Parshat Vayekhel - "Eat This Torah!"

This is a leap parsha in a leap year, so we're taking it as a free throw. We'll be back to our normal comics next week but for now, something completely different!

Popcorn Locust

Mort's Big Night - Parshat Bo

Va'eira Chow Chat

Veiled Chicken/Chicken Chador

Also known as Chicken in a Burka or Chicken Chador, this recipe was inspired by the locale of Parsha Shemot, in Midian, which turns out to be Saudi Arabia. All week we looked at Saudi recipes and spices, hoping to get an early start on the menu, but you never know when inspiration will strike—this time it was Thursday night as I was drifting off to sleep. Aaron woke me with his giggles, and issued the challenge—our chicken could not go uncovered to the dining room, and it must be accompanied by a male element.

I wanted black burkas, and the darkest covering I could think of was purple cabbage. I’ve made stuffed cabbage before, so I used a tomato sauce with Saudi spices. Baby carrots represented the male chaperones. With the purple, red and orange, the dish took on a fiery look, reminding us all of another element of the story this week, the burning bush.

Veiled Chicken Recipe

10 lbs chicken pieces
1 head purple cabbage
1 large onion
7 cloves garlic
1 lb baby carrots
cumin
ginger
cinnamon
salt
pepper
sugar
1 apple
1 pear
2 bottles Ragu sauce

Cut the core out of the cabbage. Put the cabbage in a pot and cover it with water. Remove cabbage, bring water to a boil, replace cabbage and simmer for 10-15 minutes, peeling off leaves as they become tender. Set aside cabbage leaves to cool.

Trim excess fat from chicken and lay the pieces out. Sprinkle generously with cumin, ginger, cinnamon, salt, pepper and sugar. Turn and repeat on other side. Rub seasonings into the meat and under the skin.

Cut onion, apple and pear into bite-size pieces, and mince garlic.

In a large roasting pan, pour one bottle of Ragu sauce. Add the onion, apple, pear and garlic. Wrap chicken pieces in cabbage leaves and lay them in the roasting pan packed tightly together. If there is cabbage left over, add it to the pot. Pour the second bottle of Ragu over the top. Top with baby carrots, sprinkled with the spice mix. Cover tightly and bake at 425 for 2 hours, basting once or twice. This can be made a day ahead—it gets better with age!

Midian Spinach and Chick Peas

Each week our Shabbat dinner menu reflects the themes of the weekly Torah Portion. Last week, honoring Moses' forty years in Midian, our cooking guests were invited to prepare and bring a Saudi-style Shabbat dish. Our sister Susan Levy explains her creation.

Flaming Mountain of the Gods Cake

Each week our Shabbat dinner menu reflects the themes of the weekly Torah Portion. This week, honoring Moses' forty years in Midian, our cooking guests were invited to prepare and bring a Saudi-style Shabbat dish. Our sister Joan Barris explains her creation.

Tamar and her baby

Parsha Ba'alotecha

What's Israel's favorite wineEgypt!" Now that we've finally left Sinai and are on our way to Canaan it's complain, complain, complain. The Hebrews demanded dietary diversity! Though for us it's hard to figure why they needed the extra foods since manna tasted like whatever the eater wanted. We're not sure why YHWH believes that Moses needs prophetic help, especially since, as far as we can tell, he doesn't do much prophesizing himself. The lesson of this parsha is clearly, "Be careful what you wish for."

- SHABBAT SHALOM! - a & s

Chayei Sarah - The Sweetest Story Ever Told

We LOVE the story of Isaac. It's unquestionably our fav so far. You got a VERY slow kid with a goofy laugh. His mom was maybe 90 years old when she gives birth to Isaac so Down's Syndrome seems a pretty high probability. He doesn't talk much. His brother makes fun of him. His father tries to kill him. He can't even chase girls for himself.

His father Abraham leaves him a huge pile of money and makes his trusted servent Eliezer, swear on his (Abraham's) old, wrinkled testicles, to find the perfect girl for Isaac, who is by now nearly forty. Eliezer find this beautiful, kind and hard working three year old, Rebecca. After some negotiating Eliezer gets Rebecca away from her no account family and brings her back to Isaac who is out in field doing... G-d knows what.

Rebecca is so shocked when she sees her goofball betrothed she nearly falls off her camel. But Isaac loves her. He moves Rebecca into his mommy's tent and they become husband and wife.

We know that later Rebecca is clearly the brains of the family and ends up manipulating Isaac in a most crude way. Nonetheless as the Torah's most precocious little girl she is the ideal match for a mentally challenged middle aged man.

At least that's the way it is when WE tell the story. - SHABBAT SHALOM! - a & s