingredients over medium heat until preserves melt. Add potato starch mixed with water. Stir sauce until it has slightly thickened. Remove from heat. Add mixed fruit and liqueur. Set aside.

6.     When ducks are done, remove them from oven and allow to cool. Cut them into quarters with either a sharp knife or poultry shears. Arrange quarters in an oven to table serving dish. Pour sauce over duck. (You can either finish the recipe at this point or cover the pan and refrigerate duck until the next day.) Return duck to the oven for about 45 minutes or until skin has glazed. Baste every 15 minutes. Before serving, make sure each quarter is covered with sauce and berries. Serve hot with starch of your choice. (Thin sauce with cranberry juice if it becomes too thick.)

Optional: Garnish duck with fresh mixed berries.

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For as long as I can remember, the typical Syrian Jewish Shabbat meal has to have something with “hashu” in it. Whether it be mechshi (a stuffed vegetable) as a side dish, or “ribbet”, which means veal pocket as a main dish, hashu is the spiced meat and rice mixture that goes into every mechshe, yebrat, and ribbet.  When we were kids we thought that  the name”ribbet” was gross, because it sounded like some kind of frog dish, but we quickly got over the weird Syrian name, and everyone always fought over the hashu, or the well cooked  burnt edge of the veal roast..

The basic Syrian style  stuffing traditionally included fatty chop meat which really must have tasted really authentically Syrian, but nowadays, many Syrian women stuff their mechshes, yebrats (stuffed grape leaves), and ribbets with turkey, chicken, or extra lean ground chop meat.

These Syrian meatballs were ALWAYS hand made by our grandmothers, but at one point back in the 50′s when women wanted to do more than sit, grind their rice and chop meat,  roll  and stuff, some community entrepreneurs decided to sell their homemade kibbes. Now all of the Syrian kosher butchers in Brooklyn sell packs of these Syrian meatballs. They have an outer shell that consists of finely ground meat that is ground with rice, and are stuffed with celery leaves and spices.By the way, my mother in law  makes her very own kibbes and would never consider buy them. Very often she drops off a very appreciated freshly frozen bag of kibbes that I use for “hamud” and many other Syrian holiday and Shabbat recipes. Honestly, I’ve tried making my own, but I’m sorry to say that I don’t have the patience.

My neighbor Linda, introduced me to the idea of these mini “ribbets” because years back, the butcher would only slice the neck of the veal as one big pocket the size of a roast. Nowadays, “mini” is the big thing so even veal pockets have followed the “mini” trend.

Adapted from the Magen David Yeshivah Chef at Home cookbook, here is my recipe for  Mini Veal pockets with Kibbe Balls and Asparagus.

Perfect on your Passover Seder Menu as a  Main Meat Dish:

1- First make the hash (meat stuffing). You can find the hashu recipe HERE, as it is useful for many meat Syrian recipes.

2-Order 2 dozen mini veal pockets from your butcher, as they don’t usually have them readily available.

3- One by one, wash the veal pockets inside and out and let the water drain off. Pat dry with a paper towel.

4- Stuff each one with hashu, making sure that the meat is not sticking out. Its advisable to leave some space before the edge of the meat because the rice expands the mixture as it cooks.

5- At this point you can freeze the mini pockets on a tray, and when frozen you can bag them. It’s always such a great feeling to know that when Friday 7 a.m comes around, you know that you can pull out these frozen ribets and the dish can be put together , and slid into the oven in less than 20 minutes.

6- Drizzle some safflower oil on the bottom of a roaster and place fresh or frozen mini pockets in the roaster. Flip and rub the pockets all the way around so that it all gets covered with the oil.

7- Spice on top and bottom  with salt, garlic powder,lots of  fresh chopped garlic, allspice, and pepper.

8- Steam in the oven at 350 degrees for 20 minutes. If frozen, steam for an extra 10 or 15 minutes.

9- Throw kibbe homda balls onto the veal pockets, or for a more browned look like the photo above, you can brown the kibbes in a pot with oil beforehand, and then throw them on top of the veal pockets.

10. Add 1 cup of water or enough water to come to 3/4 high of the veal pockets in the roaster. You need this water to cook the rice in the hashu.

11- Cook for at 350 in the oven in the roaster.

12-  While cooking, saute cleaned and peeled asparagus separately for about 5 minutes with chopped garlic, salt, and pepper.

