Ronnie's Notes
Thanksgiving/Hanukkah
November 2013
Every year Jewish parents deal with what is known as the “Christmas Dilemma.” That is, how to manage the whole Santa Claus and gifts thing by explaining the joys of celebrating Hanukkah, which usually comes at about the same time.
But this year is different.
In 2013, for the first time, and maybe the last – or at least the last for thousands of years (calculated to be the year 79811) – Hanukkah is not near Christmas. It falls on the same day as Thanksgiving: November 28th.
Sort of.
It’s a bit confusing because “days” in the Jewish calendar start the night before, so Hanukkah actually begins the night before Thanksgiving Day. And it won’t take thousands of years for the first night of Hanukkah to fall on the actual day we celebrate Thanksgiving (that will happen in 2070).
Some will also tell you that this isn’t really the first time this has happened if you consider that before 1942 Thanksgiving was the last Thursday of November, after which President Roosevelt changed the date to the 4th Thursday. With Thanksgiving the last Thursday, as it once was, then this holiday overlap did occur once before, in 1888.
This is all very amusing but when it comes to the actual celebration, it doesn’t matter much. Hanukkah is not a religious holiday involving synagogue services. It is a celebration of a military victory, commemorating a miracle that took place over 2000 years ago when the Jewish people secured their religious freedom. After the Maccabee soldiers defeated the Greek army they went to rededicate the Temple and they found a cruse of oil that was enough for only one day, but miraculously, it burned on for eight. Since that time, Jewish families celebrate by lighting a menorah each of the eight nights of the holiday and eating oil-drenched fried food.
This year some will be lighting a menurkey (a menorah shaped like a turkey) to celebrate what is being called “Thanksgivukkah.”
The only real dilemma is: what to eat when such holidays overlap? Thanksgiving dinner typically is turkey, stuffing, sweet potatoes and/or mashed potatoes and cranberry sauce. Hanukkah is famous for its latkes, mainly fried potato pancakes, but that brings to mind the further dilemma: if you love your latkes with sour cream, one of the traditional accompaniments, you can’t serve that with turkey, because kosher, observant Jews do not mix meat and dairy in the same meal. But if you eat those same latkes with applesauce, the other classic side dip, it’s okay to include them in the Thanksgiving dinner. (Potato latkes with cranberry sauce and/or turkey gravy are sensational too, so there’s that to think about.)
All these issues might suggest that if you celebrate Hanukkah the day of Thanksgiving you could substitute potato pancakes for the mashed potatoes this year. But if you celebrate Hanukkah when it actually begins, the night before Thanksgiving, you can devour the latkes with sour cream and then have your usual Thanksgiving dinner the next day.
That’s quite a bit of work and cooking.
Consider this then: if you’ll be celebrating Hanukkah the night before Thanksgiving Day, avoid frying latkes two days in a row and serve a dairy meal the first night of Hanukkah. Dairy, particularly dishes based on cheese, is also traditional on this holiday. Make it even easier on yourself with a dish that you can prepare ahead and pop into the oven just before you need it: Lasagna, Macaroni-and-Cheese, Pizza, Eggplant Parmesan, Huevos Rancheros.
On Thanksgiving Day, with the meat meal, serve sweet potato latkes; killing two birds with one stone so to speak. For dessert, instead of the Thanksgiving pie, consider another Hanukkah specialty, doughnuts. Doughnuts can be messy because they’re usually fried. They are also time consuming if you make the classic yeast-raised kind. But baking powder doughnuts made in muffin tins are as easy as … Thanksgiving pie. Easier, actually.
Instructions
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.
Lightly butter a 9”x13” casserole dish.
Cook the noodles al dente and set them aside.
Place the butter in a saucepan over medium heat.
When the butter has melted and looks foamy, add the flour and cook over low-medium heat, stirring constantly, for .
Gradually pour in the milk and stir with a whisk until a thick sauce has formed.
Remove the pan from the heat, sprinkle with salt and pepper and set aside.
Heat one tablespoon olive oil in a sauté pan over medium heat.
Add the spinach and cook for or until wilted.
Remove from the heat and let cool.
Squeeze as much liquid as possible from the spinach.
Heat the remaining 2 tablespoons olive oil in the sauté pan and add the onion and mushrooms.
Cook for or until the vegetables have softened.
Remove the pan from the heat and set aside.
Place one-third of the noodles in the prepared pan.
Spoon one-third of the white sauce over the noodles.
Cover the sauce with the spinach.
Place half the remaining noodles over the spinach.
Top the noodles with the ricotta cheese.
Scatter the tomatoes on top.
Sprinkle the tomatoes with the basil.
Mix the onion-mushroom mixture with half the remaining sauce and spread this over the tomatoes.
Top with the remaining noodles, cover with the remaining sauce.
Sprinkle with the mozzarella cheese.
Sprinkle with the Parmesan cheese.
Bake for or until the cheese has melted, bubbly and beginning to brown.
Makes 8 servings