You'd think that with the longest parsha in the Torah, it would have been easy to find menu inspiration in Naso. I have to say, that was not the case for me. There's certainly interesting things in here, but I am intrigued and a bit put-off by the trial of the Sotah who has to go through an embarrassing ordeal to prove she has not been unfaithful to her husband. While this episode even mentions something consumed, I was not about to make a drink of bitter waters for my family and guests. (Though perhaps next year we'll make a Sotah Liberation Cocktail with bitters and soda.)
Then there's a lot of verses with the gifts from each tribe to the mishkan. Since everyone gives the same gift (which is a lovely message about the idea that all give the same so all have an equal share), I couldn't think of something I wanted to eat that was repetitive.
I decided to focus on the laws of the nazir, though ultimately what I would make is something specifically the nazir would NOT eat - Chicken in Red Wine Sauce.
Since the purpose of these #parshainspiredmenus is to encourage discussion, I figure that a dish that would highlight something the nazir abstains from does the trick too.
Prepping for this week to come, as we head into warm Shabbats with long days of sunlight, I wanted to have a nice lighter, but still fleshig meal for Seudah Shlishit (we are not eating Shabbat dinner at home.) While my kids almost never hear me say this, I was very excited to see complaining. In this week's parsha of Behaalotecha, the Israelites finish their time by Mount Sinai and begin to travel and basically as soon as they do, they begin to complain (it's like asking "are we there yet?" when we've just pulled out of the driveway!) They are literally being fed manna from Heaven and they are complaining about the food! They say "We remember the fish that we ate in Egypt free of charge, the cucumbers, the watermelons, the leeks, the onions, and the garlic."
While I get why the complaining got them in some hot water with God, it makes for a lovely menu
inspiration. So, this week for seudat shlishit, we'll have cucumber salad, and a fresh greens salad
with watermelon radishes, a side dish of roasted potatoes with onions, leeks, and garlic, grilled fish, and watermelon slices for dessert. Summery and parsha-y!
Comments