Description:
Performed at home, the Shabbat ritual draws observant Jews together each week. This rite of communal and religious affirmation is also a time for celebration--work ceases and family and friends gather for prayer and feasting. Though many cookbooks explore Shabbat food, none has done so more comprehensively and with greater savvy than Shabbat Shalom, cookbook editor Susan Friedland's collection of 175 recipes for every course of the Friday and Saturday Shabbat meals. Certain to be welcomed by all those who cook for the Shabbat, the book will also appeal to anyone interested in exemplary versions of Jewish-American dishes for everyday enjoyment. But Shabbat Shalom goes further. Embracing the cooking of the entire Diaspora, the book not only offers familiar, Eastern-European-derived treats like roast chicken, brisket, kugels, and the slow-cooking stews called cholents, but also "new" Shabbat dishes like Duck with Pomegranate and Walnut Sauce from Iran, Lamb Tagine from Morocco, Cauliflower Pie from Italy, and Halibut in Lemon-Egg Sauce from the eastern Mediterranean, among other easily made entrées. Challah recipes are included, as are recipes for pareve desserts--simple but delicious sweets like Apple-Honey Brown Betty, Banana Sorbet, and a truly seductive chocolate mousse. With graceful notes on Sabbath history and observance and useful menus for year-round menu planning, Shabbat Shalom is an indispensable guide to the meaning of the Shabbat and the pleasures of its table. --Arthur Boehm
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