food & dining
Vegetarian Dinners
W ith the festive, celebratory meals
enjoyed throughout the High
Holidays, interspersing with a vegetar-
ian repast can be just what the doctor
ordered. The following dishes are not super-
light, but they are meat-free and provide
a good counterpoint to the richness of
brisket, matzah ball soup, apple cake …
you get the picture.

The first dish was inspired by eggplant
Parmesan, which I love but find labo-
rious to make and on the heavy side. I
eliminated the breading and frying step,
skipped the layer of mozzarella cheese
and stuffed the eggplant with toma-
to-braised veggies rather than layering
the slices. I served it atop pasta laced with
the surplus veggie mixture, but you could
skip that if carbs are a concern.

The second dish was an attempt to use
leftover rice. Because the fritters are, by
definition, fried, this would not be on
32 the low-fat, low-cal list, but they can be a
vehicle for shredded veggies, fresh herbs
or yogurt — or served solo. They would
also be nice accompanied by a green
salad to round out a meal.

Stuffed Eggplant
Serves 4
This can easily be made pareve/
vegan with the elimination of the
Parmesan cheese. If a bit of addi-
tional crunch or seasoning is desired
for the topping, you can add sea-
soned bread crumbs or panko.

1 large eggplant
3 tablespoons olive oil
1 onion, chopped
½ of a large zucchini, grated
4 cloves garlic, crushed
1 tablespoon fresh oregano or
1 teaspoon dried
1 13-ounce box or can diced
tomatoes SEPTEMBER 22, 2022 | JEWISHEXPONENT.COM
¼ cup broth or water, as needed
Salt and pepper to taste
Parmesan cheese to taste
¾ pound fettuccine or other pasta
Fresh basil for garnish
Remove the stem, and cut the
eggplant in half vertically. You want
to remove most of the “flesh” of the
eggplant, leaving a shell for stuffing,
so you will cut a line around each
side, about ½ inch from the skin. Be
sure not to puncture the bottom.

Using a spoon (a grapefruit spoon
with serrated edges is perfect here,
but any spoon will do), scoop the
flesh out of each half, chop it into
pieces and place it in a colander.

Sprinkle the eggplant halves and the
cut pieces generously with salt, and
let it sit for 30 minutes.

Heat your oven to 350 degrees F.

Rinse the eggplant, and pat it dry.

Brush the insides of the eggplant
halves with oil, place them in a bak-
ing dish and bake them for about 40
minutes until cooked through and
completely soft.

While the eggplant cooks, make
the filling.

In a large skillet, heat the remain-
ing oil and sauté the onion and gar-
lic until fragrant. Add the eggplant,
grated zucchini, salt, pepper and
oregano. Sauté until the vegetables
are partially cooked, about 8 min-
utes. Add the crushed tomatoes, and
stir. Lower the heat, and simmer.

If the mixture becomes too dry
and begins to burn, add the broth
or water. Simmer for the time the
eggplant bakes, until all the vegeta-
bles are soft and melded. The mix-
ture should resemble thick, chunky
salsa in texture. Taste for seasoning,
and add additional salt, pepper and
oregano, if needed.

When the eggplant shells are
done, remove them from the oven
and spoon the tomato mixture into
each shell, leaving about 1½ cups in
the skillet to top the pasta. Top with
Parmesan cheese as desired.

Place the stuffed eggplant back
into the oven for about 10 minutes.

While the stuffed eggplant finishes
baking, cook the pasta to al dente
(1 minute less than the box directs).

Drain the pasta, toss it with the
remaining tomato mixture and place
the stuffed eggplants on top of the
pasta. Top it with chopped basil
and additional Parmesan cheese, if
desired. Rice Fritters
Make 8 fritters
This is a great way to use leftover
rice. They are so delicious that, in the
future, despite my general dislike of
leftovers, I may make extra rice to
have an excuse to make these.

I used grated zucchini because
I had it on hand, but any grated
veggie such as carrots, eggplant,
potatoes, cauliflower, broccoli or
cabbage would work fine.

2 cups cooked rice
1 egg
2 tablespoons flour
¼ cup chopped onion
1 clove garlic, crushed
1 carrot, grated
½ cup grated zucchini
Salt and pepper to taste
Canola oil for frying
In a medium bowl, mix all the
ingredients. In a large skillet, heat a thin coat-
ing of oil over medium heat.

With wet hands, form the rice mix-
ture into patties, using about a third
of a cup for each, and carefully place
them in the hot pan. The patties are
prone to falling apart, so it is best to
minimize flipping to one time each.

Let each patty cook for about 4
minutes per side and carefully flip
them — using two spatulas can help
them hold together. They should be
golden brown and lightly crisped.

Serve alone or topped with your
favorite sauce, as a side dish or with
a salad. JE
Photo by Keri White
KERI WHITE | SPECIAL TO THE JE



arts & culture
Theater Maven to Bring Mentor
Al Hirschfeld Back to Life
JON MARKS | SPECIAL TO THE JE
Courtesy of David Leopold
D avid Leopold has a simple explana-
tion for the unexpected way his life
has played out.

Dayenu! “I’m the luckiest person you’ll ever
speak with,” said Leopold, who’ll bring his
one-man show “Hirschfeld’s Broadway”
to the Bucks County Playhouse on Sept.

