Finished school and modern Israeli Ravioli

Hi, sorry for the delay between posts. I'm going to try to post more frequently, but I finished my MBA at the beginning of the week! and the last few weeks have been a little crazy. Now that I'm done with the MBA I have more time to focus on the Savor Israel blog, so keep checking frequently for new recipes and articles on food and Israel.

Rosh Hashana begins this Friday evening, and in honor of the Jewish New Year I'm posting a recipe worthy of a dinner for this holiday courtesy of the Israeli chef Aharoni. There are ingredients I view as very Israeli like the silan (date honey), lamb, garbanzo beans, and cherries. The silan (honey) is symbolic of rosh hashana, and it was in fact date honey, not bee honey, that was first eaten in biblical Israel. The fusion between Italian and Middle Eastern cooking also seems very modern Israeli cooking to me as well. So we'll call this is a modern Israeli Rosh Hashana dish. Wishing everyone a wonderful start to their new year.

Lamb Ravioli in a Silan, Cherry and Shallot Sauce (courtsey of Aharoni)

Ingredients:
Sauce
Shallots – 12
Cherries (seeded) - 1 pound
Cumin seeds - 1 tablespoon
Black Pepper - to season
Garbanzo beans - 1 can (cooked beans)

Sugar - 1/3 cup

Squeezed Lemon Juice - 1/2 cup
Silan (regular honey can be used as a substitute) - 1/3 cup

Chicken stock - 1 liter

Pasta - Ravioli

see linked recipe

Pasta maker or rolling pin

Ravioli filling

Ground lamb - 1-1.5 pounds

1 Red Onion - finely minced
Parsley - 1/2 a bunch, finely chopped
Salt - to season
Pepper - to season

Instructions:

Sauce

Saute whole shallots with pepper and cumin seeds until shallots are well carmelized in a big pan
Add cherries and garbanzo beans and saute for five minutes on medium heat
Add chicken stock, sugar, lemon, and silan. Bring to boil and then reduce heat to a simmer
Cook for 45 minutes until almost liquid has almost completely reduced

Ravioli (altnernatively, you can buy ready made Ravioli at the store)

While the sauce is reducing prepare the pasta dough. There are hundreds of ways to make pasta dough, and I by no means know which is the "best". Here's a link to a good recipe if you don't have your own favorite way.

To make the filling for the raviolis, mince the red onion, and mix in a bowl with the ground lamb, salt and pepper. Saute until the lamb is cooked. Review the ravioli recipe link on how to prepare the raviolis once you have made the dough and the filling. Cook the raviolis for 3-4 minutes and place aside.

Putting it all together

Take the raviolis and lay them in the sauce once it has almost completely reduced and cook for another three minutes.

Lay the raviolis on a serving plate and pour the sauce on top. Enjoy and Shana Tova!

Finished school and modern Israeli Ravioli