Notes about Recipes in this book

• Lemon and rose water scones

  • Zosia on August 29, 2015

    The lemon and rose water flavours marry well in these dainty scones. They're quite rich with a very tender, cake-like texture. I'll definitely be making these again.

• Sour cream coffee cake with pecan streusel

  • Zosia on March 11, 2016

    This is a delicious version of the classic that's moist with a light, fluffy crumb. The dark brown sugar adds a rich caramel flavour to the topping and the ginger, a little bit of a zing. I like that it's baked in a 9x13 pan rather than a bundt....shorter baking time and easier to portion.

• Pumpkin-chocolate chip muffins

  • Zosia on September 27, 2015

    I think I'm just not a fan of pumpkin and chocolate. The texture of the muffins was nice - fairly fine and moist crumb - and the spice blend was good (I think) but there was far too much chocolate. These were a hit with the chocolate lovers but I'm going to make them again without. I used all purpose whole wheat flour instead of white whole wheat. Edited Oct 12. Made a second time with 1/2 cup chopped walnuts instead of chocolate chips. The flavour was very good but these are definitely best eaten freshly baked.

• Cinnamon-sugar apple pancakes

  • Zosia on August 29, 2015

    This is a good basic pancake recipe that produces light and fluffy pancakes with a pronounced tang since there's no ingredient to neutralize the acid in the buttermilk. They'd go well with any topping but the quick apple saute was a delicious accompaniment.

• Savory French toast with seared tomatoes and za'atar butter

  • Zosia on August 29, 2015

    I used the challah with leek filling to make this delicious alternative to sweet French toast. Since I don't cook French toast in fat, I didn't make the flavoured butter but added the za'atar directly to the egg mixture. There's far too much egg mixture for the amount of bread listed (2 eggs for 6 slices bread was sufficient) and the recipe fails to mention that the bread should be stale; fresh would disintegrate in the soaking time given. Flavour-wise, I would give this 5 stars but considering the issues (and the fact I didn't make it as written!), I'm giving it 4.

• Tomato salad with fried capers

  • Zosia on August 29, 2015

    Fantastic way to enjoy tomatoes at their peak. Frying the capers intensified they're briny flavour, matching them perfectly with the sweet, caramel-like balsamic reduction.

• Watermelon Israeli salad

  • Zosia on June 10, 2017

    I loved this twist on the standard, but very delicious, tomato-cucumber-herb salad. The watermelon added a little sweetness and was particularly delicious paired with the tomatoes. The only drawback is that it doesn't keep well because of the water content of the watermelon (I seeded the tomatoes and cucumbers). I toasted but forgot to add the pumpkin seeds......next time.

  • TrishaCP on July 28, 2020

    This salad was very flavorful. I used za’atar but I think sumac may even be better. I did use the pepitas and they were a great addition with their crunch. Look forward to making this again.

• Carrot salad with mint and dates

  • apattin on November 10, 2016

    Did not use the arugula so I could prepare it in advance. It was very yummy.

  • apattin on December 27, 2016

    https://drive.google.com/open?id=0BzwTT7I6x1zgVi1Hbk5wby0yZ3c

• Avocado-white bean salad with basil-mint pesto

  • kayla_7c8yc4 on April 05, 2026

    Have made this many times, and just used store bought pesto for a quick week night dish!

• Red cabbage and beet slaw with caramelized walnuts

  • ricki on December 29, 2017

    Made with what I had on hand: golden beet and green cabbage, sour cream, no walnuts. With these substitutions, it was a very nice basic slaw with a twist, but a bit on the sweet side. Next time, I'll use less honey and/or more vinegar.

• 20 cloves of garlic borscht

  • ricki on January 26, 2023

    excellent. Had a combination of gold and red beets, which was pleasant but light. This really wants the earthiness of red beets.

• Tomato-chickpea soup with spinach

  • GingerFoodLovers on September 06, 2023

    Great flavor and texture; we substituted some sorrel from our garden for the spinach. The citrus note was a strong addition, but we're looking forward to trying it with spinach as well.

• Black bean and sweet potato chili

  • Zosia on August 29, 2015

    This chili had great depth of flavour despite a relatively quick cooking time, with enough tangy and acidic ingredients to balance the sweetness of some of the others. I did think it could use a little more heat but that may have been because of my choice of chili powders, a rather mild blend that's widely available in Canada. It was nothing some extra cayenne pepper couldn't fix.

• Grilled zucchini with balsamic dressing

  • Zosia on August 29, 2015

    The dressing was a little sweet for me and I thought it overpowered the delicate flavour of the zucchini, but it was big hit with family and guests.

