Passover by Design: picture-perfect kosher by design recipes for the holiday by Susie Fishbein
Photography by John Uher
Stars: *****
I received this cookbook for review. It was also read for the Soup's On Book Challenge. My dad’s family is Jewish and so we go to a Passover dinner, although it’s quite reformed. I’ve never brought a dish myself because I’m still a beginner cook and I wouldn’t have known where to begin to make a good Passover dish.
That’s where this cookbook comes in. The author has other books called Kosher by Design and so 130 recipes from these books have been adjusted for Passover and presented here along with 30 brand-new recipes and a few décor ideas.
Although there are only a few décor ideas, they are very creative and make me want to host Passover. The food looks delicious, John Uher did a fantastic job with his photography of capturing the lure of the food.
The food is separated into sections for Appetizers, Soups, Salads, Poultry, Meat, Fish/Dairy, Side Dishes and Desserts. For each recipe, besides listing the serving size, you will also find a quick note on if it’s Parve or not (parve - containing no meat or milk (or their derivatives) and thus eatable with both meat and dairy dishes according to the dietary laws of Judaism), dairy or meat and if it is “gebrokts” which means if it includes broken matzo or matzo meal mixed with liquid which some Chassidic jews don’t eat. For most of the recipes, a short paragraph before the actual recipe gives tips or explanations of terms or history of the dish. The recipe itself is well written, easy to read and easy to understand. Beautiful photographs, sometimes full-page show you what . For most of the recipes, a short paragraph before the actual recipe gives tips or explanations of terms or history of the dish. The recipe itself is well written, easy to read and easy to understand. Beautiful photographs, sometimes full-page show you what you can expect it to look like. (Although mine would never look that good!)
I was going to try a recipe or two before posting my review but I’m making them for Passover and I wanted to post this review before then in case you wanted to get the book and make something for your Passover dinner.
I also want to say, that you don’t have to be Jewish to like this book. There is no reason why you can’t make these dishes any time of the year, for any reason, Jewish or not. The only thing is that sometimes the Kosher ingredients are more expensive, for example matzo meal instead of flour or potato starch instead of corn starch.
There is also a great index at the back where you can look up an ingredient and see the recipes containing that ingredient; for example all the recipes with olives, or pecans or potatoes. I really enjoyed this cookbook and recommend it to anyone interested in new recipes. Link: Kosher By Design