Kosher cook­ing may seem dif­fi­cult and time con­sum­ing. These two cook­books offer those who want fresh kosher food options that are quick and easy to pre­pare. Susie Fishbein’s pop­u­lar Kosher By Design series proves that kosher cui­sine can be ele­gant and cos­mopoli­tan. Her newest vol­ume gives busy cooks a diverse group of recipes that can be pre­pared in advance using a slow cook­er or pulled togeth­er quick­ly from ingre­di­ents on hand and/​or left­overs. With Asian, Mex­i­can, Moroc­can, and Mid­dle East­ern dish­es, this book has an inter­na­tion­al scope. With choic­es such as hois­inglazed turkey tim­bales, phyl­lo con­fet­ti hal­ibut, and black cher­ry crum­ble bars, read­ers will cre­ate deli­cious meals. Ms. Fish­bein includes ideas for table dec­o­ra­tions for an added ele­gant touch. 

Talk of the Table also offers sim­ple recipes, from the par­ents of chil­dren at an Israeli school. These range from home­made delights such as veg­e­tar­i­an chopped liv­er and apple kugel to onion quiche from the Lit­tle Jerusalem Restau­rant and gnoc­chi in cream sauce from Sofia at the Inbal Hotel. They rep­re­sent the diver­si­ty of Israel’s pop­u­la­tion, orig­i­nat­ing from Iraq, Moroc­co, Europe, and the Amer­i­c­as. The book includes mea­sure­ment and tem­per­a­ture con­ver­sion tables. 

Both books offer fresh ideas for kosher cooks. They will be pop­u­lar choic­es for pub­lic and syn­a­gogue libraries as well as home collections.

Addi­tion­al Titles Fea­tured in Review