• Pan-roasted turnips

  • ricki on December 02, 2019

    Not my mother-in-law's turnips! I bet her son would like Tokyo turnips prepared this way; the hard part will be convincing him to try. Seasoned with only black pepper and lemon juice, and I didn't miss the salt. Separately sautéed their greens with sliced garlic and red pepper flakes, added some cannellini beans and shaved pecorino. Satisfying lunch.

  • TrishaCP on January 12, 2025

    I greatly prefer hakurei turnips, but I had purple top CSA turnips to use, so a search brought me to this recipe. I really loved the addition of lemon juice at the end to cut down on the bitterness of the roots.

• Balsamic-roasted mushrooms and corn

  • Zosia on September 14, 2015

    Good but a little too sweet for me. I will make this again since it was well received but I would omit the honey next time.

• Roasted broccoli with shallots and lemon

  • Zosia on August 29, 2015

    The flavour of this was very good and I loved the fact that blanching the broccoli wasn't necessary but cooking the shallots separately was a little fiddly. I'd make this again but add the shallots to the broccoli part way through roasting. 425 was too high a temperature in my oven; a slower bake at 375 would have been better.

• Potato latkes with apple-date chutney and cinnamon sour cream

  • Kduncan on December 28, 2020

    We enjoyed this take of "grown up" latkes with applesauce. Overall a nice recipe, loved the chutney.

• Saffron rice pilaf

  • Zosia on August 29, 2015

    Excellent side dish with good texture and flavour. Be wary of the amount of salt if you're using a salted broth - I only needed a pinch at the end. It wasn't at all oily, but I think I'll cut back on it next time I make this.

• Bukharian beef and carrot rice pilaf

  • Trishnotjustnyt on December 03, 2023

    Needs to be stirred or it won't cook; substitute dried cranberries instead of raisins for tartness

• Pine nut and scallion couscous

  • Zosia on September 08, 2015

    Using stock, and frying the pine nuts and scallions adds extra flavour to this simple pilaf.

  • pennyvr on July 06, 2016

    A little bland on it's own but a good accompaniment to spicier foods.

• Toasted almond Israeli couscous

  • Zosia on October 28, 2018

    Excellent cooking instructions that worked perfectly. Mine took the full 12 minutes to fully absorb the stock. The flavours are subtle but it's intended to be a side dish; it was particularly good with (Dorie Greenspan's) chicken tagine.

• Farro salad with corn and jalapeño

  • TrishaCP on July 23, 2020

    This is a very summery grain salad and we liked it a lot. The caramelized onions added a lot to the dish. But I do recommend including the optional tomatoes because they were a nicely acidic counterpoint to the sweet corn and onions.

• Tilapia in spicy tomato sauce

  • Zosia on September 27, 2015

    Quick and easy way to add lots of flavour to a mild-tasting fish. The tomato sauce enhanced without overwhelming it. My much smaller fillets cooked in 10 minutes.

• Baked sole with bitter greens

  • Zosia on August 29, 2015

    I really enjoyed this dish but keeping family preferences in mind, I reduced the garlic and served the olives on the side. They weren't that enthralled with it but it really needed those olives to cut the bitterness of the escarole. I thought it was delicious eaten as the author intended.

• Grilled salmon with orange and herbs

  • Zosia on September 08, 2015

    The lively citrus flavours complemented the salmon well and cut the richness of the fish. A big hit with family and guests.

• Greek goddess salmon

  • jenburkholder on September 28, 2020

    This was great, an easy, enjoyable supper. Particularly the sauce was popular - we had to use part sour cream, as we didn’t have yogurt, and that was fine. Served with steamed kale and roast potatoes.

• Apple cider-braised chicken

  • Zosia on October 19, 2017

    The sauce was a little too sweet for our taste, primarily because the royal gala apples I used disintegrated into it during cooking, but the chicken was tender and quite delicious with just a small amount of braising liquid clinging to it.

  • Kduncan on December 28, 2020

    Forgot to add the broth before baking the chicken, hence was really apply, but we liked it. Very easy recipe that we will be making again.

• Roast chicken with fennel and orange

  • Zosia on August 29, 2015

    This was a hit with everyone. The chicken was beautifully burnished with crisp skin and moist meat, and the orange flavour was noticeable but subtle. In lieu of the extra olive oil, I drizzled the remaining orange-thyme-oil chicken dip over the entire pan of chicken etc before roasting. Watch your baking time; smaller pieces of chicken will require less.

