It has been 12 years since Susie Fishbein first burst into our lives with Kosher by Design, a full color cookbook that challenged kosher cooks to step things up a notch while simultaneously wooing them with irresistibly compelling photographs that begged to be made. Suddenly, kosher cooks realized they were capable of much more than plain roast chicken and basic rice with canned mushrooms and onion soup mix. They responded enthusiastically to Kosher by Design, and Fishbein found herself an instant celebrity and the newly anointed Queen of Kosher.
Much has happened since 2003. Fishbein churned out seven more books, focusing on various topics including Passover, lighter fare, time-saving recipes and two books geared towards younger audiences. Additionally, the kosher cooking world has undergone a huge transformation, with new names and fresh talents emerging month after month and over the past decade dozens of sensational new cookbooks, loaded with original creative recipes and exquisite pictures, have been published.
Kosher by Design Brings it Home, an ArtScroll publication, is the ninth and final installment in the Kosher by Design series and there is no doubt that Fishbein has saved the best for last. Inspired both literally and figuratively by her culinary travels over the past six years, Fishbein takes us far beyond her cozy New Jersey kitchen and shares recipes gleaned, cajoled and wheedled out of chefs in Israel, France, Mexico, Italy and throughout North America. The results may just knock your socks off: 113 cross-cultural recipes combining the familiar with the exotic, giving readers the ability to take a trip around the world without ever leaving the comfort of their own kitchens.
While I typically provide an overview of a cookbook, followed by a brief peek into the layout and chapters and a glimpse at some of the recipes that really caught my eye, in this case I find the need to break with tradition. Let’s face it, logic and procedure go out the window when you find yourself face to face with a picture of Fishbein’s Italian influenced Nutella peanut butter cheesecake. (For those of you who aren’t familiar with this dangerously addictive chocolate hazelnut spread, I suggest you stop reading right now and head for your nearest supermarket, grocery, Target or Walmart and grab a jar of creamy brown heaven so that you can taste it for yourself, one decadent spoonful at a time.) Now, imagine a brown sugar and Nutella crust, topped with a cheesecake filling and a layer of Nutella-peanut butter-cheesecake filling and glazed with, you guessed it, Nutella. If you are anything like me, the calories from that picture are going to migrate straight to your waist and I think this recipe alone makes Kosher by Design Brings it Home worth buying although, thankfully, there are quite a few other recipes that are equally mesmerizing.
The distinctive cheddar ale soup, made with lager, cream cheese, a cheddar-mozzarella blend, leeks, Spanish onions and Dijon mustard was inspired by a visit to Wisconsin, a state with a long history of cheese production. It’s hard not to be tempted by the petit farcie, a specialty of the Provence region of France, featuring an assortment of vegetables including whole eggplants, spherical zucchinis and bell peppers stuffed with seasoned Merguez sausage – an spicy North African ground lamb and beef combo. The sensationally gooey mozzarella in carrozza, dripping with melted fresh Buffalo mozzarella, is described as what would happen “if French toast married grilled cheese.” And back to the desserts for just a quick minute, the lemon tiramisu, a nod towards the exquisite lemons that grow on Italy’s Amalfi coast, is gloriously irresistible with layers of whipped cream, fresh lemon curd and Limoncello-soaked ladyfingers.