Jewish Flavors

Two new cookbooks are page turners
and tummy warmers.

T

ANNABEL COHEN

Special to the Jewish News

wo new kosher cookbooks
offer twists to traditional
kosher cooking.

The 30-Minute Kosher
Cook (William Morrow, $22) and
Shabbat Shalom (Little, Brown,

Even for the not-so-kosher, The 30-
Minute Kosher Cook offers recipes

from many different ethnic influences
that happen to take very little time to
prepare.
If you're confident in your abilities
and just need some ideas and changes
of pace, then this new work is great.
Like all ZiLdler's work, this new book
offers recipes that are clear, concise
and work e\ cry time. And since
Ziedler's heard it all and seen it all,
she converses with the reader and
nudges the cook along where she
thinks there might be a problem or
question.

$24.95) dish up hearty servings of
kosher foods — one in a format that
gets the cook out of the kitchen quick
and another that celebrates the weekly
holiday of Shabbat.
If you think kosher foods stop at
what's considered typical Jewish foods,
think again. And if you
think it takes hours to pre-
pare kosher dishes correctly
and deliciously, think again.
S
/L\ IL, 0
There's a new book for
the kosher-minded that shat-
.R.edivs amd
ters both misconceptions.
Judy Ziedler is host of
Judy's Kitchen, a cable cook-
ing show on the Jewish
Television Network, and
author of The Gourmet
Jewish Cook and Master Chefs
Cook Kosher, a recent compi-
lation of kosher recipes gar-
nered from nationally
reknowned chefs.
As a rule, those who fol-
low the laws of kashrut tend
to cook more than those
who don't. That's because
observant Jews can't just
walk into any restaurant or
take-out joint and pick up
something to eat. So if you're
the one stirring over the
SUSAN R. FRiEn LAND Au6.::?K
stockpot, you're repertoire
can get tedious.
So a new cookbook that
promises 130 tasty recipes
like peppered whitefish with
leek and red wine sauce and
skillet-grilled lamb chops
with mushroom sauce —
with the bonus of quick
preparation — may be just
what the chef ordered. There
are even recipes which play
off traditional favorites, like
holiday sweet potato kugel,
for instance, and holiday
Susan Friedland
menu suggestions.

H

-

10/29
1999

i\11

Her descriptive
introductions and
stories that precede
each recipe offer
hints and histories.
Helpful notes at the
end of some recipes
answer cooking and
ingredient questions
before they're asked.
If you like look-
'
at the finished
product before you
make it, you can't
here. There are no
glossy pictures of the
finished dishes.
Can you find
other recipes from other
books that offer similar
recipes that can adapted
to follow kashrut? Most
definitely. But The 30-

ri. s N

(,

• • .'
THE

Shalom can trans-

port you to other
lands and teach you
different Jewish tra-
ditions.
Friedland's writ-
ing style and menu
choices are heimish
and show the heart
that has been associ-
ated with the tradi-
tional Jewish bala-

buste.

Minute Kosher Cook

removes the guesswork.
Just as the recipes are
short and sweet, so is the
time it takes to pluck this
book off your shelf and
flip to a pasta page and
have fusilli with tuna
sauce on your table.

(:<) :4

Judy Zeidler

The most holy of all Jewish holi-
days occurs each week. It's Shabbat,
and food plays a main role in it's cele--
bration.
Amid the innumerable cookbooks
published each year, many offering
tome-like descriptions of ingredients
in their recipe names and exotic
ingredients seldom available a genera-
tion ago, a new book celebrates tradi-
tional foods that are just plain good.
Susan Friedland's Shabbat Shalom
is a quiet book with a no-nonsense
approach to cooking for the Sabbath
and most every Jewish holiday for
that matter.
Recipe names — and the recipes
themselves for that matter — don't
bombard. They describe.
Dishes like salmon with roasted
vegetables or curried meatballs don't
sway you with their fancy names. But
the recipes are knock-outs. And many
recipes are significant in that they're
either reminiscent of meals the author
has experienced or foods consumed
by Jews around the world. Recipes
such as Middle Eastern chicken,
Iranian chicken and green herb pie
and sauted spinach with currants and
pine nuts transport the soul as well as
nourish it.
So, unlike your bubbie, Shabbat

Like her other
books, The Passover
Table and The
Jewish American
Kitchen, just reading
her recipe anecdotes
and descriptions make
you feel warm all over.
The cooking's good,
too. There are simple,
traditional recipes for
things like farfel and
compote. What you see
is what you get.
Simple, authentic
ingredients with easy
instructions can make
even the novice cook a

Yiddishe mammeh.

FUSILLI WITH TUNA SAUCE
(from 30-Minute Kosher Cook)

This pasta dish was inspired by the
Italian classic vittello tonnato, which
is thin slices of veal topped with a
tuna sauce and served cold. Vitello
tonnato is not considered kosher,
since meat and fish cannot be served
together, but this lovely dish offers
much of the same flavor and is still in
keeping with kosher cooking princi-
ples.
1 6-ounce can tuna, packed in oil
4 anchovy fillets, drained
2 T. fresh lemon juice
1/2 cup extra virgin olive oil
1/4-1/2 cup vegetable stock
2 T. capers, washed and drained
1 T. minced fresh parsley
fresh ground black pepper to taste
1/2-3/4 pound fusilli (see note)
In the bowl of a food processor or
blender, combine the tuna, anchovy
fillets and lemon juice, and blend
until smooth. While the machine is
running, add the olive oil in a thin
stream and blend well. Transfer to a
bowl and gradually stir in the stock, 2
tablespoons at a time, until the sauce
is the consistency of light cream.
Mix in the capers, parsley and pep-
per. Transfer the tuna sauce to a large
nonstick skillet, and bring to a sim-