  • jenburkholder on December 03, 2023

    This was great - and so easy! I had a fennel languishing in my drawer, so made this recipe scaled down to 4 thighs. I drizzled the orange/thyme/oil over the top as well. In the future I'd probably separate the onion rather than leave it in wedges since I don't like firm onion as much. Served with an onion rice pilaf but crusty bread would be an excellent option if available. A definite and enthusiastic repeat from both me and my spouse.

  • TrishaCP on January 13, 2024

    This was so flavorful and easy. Highly recommended. I agree that the onions could be smaller, but that is a small quibble. I used chicken thighs and they were done in 45 minutes.

  • chawkins on June 24, 2024

    Very good and quite easy. I made half a recipe using 4 thighs and a fennel bulb from the garden, even though my orange was on the large side, the orange flavor was very subtle. And as suggested by someone below, I will either separate the onion quarters or cut it into eighths instead, I want them to be more cooked, my thighs were well cooked in 40 minutes but the onion was not.

• Rosemary-maple roast chicken

  • Zosia on September 14, 2015

    The flavour was excellent but the cooking method did not work for me at all - the chicken cooked unevenly and the dark meat was nowhere near done after an hour. Next time, I'll omit the raw onion "stuffing" which gets discarded in the end anyway and cook it at a more moderate temperature for a longer time. I added potatoes to the roasting pan and will do that again since they were fantastic.

• Chicken schnitzel with caper vinaigrette

  • Zosia on September 14, 2015

    The chicken was good but not special, but the vinaigrette managed to dress it up a little and was a delicious change from the lemon wedges I usually serve.

• Steak and za'atar fajitas

  • Zosia on August 29, 2015

    This is a pretty basic recipe but the beef in particular had excellent flavour.

• Red wine and honey brisket

  • trmarvin on September 13, 2018

    This Dutch-oven brisket requires a bit more investment than the standard mix-pour-roast approach, but it comes out great. Not a huge difference from straight-up slow oven roasting, but discernibly more complex.

  • jenburkholder on January 15, 2024

    I had a point-cut brisket in the freezer, and sub-zero temps this weekend made this the perfect Sunday night dinner. Everywhere was out of fresh thyme so threw in some fresh oregano that was in the fridge. Reduced honey by 1/3 as I don't like much sweetness. Made a day ahead and reheated to serve with smashed potatoes. Quite tasty and different from my usual pot-roast.

• Mushroom-and-beef-stuffed peppers

  • Cookbooksgalore on March 05, 2026

    My absolute least favorite recipe to make. Taste is great and it always gets rave reviews from guests, but it is so damn fiddly to make, and the layout of the recipe is confusing. Would it have been too much trouble for the author to separate the ingredients for the three components - sauce, parboiled rice, meat & mushroom filling - with spaces, rather than running them together? And the order seems cockeyed. The only workaround to make this tolerable, is doubling the rice and filling and freezing half for next time, so I don't have to repeat the rigmarole every time.

• Spinach shakshuka

  • Zosia on August 29, 2015

    I loved the idea of this but didn't care for the sweet 'n' sour flavour of the spinach. I would make this again without the cinnamon and lemon juice and perhaps a smaller onion.

• Porcini-tomato-. and kale-stuffed peppers

  • Zosia on August 29, 2015

    These had a very hearty, meaty-tasting filling but there was a bit too much for the number of peppers specified (or perhaps mine were just smaller) and it needed a little extra oomph; doubling the tomatoes would help.

• Baked ziti with caramelized cherry tomatoes

  • Zosia on August 29, 2015

    This is a pretty basic recipe for baked ziti but the roasted tomato topping made it very special. The only problem was that there wasn't enough of it! Next time, I'll use a larger baking pan and double the topping.

• Spinach-matzo lasagna

  • mzgourmand on April 03, 2021

    I usually love Leah Koenig's recipes & find her to be extremely reliable. AND some/a lot of the fault for the results may lie with me as I was overly generous with the marina sauce, as well as the fresh mozzarella to make up for a lack of sufficient ricotta. But that said, this recipe confirms my basic belief that pasta is pasta & a beautiful thing, & one cannot substitute another creature for it. "Zoodles,"squash lasagna sheets," or slightly softened matzo are not a reasonable fascimile of pasta. I love zucchini "zoodles" especially with pesto sauce but I would never confuse them with spaghetti. I have now learned that I like matzo dry - preferably liberally buttered to compensate for same - & not as a faux pasta substitute. It simply doesn't work & the whole thing ends up being a very stodgy mass as far as I'm concerned. Others may may be more open-minded than I am! All of that said, I found the ricotta, spinach & onion filling to be delicious.

