Karen Mordechai - Simple Fare: Fall and Winter

A guide to everyday cooking and eating Karen Mordechai of Sunday Suppers Abrams, New York Writing + Photography: Karen Mordechai Styling: Karen Mordechai Concept + Graphic Design: Marjolein Delhaas (marjoleindelhaas.com) Recipe Editor: Julia Johnson Styling Assistant: Lara Southern Editor: Laura Dozier Production Manager: Denise LaCongo Library of Congress Control Number: 2016961374 ISBN: 978-1-4197-2665-1
eISBN: 978-1-6833-5153-5 Text copyright 2017 Karen Mordechai Photographs copyright 2017 Karen Mordechai Graphic design copyright 2017 Marjolein Delhaas Published in 2017 by Abrams, an imprint of ABRAMS. All rights reserved. No portion of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, mechanical, electronic, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without written permission from the publisher. Abrams books are available at special discounts when purchased in quantity for premiums and promotions as well as fundraising or educational use. Special editions can also be created to specification.
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abramsbooks.com Seasonality Cooking seasonally means supporting our local farmers and producers.
ABRAMS The Art of Books
115 West 18th Street, New York, NY 10011
abramsbooks.com Seasonality Cooking seasonally means supporting our local farmers and producers.

It also means celebrating produce at its peak and best form. As fall and winter approach, we find ourselves turning inwardspending more time at homeand cooking in a more relaxed way. The pace slows, the temperatures drop, and we seek nourishing foods to balance the weather and support our immunity. We enhance our meals with healing herbs and use food as medicine as much as possible. We use roots like burdock, turmeric, and ginger often. Our grains shift to protein-rich legumes and pulses.

The essentials of our larder are filled with bone broths and stocks, nourishment at the very baseline. The flavor profiles take on a more layered depth in this season. The aromas of stews, red wines, and cinnamon fill these pages and our spaces. Youll find a deeper, almost sexier tone to the food here. You will also notice the colors shift in this season, from bright and poppy in the seasons priorthe palette mutes a little naturally. The cabbages and purples are earthlike and feel appropriately hued.

We celebrate these colors in our cooking and bring as much excitement and vibrancy to the plate as possible. These recipes will guide you through the Fall / Winter offerings at your local markets, as they tend to unfold in different locales. As there is always a transition between seasons, youll find that reflected in the meals. Slowly, as the weather cools, we begin to deepen our meals a bit. We ease into the season with gentle care.

Concept This book is meant to be a resource, a guide for cooking seasonally and simply.

I am drawn to food and its inherent beauty. In this book, I have collected a sampling of the way I like to cook, dailyboth at our studio and for my family. The recipes are seasonally inspired, good, and wholesome. It is food as it should be: nuanced, bright, and gorgeous. This is about how we cook and eat every day in our home and with our loved ones. Journey I grew up surrounded by food, as it was the backbone of immigrant traditions in a new environment.

My family brought their cultures and traditions and expressed their love through meals of plenty. Their story (and their food) was a complex and varied one rooted in Jerusalem in the 1950s, a time in which ethnicities from around the globe were melding together in a young country. Influences from the Middle East and Eastern Europe were converging to formulate a new community. When my family then immigrated to the United States, they brought these melded cultures with them. As I developed my own viewpoint, these influences, along with my current journey, created my own path. I was always fascinated with food.

I was drawn to its beauty and also moved by its cultural significance. I studied as a photographer, and in 2005 I did my masters thesis on the food in my home, through the scope of its maternal lineage. A few years later, I began Sunday Suppers, a communal cooking space, and became more and more immersed in the world of food. I was photographing and also cooking. Exploring, eating, and finding my own sense of things. I met amazing chefs and cooks, and was continually inspired in our collaborative atmosphere.

Sunday Suppers evolved into a hub and a center point for community and inspiration. At the space, we hold community dinners and events that bring people into the kitchen. The premise is to cook together and enjoy the culture and beauty of food through connectivity. I believe food should capture your spirit. Your food, I believe, is a compilation of your journey in lifeit collects bits and pieces as you go. From youth and culture, from travel, and from day-to-day experiences.

It is also, very much, an evolution. My own story and viewpoint sit on the pages ahead. As you read, I hope you will see a true love and celebration of food. That is what this book is about. My hope is that it liberates you and allows you to learn a few great techniques that will honestly make you a better cook. More than anything, I hope it inspires you to find the same joy in cooking as I do.

Foods ability to bring people together is unparalleled. It is at the foundation of our cultures; it is the goodness we can bring to ourselves and others. When we celebrate food and retain its inherent quality, we nourish ourselves and our lives. We take the time to source good ingredients and produce. We support our local farmers and artisans, and we help sustain a beautiful cycle of goodness that extends to the people around us. Food At Sunday Suppers, Ive had the opportunity to experience and make food as a cultural connector.

At the studio, we create food that is gorgeous and fun and sometimes off-beat. We cook all the time, and we experiment with colors and flavors. Sometimes these are simple studio meals, and other times they are larger community dinners for twenty to fifty people. Food, in our studio, brings people together: It is a day-to-day community affair. As a mother, I cook almost all our family meals (yes, even after long studio days). I feel this is important, and it is how I can nourish my (little) family and myself.

I know where my food is coming from: I try to buy seasonally, from farmers and local purveyors. With all this said, I also know the challenges of a very busy schedule and weekday life. And so I have found my way: making grains and a soup on a Sunday night, and sometimes roasting some vegetables for the week. Ill often make double the amount of dressing so we can have it in the refrigerator. I keep lots of greens, eggs, avocados, and fresh breads on hand at home. Format Ultimately, the purpose of this book is to compile all these meals from the studio and our home and bring them forth as a resource for simple and beautiful food.

The journey is unending, but this is a starting point. This book is part of a two-volume series, its companion being