A Shavuot Feast Marks the Start of Summer for This Family

Shared by Yonit Naftali
Recipe Roots: Oradea, Transylvania (Romania) > Nahariya > Jerusalem > Tel Aviv

When food writer Yonit Naftali was a little girl living in the Jerusalem neighborhood of Pizgat Ze’ev, the start of summer was marked with the arrival of Shavuot, a harvest holiday that commemorates the giving of the Torah at Mount Sinai. Her family would gather at her maternal grandparents’ home in Nahariya on Israel’s coastline for a meal of sweets starting with cherry soup, moving on to blintzes (or blinches as the family refers to them), and finishing with semolina and cheese dumplings dipped into wells of cocoa powder and sugar. 

“This was how you knew the real summer begins,” Yonit explains.

The dishes served during this start of summer feast trace back to the family’s roots in Transylvania, to a town called Oradea, which was formerly part of Hungary and is now located within Romania, where the family lived before and after World War II. “After the Holocaust we had nothing. There was nothing left, no one left. And, the only thing my grandma [Paula] remembered accurately is the recipes,” Yonit told us when she shared her family’s Purim sweets with us earlier this year. 

Those recipes and memories came with the family to Israel in the 1960s and were handed down both orally and in written notes. Many of them are for baked goods like yeast doughnuts with brandy for Hanukkah, and a torte made with nuts and layered with chocolate ganache at Passover. All have remained unchanged, made today as they were generations ago. 

As Yonit grew older, her mother Eva became a keeper of the recipes. On Shavuot, she prepared the cherry soup, blintzes, and semolina dumplings for Shavuot, hosting a special lunchtime meal during the holiday on her Jerusalem balcony. Afterwards, Yonit remembers she would join in a city tradition called Yom Hamayim, or “water day,” a day where Israel’s strict water conservation is suspended and as she explains, “everyone throws water on each other.” It was a day with no rules and lots of joy. 

The Shavuot traditions in Yonit’s family are also how she found her way to a career as a food writer. When she was 23 and studying to become a philosophy professor, she applied for a position as a food writer at Mako, a large Israeli newsite. Here, she was given a copy test as part of the interview. She wrote about her family’s Shavuot traditions. “This is how my career as a food writer was launched… this became my new dream, which I still do.”  

Still, when it comes to holiday cooking, she defers to Eva, who continues to host the family, explaining: “My mother is still the minister of all celebration.” 

Cherry Soup

Makes: 4 servings
Total time: 45 minutes

Ingredients
4 cups fresh sour cherries, pitted
4 tablespoons sugar 
5 ½ cups water
½ cup heavy cream
3 tablespoons flour 

Preparation
1. Place the cherries in a pot. Add the sugar and cook over low heat for about 5 minutes while constantly stirring until the sugar is dissolved.

2. Add the water and increase the heat to high. Bring the mixture to a boil and reduce to medium heat. Cook for about 10 to 15 minutes over a simmer until the cherries are tender and the liquid has taken on the cherries’ color.

3. In a medium bowl mix the flour with  7 tablespoons of cream until you get a creamy smooth mixture (with no lumps). Add the rest of the cream into the bowl while stirring until combined well and smooth. Pour 1 ladle full of the cherry soup into the cream and flour mixture and stir until combined well. Add the cream and cherry soup mixture back into the pot. Stir and increase the heat to high. Bring the soup back to a boil and reduce the heat to medium or a simmer. Continue cooking uncovered for 10 to 15 more minutes while stirring constantly until the soup thickens and coats the back of a spoon.

4. Serve at room temperature or chilled.

Semolina and Cheese Dumplings

Makes: about 12 balls 
Total Time: 1 hour active + 2 hours inactive

Ingredients
For the dumplings:
2 eggs
1 pound unsalted farmers cheese (also called Tvorog) or ricotta, strained
4 tablespoons sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
½ cup semolina
1 teaspoon lemon zest 
¼ teaspoon salt

For the breadcrumbs:
4 tablespoons butter
8 tablespoons breadcrumbs 
1 tablespoon sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

For the garnish:
Sour cream
Cocoa powder

Preparation
1. Beat the eggs in a large bowl and add the cheese, 4 tablespoons sugar, 1 teaspoon vanilla extract, semolina and lemon zest into the eggs. Mix well with a fork or whisk until combined into a batter. Seal the bowl with plastic wrap and refrigerate for at least 2 hours until the batter has thickened.

2. Fill up a large pot with water and add ¼ teaspoon of salt. Place the pot over high heat and bring to a boil. Once the water is boiling make the dumplings. Transfer the dumpling mixture out of the refrigerator. Take about 1 ½ tablespoons of the mixture and roll it into a ball in between your palms. Gently place the ball into the boiling water. Continue shaping and adding about 4 more balls into the boiling water. Cook the balls until they rise to the surface. Cover the pot with a lid, reduce the heat to medium and continue cooking for another 6 to 8 minutes. Repeat the shaping cooking and draining of the dumplings with the remaining dumpling mixture in batches of about 4 dumplings at a time.

3. In the meanwhile, make the bread crumbs: Place the butter in a skillet over medium heat. Melt the butter, about 2 minutes. Add the breadcrumbs and constantly stir for about 6 to 8 minutes or until they become a deep golden brown. Transfer the breadcrumbs to a wide bowl. Add 1 tablespoon of sugar and 1 teaspoon of vanilla extract. Mix until combined well.

4. Roll each cooked dumpling in the breadcrumb and sugar mixture until coated completely. Serve with a dusting of cocoa powder and a dollop of sour cream.