13- About 50 minutes into the roasting of the veal pockets throw sautéed asparagus on top and uncover the roaster. Don’t let the asparagus get brown by too much cooking. Roast for another 20 minutes uncovered. All ovens vary so use your discretion with cooking time.

14- Save some pretty bright green sautéed asparagus for garnish on top.

One LARGE veal pocket being stuffed:

image via The Boreka Diary

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Stuffed onions, or “mechshe” is a common Shabbat and holiday dish for all Syrian Jews. Traditionally, our grandmas would stuff their squash, tomatoes, carrots, and Spanish onions with fatty beef that they would grind themselves. They would then add in Arborio (short grain) rice, salt, allspice, and cinnamon. A homemade  sweet and sour tamarind “ourt” sauce would then be poured on and this yummy concoction would simmer on the fire or in the oven for hours. Well, Victoria Dwek has managed to modernize this centuries old mechshe recipe, plus make it taste fabulous AND healthy. Victoria and Leah Shapirah feature this stuffed onion recipe PLUS 59 more fabulous and easy kosher for Passover recipes in their new cookbook Passover Made Easy. Not only is it beautifully designed, but the innovative recipes have been triple tested and actually have gorgeous FULL COLOR photos for each dish!  I would truly send this new take on Passover cooking  kosher cookbook as the perfect Passover gift. At $10. what are you waiting for???  Click and buy now! Enjoy! Marlene

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“When Leah Schapira and I began working on the side dishes chapter of our newly released book, Passover Made Easy, I knew I absolutely had to borrow inspiration from my heritage and “stuff” something. It wouldn’t be zucchini or eggplant, though, that would be too ethnic for a wider audience. But how about an onion? Leah suggested I make an all-vegetable filling, and I got to work. Most recipes take a few tries to perfect, but this was an instant winner.

I had fun making these because onions are among the easiest vegetables to stuff. They’re also freezer-friendly, so you can prepare this pretty side dish in advance and rewarm before the meal. The ground almonds in the recipe don’t only do a great job of binding the stuffing together — they also taste way better than bread crumbs. The end result is a dainty and flavorful little bite. For a prettier presentation, be sure to select round onions.

You can also use red onions, or a combination of red and white, to give this dish a different look.” -Victoria

Passover Made Easy, co-authored by Victoria Dwek and Leah Schapira, and published by Artscroll, includes 60 creative new recipes for Passover, each with a gorgeous full color photo. You can find it wherever Jewish books are sold, or online at Amazon.Leah Schapira is the co-founder of CookKosher.com, a popular online kosher recipe exchange, and the author of the bestselling Fresh & Easy Kosher Cooking. A self-taught cook, Leah expresses her love of cooking through her recipe column, her busy website, and her exciting cooking demos and classes. Passover Made Easy is Leah’s second release with ArtScroll/Shaar Press.

Victoria Dwek is the managing editor of Whisk, a popular kosher food magazine published weekly by Ami Magazine. Her feature articles take readers behind the scenes to learn from chefs and other professionals in the kosher food world. An experienced journalist and avid hostess, Victoria’s work combines her passions for good food and good writing.

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Any recipe that I get from Debbie Gindi is sure to be a guaranteed winner. Debbie is ahead of  every trend in town, especially the food and  table decor scene.

Thank you Debbie for being such a big contributor to The Jewish Hostess! Jewish women all over the world are loving your recipes! Love, Marlene

“Hi Marlene ,

I have a fast,easy and elegant passover cookie recipe that all your guests are sure to love. My family and friends love these sweet chewy treats so much I bake them all year round,hence the name!! NOT JUST PASSOVER COOKIES!

You can also add mini chocolate chips,different nuts or extracts to change them up a bit!

I even spread the flat side with seedless raspberry jam,sandwich two cookies  together and dipped in melted chocolate for variation!

Either way these are sure to be a big winner with everyone!

Happy Holiday! Debbie Gindi”

Not “JUST” Passover Cookies

• 4 egg whites
• 2 cups sugar
• 4 cups ground almonds (or any nut of your choice)
• (1/2 c shredded coconut, Almond or any type Extract, mini choc chips)optional

1. Preheat oven to 325 degrees.
2. Line 2 large cookie sheets with parchment paper. Beat all ingredients together on medium speed with hand blender.(If adding chips or coconut add after blending and combine with spoon)
3. Form into teaspoon size balls.
4. Place on lined cookie sheets 1 inch apart. Bake for 15-17 minutes.
5. When cool you may drizzle with melted chocolate or spread jam on flat side and sandwich together for “linzer tart cookies”

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