Zabar's Blog

Recipe for Israeli Couscous with Pecans and Apricots

from Modern Freezer Meals by Ali Rosen

Cookbook review by Tracey Zabar

This book is full of wonderful recipes that you can eat right away or freeze—perfect for making a big batch and defrosting single servings. I was enchanted with the recipe for pesto, using the bounty of basil and other herbs from your garden. Cook up the pesto, cool and scoop into ice cube trays. Dump the frozen cubes into a zip-top plastic bag, and freeze. Don’t forget to label the bag, and you can have garden-fresh sauce all winter long. Amazingly clever. 

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Recipe excerpted with permission from Modern Freezer Meals by Ali Rosen (Skyhorse Publishing)

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Recipe for Peach and Tomato Salad

Cookbook review by Tracey Zabar

This is the perfect salad for a hot, summer lunch. I love the addition of cut-up mozzarella. Add a crusty bread and then all you will need is a little handful of trail mix cookies and some sweet ice tea for dessert.

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Recipe excerpted with permission from The Complete Plant Based Cookbook by America’s Test Kitchen

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Recipe for Grilled stone fruits with rosemary and rose syrup

Cookbook review by Tracey Zabar

This fun book is filled with wonderful stories, recipes, and photographs from Israel, Egypt, Jordan, Turkey, and Greece. It will inspire you to grill tomatoes, corn, eggplant, and a whole fish or two. Of course, there are lamb kebabs and chops, served with spicy sauces or hummus. And these delicious, sweet fruits. Fire up the barbecue and start grilling!

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Recipe excerpted with permission from from Honey & Co Chasing Smoke by Sarit Packer & Itamar Srulovich (Pavilion)

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Recipe for Pea Velouté

Cookbook review by Tracey Zabar

This lovely soup is a snap to make. I fished the bay leaf out at the end, before blending it. You can spice it up with the addition of chilli flakes galore, or spice it down with none. I love the mint floating on top. On my list for the next week: for a breakfast, some cinnamon buns; for a lunch, gravadlax with a wonderful oniony cucumber salad sprinkled with chopped pickle; for a dinner, a chicken, leek and mushroom pot pie; and for a dessert: a lemon drizzle cake. 

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Recipes excerpted with permission from The Shortcut Cook by Rosie Reynolds published by Hardie Grant Books, February 2021

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Recipe for Everything Oil

Cookbook review by Tracey Zabar

This book is filled with wonderful stories and enticing vegetarian recipes. I was intrigued by the jammy, soft-cooked eggs, made with tea or beets. Make this oil, as spicy as you like, for salads and cooking. Next on my list: fried rice, with peas and ginger; sesame rice noodles made with today’s everything oil and charred broccoli; and a sweet French toast.

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Recipe excerpted with permission from To Asia, With Love, by Hetty McKinnon, published by Prestel.

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Recipe for Breakfast Tart

Cookbook review by Tracey Zabar
Recipes by Kathy Kordalis, photo by Mowie Kay © Ryland Peters & Small

Here’s a super lazy way to have a backyard gathering: give your friends copies of this cookbook, and ask each to make a recipe from it for a wonderful pot-luck brunch at your house. Set the picnic table, mix some mimosas, iced tea and coffee, and whip up this breakfast tart and one of the amazing French toasts from the book. Invite me, and I’ll help with the dishes.

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Recipe excerpted with permission from Lazy Day Brunches: Relaxed Recipes for the Morning, Ryland Peters & Small

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Recipe for Vegetable-Topped Mini Schiacciata

from Florentine by Emiko Davies
Cookbook review by Tracey Zabar

This lovely book, filled with stories and recipes, was like a trip back to Italy. Today’s recipe for schiacciatine makes a platter full of adorable little veggie-covered savory treats. Next on my list: Italian meatloaf, fried chicken, and pastas and gnocchi galore. Which to choose? Sweet crostini with pears and walnuts, or maybe individual rice/risotto puddings, for dessert. I know my kids’ answer will be both.

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Recipe excerpted with permission from Florentine by Emiko Davies, published by Hardie Grant Books, February 2021

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Recipe for Vegetable and Orzo Tian from The Complete One Pot by America's Test Kitchen

Cookbook review by Tracey Zabar

This book is bursting with simple recipes for dinner. What’s easier than a meal made in one pot? Try this gorgeous veggie dish first. Then, maybe a meat pie or black bean soup. Next on my list: salmon with Mediterranean rice salad and spanakopita. There are also some yummy desserts here, such as a baked apple, stuffed with cherries and hazelnuts; and my old friend, blueberry pie, baked in a skillet.

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Recipe excerpted with permission from The Complete One Pot by America's Test Kitchen

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Recipe for Popovers

Cookbook review by Tracey Zabar

There are dozens of yummy things to make in this wonderful cookbook. Try my favorite: Popovers are a magical baking wonder. You mix some ingredients, scrape the batter in the wells in a pan, and bake rolls that rise high and are light and airy. And they’re so good! In our house, we eat them dolloped with French butter and raspberry or fig preserves. What a sweet way to start the day.

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Excerpted from The King Arthur Baking Company’s All-Purpose Baker’s Companion: Revised and Updated. Copyright © 2021, 2003 by The King Arthur Baking Company, Inc. Photography by Liz Neily. Reproduced by permission of The Countryman Press, a Division of W.W. Norton & Company. All rights reserved.

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Recipe for Potato Galette

Cookbook review by Tracey Zabar

This cookbook is an armchair traveler’s dream. The recipes and stories are from New Zealand and Australia, with a little bit of Finland sprinkled in. Today’s recipe is a perfectly British potato galette, made in a skillet. In the book, there is food from the wild island of Tasmania, such as rooster and wallaby, that you won’t find in my kitchen, but I do love reading about interesting culinary adventures. And there is an intriguing chocolate and "liquorice" cake that is next on my list.

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Recipe excerpted with permission from How Wild Things Are by Analiese Gregory, photographs by Adam Gibson. Published by Hardie Grant Books February 2021.

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