Celebrating the Festival of Lights

My Jewish grandmother’s comfort-food classics are stellar, from chopped liver and tongue to matzo ball soup and brisket. She was an ace in the kitchen, rendering her own chicken fat for her recipes and giving me the cracklings to snack on when they were crispy and the fat was clear and golden. Her postage stamp of a kitchen at 411 West End Avenue was where I learned to pay attention to what was being cooked and served – she taught me to cook by osmosis. She was an observant Jew and for the holidays she served teeny rounds of challah, schmeared with Oleo and topped with anchovy. Her poached and roasted tongue with mustard sauce was a work of art, her roasted chicken still stands alone in my poultry pantheon. I serve her chopped liver recipe and her potato pancakes to this day. I always imagined that when I grew up, holidays would be different in my house, but history has a happy way of repeating itself.

Here are some holiday treats for everyone looking to celebrate the Festival of Lights. Hanukkah is a great time to share food with friends and family and I have received dozens of emails asking for some great recipes, so here you go. I should tell you, the potato pancakes are so good, posting this recipe alone is a mitzvah of the highest order. Bubbelah, you should always trust me with this stuff.

My Favorite Recipes:

Sephardic Eggplant Salad
Henriette’s Chopped Chicken Liver
Potato Pancakes
Noodle Kugel
Stuffed Cabbage with Veal, Currants and Pistachios
Brisket ‘A La Giuda’
Almond and Orange Cake with Poached Plum Compote