Tzimmes

As a little girl, I remember being fascinated by the word Tzimmes (pronounced tzim-mess). My parents only used Yiddish words on occasion, so it felt entirely mysterious to me. Little did I know it meant "a big fuss."

And the thing is, tzimmes is a bit of a fuss to make (though far from the biggest). There’s some chopping, boiling, peeling, mixing, baking and general potchkying around in the kitchen involved in its preparation.

This traditional Ashkenazi side dish is a casserole-stew hybrid that's simple and hearty. The root veggies are cozy and filling, and the sweet additions help balance out the flavors of the rest of the Passover meal.

According to my mom, tzimmes was brought over from the shtetls in Russia, where our ancestors used whatever vegetables they had on hand (some recipes even include beef). My mother's mother and grandmother made it every Passover, but also for Rosh Hashanah.

Sure, the recipe has morphed a bit over the years, making use of such modern conveniences as canned pineapple, but the consistency of this now-standard family recipe is quite comforting each year at our Seder gathering.