Cookbooks
Portico: Cooking and Feasting in Rome's Jewish Kitchen
By: Leah Koenig
W.W. Norton, August, 2023
Portico: Cooking and Feasting in Rome’s Jewish Kitchen features over 100 deeply flavorful recipes and beautiful photographs of Rome’s Jewish community, the oldest in Europe. The city’s Jewish residents have endured many hardships, including 300 years of persecution inside the Roman Jewish Ghetto. Out of this strife grew resilience, a deeply knit community, and a uniquely beguiling cuisine.
Leah Koenig’s recipes showcase the cuisine’s elegantly understated vegetables, saucy braised meats and stews, rustic pastas, resplendent olive oil–fried foods, and never-too-sweet desserts. Home cooks can explore classics of the Roman Jewish repertoire with Stracotto di Manzo (a wine-braised beef stew), Pizza Ebraica (fruit-and-nut-studded bar cookies), and, of course, Carciofi alla Giudia, the quintessential Jewish-style fried artichokes. A standout chapter on fritters―showcasing the unique gift Roman Jews have for delicate frying―includes sweet honey-soaked matzo fritters, fried salt cod, and savory potato pastries (burik) introduced by the thousands of Libyan Jews who immigrated to Rome in the 1960s and ’70s. Every recipe is masterfully tailored to the home cook, while maintaining the flavor and integrity of tradition.
Praise for Portico
"A gorgeous, heartfelt book that shines light on a uniquely delicious corner of Roman cuisine. A fascinating read―and a delight to cook from!" ― Gwyneth Paltrow, actor, CEO goop
"Leah Koenig combines her celebrated research skills and cooking chops with a tenderness that brings Rome’s Jewish recipes and stories to life. ― Adeena Sussman, author of Sababa
"How do you distill Europe’s most ancient Jewish cuisines into a single volume without compromising their richness? Ask Leah Koenig, who has assembled recipes that paint a complete portrait of Rome’s cucina ebraica. ― Katie Parla, author of Food of the Italian Islands
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The Jewish Cookbook
By: Leah Koenig
Phaidon Books, Fall 2019
The Jewish Cookbook is an inspiring celebration of the diversity and breadth of this venerable culinary tradition. A true fusion cuisine, Jewish food evolves constantly to reflect the changing geographies and ingredients of its cooks. Featuring more than 400 home-cooking recipes for everyday and holiday foods from the Middle East to the Americas, Europe, Asia, and Africa - as well as contemporary interpretations by renowned chefs including Yotam Ottolenghi, Michael Solomonov, and Alex Raij - this definitive compendium of Jewish cuisine introduces readers to recipes and culinary traditions from Jewish communities the world over, and is perfect for anyone looking to add international tastes to their table.
Praise for The Jewish Cookbook
-Named a "Best New Cookbook" of Fall 2019 by Food & Wine, Eater, The Kitchn, and Forbes
"A tome spanning the Jewish culinary canon... vibrant, exciting and hunger-inducing." - The Washington Post
"Koenig is a graceful writer [and] this is an excellent, thoughtful entry in Phaidon's expanding lineup of accessible cookbooks."—Publishers Weekly
"Among the recently published books on the topic of Jewish cuisine, Leah's is well researched, comprehensive and extensive, yet accurate." —Benedetta Jasmine Guetta on Shepherd
By: Leah Koenig
Chronicle Books, Summer 2019
The final (and sweetest) installment in the Little Book series, this book focuses on cookies, cakes, and all manner of Jewish treats. With 25 tasty recipes—from Orange-Chocolate Rugelach and Mocha Black-and-White Cookies to Fig Baklava and Cinnamon-Almond Babka—this slim collectible features traditional Jewish desserts . The year-round recipes are perfect for the home baker of any skill level looking to expand their repertoire. A lovely thank-you or holiday gift on its own, this scrumptious book can also be packaged with its two companion volumes (featuring Jewish appetizers and feasts) to round out any meal.
By: Leah Koenig
Chronicle Books, 2018
The second in a series of elegant little books exploring Jewish culinary traditions, this book offers 25 globally-inspired Jewish holiday main dishes to feature at the center of the table. From balsamic and brown sugar brisket to poppy seed chicken schnitzel and wild greens pie, the recipes build on traditional flavors and feature the modern interpretations that Leah is known for. With its charming package and delicious takes on the classics, this book is sure to bring joy to any celebration.
