Spanning Two Cultures

Zoom hosts Christmas and Easter dinners with a roast turkey, mashed potatoes, cranberries, gravy and an assortment of vegetables. I host Passover and Rosh Hashanna dinners with matzoh ball soup, roast brisket, carrot tsimmis, kugel and an assortment of vegetables. Two cultures, lots of feasting!

"Tsimmis", a traditional Ashkenazi dish is a sweet vegetable stew and has become one of Zoom's favourite dishes from the Jewish fare.

Even though we just ate tsimmis days ago at the Passover seder, I offered to make another batch for Easter dinner at Zoom's house. It would be a test to see if tsimmis could hold it's own with a non-Jewish crowd.

Well it was such a hit that I promised to post the recipe.

Fruit & Vegetable Tsimmis*
3/4 cup pitted prunes
3/4 cup dried apricots
1/3 cup raisins
2 lbs carrots, peeled and sliced
1 sweet potato, peeled, quartered & sliced
1/2 cup honey
14 oz can pineapple chunks, drained (reserve 1/2 cup liquid)
1/2 cup orange juice
salt & pepper to taste
2 tsp margarine
1 tsp cinnamon

1. Soak prunes, apricots and raisins in boiling water for 1/2 hour, until plump. Drain well.
2. Meanwhile, cook carrots and sweet potato in boiling water until tender but firm, about 15 minutes. Drain well.
3. Mix together the drained prunes/apricots/raisins with the drained carrots/sweet potatoes. Add the reserved pineapple juice and all the other ingredients EXCEPT the pineapple chunks.
4. Place mixture in a sprayed 3 quart casserole and bake covered in a preheated 350°F oven for 35 minutes.
5. Stir in pineapple chunks and bake uncovered 15 minutes more, stirring once or twice.

*From MealLeaniYumm! by Noreen Gilletz.