A Shabbos Feast

Recipes:
          Horseradish-Glazed Brisket
          Sweet Potatoes with Brandy Raisins
          Cauliflower-Leek Kugel

Last Friday I was in the mood to make really do up a Shabbos dinner after I found a beautiful loaf of challah at the grocery store.  I also finally had a brisket after finding one at the farmer's market, anyone know why grocery stores around here don't seem to sell them?  It's a pretty inexpensive cut so it was affordable even at grass fed, organic beef prices.  Many of the traditional Ashkenazi recipes call for tomatoes so I had to do a little research to find one without them.  I picked this recipe because I love horseradish and I was intrigued by the double cooking method of simmering and then roasting. 

The original recipe calls for almost 6 pounds of meat, including short ribs.  I stuck with just the brisket but didn't actually cut down on the amount of herbs in the herb packet.  I'm glad I didn't because I still had to use quite a bit of water to cover the meat and I'm of the opinion that with this cooking method you can't really ever have too many herbs and seasonings.  I simmered it for 3 hours instead of the 3 1/4 to 3 1/2 that the recipe calls call.  That might have still been a little long because the end result seemed a little drier than it should have been.  I also think that next time I'll roast it for slightly less time and a higher temperature because I don't plan on making more than the 2 pound brisket and the crust wasn't quite as brown and crusty as I wanted.  Although that could be because I didn't let it cool down before I brushed the glaze on.

The sweet potatoes were amazing. I substituted pine nuts for the walnuts and I think I liked that better but if you like walnuts I can see how it would add another layer of flavor. I'm not sure I tasted the difference the brandy made with the raisins but it did make them plumper. The maple syrup glaze was amazing. Definitely not for those who don't like sweet potatoes that are super sweet but they were a really good compliment to the meat.

I'd made the cauliflower kugel before but actually followed the recipe more closely this time because I wanted a kosher style meal.  The first time I made it I added about 1/4 cup of parmesan cheese to the cauliflower mixture and more herbs.  We thought it was the most amazing thing to have ever been done with cauliflower.  Then I made it this time without the cheese and it was just so-so.  If I was going to make it without the cheese again I might try adding some lemon zest to perk it up a little.  I also make the topping with panko bread crumbs since it's not Passover.