International Shabbat Cooking

What am I going to cook for Shabbat?

It started to seem like every week, I prepared the same thing. Then it was confirmed when one week, we invited some friends and one of their kids said, "I know what we are having, chicken and potatoes. We always have chicken and potatoes at your house."

So a few months ago, I decided that each Shabbat we would try food from a different country. The first week we ate Japanese food. It was pretty easy to do since we had already taken on the custom of eating sushi before our chicken soup. After that I think we tried Italian, then Chinese, and then Mexican foods. The week we tried Mexican food, I started to think that it would be interesting to learn about Jewish life in the Mexico. At Friday night dinner we ate "Picadillo" and learned that there have been Jews in Mexico since Cortes conquered the Aztecs.

I thought the blog would be a great way to keep track of the recipes and maybe it will be useful for others who have the same "what to make for Shabbat" problem.

I always cook simply. That means I only shop once a week and at one supermarket. I don't have time to go from store to store looking for specialty items.

And I cook everything Thursday night. I work full time and it takes me most of the day Friday to clean the house. If I start cooking Friday morning nothing gets done.
I usually prepare food for at least 12. We are 8 when everyone is home, which does not happen too often anymore. We almost always have guests, either friends from our moshav or kids who are learning in Israel for the year or both.

I also use what we have in season on our meshek. Right now it is asparagus and artichoke season.
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