Title: Shabbat: Recipes and Rituals From My Table to Yours
By: Adeena Sussman
Publisher: Avery
There are a few things I look for when deciding if I want to buy or keep a cookbook. First, the pictures should be gorgeous and interesting – no boring, white, modern backgrounds, please. Next, the writing should be interesting and avoid brainless talk about how this amazing salad boasts three-layers of crunch, or how this boring chicken dish is a gift to busy moms everywhere. I would much rather read about a dish the author’s grandmother made that reminds her of home, or how the author came across these flavors on a trip to another country, and so on. Give me a good story – don’t tell me how remarkable and marvelous a recipe is (unless it really is that remarkable and marvelous – but you only get one or two of those per cookbook, or per lifetime). Finally, give me recipes that are relevant to my life today, as a full-time working mom who needs to get an uncomplicated dinner on the table every night, not to mention Shabbos cooking. And make it easy for kosher people – no dairy desserts, and no funny vegetables that require extensive checking.
Adina Sussman’s Shabbat cookbook hits many of these criteria. (It was actually published in 2023, but sometimes it takes a year or two for a cookbook to make the rounds.) The photos are perfect, varied and colorful; the writing tells many unique, personal, and interesting stories which shed light on different segments of Israeli culture and society (not all of it religious), and many, though not all, of the recipes are relevant to us Orthodox Jewish ladies. We don’t need another basic recipe for challah, or a tutorial on how to braid them into challah rolls, or challah sticks to freeze and eat with weeknight soup. But I could very much use an easy recipe for make-your-own Osem soup croutons, which was actually the highlight of the book for me, because living out-of-town, getting those soup nuts has become harder and harder. I made them once – I didn’t measure properly, but they still worked, and my kids still ate them in their chicken soup.
Another winner was the Pletzlach – homemade poppy onion crackers – which I plan to serve with herring, now that my teenage boys have hit a herring craze. (Sussman also includes a recipe for herring which I hope to make once I can figure out how to buy fresh kosher fish – another out-of-town problem.) “My Mother’s Shabbat Chicken” is one of those recipes that we probably all make anyway, with a whole chicken cut into eighths, sprinkled with spices, and roasted atop softened, schmaltzy onion slices, but it’s nice to get exact directions from an accomplished chef and use a little more care with the recipe (in contrast to my usual: dump in chicken, pour on spices, bake until I remember it’s still in the oven).
I did make one amazing vegetable-y dish from the cookbook, the “Sheet-Pan Za’aluk,” which includes eggplant, tomatoes, pepper, jalapeno, and multiple spices and herbs. It took a lot of time to chop, roast, and chop again, and while it was absolutely delicious, it reminded me why I don’t make complicated vegetable dishes: they’re lots of work, disappear quickly, and only satisfy one adult in the household (myself). That is why I completely skipped the salad section; at this time in my life, complicated salads are something to eat at catered meals and restaurants, not something to stress about in the kitchen. I’m much more interested in one-pot dinners, easy dips, or delicious stews that will nourish the kids without too much labor involved.
Much of the book’s writing and recipes are “facing outward,” in that they explain Shabbat and its rituals to those outside of Jewish observance. And some of the dishes are Shabbos classics which have really gone out of style, such as sweet noodle kugel. But you never know – noodle kugel may someday reemerge, just as herring is making a comeback. And overall, the book was such a treat to read, and gave me enough renewed kitchen inspiration, that I just may buy Sussman’s other cookbook, Sababa.
And in case you’re interested, these are the recipes from Shabbat on my summer cooking list (when I’m off work and have more time to fiddle):
- No-Machine Turkish Coffee Ice Cream
- Pomegranate Molasses
- Preserved Lemons
- Beet Kibbeh
- Dabo
- Dumpling Soup
- And, perfect for summer, Pink Lemonade with Blueberries
