Recipes Blog

Peppered Pan-Roasted Olives from Cheese Boards to Share Deck: 50 Cards for Stunning Boards & Platters to Style at Home by Thalassa Skinner

Cookbook review by Tracey Zabar

This boxed set of cards has dozens of beautiful photographs of food to place on boards. Delight your guests with these cheese selections and some yummy roasted olives. Next on my list: lovely boards with cow, goat, buffalo, and sheep's milk cheese; a picnic with figs, honey, and blood oranges, and of course cheese; and a recipe for homemade pickles. And then a flatbread with tomatoes; and some nectarine and Serrano pepper paste.

Enter the Giveaway of: Cheese Boards to Share Deck and Zabar's European Collection of Cheese on Instagram (Beginning on Sunday, 9/3 - check back then!) You can also enter by emailing [email protected].

Recipe for Peppered Pan Roasted Olives excerpted with permission from Cheese Boards to Share Deck: 50 Cards for Stunning Boards & Platters to Style at Home by Thalassa Skinner, Photography by Erin Kunkel © Ryland Peters & Small

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Recipe for Fried Rice Balls from The Eternal City: Recipes and Stories from Rome by Maria Pasquale

Cookbook review by Tracey Zabar

Any day in Rome, you can eat pizza three meals a day. Or I can. Add a slice of crostata di marmellata, a tart with jam, or a different one with sour cherries and ricotta, later in the afternoon. There are recipes for these delights in the book, and plenty more. Try making these delightful fried rice balls. Next on my list: grilled lamb cutlets; gnocchi with tomatoes and red mullet; broccoli and potato smash; and zeppole. This beautiful book is almost as good as a trip to the eternal city. Then, go there, wander around, and try some pizza and gelato everywhere you go. 

Enter the Giveaway of: The Eternal City: Recipes and Stories from Rome and Zabar's 4 Cheese Italian Adventure on Instagram (Beginning on Sunday, 7/23 - check back then!) You can also enter by emailing [email protected].

Recipe excerpted with permission from The Eternal City: Recipes and Stories from Rome Maria Pasquale (Smith Street Books)

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Recipe for Chilled Watermelon Soup from Vegan Cooking for Two by America's Test Kitchen

Cookbook review by Tracey Zabar

This cookbook is full of great recipes for little dishes. Try this refreshing summer watermelon soup first. I expanded my recipe repertoire with a grilled vegetable and orzo salad with lemon and basil. There are lots of recipes using fresh ingredients, and tips and clever charts about cooking with grains and spices. Next on my list: stir-fried noodles with mushrooms, snow peas and bell peppers; and yummy-looking fig streusel bars.

Enter the Giveaway of: Vegan Cooking for Two and Zabar's Brownie Bites Box on Instagram (Beginning on Sunday, 6/25 - check back then!) You can also enter by emailing [email protected].

Recipe excerpted with permission from Vegan Cooking for Two by America's Test Kitchen

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Recipe for Charred Fennel with Orange and Honey from Via Carota by Jody Williams and Rita Sodi

Cookbook review by Tracey Zabar

This lovely book will inspire you to go into the kitchen and cook. Break out your grill pan and try this amazing fennel dish first for a new classic addition to your repertoire. Next on my list: Insalata di Arance, salad with oranges, red onions, and olives, and dressed with a sherry vinegar; a salted branzino; and grappa-scented chocolate truffles.

Enter the Giveaway of: Via Carota and Zabar's Classic Sweets & Coffee Bundle on Instagram (Beginning on Sunday, 4/23 - check back then!) You can also enter by emailing [email protected].

From Via Carota: A Celebration of Seasonal Cooking from the Beloved Greenwich Village Restaurant by Jody Williams and Rita Sodi, with Anna Kovel. Copyright ©2022 by Jody Williams and Rita Sodi. Excerpted by permission of Alfred A. Knopf, a division of Penguin Random House LLC. All rights reserved. No part of this excerpt may be reproduced or reprinted without permission in writing from the publisher.

