Cookbook Author Joan Nathan Shares a Hanukkah Menu Close to Her Heart

If you’re searching for Hanukkah recipes that are sure to delight your guests, Jewish cookbook author Joan Nathan offers a holiday menu that is close to her heart.

The meal starts with an appetizer of smoked salmon with radicchio, endives, beets, and lemon shallot vinaigrette (paired with Tzora Judean Hills white wine). Then comes the meal’s centerpiece: wine-braised brisket with roasted vegetables, “a riff” on her mother’s brisket, which Nathan describes as “savory, not sweet.”

Nathan prefers her potato zucchini latkes recipe paired with applesauce with cranberry on the side. Her chosen dessert, orange rosemary olive oil cake, is a reminder, she says, that olive oil “became endowed with the idea of the Maccabees.”

The wine-braised brisket and roasted vegetables is “hearty, tender and full of flavor,” Nathan says. “The braising liquid is deeply infused with aromatics. Root vegetables add earthiness. It’s good for a crowd – and tends to attract a crowd. Brisket is the easiest thing in the world to make. It’s so tender and good. People love it. I like to do that for a holiday menu because you can make it ahead, slice it, freeze it, then heat it up.”

Recipes for Nathan’s full menu are available in Wine Spectator, but the magazine has generously allowed us to share her brisket recipe here. May your Hanukkah table be filled with culinary delights!

Wine-Braised Brisket with Roasted Winter Vegetables

Serves 6, with leftovers

Ingredients:

• 1 high-quality brisket, with some fat (3 to 4 pounds)
• Salt and freshly ground pepper, to taste
• ¼ to ½ cup olive oil
• 9 multicolored farmers-market carrots, with 3 cut diagonally into 1-inch pieces
• 4 onions, peeled and quartered
• 6 ribs celery, greens attached, cut into 2-inch pieces
• 3 cloves garlic, smashed and peeled
• ½ cup red wine vinegar
• 2 cups red wine
• 1 cup tomato sauce
• 3 cups beef broth
• 2 bay leaves
• 6 sprigs fresh thyme
• 1 bunch fresh parsley, chopped
• 6 parsnips

Instructions:

1. Preheat oven to 350˚ F. Season brisket with salt and pepper. Add half the olive oil to a braising pan or an oven-safe pot large enough to hold the brisket. Heat the pan over medium-high, then sear the brisket on all sides. When the brisket is browned, remove from the pan and set aside.
2. If there are not a few tablespoons of fat in the pan, add a bit of oil. Add the 3 cut-up carrots, onion, celery and 2 cloves garlic, and sauté for a few minutes, stirring occasionally and adding salt and pepper as needed.
3. Pour the vinegar and the wine into the pan and deglaze, gently scraping up any stuck bits with a wooden spoon. Simmer for 3 min­utes or until the sauce is slightly reduced.
4. Return the brisket to the pot and add the tomato sauce and enough beef broth just to cover the brisket (about 3 cups). Add the bay leaf, thyme and about ½ cup parsley, and bring to a simmer. Cover the pot and place in the oven, checking occasionally. After 2 hours, rub the remaining 6 carrots and the parsnips with olive oil and the remaining clove of garlic, sprinkle with salt and set on top of the brisket in the oven, uncovered, for 1 hour more, until just tender.
5. Remove the pot from the oven and let sit until the brisket has reached room temperature. Remove the carrots and parsnips from the top and set aside. Place the brisket on a large cutting board and slice against the grain 1⁄4-inch thick. Return sliced brisket to the pot and top with whole carrots and parsnips. Cover pot and refrigerate overnight. It can also be frozen, but must be thawed before reheating.
6. The next day, remove and discard the fat that has accumulated on top of the liquid, bring the brisket to room temperature and remove it and the whole carrots and parsnips from the pan. Heat the liquid and vegetables over medium-low and reduce by half, then strain, reserving vegetables. Set aside and keep warm.
7. Preheat oven to 350˚ F. Return the brisket to the braising pan, place the reserved carrots and parsnips on top, pour the reduced liquid over and reheat in the oven for about 30 minutes.
8. To serve, place the reserved vegetables on a platter, arrange the bris­ket on top and scatter with the carrots and parsnips. Cover with the sauce and sprinkle with the remaining parsley.

This article was adapted with permission from “A Hanukkah Feast” by Owen Dugan in Wine Spectator, November 30, 2016.