Shavuot is Judaism’s gift to dairy farmers everywhere. During Shavuot, or the Festival of Weeks, traditional holiday meals feature cheese-filled blintzes, creamy casseroles, and the ubiquitous, beloved cheesecake. The origins of this dairy-centered feasting are a little obscure. Shavuot marks the day on which the Jewish nation was given the Torah (Old Testament), according to tradition. One version of the story says that the Jews ate only dairy because they didn’t yet know how to keep kosher.
Another version compares the Jewish Torah to the sweetness of milk and honey. Shavuot also coincides with the grain harvest in Israel, and a time when the ancient Israelites would bring offerings of the seven species—wheat, barley, grapes, figs, pomegranates, olives, and dates—to the temple in Jerusalem.
Like most Jewish holidays, Shavuot is a holiday with deep culinary roots. Jews the world over have evolved varied regional Shavuot menus over centuries. The holiday menu of American Jews tends to be something of a mishmash—French style quiche, Italian style lasagna, New York cheesecake (which in itself is probably a derivative of Italian ricotta pie with a Philly cream cheese twist). I drew on the tradition of borrowed foods for my own Shavuot dinner:
Salad with raspberry vinaigrette
Swiss chard and beet green lasagna
Beet, rhubarb, and goat cheese quiche
Ricotta cheesecake with strawberry-balsamic black pepper sauce
The cheesecake was a fun little dessert, though not as dense, creamy, or calorific as the usual New York style. Its charm lies in its simplicity–a lot of ricotta cheese with a little sugar, flour, and eggs. It’s light and mildly sweet, and the freshness of the ricotta really makes the dish. The strawberry sauce is a good complement, a little freshly ground black pepper adds a pleasantly spicey edge to the berry sweetness.
My favorite savory dish was the beet, rhubarb, and goat cheese quiche—an unusual, but very tasty combination. Rather than use the traditional sugar-rhubarb-strawberry trio, I thought I’d combine red beets with rhubarb, onions, and goat cheese. The tartness of the rhubarb brings out the sweetness of the beets, which are grounded by carmelized onions, that in turn, play off the earthy beets. The soft goat cheese adds a little extra tang. The whole thing is baked in a shortcrust with a savory custard to hold it together. I only used one stalk of rhubarb, but it might be interesting to experiment with more.
Here’s my shavuot dish for 2006 (Jewish year 5766). It’s fashionably late.
Beet rhubarb tart with goat cheese
1 shortcrust, pre-baked in a 10 inch quiche pan (Clotilde’s recipe, by way of Pascale)
3 medium onions, very thinly sliced and slowly carmelized in butter
2 bunches (about 8) small, fresh red beets, steamed, peeled, and roughly diced
1 stalk rhubarb, roughly diced and sauteed until a little liquid is released but rhubarb is still crunchy
2 eggs
1/2 c creme fraiche
salt and pepper to taste
soft goat cheese
- Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.
- Distribute the cooled onions on the crust. Top with cooled beets.
- Arrange the cooled rhubarb evenly among the beets.
- Beat together the eggs and creme fraiche and season to taste with salt and pepper.
- Pour the egg mixture over the vegetables.
- Rip small pieces of the goat cheese and distribute evenly.
- Bake for 30 minutes, or until quiche sets.
Serves 8
Thanks to Clotilde for the quiche methodology.
