How do you come up with your menu for the high holidays? Do you use your grandmother’s recipes? Or is it all new, from the latest cookbook? Do you come up with a themed menu?

For some people, the holidays are all about the familiar, traditional family dishes (“Tradition! Tradition!”). Certainly, the Rosh Hashanah or Yom Kippur meals are not just about the food, but also about the meaning and the memories they evoke. But the New Year also offers a special chance to try something new.

In particular, the fact that the Jewish and Gregorian calendars do not align precisely reminds us of a period of change, a time for variety and novelty. Last year, Rosh Hashanah fell at the end of August, when the markets were still bursting with peaches, tomatoes and corn. Maybe you started your pre-fast meal with watermelon gazpacho.

This year, it comes at a time slightly more familiar to us, the end of September, when fall’s apples and squashes will already be making an appearance. Even if Mom’s brisket is a holiday fixture, maybe you’ll accompany it with a new recipe, like oven-roasted acorn squash with tahini dressing, pistachios and pomegranate from DGS Delicatessen’s Nick Wiseman.

Whether you follow the (farmers) markets or not, food is a good place to try something new—it’s low commitment and forgiving, and someone is guaranteed to like it (and here’s a secret: in the case of these recipes, we’ve already given them our seal of deliciousness).

So savor the new year with Mike Friedman’s braised brisket-style short ribs and Barry Koslow’s gefilte fish with preserved lemon and beet chrain, or break the fast with Ruth Gresser’s smoked salmon pizza and Carla Hall’s challah bread pudding with apples and rosemary honey. We’d venture to say that easing your way into a new year and new things has never been so delicious. L’shanah tovah from the Jewish Food Experience!

Local Foodies’ Top 10 Recipes for the High Holidays

	Golden Tilefish Gefilte Fish with Preserved Lemon and Beet Chrain Barry Koslow Chef, Pinea
	Whitefish Salad on Toasted Bagel with Havarti Cheese Todd Gray and Ellen Kassoff Gray Co-owners, Equinox Restaurant, and co-authors, The New Jewish Table
	Braised Brisket-Style Short Ribs Mike Friedman Chef and co-owner, The Red Hen
	Tomato and Basil Quiche Aviva Goldfarb Author, family food expert and blogger, The Six O-Clock Scramble
	Smoked Salmon Pizza Ruth Gresser Chef and owner, Pizzeria Paradiso
	Roasted Acorn Squash with Tahini, Pistachios and Pomegranate Nick Wiseman Co-owner, DGS Delicatessen
	Honeyed Fruit Compote Susan Barocas Filmmaker and Advisory Council member, Jewish Food Experience
	Pizza Ebraica Paula Shoyer Pastry chef and author, The Kosher Baker and The Holiday Kosher Baker
	Date Honey Cake Vered Guttman Food columnist, Haaretz.com, and caterer, Cardamom & Mint
	Challah Bread Pudding with Apples and Rosemary Honey Carla Hall Chef and owner, Carla Hall Petite Cookies