08 Aug
2011 May-June, Arts & Culture

Halvah Filo Cheesecake

Courtesy of A Treasury of Jewish Holiday Baking by Marcy Goldman Makes 14 to 16 servings Filo crust  2 filo pastry leaves 1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, melted Filling 4 eggs plus 1 egg yolk 1 and 1/2 pounds cream cheese, at room temperature 1 teaspoon vanilla extract 1/4 cup honey 1/2 teaspoon sesame seed oil 1/4 cup sugar 2 tablespoons plain yogurt 1/4 cup flour 3/4 cup coarsely chopped vanilla halvah 1/3 cup coarsely chopped pistachio nuts (optional) Topping 2–3 tablespoons honey 1/4 cup lightly toasted sesame seeds 1/2 cup ground or finely chopped pistachio nuts Preheat the oven to 350°F. Use a 9- or 10-inch springform pan Filo crust: Spread one sheet of filo lightly with melted butter. Line the pan with the filo, allowing the excess to overhang. Repeat this process with another four leaves of filo, pressing each one into the pan, starting at the center and allowing the excess to drape over the sides....

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08 Aug
2011 May-June, Arts & Culture, Talk of the Table

Open Sesame: The History of Halvah

by Nevin Martell The first time I tasted halvah was on Manhattan’s Lower East Side after a long night on the town. I wandered into a corner deli offering hundreds of potential dessert options, but I was drawn to a marbled halvah bar for sale at the counter. The turbaned, mustachioed sultan on the package beckoned me toward one last magic carpet ride for the evening. I couldn’t resist. The first bite was an intoxicating mix of sesame, vanilla and chocolate with an initially crumbly texture that smoothed into a slight chalkiness that wasn’t unappealing. In contrast to the Snickers and Butterfingers I could have been eating, it wasn’t too sugary. I finished the bar before I made it outside and have been a fan ever since. Derived from the Arabic word halwa,...

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04 Jan
2011 May-June, Arts & Culture

A Jewish Time Capsule

Five years ago, I got the thrill of a lifetime when, as a collections manager for the Arthur M. Sackler Gallery in Washington, DC, I placed a 10th-century parchment fragment into a display case for a Bible exhibition. This fragile fragment was a palimpsest, a layered text on which an earlier writing had been replaced by a later one. The first was a sixth-century copy of a Greek translation of a section of the Book of Kings by the famed second-century writer Aquila. The later text was a 10th-century copy of a liturgical poem fragment by the seventh-century Palestinian Jewish poet Yannai, a precursor to the poets of the later Golden Age in Spain. The fragment was found in the famed Cairo Geniza, a repository of sacred texts, and is just one piece in a collection...

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