On Christmas Eve, I will be serving tzimmes as a side dish to accompany a smoked ham. The sweet, salty and smoky flavors go so well together, it’s sure to become a new favorite for you. Tzimmes is a Yiddish dish and is typically part of the Rosh Hashanah meal. There are many variations of this sweet dish most of which include carrots and dried fruit. I have researched different variations of recipes and adapted it to flavors of my liking. But I can tell you that this dish is so satisfying and delicious that no excuse of a holiday is needed to serve at your next gathering. It’s so easy to prepare that you place everything in a crock pot and walk away.

6 large carrots, peeled and sliced into 1/4″ rounds
1 medium onion, medium chop
2 sweet potatoes, peeled and sliced into 1/4″ rounds
1 1/2 cups of dried fruit combined (prunes, apples and apricots)
2 1/2 cups orange juice
3/4 cup packed brown sugar
2 teaspoons of ground cinnamon
1/8 teaspoon of freshly ground nutmeg
Pinch of salt
1/4-1/2 cup water if needed *see below

Place the carrots, onion, sweet potatoes and dried fruit into the crock pot. In a separate bowl, combine the orange juice, brown sugar, cinnamon, nutmeg and salt and mix thoroughly. Pour the liquid into the crock pot and mix well. Depending on how much liquid is in the crock pot, you may need to add some water or orange juice to just cover the mixture. Put your crock pot on high temperature for 4 hours. Serves 6-8 people.