Shabbat: Recipes and Rituals from My Table to Yours

Adeena Sussman’s sabbath Saturdays in Tel Aviv sound remarkably appealing, with food created to be relaxed, yet special, unbuttoned but connected to tradition.

In this abundant collection of recipes (nearly 400 pages), Sussman, a longtime cookbook writer who is also the author of Sababa, displays a wide familiarity with Jewish traditions in many cultures. She offers flavors and ingredients that range from chard cooked with a gingery Ethiopian condiment called awaze to mushroom and apple matzo kugel. A sumac-roasted corn salad with smoky dressing brings Mexico to Israel, just like the cook whose immigration story inspired it.

Sussman is a smart cook and her recipes offer insights you can apply in other circumstances. In her Moroccan carrot salad, she notes that cooking the carrots whole before slicing them into coins prevents them from becoming waterlogged. Her charred potato salad with mustard and horseradish dressing, on the other hand, combines Passover leftovers.

Warm colors and attractive photography make this feel so very hospitable.

Hardcover. Color photographs throughout.