who's in the kitchen: judy joszef

Let’s go to the sukkah hop! Chag sameach!

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Sukkot is related to the way the Jewish people lived while wandering in the desert for 40 years, building tents called sukkot that sheltered them. In their wildest dreams, I don’t think they could have imagined what would have evolved from those simple tents. In my wildest dreams as a kid, I couldn’t have imagined the sukkot that are around today.

Living on 48th Street in Boro Park, my dad, with my brother helping, assembled our sukkah. My dad purchased the lumber from a lumberyard and my grandfather supplied beautiful cloth from his curtain and fabric store on the Lower East Side. Living on the third floor of a private house and having a large porch facing the front of the street, it was the perfect setting.

My dad was very handy, so our sukkah’s frame was sturdy and looked very professional. The heavy, beautiful brocade fabric made it one of a kind. The schach seemed like hundreds of bamboo poles, each one put on individually. There were no mats in those days. Decorations were handmade.

I still remember the ones made of colorful paper strips taped together as rings and made into a long chain (come on, you all know what I’m talking about). We were so proud of those when they were finished. They were long enough to string from one side of the sukkah to the other. How proud we all were when our handiwork was up for all to see — that is until it rained and they got soggy, started to unglue, and eventually ended up falling off in pieces.

Fast forward to the present. Sukkahs are now prefabricated and come as big or small as your heart desires. They’re made of a variety of materials, shapes, sizes and colors. Plastic grapes, small feathery birds, shiny metallic hanging decorations, and ears of corn are long gone. Today we can choose from either silk or live “flower balls” — a bargain starting at $50 each. Stores on the avenue are filled with decorations and the lines are out the door.

For those not creative, or short on time, you can have a decorator come in and decorate your entire sukkah. Walls can be draped with any material you like and decorations know no limit. That lone light bulb in the middle of sukkah can now be replaced with chandeliers that are modern or traditional. Gone are the small folding tables, replaced by heavy-duty 5 x 12 foot banquet-sized tables (I’m guilty of that one).

When I married Jerry and three kids became seven, with three of them married, my 10 x 12 sukkah was not going to work. My mother-in-law generously treated us to a 12 x 20 sukkah. Jerry warned me that he wasn’t handy. I’d take “not very handy,” but we’re talking downright, absolutely bumbling and clueless when pertaining to technological, mechanical or anything practical. Except of course changing the air conditioner filters — he was so proud when he mastered that one!

When the sukkah arrived, he said my boys would have to put it together. The first — and last — one he assembled took all day and when he walked around it to admire his accomplishment he was puzzled as to why all the writing on the walls was on the outside and not the inside. It’s not easy to build a sukkah totally inside out. So the building responsibility became my kids’.

Though times have changed, it’s still a favorite yom tov of most people, especially the kids. Let’s not forget those sukkah hops. When my son, Daniel, was eight, he came home with two huge Gourmet Glatt bags filled with snacks.

“Who gave you those bags?” I asked. “I took the bags from home and just dumped the plates with snacks into them. Cool, huh?” he replied. To this day there is a rule at the Young Israel of Woodmere sukkah hops: NO BAGS ALLOWED, JUST WHAT YOU CAN EAT IN THE SUKKAH. Sorry kids.

Whether you’re home for sukkot, at relatives, or slumming it in a five star hotel in Israel, have a chag sameach!

Here is a wonderful and creative appetizer you can serve in your sukkah. My friend Smadar Meer recently gave it to me. I loved it, and I’m sure you will, as well.

Individual Salmon Tartare

Serves 10

Ingredients:

3 lbs boneless sushi grade salmon fillets (freezes the least 1 hour before preparing recipe, easier to chop). Dice the salmon into small cubes. 

1-1/2 cups finely diced, seeded cucumber

9 Tbs fresh lime juice

9 Tsp minced fresh chives

9 Tsp minced fresh cilantro 

9 Tsp minced seeded jalapeño 

9 Tsp minced shallots 

12 cloves minced garlic

4-1/2 Tsp minced peeled fresh ginger

1-1/2 Tsp fresh lime zest

12 Tsp toasted sesame oil

3 Tsp soy sauce 

Kosher salt and freshly ground pepper

Additional layer ingredients;

4 Ripe avocados sliced thinly

4 mangos cut into cubes

4 teaspoons caviar, optional 

Directions:

Mix all ingredients for the salmon tartare, except salt and pepper. Then add salt and pepper to taste. Next take a stainless steel metal ring ( I used one made by ateko). You can try Williams Sanoma, if you don’t have one already.

Place the avocado slices into the bottom of the ring. Next, add the cubed Salmon tartare, and press down with a spoon so it’s packed tightly.

Add a layer of mango cubes and press down. Lastly add a bit of caviar to the top center. You can choose to skip the caviar if you like.

Remove the ring and you have a wonderful appetizer to serve in your sukkah.

Contact Judy Joszef: Columnist@TheJewishStar.com