Koenig - Little Book of Jewish Appetizers

To Max Elisha

The Little Book series is a collection of thematic Jewish cookbooks that will be published serially. Each book will include a bite-size collection of meticulously curated and globally inspired Jewish recipes. Packaged in slim, gorgeously designed books, a single volumeor the whole serieswill fit perfectly on and enhance any cookbook shelf.

Text copyright 2017 by Leah Koenig.
Photographs copyright 2017 by Chronicle Books LLC.
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any form without written permission from the publisher.
ISBN 978-1-4521-6308-6 (epub, mobi)
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data available.
ISBN 978-1-4521-5913-3 (hc)
Designed by Vanessa Dina
Photographs by Linda Pugliese
Prop styling by Paige Hicks
Food styling by Carrie Purcell
Typesetting by Frank Brayton

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Jewish cuisine is filled with showstopping dishes. Think of a bowl of golden, fat-glistening matzo ball soup, a towering pastrami sandwich streaked with mustard, or the grandeur of a platter of Persian rice, with its gloriously crisp and bronzed cap. These foods are celebrations. They are events. They are meals unto themselves. But behind every great dinneror more precisely, before ittheres a great appetizer.

In Yiddish, the word for appetizer is forspeis (pronounced FOR-shpice). Rooted in the German phrase for before food, forspeisn are small offeringsa slice of gefilte fish, say, or a bit of chopped liverserved before the main course to quiet the bellys rumblings and set the stage for the meal.

Middle Eastern and Mediterranean cuisines share a related, though usually more flamboyantly executed, concept called mezze. A typical Sephardi Shabbat dinner is precluded by an overwhelming parade of spreads, vegetables, and small plates. From the tangy red pepper, pomegranate, and walnut dip called muhammara to pickled turnips and smoky charred eggplant drizzled with tahini, the selection can swell to more than a dozen distinct offerings on a single table.

Despite my attempts to exercise a little restraint, I find it almost impossible not to fill up on the appetizer course. But Im okay with that. Regardless of what masterpieces the cook has up his or her sleeve, these first dishes are the inevitable highlight of the meal. They are like the comedian who warms up the crowd before the featured act and ends up stealing the show.

Beyond the dinner table, Jewish cuisine is filled with countless other little nibbles, snacks, party fare, and between-meal foods. These dishesa still-warm knish or piece of strudel tucked into a childs hand on the way out the door, a plate of buttercream-rich hummus split with a friend for an afternoon nosh, or a perfect bite of spicy, Sephardi-style meatball plucked from a platter at a cocktail party are a compelling reminder that food doesnt need to be big and bold to be magnificent.

The Little Book of Jewish Appetizers, the first of Chronicle Books Little Book cookbook series, is my ode to Jewish cuisines smallest delights. The recipes span the globe from Morocco (Moroccan Orange and Black Olive Salad, ). As a collection, I hope they delight, surprise, and like any good starter should, whet the appetite for more.

A Note About Serving Sizes
Several of the dishes in Little Book of Jewish Appetizers could technically be enjoyed as the main course. Please keep in mind that all of the serving sizes included with the recipes assume they are being eaten as a starter or snack and that additional courses will follow.