This Amer­i­can edi­tion of a cook­book first pub­lished in Great Britain offers read­ers a vari­ety of inter­est­ing recipes with an inter­na­tion­al fla­vor. The intro­duc­tion offers gen­er­al advice about cook­ing and a brief expla­na­tion of kashrut. Recipes are labeled dairy, meat, or parev as well as gluten-free, dairy-free, veg­e­tar­i­an, and dia­bet­ic friend­ly. Many are also des­ig­nat­ed as appro­pri­ate for spe­cif­ic hol­i­days: Passover, Shab­bat, etc. The author explains the ori­gins of each dish and how local cuisines have been adapt­ed by Jew­ish cooks. She offers cre­ative ver­sions of dish­es with tra­di­tion­al ingre­di­ents — schnitzel noo­dle stir fry, mat­zo gra­nola, and gravlax and green lentil sal­ad — and includes tips for styl­ish pre­sen­ta­tion. Some of the recipes take less than 30 min­utes to pre­pare. Home cooks will find ele­gant fare for din­ner par­ties as well as adap­ta­tions of inter­na­tion­al dish­es: veal chops with mush­room sauce, chick­en pael­la, and sesame fish with udon noo­dles. Mea­sure­ments are giv­en in both met­ric and Eng­lish ver­sions, but some ter­mi­nol­o­gy remains British. Egg­plant is aubergine, gran­u­lat­ed sug­ar is cast­er sug­ar, and cook­ies are bis­cuits. This is a nice cook­book for the Jew­ish home.

Relat­ed content:

Recipe: Lemon­grass Fish Cakes with Lime Mayonnaise

This recipe for impres­sive lit­tle Thai-fla­vored fish cakes is ide­al as one of a selec­tion of canapés served before a din­ner party.

Prepa­ra­tion Time: 35 min­utes
Cook­ing Time: 15 min­utes
Makes: 36 fish cakes

Ingre­di­ents
400g/​14 oz fresh white bread
6 tbsp fresh corian­der
200g/​7 oz/​1 cup des­ic­cat­ed coconut
2 stalks lemon­grass
950g/​2¼ lb bone­less, skin­less white fish fil­lets e.g. cod or had­dock
1 – 2 small red chill­ies, deseed­ed and fine­ly chopped
3 tbsp light soy sauce
4 spring onions, rough­ly chopped
5 – 6 eggs
3 tbsp corn­flour
zest of 2 limes
salt and fresh­ly ground black pep­per, to taste
4 tbsp plain flour, for dip­ping
8 tbsp veg­etable oil, for fry­ing
For the lime may­on­naise (or alter­na­tive­ly use chilli dip­ping sauce)
6 tbsp may­on­naise
2 tsp lime juice
dash of chilli oil (option­al)
0.5 cm/​¼ inch piece of fresh gin­ger, peeled and fine­ly grated

• Put the bread, corian­der and coconut in a food proces­sor and whiz briefly. Set aside.
• Clean the lemon­grass by first remov­ing the tough out­er cas­ing and fine­ly chop.
• Rough­ly chop the fish fil­lets and place in the food processor. 
• Add the chill­ies, chopped lemon­grass, soy sauce, spring onions and 1 of the eggs. Blitz the mix­ture until you have a smooth paste – about 20 seconds.
• Spoon the fish mix­ture into a bowl, stir in the corn­flour and lime zest and sea­son with salt and pep­per. Divide the mix­ture into 36 even­ly sized por­tions and roll into round flat cakes.
• Dip them into some flour and the remain­ing 4 – 5 eggs (beat­en) and final­ly into the coconut, corian­der and bread­crumb mix. 
• Heat the oil in a large fry­ing pan. Add the fish cakes and cook for 3 min­utes on each side until gold­en and crispy.
• Remove and drain on kitchen paper. 
• For the may­on­naise, mix the ingre­di­ents togeth­er until combined.

To serve the styl­ish way: Place on a dark plate with the may­on­naise in a small dish and gar­nish with sprigs of coriander.

From The Gourmet Jew­ish Cook­book by Denise Phillips. Copy­right © 2014 by the author and reprint­ed by per­mis­sion of Thomas Dunne Books, an imprint of St. Martin’s Press, LLC.