“Post-modern gefilte fish”: David Poran, culinary director of Balducci’s, uses tilapia instead of carp to lighten the classic Rosh HaShanah dish.

‘In the seventh month,” Leviticus instructs us about the Jewish New Year, “you shall observe complete rest, a sacred occasion commemorated with loud blasts.”

Complete rest? On Rosh HaShanah? When there’s a handful of hungry people expecting the offerings on the table to remain faithful to family traditions while at the same time daring to explore new ideas, new flavors?

This, at least, may explain the loud blasts, especially when different generations and different culinary sensibilities collide.

Take, for example, Rosh HaShanah of 1997, an event still referred to in Noshing’s immediate family as “Black September.” Adamant to earn his place in the family’s gastronomic Hall of Fame, Noshing insisted on wrestling control over much of the festive meal, assuring concerned mothers, fathers and bubbies that all would be well. Then he — dweller of sushi bars, nibbler of nouvelle cuisine, adherent of all manners of experimental cookbooks — took the kitchen by storm, insisting that his family spend the day elsewhere. The meal, he said, would be a surprise.

And a surprise it was.

It is nearly impossible, this being a wholesome family paper, to describe the look on Noshing’s grandmother’s face when she saw her beloved gefilte fish served on a bed of seaweed with wasabi and ginger. And the chocolate-and-cardamom- glazed brisket elicited such a cry of agony from Noshing’s mother that she resembled, for one moment, the anguished Abraham, tormented by having to sacrifice his only child to the Lord. One, however, suspects, that if Isaac had made such a displeasing dish, his father might have been a bit less burdened by the whole binding business.

The lessons of that evening were well learned: A family meal, just like a family, is a delicate thing, a concerto of contradictions that must, somehow, be made harmonious. A meal, therefore, must not only be tasty, but also considerate.

To crack the code of culinary civility, Noshing enlisted the help of two radically different cooks, each representing a different generation, each struggling to balance tradition and innovation.

First up is David Poran, the culinary director of the upscale retailer Balducci’s Food Lover’s Market. Having served everywhere from New York’s glitzy restaurant Daniel to the National Football League’s headquarters, where he was the executive chef, Poran’s new position puts him in a perfect place to ponder family meals. And ponder he did, going all the way back to his own childhood in New York.

“I spent my holidays at my de-facto aunt’s house in Forest Hills, Queens,” he said. “And while the food was always tasty, it seemed a bit heavy and muddled. I wanted to be able to bring all the traditional flavors of the Eastern European Jewish tradition to the modern table. I tried to brighten and lighten many dishes while still keeping tradition intact.”

Enter noodle kugel with cranberries and apples or a beet salad with goat cheese and walnuts. But, more than anything, Poran’s greatest holiday-related achievement may be the gefilte fish.

The most traditional of the holiday’s dishes, it is also one of the more notoriously difficult ones to make. Balancing the ratio of fish with matzah meal, getting flavor and consistency right, all those have weighed down on many a Jewish cook. It did on Poran, too, so he began to think outside the pond, coming up with what he called his “post-modern gefilte fish.”

“The gefilte fish is made in the most traditional way,” he said, “but it utilizes tilapia, which lacks the almost muddy flavor I feel in the carp and pike that was so often used out of necessity, but still keeps true by being a freshwater fish. I truly believe this menu will satisfy the traditionalist as well as the more adventurous eater during this joyous holiday.”

Here, then, is Poran’s creation, as simple to make as it is delicious:

Post-modern Gefilte Fish with Tilapia

Ingredients:

• 2 lbs tilapia fillet ground
• 1 cup grated onion
• 3 eggs beaten
• 3 oz matzah meal
• Salt and black pepper to taste
• Fish stock to poach

Preparation:

Combine all ingredients except fish stock. Let fish mixture rest for an hour, and then form into three-ounce balls or ovals. Poach gently in fish stock for about five minutes, or until the internal temperature is 165F. Cool down. If desired, thicken fish stock with gelatin.

And so, with the younger generation trying to respect tradition and reinvent it at the same time, Noshing consulted with some seasoned veterans, cooks of great merit but of a different sort: the “As You Like It Kosher Catering Service,” probably the nation’s first all-volunteer, not-for-profit catering service. Established more than 30 years ago in Congregation Agudat Achim in upstate Niskayuna, N.Y., this thriving business utilizes the greatest resource a Jewish community has — its cooks — to raise money for the congregation’s various educational programs. Earlier this year, the service collected more than 400 recipes and bound them in a book titled “Divine Kosher Cuisine Cookbook.”

Risé Routenberg, the book’s co-author, chuckled when presented with the question of cross-generational compatibility at the dinner table. When one runs a community-wide catering service, such things, perhaps, are second nature. She offered a tried-and-true dessert suggestion, the apple-honey pizza, incorporating the holiday’s best-known edibles into a food form, the pizza pie, no kid can resist.

“It’s a convenience food,” she said. “You don’t have to make your own crust. It’s a great-looking dessert, and it takes a fraction of the time other desserts do. It’s a real crowd-pleaser, a real lovely idea.”

And where — this being a communal effort — did the idea come from?

“The Hebrew school,” Routenberg said. “Years ago, the Hebrew school made it. It was a great success, and it became part of our collection.” In other words, the dish is already kid-tested and approved.

Here then, sweetly capping off a delicious meal, is a captivating dessert:

Apple-Honey Dessert Pizza

Ingredients:

• 9-inch unbaked pie shell
• Flour for dusting
• 1/4 cup honey
• 1 cup applesauce
• 2 medium apples, peeled and thinly sliced
• 1/3 cup ground nuts
• 1/4 cup raisins
• 1/4 cup sugar
• 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon

Preparation:

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Grease cookie sheet or pizza pan. Remove pie crust from foil pan, dust lightly with flour and roll into 12-inch circle directly on sheet or pan. Crimp edge of dough to form rim, prick with fork and brush with honey. Cover with applesauce to rim. Top with apple slice in concentric circles. Sprinkle with nuts and raisins. Combine sugar and cinnamon and sprinkle on top. Bake 20 minutes or until crust is firm and golden brown. Cut into wedges. Add chocolate mini-chips, nuts or finely chopped maraschino cherries to garnish.

For more recipes from the Divine Kosher team, visit www.divinekosher.com, or call (518) 344-1190.

Have a sweet, peaceful New Year!