Recipes By Joan Nathan
152 recipes found
Apple Prune Cardamom Cake
This prune apple cardamom cake by the chef Genevieve Gergis was inspired by sticky toffee pudding, a dish that her husband and business partner, the chef Ori Menashe, loves. It’s on the menu at their restaurant Bavel in Los Angeles, where it’s served hot from the oven with date toffee sauce and whipped cream. You can serve this cake version with your favorite toffee or caramel sauce and ice cream. It makes a lovely dessert after a Rosh Hashana supper or as part of a spread to break the Yom Kippur fast.
Orange-Cranberry Glazed Cake
This orange cranberry cake is a gift to the holiday baker. It can be made ahead. It travels well. And it can be brought out any time of day — with coffee or tea in the morning or afternoon, or with Cognac or plum brandy after dinner. Dried cranberries add a jaunty burst of color that is especially nice for the most festive time of year. Don’t worry if all the glaze doesn’t stick; that is the charm of this cake.
Caramelized Onion and Poppy Seed Hamantaschen
Traditionally filled with apricot, prune or poppy seed jam, triangular hamantaschen cookies are a prized treat for the Jewish holiday of Purim. This dessert serves as a reminder of the Jewish people’s deliverance from Haman, who sought to exterminate Persia’s Jews in the fifth century B.C. This recipe is fully savory, tucking crumbled feta under thyme-scented caramelized onions, but you could just as easily fill the buttery dough with sweet jam to please traditionalists. When forming hamantaschen pastries, make sure to leave an opening wide enough for the filling to be visible but small enough to retain moisture.
Plum Almond Tart
This beautiful plum tart, adapted from the pastry chef Alex Levin of Osteria Morini in Washington, brings together a sablé butter crust flavored with vanilla bean; colorful, juicy plum slices; and an almond cream filling with a lovely flavor that complements the fruit. Using confectioners' sugar in the crust gives you a texture that is finer and smoother than if you use granulated sugar. And the sugar in the crust and filling removes the need to sweeten the plums (which in turn means the fruit juices won't leach into the dough) — though you'll want to sprinkle a little turbinado sugar over the top for added crunch.
Chicken Matzo Ball Stew
Matzo balls spiced with ginger and nutmeg transform this hearty, earthy stew into a nourishing one-pot dinner, reminiscent of chicken and dumplings but much lighter and simpler to make. The process of chilling the broth and skimming the fat is the only part requiring much attention, but it also means that this meal can be made almost entirely ahead of time. You can use the skimmed fat to add more flavor to the matzo balls, but if you don’t have the time, just use olive oil instead, or buy some schmaltz. If you have leftover Thanksgiving turkey, you can also use it here in place of the chicken, and skip Step 1. Just add enough stock so that the stew is the consistency you like.
Baron Bagels
Dan Graf, a genetics major who dropped out of Rutgers, founded Baron Baking in Oakland, Calif., after working in a delicatessen. The son of a Bergen County, N.J., contractor, he grew up accompanying his father to jobs on weekends. Stopping for bagels was part of the ritual. After moving to California, he worked for two years at Saul’s Restaurant and Delicatessen in Berkeley, where he became fascinated with baking. He began baking bagels in his apartment and eventually won an account with his former employer. There are all kinds of bagels; Mr. Graf’s has a chewy bite and an almost pretzel-like crust. This is his recipe.
Exciting Noodle Kugel
This savory kugel, a Jewish baked noodle pudding, comes from a 1950 spiral-bound cookbook that was compiled by the women of a synagogue in suburban Larchmont, N.Y. They called it Exciting Baked Noodles, and it included what were then considered secret ingredients: Worcestershire and Tabasco sauce. To update it, use high-quality pappardelle egg noodles, which add richness. A sprinkling of chives brings flecks of color to the finished casserole.
Fennel and Orange-Scented Challah
My challah varies according to the weather and my whim. The basic formula has changed through the years; I use less sugar and oil now and fewer eggs. The key is knowing that you can always add more flour to your dough if it is too sticky, but it is hard to make a soft dough if you start off with too much flour. I take mine out of the mixer when it is tacky and work the extra flour in with my hands.
Provençal Haroseth for Passover
This is a 13th-century haroseth recipe from Provence, using the Mediterranean fruits and nuts that are still available in the region. Back then, Jewish families would have saved chestnuts from the fall harvest and roasted or boiled them for this springtime Passover recipe — and then laboriously peeled them by hand — but now you can buy cooked, pre-peeled chestnuts any time.
