What's a menu planner to do when the parsha is filled with descriptions of post-birth blood purification, skin diseases, graphic depictions of sores and other sources of ritual impurity? It's not the most appetizing topic. Now, that's not to say that I wasn't given suggestions of all kinds of food that would ooze or burst with goop (pudding, chocolate lava cake, etc.) These are creative suggestions, but I just couldn't get behind the idea of explaining to our guests that the oozing cake was made to represent oozing flesh.
Another idea I had was based off of the offering a mother could bring as part of her post-birth purification ritual. The offering is that of a dove for the sin offering, one of two offerings she will make. So, a commentary I read made me think of the nest of the dove and then I jumped to the idea of a bird's nest noodle dish. But I felt that I was straying pretty far from the pshat (simple meaning) of the text.
So, it was back to skin ailments.
Two ideas then came to mind and that's what I'll be making this week. For the side dish, I will be making a tomato crisp (from one of my favorite cookbooks, Kosher by Design, Short on Time) that has a topping combining panko crumbs with oil and herbs to make crunchy topping. I feel this evocative of flakey, scaly skin.
The second dish I am making is a red velvet/yellow marble cake because of the descriptions of skin conditions of white streaked with red. Potentially still a little gross to consider when eating? Maybe, but I hope the deliciousness of the food makes up for it.
Kommentare