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Recipe for Sweet Dairy Noodle Kugel from Modern Jewish Comfort Food by Shannon Sarna

Cookbook review by Tracey Zabar

This recipe is for a dish I rarely make, because my kids like food to be either sweet or savory, not both. This version is especially dear to my heart, as it is very similar to one that my old friend, Robin, loved as a child. Her family recipe was lost for years until a cousin made it and shared her copy, hand written on an index card by Robin’s mother herself. Now you can make it for your family to start a sweet new year. Next on my list: Stuffed cabbage from Eastern Europe, or maybe stuffed onions from Syria. Then, coconut-crusted schnitzel fingers and an adorable confetti mandel bread for Brody, the littlest Zabar.

Enter the Giveaway of: Modern Jewish Comfort Food by Shannon Sarna and Apples and Honey Crate (Kosher) on Instagram (Beginning on Sunday, 9/18 - check back then!) You can also enter by emailing [email protected].

Recipe excerpted with permission from Modern Jewish Comfort Food by Shannon Sarna (The Countryman Press)

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Recipe for Orange Salad with Dates, Chillies and Preserved Lemon from The Levantine Table by Ghillie Basan

Cookbook review by Tracey Zabar

This book is filled with recipes for Middle Eastern food, perfect for summer meals. The salad is a refreshing start to dinner—I served the chillies on the side. Next on my list: a carrot and caraway purée with yoghurt; a pide bread, sprinkled with nigella seeds; a lovely poached fish with saffron rice and caviar; and for dessert, an interesting rice pudding.

Enter the Giveaway of: The Levantine Table by Ghillie Basan and Zabar's Fruit & Nut Tote on Instagram (Beginning on Sunday, 8/14 - check back then!)
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Recipe excerpted with permission from The Levantine Table: Vibrant and Delicious Recipes from the Eastern Mediterranean and Beyond by Ghillie Basan, Photography by Steve Painter © Ryland Peters & Small

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Recipe for Garlic and Herb Cream Cheese Spread from Boards by America’s Test Kitchen

Cookbook review by Tracey Zabar

This book is filled with ideas for platters of food you can set out for your next brunch, drinks party, or cookie swap. Try one of these cream cheese spreads with your nova and bagel sandwich. Next on my list: a cheese board and grilled vegetable platter. And some pretty cute cookies for dessert.

Recipe excerpted with permission from Boards by America’s Test Kitchen

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Recipe for Pat's Pancakes from Always Home by Fanny Singer

Cookbook review by Tracey Zabar

This memoir is sweet. I loved Fanny Singer’s stories of her childhood. Imagine Alice Waters packing your lunchbox. The memories are lovely, and the recipes tempting. Next on my list: a fruit galette, and the charmingly named egg fried in a spoon in the fireplace. Have fun making these pancakes.

Recipe excerpted with permission from Always Home by Fanny Singer (Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group)

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Recipe for Cheese Blintzes with Blueberry Sauce from Zabar’s: A Family Story, with Recipes by Lori Zabar

Cookbook review by Tracey Zabar

Grandma Lilly Zabar left me an enormous pile of dessert dishes and ice cream bowls. Every Sunday, my large and still growing family gathers around the table for lunch, and we fill those dishes with dessert, often birthday cake, Lilly’s blintzes, or my cookies. Whenever Lori Zabar shared a meal with us, she would reminisce about her summer birthdays, celebrated with cake in those very dishes. 

We lost our dear Lori a few months ago, but she left us with countless memories of her smile and her laughter, and this book, her memoir of the Zabar family and the store. We will miss her forever.

Portrait of Louis & Lillian Zabar

From Zabar’s: A Family Story, with Recipes by Lori Zabar. Copyright © 2022 by Lori Zabar. Excerpted by permission of Schocken, a division of Penguin Random House LLC. All rights reserved. No part of this excerpt may be reproduced or reprinted without permission in writing from the publisher.

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Recipe for Kir Royale from The Cocktail Deck of Cards by Elouise Anders

Illustrations by Sarah Hankinson
Cookbook review by Tracey Zabar

This box of recipe cards has cocktails galore to toast the new year. Each one is illustrated with a lovely watercolor. Try this champagne/berry mixture. Happy 2022!

Recipe excerpted with permission from The Cocktail Deck of Cards by Elouise Anders, illustrations by Sarah Hankinson (Smith Street Books)

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