Myra Kornfeld - The Healthy Hedonist Holidays: A Year of Multi-Cultural, Vegetarian-Friendly Holiday Feasts

Thanks to everyone who graciously tested all the recipes and offered excellent suggestions. Thank you to Derek Treur, who helped get the testing off the ground, and to Jennifer Brawn, who beautifully wrapped up the testing and who gave me the idea of rolling the pesto in the flounder. Special thanks to excellent Russell Lehrer, whose competence and feedback in testing continues to be so valued and appreciated, and who kindly shared the nifty salmon-rolling technique with me. Thanks to Alison Dearborne Rieder for introducing me to cabbage sauerkraut pierogis and for teaching me the dragon fold. Im grateful to Jean Anderson for sharing her family recipe for deliciously tender pierogi dough. So much love goes to my dear friend Glynnis Osher for her unwavering support and for going to extra lengths to make the cover so lush and festive.

A special thanks to Sheila Hamanaka for such beautiful and illuminating food drawings. I am forever grateful to my dear friend Linda Erman for her enthusiastic and loving presence, and for capably assisting me in hours of painstaking research and editing. The Natural Gourmet Cookery School in New York City deserves special acknowledgment for being such a vital center devoted to good and healthy food; a special thanks to founder Annemarie Colbin for continuing to be an inspiration, and to director Jenny Matheau for the opportunity to teach and share and learn so much from my students; thanks to my students, who are forever a source of motivation. A special word of gratitude to the following people: to Melanie Jackson for being such an intelligent and terrific agent; to Clara Rosamarda, who gives me great advice at just the right moments; to Frances Gozland for broadening my cultural horizons. I am truly blessed to have such unflaggingly supportive and loving parents, Charlotte and Irving Kornfeld, as well as exceptionally loving and generous in-laws, David and Arlene Massimilla.

Patricks Day, Passover, Easter, Cinco de Mayo, and the Fourth of July. The lavish menus in this book fall under the category of flexitarian: Each features recipes for a vegetarian main course, as well as either a fish or a poultry entre; you can make them both, or one without the other. Theres a plan for the entire meal from starter to dessert, including salads, soups, sides, and splashes. Dishes in the ensemble go together like a coordinated wardrobe; you can pull together any or all for a variety of combinations. Holidays are times when we have an opportunity to stop the normal hustle and bustle of our everyday pace; they punctuate the rhythm of the year and mark the cycles of our lives. These celebrations are constantly evolving, and the meanings we ascribe to them today are sometimes quite different from the significance we attributed to them in the past.

Our personal relationship with a specific holiday may have changed too; the way we once celebrated it or the foods we once consumed on that holiday may no longer be appropriate. Often our guests may have conflicting food requirements. Whenever I have a dinner party, I find a variety of types of eaters at the table. One person eats fish and vegetarian, another omnivore cant tolerate dairy, and yet another is allergic to beans or sugar. I quickly learned that when my guests are accommodated, they feel especially grateful and welcome. Many of us have had the experience of finishing an indulgent meal only to feel heavy, stuffed, and guilty shortly thereafter.

These holiday feasts, which are naturally healthy and satisfying, are designed to leave us feeling energetic and nourished after the meal as well as delighted during the experience. The individual recipes are bright and flavorful, with an abundance of scrumptious vegetable dishes. Whole grains are used when suitable, although some unbleached flour is the appropriate choice in traditional fare such as pierogis and gnocchi. The majority of desserts include whole grain flours when they do not compromise flavor. I make use of high-quality fats, natural sugars, and the best of each seasons produce. In America, we are privileged to have a multicultural, multiethnic society, and the recipes in this book pay tribute to our culinary smorgasbord.

Many of the menus have ethnic spins or contemporary twists to them. For Christmas Eve, Ive chosen an Eastern European, mostly Polish-inspired menu. Thanksgiving has a southwestern flair, Kwanzaa features an Ethiopian-style feast, and Easter pays homage to Greek traditions. The lasagna from Christmas Day includes squash and portobello mushrooms, the cranberry sauce from Thanksgiving is brightened with persimmons, and the matzo ball soup for Passover has herbed matzo balls floating in a vibrant green spinach base. The traditional gefilte fish is transformed into an herbed fish loaf studded with seasonal asparagus. With fragrant scents wafting through the kitchen, you can use your stove as a means of transport to worlds apart from your own when you have feasts in honor of the traditions of others.

Even if you are not Chinese, how celebratory it is to have a Chinese New Years feast, and what an opportunity to learn more about the festival. You may not be Jewish, but what fun it is to have a latke party. Or perhaps the way you celebrate a familiar holiday needs to be refreshed. Your heritage may not be Polish or Ukrainian, but you may be inspired to try pierogis on Christmas Eve for a delicious change of pace. You can cook the entire group of recipes for each feast or you can choose a selection depending on your needs. If youre making only four or five dishes, the recipes serve six.