Across from the ancient Agora in Athens is a line of outdoor restaurants with stunning views of the Parthenon. At one, called To Kouti, meaning “The Box,” are served the…
Kolokuthokeftedes (Zucchini Fritters)
About the Author
Joan Nathan is the author of 11 cookbooks including her newest, King Solomon’s Table: A Culinary Exploration of Jewish Cooking from Around the World (Knopf). Her previous cookbook, Quiches, Kugels and Couscous: My Search for Jewish Cooking in France (Knopf), was named one of the 10 best cookbooks of 2010 by NPR, Food and Wine and Bon Appétit magazines. She is a regular contributor to the New York Times and Tablet Magazine. She has won James Beard Awards and IACP Awards and was named Grande Dame by Les Dames d’Escoffier in 2015.
Slightly Sweet and Sour Cabbage
This recipe comes from Sara Yaech, a woman whom I met on a trip to Havana the week before Barack Obama visited Cuba. Descended on her father’s side from Turkish…
Libyan Saefra, King Solomon’s Cake
Many families in Libya used to squeeze oranges and bottle the juice to be used all year round. According to Claudia Roden, in her magnificent Book of Jewish Food, using…
Horseradish and Beet Sauce
Jews serve horseradish, sliced as a root or ground into a sauce, at Passover to symbolize the bitterness of slavery. It was in Ashkenaz, what is now Alsace-Lorraine and southern…
Salmon Gefilte Fish Mold with Horseradish and Beet Sauce
Although gefilte innovation like the first jarred fish and the frozen loaves are taking over now, I still, as with many things, prefer the taste of homemade that I make…
Fennel Salad with Celery, Cucumber, Lemon and Pomegranate
The seeds of cultivated fennel, like eggplant, are said to have been brought to France by Jews and other merchants. Of course, wild fennel grows everywhere in the south of…
Arkansas Pear Haroset
This recipe is adapted from Michael Selig of Little Rock, Arkansas. Bill Yosses, the White House pastry chef at the time, and I prepared it together and served it at…
How To Put a Syrian Spin on Your Chanukah Feast
This Syrian sweet-and-sour keftes recipe has been handed down in the family of Melanie Franco Nussdorf, who loves to cook the dishes of her ancestors who came to New York from Aleppo five generations ago.
Passover Almond Macaroons
In Jewish homes in France and all around the world, recipes for macaroons have been handed down from mother to daughter for centuries. Jewish macaroons are descended from the Ladino…
My Favorite Brisket
Gedempte Fleysch—”well stewed”—that’s how Eastern European Jews prefer their meat. Slow cooking, of course, became a practical necessity with grainy cuts of forequarter meat. Because a brisket stretched into many…
