Kim Kushner - The New Kosher: Simple Recipes to Savor & Share

photography
KATE SEARS

I dont always love to cook. That is the simple truth.

Because I write cookbooks and teach cooking classes for a living, most people assume that I must really love cooking. But here is the reality: My life, much like yours, is not a dream world. When I serve dinner, no candles are lit, no opera is playing in the background. Its not like it is in the pasta commercials. Im not perfectly made upno fresh lipstick or rosy cheeks.

When Im at home cooking, about fifty other things are going on around me at the same time. Usually this includes my boisterous sons playing football in the middle of our New York City apartment and my daughter, in her Frozen tutu, running up and down the hallway while dragging her Hello Kitty rolling suitcase that is cascading musical instruments, stuffed animals, and candy in a trail along the floor. A loud siren is typically sounding outdoors. Its probably a fire truck, and a squad of firefighters is likely gathered around the building next door, where there seems to be some mysterious pipe issues. Of course, the phone is ringing off the hook, too.

My life is not very different from yours. We are all busy. Life is always hectic. Stuff is going on continuously, even when youre cooking dinner. So there you have it.

Perhaps if I could cook all of my meals holed up in a rustic rural kitchen that overlooks beautiful mountains, a crackling fire in the fireplace, and John Legend blasting in the background, I would always love cooking. There I would have the time to coddle my bubbling cast-iron pots of slow-braised meats and hand-picked vegetables while waiting for my tall, dark, and handsome husband to walk through the front door (well, he actually does exist). But thats not how my cooking happens, so I dont love it all the time.

Let me tell you what I do love. It is what comes after the cooking part. I love sitting around the table with the people whom I love (and scream at) the most: my family, my friends, my neighbors. I love eating good food, tasting delicious flavors, drinking wine, laughing, learning, connecting. I love the way time stops in those moments, and how I always forget about the cooking part. The sound of clinking glasses, the smiles on peoples faces, the movement. The way my husband closes his eyes and grins after he takes that first bite. Watching my boys tear their challah into tiny pieces and dip it into the leftover sauce streaked on their plates. Staring at my daughters chubby fingers stuffing the food into her mouth with satisfaction. To me, nothing is more gratifying than these moments. And that is why I cook.

I was raised in a modern Orthodox home in a vibrant kosher community in Montreal and first learned to cook from my mother, who was born in Morocco and grew up in Israel. My mothers life revolves around food, and her generosity through her love of feeding other people has been the greatest influence on my cooking.

We ate family style, starting with soup and sturdy Moroccan-style meze-like platters of various disheshummus, tomato salads, avocado mixtures, lots of variations on eggplantthat we would pass around. A spicy fish dish followed as a first course and then came the meat as a main. I find myself repeating these recipes, though somehow mine are a little more modern.

I always knew how to cook because I grew up cooking. As soon as I moved to New York City and got a place of my own, I started hosting dinner parties. I later attended the Institute of Culinary Education in Manhattan, but its never been about achieving perfection in the kitchenonly about creating comfort and happiness.

At home, I dont believe in plating the food I serve. My house is not a fine-dining restaurant; it is my home. My guests are not my customers; they are my family and friends. My kitchen is not the center of my business; my kitchen is the center of my heart. When I think about food, many strong memories and traditions from my upbringing filter into everything I make. I express myself through my food. Cooking serves as a connector, a comfort in my life.

I feed the people I love the kind of food I love to eat. And thats what you will find in this book. All of the recipes are straightforward, approachable, and simple to make. Many of them require fewer than six ingredients. They are all tried-and-true.

The first chapter is titled Kims Essentials because, to be frank, thats what they are. These recipes are my go-to foods, the ones I always have on hand, including Addictive Pickled Carrots & Radishes with Indian Spices, and Lazy Crumb Topping. They are the items that I can whip up in minutes, like Homemade Pita Chips with Zaatar Chips and 5-Minute Sun-Dried Tomato Hummus. Here is where youll also find my favorite sauces, dips, crumbs, cookies, and challahmy essentials.

The book then follows traditional menu categories, with each chapter filled with mouthwatering, quick-and-easy recipes for every day. Tiny plates and bite-sized spoonfuls of artistically garnished culinary masterpieces are not my thing. I like to dig in when I eat. I want to bite into my food and savor it.

Through this book, I am inviting you to sit at my table and uncover the recipes from my home. As you turn the pages, youll see a mix of bowls and platters, of different shapes and sizes, of big spoons and little spoons. My food is often served with spoons. I offer many dips and other mezes; little bowls of salad, such as melt-in-your-mouth eggplant, crisp latkes, and butternut squash chips. I include huge salads, too, like shredded kale with crisp, colorful radishes and a crunchy fresh-off-the-cob corn salad with baby tomatoes. Youll find a baking dish flaunting golden crumbtopped flounder and glass bowls filled to the brim with pasta with fresh tomato sauce or pomegranate-studded quinoa. And I must not forget to mention the wineglasses constantly being refilled with gorgeous reds and whites.

These beautiful, vibrant foods sit right before your eyes, waiting to be passed from hand to hand, like a chain linking one person to the next, until they find their way back to the center of the table. At my house, we eat as a family, family style. The spills and stains on my tablecloths prove it.

If youre Jewish but dont keep kosher or if youre not Jewish at all, you may be wondering, whats in this book for me? Let me ask you, do you enjoy serving amazing food to your family and friendsdishes that are a snap to prepare and are made with wholesome ingredients? If so, this book is for you. Okay, so you wont find any recipes for bacon and shellfish here. But I promise that youll find lots to love.

P.S. On Being Kosher

People often ask me if I feel deprived keeping a kosher diet. Look, I have steamed lobsters and rendered pancetta in extraordinary Manhattan restaurants beyond my front door. Trust me, I know what I am missing out on. But still, I dont regret my choice to abide by the Jewish dietary laws. In fact, I think that keeping kosher actually creates more of a hunger (pardon the pun) in me to prepare the absolute best dishes that I can. My dietary restrictions inspire me to use the ingredients that I can eat to create beautiful and delicious meals. I dont look at keeping kosher as what I cant eat, but rather what I can.