  • kayla_7c8yc4 on May 14, 2026

    Tastes delicious! VERY filling

• Cinnamon-roasted seitan and onions

  • jenburkholder on October 19, 2020

    This is a tasty seitan recipe, easy and quick (~15 min) to make. I found it needed a bit more soy than written, but that likely depends on how well-seasoned your seitan is. I’ll keep this one in my back pocket for when seitan goes on sale at the co-op. Served with beet salad, steamed kale, and a bulgur pilaf.

• Pan-fried tofu steaks with shallot gravy

  • normrubin on March 13, 2021

    Modern Jewish Cooking p. 224 OR Dinner Tonight: Pan-Fried Tofu with Dark Sweet Soy Sauce Recipe

  • jenburkholder on December 17, 2023

    Tasty and easy. The gravy is nicely flavorful for how simple it is.

• Classic challah

  • Zosia on August 29, 2015

    This is an excellent recipe that produces gorgeous golden challah with a light and fluffy crumb that's a little on the sweet side. The dough was very easy to work with and the finished loaves kept well and were still quite good on day 2. I baked the loaves at 350 for 30 minutes (internal temperature of 200F)

  • Jane on August 29, 2016

    Each time I make this I swear I'm going to try a different recipe as the dough is very soft, making it hard to roll and braid the strands. But then the end result is so good I change my mind. It looks beautiful and the bread is light and flavorful with a good crust. I agree with Zosia that it is too sweet - I reduce the sugar. I bake mine at 350 degrees in a convection oven for 40 minutes and it is perfect.

  • Jane on September 28, 2020

    I'm very proud that I managed a decent round challah. I'd always found this dough rather hard to make decent braids (but great challah) but I followed the video tutorial on joyosity's Instagram and it was foolproof.

• Challah with sautéed leeks and thyme

  • Zosia on August 29, 2015

    Really tasty variation of the braided bread and perfect for the savoury za'atar French toast recipe. It started with the classic challah recipe from the book, a light and fluffy loaf, that was done in 30 minutes at 350F in my oven.

• Pumpkin-apple challah

  • Zosia on October 05, 2015

    This recipe produced beautiful and delicious breads. The lofty loaves had a soft and fluffy crumb and lovely sweet spiced apple flavour with pumpkin providing the pretty colour. They were denser on day 2 but still very moist.

• Pletzels

  • ricki on June 20, 2023

    Used the recipe's method and topping ingredients on nearly a pound of sourdough pizza dough from the Cheeseboard. Rolled the dough to ¼" to fill a quarter sheet pan -- the pletzel of my childhood was always thin and a bit chewy. Excellent!

• Spinach and cheese bourekas

  • Zosia on August 29, 2015

    At a glance, these don't look very different from most spinach-cheese hand pies but we loved the gooey mozzarella cheese and the additional crunch of the sesame seeds. Made as per the recipe, these were quite small. I'll make them twice the size next time for a more substantial snack.

• Rhubarb-oatmeal crumble bars

  • Zosia on August 29, 2015

    These were quick to make and delicious, with layers of tender cake, tart fruit that retained its shape and flavour, and crisp and chewy topping. I used all-purpose whole wheat flour in place of white whole wheat.

• Chocolate-banana bundt cake

  • Zosia on August 29, 2015

    Wow, this was good! Moist and rich with a perfect balance of chocolate and banana. It made a large cake that kept well for a few days. Definitely one to repeat.

  • jenburkholder on October 19, 2023

    Agree with Zosia - perfect texture, great blend of flavors. Tasted better the second day. Brought it into work and caught more than a couple coworkers going back for seconds.

  • DKennedy on April 25, 2024

    Making this for carol's bday using the fluted tube pan - came out great.

  • ShayLRoss on March 15, 2026

    A favorite cake, I love making this every couple of months. If you're looking for a banana cake, this is an excellent option!

• Maple-cardamom roasted pears

  • Zosia on September 14, 2015

    The flavours of this were really lovely. The pears were the perfect accompaniment to the honey-cinnamon cake and made a very special topping for my morning oatmeal.

• Tomato-chickpea soup with spinach (dairy-free)

  • Zosia on January 12, 2021

    Delicious, hearty tomato-vegetable soup.

• Honey-cinnamon pound cake (dairy-free)

  • Zosia on September 14, 2015

    The flavour was very good but the texture seemed off - moist but very dense. The batter fit nicely into an 8-1/2" x 4-1/2" pan, smaller than the one recommended.

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