Apple Preserves With Cardamom
This apple compote with cardamom is a welcome addition to the Rosh Hashana table. Some Iraqi Jews substitute rose water for the cardamom. After the prayer over the new fruit of the year, they eat a symbolic spoonful of the sweet preserves.
French Potato Pancakes
When the chef Daniel Rose was growing up, his mother would make potato pancakes the first and the last three nights of Hanukkah. These latkes are inspired by the French classic pommes Darphin, but the addition of onions puts them in a category all their own.
Mashed Potato Latkes With Dill and Shallots
Latkes from grated potatoes are traditional and crispy. But I like this baked potato version because the flavor of the potatoes shines through, punched up with the pronounced seasoning of dill and parsley.
Haroseth With Chestnuts, Pine Nuts, Pears and Dried Fruits
Haroseth was served for Passover at Seders in Roman times, if not earlier, and versions exist all over the world, adapted for the fruits and nuts available. This recipe from Italy contains no spices, relying instead on a vibrant mix of fresh and dried fruit for flavor — so use the ripest and sweetest you can find.
Smoked Bulgur and Pomegranate Salad
This colorful and flavorful mountain of bulgur, flecked with pomegranates, walnuts and herbs, is typical of the out-of-the box thinking of the chef Ori Menashe. He learned how to char vegetables in a heavy pan from chefs from Mexico City, who did a pop-up at his Los Angeles restaurant Bestia before it opened and showed him their technique for adding a smoky flavor to rice. (Libyan and Egyptian cooks also have started stews this way for centuries.) Just be careful about the hot pepper as it chars; it might make you cough, so keep the window open for the 6 minutes it takes to do this. This recipe yields 8 cups of cooked bulgur, but you only need 6 cups for the salad. Use those leftover 2 cups in other salads or add them to soups for heft and texture.
Haroseth
This recipe, adapted from Alon Shaya of Domenica Restaurant, an Italian restaurant in New Orleans, plays on traditional haroseth. Moscato wine takes the place of Manischewitz, and hazelnuts for almonds. A spin on a recipe from Mr. Shaya’s mother, Joan Nathan brought it to The Times in 2011.
Challah Bread Pudding
This bread pudding is a dream of a dish to use up leftover challah, babka, brioche or a mix of day-old breads. (You can even add dry cake!) Bake this as soon as it’s assembled — useful for last-minute brunch — or dip each piece of the bread in the vanilla cream sauce ahead of time, then prop the pieces vertically in an attractive baking dish and refrigerate, so all you have to do the next day is pop the pudding in the oven before bringing it to the table. Not too sweet, the bittersweet chocolate and poppy seeds add a nice touch and taste without overwhelming the vanilla and cinnamon. Your guests will gobble this dish up.
Nana José’s Chocolate Pecan Cake
A Passover flourless chocolate pecan torte, served with berries sweetened with shaved piloncillo, raw Mexican brown sugar, and flavored with lime juice.
Gefilte Fish
If you loathe gefilte fish, that staple of the Seder, it may just be that you've never had it homemade. In this recipe, created to convert gefilte fish skeptics, the traditional patties are updated with more flavorful fish, and then poached in court-bouillon — that is, a light vegetable broth. Be sure to use a wide pot here; the patties rise to the top as they cook, and you want to give them enough space.
Chocolate and Olive Oil Mousse
Olive oil makes this bittersweet chocolate mousse kosher for a meat meal. Joan Nathan brought the recipe to The Times in 2007. “This is a contemporary dessert from Tangiers, a city with a blend of cultures,” the cookbook author Ana Benarroch de Bensadón said. “Originally this recipe included butter and cream, but we replaced it with olive oil, making it ‘parve’ or neutral.”
Persian Chickpea and Chicken Dumplings
Joan Nathan’s Matzo Chremsel
Braised Brisket With Pomegranate Juice, Chestnuts and Turnips
Fried Matzo
Libyan Aharaimi (Fish in Tomato Sauce)
Traditionally this Libyan Jewish dish is made with tomato paste, water and fish steaks, and served on holidays like Rosh Hashana. This twist on the classic uses the last of the summer tomatoes, reducing their purée into a thick, concentrated gravy. A few added spices make for a tangy sauce in which to poach sea bass or other fish fillets. Be careful to cook the fish just until slightly firm and flaky to ensure it stays tender. Serve it as an appetizer, as Libyans do, or as a main course. A simple bulgur pilaf makes a nice accompaniment.