Praise for Little Book of Jewish Feasts
"A highly curated, slim treasure" - Hadassah Magazine
"Leah Koenig is my go to source for Jewish holidays and beyond." - Jenny Rosenstrach, Dinner a Love Story
Little Book of Jewish Appetizers
By: Leah Koenig
Chronicle Books, 2017
The first in a series of elegant little books exploring Jewish culinary traditions, this perfect hostess gift or self-treat takes readers through the most social part of the meal: the appetizers. From borscht crostini and smoked trout canapes to smoky sweet potato hummus and Sephardic meatballs, these 25 contemporary starters draw from global Jewish influences. This book is dainty in size but mighty in delicious recipes.
Praise for Little Book of Jewish Appetizers
"This concise recipe collection of Jewish appetizers offers a new look at the classics." - New York Times
"Instead of a whopping, mountain-size cookbook with recipe after recipe after recipe, this pint-sized volume of small bites packs a mighty punch with select Jewish-inspired appetizers sure to wow a crowd, big or small - The Nosher
Modern Jewish Cooking: Recipes & Customs for Today's Kitchen
By: Leah Koenig / Foreword by Gabriella Gershenson
Chronicle Books, 2015
From a leading voice of the new generation of young Jewish cooks who are reimagining the food of their forebears, this take on the cuisine of the diaspora pays homage to tradition while reflecting the values of the modern-day food movement. Author Leah Koenig shares 175 recipes showcasing handmade, seasonal, vegetable-forward dishes.
Classics of Jewish cuisine—such as latkes, matzoh balls, challah, and hamantaschen—are updated with smart techniques and vibrant spices. Approachable recipes for everything from soups to sweets go beyond the traditional, incorporating regional influences from North Africa to Central Europe. Featuring holiday menus and rich photography, this collection is at once a guide to establishing traditions and a celebration of the way we eat now.
Praise for Modern Jewish Cooking
"Leah Koenig wrote Modern Jewish Cooking with a local, seasonal, multiculti, and veggie-friendly bent that excavates and enlivens a cuisine buried under centuries of tradition (and schmaltz)." - New York Magazine
"Fans of Ottolenghi's Jerusalem will find much to treasure in Koenig's book. Her recipes, designed for the upcoming generation of Jewish cooks, are also a contemporary portrait of the global flavors and simple, fresh ingredients that are shaping the modern kitchen." - Publishers Weekly
"Fans of Jewish cooking - Jewish or not - who want to cook it more often" should buy this book. - Yahoo Food, which named Modern Jewish Cooking "Cookbook of the Week"
"This book excites my palate to both discover the heritage it celebrates and to eat the fresh food Leah advocates." - The Kitchen
The Hadassah Everyday Cookbook: Daily Meals for the Contemporary Jewish Kitchen
By: Leah Koenig / Foreword by Joan Nathan
Rizzoli/Universe, 2011
The Jewish love of eating extends beyond the holiday table to the every day. And while chicken soup and challah sate our appetites on Shabbat, and classics from brisket to latkes grace our celebratory menus, what do we make for dinner on Wednesday night? Or eat for Sunday brunch? The Hadassah Everyday Cookbook answers these questions, sharing over 160 delicious, simple, kosher recipes that are destined to become family favorites.
The book's recipes span the culinary globe, combining iconic American and Jewish tastes with global cuisines. They celebrate seasonal produce and gourmet kosher ingredients, and cater to vegetarians and omnivores alike. Focusing on freshness, flavor and no-fuss technique, The Hadassah Every Day Cookbook brings the flavors of the world—and the farm—to the Jewish kitchen, and beyond.
Praise for Leah and The Hadassah Everyday Cookbook
"Best How-To Books of 2011: cookbook winner." - Library Journal
"This is a big, beautiful book that is also down-to-earth, and completely accessible. Whether you keep kosher or not, we whole-heartedly recommend it!" - TheKitchn.com
“Leah Koenig is one of the rising stars in a new generation of Jewish food writers. She is smart, lovely and modest [and her cooking is] simple, delicious, good for us, and attuned to our times.”
- Joan Nathan, James Beard award-winning cookbook author
“Leah is an engaging storyteller, a diligent, serious researcher, and a recipe developer grounded in tradition but always with an eye toward making the food accessible for a contemporary audience. I've even eaten in her kitchen – delicious. And I've cooked her written recipes – they are as good as they sound.”
- Arthur Schwartz, food writer and cookbook author
“Leah is a young food writer with the soul and culinary instincts of someone who has been cooking for generations.” - Adeena Sussman, food writer and author