28 — a site the late iconic caricaturist Al
Hirschfeld oft en visited during his remark-
able decades-long career. “As a kid who
grew up with Hirschfeld and then stud-
ied theater through Hirschfeld’s drawings,
post-college I ended up being a curator of
Hirschfeld’s museum and getting to know
him, Dayenu! I have to wake up every day
to make sure I’m not dreaming.”
It’s somehow fi tting Leopold should
provide his modern-day take on Lou
Gehrig’s “Luckiest Man on the Face of
the Earth” speech. Th at’s because before
the “Iron Horse” became a Yankee he
played on the same semi-pro baseball
team as Al Hirschfeld.

Hirschfeld came to New York from
St. Louis aft er his family recognized his
extraordinary artistic talent. Aft er start-
ing out as a sculptor, it wasn’t long before
he began drawing for a living, quickly
establishing his unique skills in putting
pen to paper.

Th at’s just part of the story Leopold,
who’s written several books and spent 13
years witnessing Hirschfeld’s genius, will
incorporate into the show, which focuses
on his mentor’s love of Broadway.

Naturally, that will include plenty of
Jewish content, with discussions ranging
from Irving Berlin to Leonard Bernstein
to Rodgers & Hammerstein and to
Barbra Streisand, among others. While
Hirschfeld was more culturally Jewish
than religious, he was an avid supporter
of Israel and even sailed on the 1953
maiden voyage of the S.S. Jerusalem with
Adlai Stevenson.

Following a short stint as a political
cartoonist, Hirschfeld began to make his
mark in the theater in 1926.

"His theater work was as much part
of the Broadway experience as opening
night,” explained Leopold, who grew up
in Harrisburg, where he went to the
yeshiva until ninth grade. He now lives
David Leopold in 2013
in Bedminster, Bucks County.

Hirschfeld was synonymous with the
theater for good reason.

“His drawings appeared almost always
the Sunday before the show opened. So
when he drew ‘Fiddler on the Roof,’ he
didn’t know if it would be a hit or a fl op.

Th at wasn’t the point of his drawings,”
Leopold said. “He was a visual journalist.

He was able to capture the essence of the
show and show you all the activity, but he
never revealed any plot.”
According to Leopold, Hirschfeld was
so skilled and popular that, at one point,
he was the ultimate freelancer, working
for three of New York’s 14 dailies then, as
well as six fi lm studios.

“He would draw the same show
sometimes and give them totally diff er-
ent treatments," said Leopold, creative
director of the nonprofi t Hirschfeld
Foundation. “Sometimes, those draw-
ings would appear on the same Sunday,
so you would see two diff erent drawings
of the same show by the same artist.”
However, there was one thing they all
had in common: the Ninas. Beginning
in 1945, hidden within each Hirschfeld
drawing in a couple of places was the
name of his daughter, Nina. Finding them
became a favorite sport of Hirschfeld
devotees, including Leopold.

”I grew up looking for Ninas in his
drawings,” said the 57-year Leopold, who
fi rst met Hirschfeld in 1989 and became
his archivist and confi dant, “and I lived
long enough to look for Ninas in his
drawings with Al Hirschfeld. I came to
realize they came out organically in his
drawings. Th ey weren’t planned.”
For Louise Kerz Hirschfeld, Al
Hirschfeld’s wife from 1996 until he died
in 2003 at 99½, seeing her late husband
celebrated is gratifying.

“He didn’t just doodle and make
little cartoons on a page,” said Louise
Hirschfeld, a historian who served as
president of the Hirschfeld Foundation
from 2004-‘15. “He actually reinvented
caricature for himself and for the
American theater, and that’s what’s so
important about his work.

“What David is doing is kind of an
interesting adjunct to try and bring some
of the stories and relationships he had
with theatrical fi gures into another form.

It’s a very creative stroke, and I’m anx-
ious to see it.”
Having the premiere in New Hope of
a show Leopold hopes will eventually
tour throughout the country factors into
the story. In July 1939, Hirschfeld was on
hand to chronicle the opening of Bucks
County Playhouse.

His event drawing evoked the ire of a
powerful woman who demanded his job
because she perceived she was portrayed
in an unfl attering way. But her eff orts
failed and, as a theater lover, Hirschfeld
returned to New Hope periodically.

Now, 19 years since his death, in a way
he’s back.

“Al Hirschfeld had a long history with
Bucks County Playhouse,” said Alexander
Fraser, the playhouse’s producing direc-
tor. “We appreciate that David Leopold,
the curator of our archives, asked us to
present the premiere here."
“Th is is someone who truly loved the
theater,” said Leopold, who’ll promote
his new book: “Th e Hirschfeld Century:
A Portrait of the Artist and His Age.”
“Part of our mission is to support the
performing arts.” JE
Jon Marks is a freelance writer.

24th Annual Induction Ceremony
SEPTEMBER 21, 2022
5:30 pm
RODEPH SHALOM
615 North Broad Street, Philadelphia, PA
Buy Tickets Today to Attend or Purchase a Congratulatory Ad
www.phillyjewishsportsevent.org questions: info@phillyjewishsports.org
JEWISHEXPONENT.COM 33