Little Book of Jewish Appetizers

To Max Elisha

The Little Book series is a collection of thematic Jewish cookbooks that will be published serially. Each book will include a bite-size collection of meticulously curated and globally inspired Jewish recipes. Packaged in slim, gorgeously designed books, a single volume—or the whole series—will fit perfectly on and enhance any cookbook shelf.

Text copyright © 2017 by Leah Koenig.

Photographs copyright © 2017 by Chronicle Books LLC.

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any form without written permission from the publisher.

ISBN 978-1-4521-6308-6 (epub, mobi)

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data available.

ISBN 978-1-4521-5913-3 (hc)

Designed by Vanessa Dina

Photographs by Linda Pugliese

Prop styling by Paige Hicks

Food styling by Carrie Purcell

Typesetting by Frank Brayton

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INTRODUCTION 8

CHAPTER 1

FRESH, TOASTED, PICKLED 11

Chopped Egg and Caramelized Onion Spread 12

Vegetarian Chopped Liver with Shallots 15

Smoky Sweet Potato Hummus 19

NEXT-LEVEL DIPPERS 22

Eggplant Carpaccio 23

Green Matbucha 26

Muhammara 29

Perfect Tzatziki 33

Moroccan Orange and Black Olive Salad 36

Everything-Spice Rye Crackers 39

Za’atar-Garlic Pita Chips 43

Borscht Crostini 46

Smoked Trout Canapés 51

Pickled Cherry Tomatoes 52

Beet-Pickled Turnips 55

A JEWISH CHEESE PLATE 58

THE CHEESES 59

Braided Cheese 59

Farmer Cheese 59

Feta 59

Fresh Goat Cheese 60

Halloumi 60

Kashkaval 60

Labneh 60

EVERYTHING ELSE 61

CHAPTER 2

COOKED, FRIED, BAKED 63

Barley-Stuffed Mushrooms 65

Persian Zucchini and Herb Frittata 68

Fried Artichoke Hearts 73

Shiitake and Scallion Falafel 75

ROUNDING OUT YOUR APPETIZER SPREAD 79

Albóndigas 80

Fried Gefilte Fish 84

Potato and Red Onion Knishes 89

Sweet Cheese and Fig Strudel 94

Mushroom Piroshki 99

Butternut Bichak 103

Spinach Bulemas 107

Lahmajun 113

PAIRING IDEAS 117

UPDATED FORSPEIS SPREAD 117

MIDDLE EASTERN MEZZE SPREAD 118

ELEGANT DINNER PARTY HORS D’OEUVRES 119

COCKTAIL PARTY 120

HANUKKAH PARTY APPETIZERS 121

SURPRISE VISITOR SNACKS 122

INGREDIENT GLOSSARY AND SOURCES 125

Artisanal Cheese 125

Chickpea Flour 125

Harissa Paste 126

Oil-Cured Black Olives 126

Pomegranate Molasses 126

Smoked Trout 127

Tahini 127

Vermouth 127

Za’atar 128

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS 129

INDEX 131

About the Author 136

INTRODUCTION

Jewish cuisine is filled with showstopping dishes. Think of a bowl of golden, fat-glistening matzo ball soup, a towering pastrami sandwich streaked with mustard, or the grandeur of a platter of Persian rice, with its gloriously crisp and bronzed cap. These foods are celebrations. They are events. They are meals unto themselves. But behind every great dinner—or more precisely, before it—there’s a great appetizer.

In Yiddish, the word for appetizer is forspeis (pronounced FOR-shpice). Rooted in the German phrase for before food, forspeisn are small offerings—a slice of gefilte fish, say, or a bit of chopped liver—served before the main course to quiet the belly’s rumblings and set the stage for the meal.

Middle Eastern and Mediterranean cuisines share a related, though usually more flamboyantly executed, concept called mezze. A typical Sephardi Shabbat dinner is precluded by an overwhelming parade of spreads, vegetables, and small plates. From the tangy red pepper, pomegranate, and walnut dip called muhammara to pickled turnips and smoky charred eggplant drizzled with tahini, the selection can swell to more than a dozen distinct offerings on a single table.

Despite my attempts to exercise a little restraint, I find it almost impossible not to fill up on the appetizer course. But I’m okay with that. Regardless of what masterpieces the cook has up his or her sleeve, these first dishes are the inevitable highlight of the meal. They are like the comedian who warms up the crowd before the featured act and ends up stealing the show.

Beyond the dinner table, Jewish cuisine is filled with countless other little nibbles, snacks, party fare, and between-meal foods. These dishes—a still-warm knish or piece of strudel tucked into a child’s hand on the way out the door, a plate of buttercream-rich hummus split with a friend for an afternoon nosh, or a perfect bite of spicy, Sephardi-style meatball plucked from a platter at a cocktail party— are a compelling reminder that food doesn’t need to be big and bold to be magnificent.

The Little Book of Jewish Appetizers, the first of Chronicle Books’ Little Book cookbook series, is my ode to Jewish cuisine’s smallest delights. The recipes span the globe from Morocco (Moroccan Orange and Black Olive Salad, page 36) and Manhattan (Smoked Trout Canapés, page 51) to Russia (Mushroom Piroshki, page 99) and Rome (Fried Artichoke Hearts, page 73) to capture the tradition’s ultimate appetizers. They include both classic dishes (Chopped Egg and Caramelized Onion Spread, page 12; Lahmajun, page 113; Perfect Tzatziki, page 33) as well as creative spins on traditional flavors