For Pineapple Collaborative’s Atara Bernstein, Mandel Bread and Meatballs Are an Essential Part of Tradition

Shared by Atara Bernstein 
Recipe Roots: Memphis > Baltimore > Jersey City, NJ > Goshen, NY 

“We used to joke that we felt like werewolves,” Atara Bernstein says about growing up in an Orthodox home in Baltimore. “It was kind of like living this double life,” split between the religious and secular worlds. At the end of the day, when her father walked in the door, he would put on his kippah.  

Shabbat was “really where our story and heritage came out,” Atara explains. On Wednesdays, her mother Dina embarked on a three-day extravaganza of cooking and freezing for the meals ahead. “I love the fact that every single weekend my family would basically prepare a Thanksgiving meal and then some,” she adds. 

If they were hosting guests, Dina would make seven or eight different dishes like chicken soup, cholent, brisket, and other classics of the Ashkenazi culinary canon including mandel bread (or mandelbrot) which they ate for Saturday breakfast. A staple of the lineup was meatballs, studded with sauteed onions, simmered in marinara sauce, and served with challah. 

Atara’s grandmother, Frances Seiger, in Brooklyn, 1947.

No one is sure where the recipe originated, but it was a signature of Dina’s mother Frances, a first generation American whose family came from Poland around 1920. She made the meatballs every week for what she called forshpayz, meaning appetizers in Yiddish. “Shabbat will always be associated with the commingled smell of cooking meatballs and chicken soup,” Dina explains. She still remembers her mother teaching the recipe to her high school home economics class. Atara learned it — and how to cook generally — by watching her mother prepare for Shabbat every week. 

Today, Atara lives in a more secular home in the Hudson Valley, but she still hosts Shabbat dinners on some Fridays. “Now that I’m in my early 30s, I’m definitely seeking more spiritual connection, more rituals,” she says. As the co-founder of the Pineapple Collaborative, which sells artisanal products and hosts food-focused events, her Shabbat cooking style is quite different from her mom’s. Atara prefers to balance provisions and bottles of wine she sources from her favorite local purveyors with two to three homemade dishes like the family meatballs and mandel bread, which she now makes with Pineapple’s olive oil and sea salt for a sweet and savory finish. 

Reflecting on Shabbat, she adds: “Friday night for me has a special place in my heart…. There’s just something so festive about Shabbat candles flickering.” 

Meatballs with Tomato Sauce

Makes: 4-6 servings
Total Time: 1 hour and 20 minutes

Ingredients
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 yellow onion, finely chopped
2 tablespoons ketchup, divided
24 ounces canned tomato puree
1 ½ teaspoons salt, divided
¼ teaspoon pepper, divided
1 pound ground beef
1 teaspoon onion powder
½ teaspoon garlic powder
¾ cup breadcrumbs
1 egg, lightly beaten

Preparation
1. Prepare the sauce: Place the olive oil into a wide pot over medium heat. Saute the onion for 3 to 5 minutes, until softened and translucent. Add 1 tablespoon of the ketchup into the pot, stir and cook for another two minutes. Pour in the tomato puree, 1 teaspoon salt, ⅛ t pepper, and 1 cup of water and bring to a boil over medium high heat. Reduce the heat to low and continue cooking the sauce on a gentle simmer for about 10 minutes.

2. Make the meatballs: Add the beef, 1 tablespoon of ketchup, onion powder, garlic powder, ½ teaspoon salt, ¼ teaspoon pepper, breadcrumbs and egg into a large bowl. Mix until all the ingredients are well combined and smooth. 

3. Take about 2 tablespoons of the meatball mixture and roll it into a ball. Gently drop the meatball into the simmering tomato sauce. Repeat shaping and dropping the rest of the meatballs into the tomato sauce. Place a lid on the pot and simmer the meatballs and tomato sauce for about 30 minutes until the meatballs have cooked through.

4. Remove the lid and continue simmering the mixture for about 15 minutes, until the sauce has thickened.

5. Serve the meatballs and tomato sauce hot with challah.

Chocolate Chip Mandel Bread

Makes: 40 cookies
Total time: 1 hour and 10 minutes

Ingredients
3 cups all purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon kosher salt 
1 cup sugar
⅔ cup olive oil
4 eggs 
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 ½ cups raw walnuts, chopped into small pieces
1 ½ cups semisweet chocolate chips 

Preparation
1. Preheat the oven to 300°F and line two sheet trays with parchment paper.

2. Add the flour, baking powder and salt into a medium bowl. Whisk the ingredients to combine. Set aside.

3. Place the sugar and oil into a stand mixer with a paddle attachment. Mix on low speed until completely incorporated, about 2 minutes. While the mixer is still on a low speed, pour in the vanilla extract and add in the eggs one at a time. Stop the mixer and add one third of the flour mixture. Mix on low until just combined and repeat adding the remaining two thirds of the flour mixture until a cookie dough is formed, about 2 minutes. Add the walnuts and chocolate chips into the cookie dough and mix on low for another minute. 

4. Turn the dough onto a clean surface and divide it into 4 equal pieces. Place 2 pieces of the dough on each baking sheet. Shape each piece of dough into a 1 inch-thick flat log that is 4 inches wide and 12 inches long. Cover each sheet tray and refrigerate for 20 minutes.

5. Bake the mandel bread for 25 to 30 minutes or until golden brown. Transfer the mandel bread from the oven and let it cool for 10 minutes or until it’s cool enough to handle. Gently transfer the mandel bread logs onto a cutting board and slice each log crosswise and diagonally into 1 inch-thick pieces. Place the cookies face down on the sheet trays and continue baking for another 10 minutes or until the mandel bread is golden brown.

6. Let the mandel bread cool and serve at room temperature.