Gluten-Free Jewish Holidays: Kugel, Pious Chicken, Roasted Vegetables & Atonement

Someone needs to turn on the lights

Happy 5773, everybody!  Or rather, the Jewish of us. Rosh Hoshanah is ON, and Yom Kippur is coming up next week. And you know what? You gotta’ eat. At least that’s my understanding as someone who married in, rather than was raised in, the Jewish tradition. Also, I’m pretty sure I’m supposed to be atoning all the time. It can’t hurt, right?

So while you’re righting the wrongs of the previous year, why not enjoy some delicious coconut oil roasted chicken? Perhaps with a side of roasted vegetables, butternut squash salad, and kugel? Why not, indeed.

Since I’m all up in a book deadline right now, I decided to mine my own damn blog for some delicious gluten-free holiday options so the only new recipe I have to offer is a roasted chicken. I know! I’m so lame. However, if you click around you can rediscover the lovely butternut squash salad I made for Thanksgiving last year, and the sweet kugel for Hanukkah. Also, do this thing with the apple where you core it 3/4 of the way down, but not all the way, and fill it up with honey. That’s gonna’ give you a sweet new year, peoples.

I feel I’m roasting vegetables and a chicken every week, but I decided to use coconut oil rather than a butter rub this time and I got a super crispy chicken skin, while staying moist on the inside. Also it’s kind of Paleo, which is on my mind, if not totally on my plate. So here’s how to do that.

Gluten-Free Kugel & Brisket When You’re Allergic to Hanukkah

Hanukkah, Chanukah, the Festival of Lights, the “other” Christmas. Whatever you celebrate, if you’ve got an issue with gluten, you’ve got an issue with Hanukkah. Those delicious Jewish foods just loooove flour as an ingredient, so the celiac in league with Judah Maccabee has got to get creative.

Part one of my foray into the gluten-free Hanukkah goodness found me preparing a gluten-free kugel (sweet, of course) and a gluten-free brisket for an unsuspecting crowd of friends. Most of them weren’t even Jewish, but hey! What better mixed religious group to test out my gluten-free Hanukkah recipes than people who have never even had kugel before? (Tony, I’m looking at you.) Don’t they seem happy, and well-fed?

The wine helps.

Which is my first piece of advice to you, if you’re preparing a gluten-free holiday meal. Serve lots of booze and no one will notice if there’s a weird xanthan gum after taste. Hell, they won’t even notice if you’re serving kosher meat or not. Suckas.

Kugel is actually super easy to make gluten-free if you just get a fantastic gluten-free pasta. The people at Swanson’s (not the turkey pot pie people, darn it) let me shop in their amazing online food stuffs store where you can browse by diet, and I came away with this gorgeous gluten-free pasta made by Casalare. Don’t they look totally normal?

These macaroni twists may not be the traditional egg noodle, but they made for an excellent kugel. Right, Tony?

This is where I mention I also made a brisket using 6 onions. SIX! I just swapped in my favorite gluten-free all-purpose flour for the browning of the meat and voila, gluten-free brisket. I skipped the garlic in this recipe because one of my friends who came over has a garlic allergy. Yeah, puts your little wheat thing in perspective, doesn’t it? Garlic allergy. How much would that suck? A lot.

But as you saw in the photo above, no one missed the gluten, nor the garlic. I did, however, have to break down and buy a traditional challah. I just don’t have the patience to make gluten-free challah anymore. But feel free to skip that as well, for your Hanukkah celebration. Serve more wine instead.

Here’s how you can g-free your Hanukkah. Stay tuned for gluten-free latkes!