Category: Sides
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Broccolini With Fried Shallots and Olives
I’m always looking for cooked green vegetable side dishes to round out my Shabbat menu. On the Wine & Challah website, I already have a few recipes for green beans and zucchini, and now here’s one for broccolini. Broccoli, in terms of the laws of kashrut, can sometimes be challenging to navigate, so in this super…
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Sautéed Mushrooms with Shallot, Thyme & Mustard
This recipe is inspired by the “water-first” method from Cook’s Illustrated, which begins by steaming mushrooms briefly in a splash of water. This collapses their spongy structure so they don’t soak up excess oil, resulting in deeply flavoured, evenly browned mushrooms. Here they’re finished with shallot, thyme, and Dijon mustard for a savoury side that…
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Yellow Rice with Saffron and Turmeric
This golden-hued rice combines the depth of turmeric with the delicate floral notes of saffron. Inspired by Middle Eastern and Sephardi traditions, it is cooked in chicken stock for richness, with gently fried onions providing depth of flavour – and aside from all of that, it’s a favourite with my kids! INGREDIENTS: METHOD: MAKE AHEAD:
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Large-Batch Fried Onions
A freezer stash of fried onions is one of my greatest kitchen time-savers. With almost no oil and a clever water-start method, adapted from America’s Test Kitchen, these onions cook quickly, evenly, and with incredible sweetness. I like to use Spanish onions for this recipe as they’re larger (which means less peeling) and I find I cry less when…
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Black-Eyed Peas in Tomato Sauce
Black-eyed peas have always been part of my family’s Rosh Hashanah tradition, one of the many simanim—symbolic foods eaten with the hope of increase and blessing in the year ahead. Every year I’m reminded of how moreish and frankly un-bean-like black-eyed peas are, and I wonder why I don’t eat them year-round. And then, as soon…
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Green Beans with Nectarines and Almonds
This salad is inspired by a recipe I found in Cooking with Vegetables by Jesse Jenkins. It makes me so happy — it’s like summer on a plate. It brings together so many of my favourite foods: fresh nectarines, blanched green beans, and toasted slivered almonds, all bound by a sweet, lemony dressing. This is the dish…
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Odelle’s Sesame Green Beans
Our daughter Odelle is part of a vibrant community in Herzliya, where young professionals and university students are building wonderful lives for themselves and creating a sense of togetherness. Shabbat is when the community truly comes alive, with big meals hosted by one person but everyone contributing a dish. It’s a potluck dinner — but…
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Potato Kugel
Potato kugel — truly, it’s as close as I think Jews come to agreeing on nirvana. Even Sephardi Jews, who mock the Ashkenazi kitchen, see the light when it comes to potato kugel. It is the perfect combination of potato, oil, salt, and heat. The outside is crunchy, the inside melts in your mouth. It…
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Syrian Rice with Noodles
This is both one of the simplest recipes I know and somehow incredibly special. Perhaps it’s because I associate it with my grandmother, or it’s the tiny thrill of finding noodles amongst my rice. Either way, a couple of simple touches elevate this rice and make it the perfect accompaniment to so many different Shabbat…
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Couscous
This is a straight-from-the-packet type recipe for couscous. Though I truly admire people who make it themselves—and there is nothing as delicious as couscous made from scratch—this isn’t it. Our son Yoel has informed me that one day we are going to sit down and attempt to make the real deal. But for now, the…