Quick on the heels of Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur is Sukkot. Rabbi Zoe B. Zak explains that a sukkah is a hut erected outdoors, often using bamboo stalks with a roof of palm fronds. While the High Holidays are a period of introspection, Sukkot is a celebration of the harvest, commemorating the 40 years Jews spent wandering the desert before finding the promised land. Huts can be spotted across Los Angeles and no two are alike.
A sukkah is an outdoor hut that is erected during a weeklong celebration. Photo courtesy of Zoe B. Zak.
Zak's congregation at Temple Israel of the Catskill starts preparations for the sukkah at the end of Passover. It's a bit unusual, she says, but since Sukkot celebrates the harvest, they plant vegetables with long growing seasons so the plants are abundant come the holiday.
Sukkot, a Jewish holiday that comes five days after Yom Kippur, ushers in the fall and is celebrated using autumnal vegetation. Photo courtesy of Zoe B. Zak.
Recipe developer Susan Simon is from the East Coast but since Sukkot falls during passion fruit season, she shares a recipe for a curd that can be spread on toast or used to fill a tart.
Pumpkins, squash, and apples are typical for Sukkot celebrations but in California when passion fruit is in season, why not make a curd?
Passion Fruit Curd
Makes 2 cups
I have a friend in California who sends me the most marvelous produce from his ever-blooming garden – including passion fruit when he harvests it sometime in the early autumn. When I thought about what would be included in this book, I knew that I had to include recipes made with West Coast produce (I know I’m a bit East Coast -centric). Passion fruit, with its surreally beautiful blossoms, and its odd leathery skin that lets you know that it’s ripe, and its even odder pulp full of black seeds has flavor like nothing you’ve ever tasted- tart, sweet and floral. The good thing about the pulp is that it’s easy to freeze, and then to pull out to make this curd any time of the year – or make juice as the base of a fine salad dressing, or an essential cocktail mix. I use some passion fruit to make this curd as soon as they’re ripe. I scoop out the pulp from the remaining fruit, put it into containers clearly marked with amounts, then freeze it to make more curd for passion fruit curd shortcakes topped with black and blueberry sauce for Tu B’Av.
Ingredients
- 4 large egg yolks
- 1 large egg
- 1 cup sugar
- 2/3 cup passion fruit pulp
- 8 tablespoons( 1stick) unsalted butter
- ½ teaspoon salt
Instructions
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Whisk together the yolks, egg, and sugar in a medium bowl.
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Heat the passion fruit pulp and butter in a heavy-bottomed, nonreactive saucepan over low heat.
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Remove from the heat and whisk a bit of the passion fruit mixture into the egg mixture. Keep whisking as you continue to add the fruit mixture to the egg mixture.
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Pour the entire mixture back into the saucepan over medium heat. Use a silicone spatula to continue to stir, scraping the bottom and sides of the pot until the mixture completely coats the spatula – 6 – 10 minutes.
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Remove from the heat and strain through a fine mesh strainer into a ceramic bowl. Cover with plastic wrap directly on the surface of the curd. Chill until further thickened and cooled – about 2 hours.
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Place in glass a glass jar – or jars. It will keep in the refrigerator for up to two weeks.
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Enjoy on butter toast or biscuits. Spread on matza. Swirled through yogurt. You’ll find many ways to use it.
Rabbi Zoe B. Zak and recipe developer Susan Simon. Their new book is The Cook and The Rabbi.
The Cook and Rabbi honors 14 Jewish holidays and their culinary traditions. Photo courtesy of Countryman Press.