The Jewish High Holidays are all about family and friends gathering together to share a delicious meal.  And while many people love to celebrate with favorite kosher foods there is no reason why traditional kosher and Jewish recipes can’t be different and unique.  What’s old can become new and fun again with fresh ingredients and unique twists.

Today’s kosher cooking is spicier and bolder than the food most of us grew up eating, with an emphasis on fresh and seasonal ingredients, less processed foods and healthier non-dairy alternatives.  From world-renowned kosher food blog, Busy in Brooklyn, Chanie Apfelbaum, has created a delicious collection of modern, cultural, trendy, and bold dishes that reflect her passion for reinventing traditional foods with a modern vibe with her debut cookbook, Millennial Kosher: Recipes Reinvented for the Modern Palate (Artscroll/Shaar; April 2018). 

“As a mother of five it’s so important to me to carry on family traditions, especially through food,” Chanie explains.  “Everything old can become new again, which is what I have strived for in my book, recreating cultural cuisine with new ingredients. It’s those tastes of home, the delicious aromas from my kitchen, and the memories made around the holiday table that my children will carry with them for generations.”

Millennial Kosher provides home cooks with over 150 innovative recipes for everyday and holiday meals and beautiful color photos for every dish.   For the Jewish High Holidays, home cooks can celebrate with recipes that are influenced by international cultural cuisine and not limited to, but inspired by, kosher guidelines. Yesterday’s margarine is today’s coconut oil, bone broth is the new chicken soup, and the onion soup mix of our youth is replaced with umami-rich porcini mushroom powder. Some of the delicious and unique recipes in the book include:

– Spiralized Beet Salad with Pomegranate Molasses Dressing
– Lokshin & Cabbage with Apples and Honey
– Kofta Stuffed Dates wrapped in Bacon
– Sticky Silan Short Ribs
– Gefilte Fish “Pizza”
– Mushroom Barley Risotto
– Mason Jar Honey Cakes
– Frangipane Fig Galette

“Kosher food is not what it used to be. Millennial kosher ingredients are healthier and more vibrant than ever before,” Chanie says.  “We live in a foodie culture—and the kosher world has followed suit. Kosher consumers are becoming more demanding, and restaurants, supermarkets and cookbooks have no choice but to up their game.”  

Chanie says that this development in kosher food culture has come about mainly from new exotic flavor combinations, bold spices, fresh seasonal flavors and progressive adaptations like kosher bacon and charcuterie.  These culinary ideas are what Chanie superbly showcases in Millennial Kosher.

She believes there is still a place for the kosher comfort foods of our youth but for now it’s time for Millennial Kosher.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR:
Born and raised in a kosher home in Brooklyn, Chanie Apfelbaum grew up eating traditional Jewish foods such as gefilte fish, stuffed cabbage, and matzah ball soup. Today, living just a few blocks from her childhood home, she revisits family favorites and reinvents traditional holiday dishes. Chanie’s creative twists on old-time cuisine prove that kosher fare is anything but old-fashioned. With five little ones in tow, she celebrates her heritage one dish at a time, creating balanced recipes with a modern flair and Middle Eastern vibe.

Chanie works as a recipe developer and food photographer. She is a contributing writer to Mishpacha Magazine’s Family Table and kosher.com, as well as a guest writer for numerous publications and websites. She has been featured in many national publications and media, including The Wall Street Journal, The Huffington Post, News12 Brooklyn, The Meredith Vieira Show, Thrillist, and more.

Chanie also shares her love of food, family, and tradition through fun and educational cooking demonstrations to audiences worldwide.  For the Silo, Trina Kaye.

For the High Holidays, Chanie recommends this delicious recipe to celebrate the sweetness of life:

Honey Roasted Za’atar Chicken with Dried Fruit
When I finally decided to take the cookbook plunge, my biggest challenge was figuring out which “best of the blog” recipes to feature — there are just so many! I’m proud to say that this recipe hooked hundreds of people onto the Middle Eastern spice blend, za’atar. I use it on pita chips, roasted chickpeas, hummus, shakshuka, and garlic confit.
MEAT ▪ Yield 4-5 Servings ▪  Freezer Friendly

10 oz. dried apricots (scant 2 cups)
10 oz. pitted dried prunes (scant 2 cups)
3 Tbsp za’atar
2 Tbsp extra virgin olive oil
4 chicken legs, skin-on
1⁄2 cup dry red wine
kosher salt, to taste
1⁄3 cup honey

1. Preheat oven to 350°F. Spread apricots and prunes into a 9×13-inch pan.
2. In a bowl, combine za’atar and olive oil to create a paste. Rub the za’atar paste over chicken; place chicken on dried fruit. Pour wine around the chicken; sprinkle with salt.
3. Cover tightly with foil; bake for 1 hour.
4. Uncover the pan. Drizzle the chicken with honey. Bake, uncovered, for an additional 30-45 minutes, basting every 10 minutes with the pan juices.

Recipe/photo from Millennial Kosher by Chanie Apfelbaum. Artscroll/Shaar; April 2018         

ISBN #: 9781422620557

Featured image from Millennial Kosher- Raman Shakshuka