. She is also a regular contributor to The New York Times, Food Arts Magazine, and Tablet Magazine. Her most recent book is Quiches, Kugels and Couscous: My Search for Jewish Cooking in France
. I received a review copy of this book which tells the story of how Jewish cooking is thriving in France with both traditional dishes and new, contemporary approaches. Quiches, Kugels and Couscous was recently the pick of the week of all books reviewed by Publishers Weekly. Joan will be in Austin, Texas on November 14 for a brunch event as part of the Austin Jewish Book Fair 2010. Although she's been busy with her new book, I knew she would have an interesting answer when I asked what are you reading?Joan:Just recently I was revisiting Lynne Rossetto Kasper's extraordinary book the The Splendid Table: Recipes from Emilia-Romagna, the Heartland of Northern Italian Food
in which she discusses the role of doctors in Bologna introducing foods in the Middle Ages. This book is a real masterpiece of writing, researching, and recipes.I’ve also spent time with Amanda Hesser's The Essential New York Times Cookbook
in which she carefully scrutinized the past to get to the present. Another book I looked at recently was the Community Cookbook from Woonsocket, RI. Written during the second World War by older women when all the men were at war, it is my go to book for old Jewish recipes. In this case I was looking for old cholent (the sabbath covered stew) recipes. Thank you for participating, Joan. Check back to see who answers the question next time and what other books are recommended.Previous WAYR posts:Jaden HairMichael RuhlmanMonica BhideMichael NatkinSara RoahenAndrea NguyenDavid LebovitzRick BaylessTara Austen WeaverMollie KatzenDeborah MadisonSoup PeddlerSara Kate Gillingham-RyanRobb WalshKim SeversonDavid LeiteDan LepardCarolyn Jung
It couldn’t have been better coordinated. Just after reading about persimmons in the latest issue of Edible Austin, we received persimmons in our CSA. A persimmon bundt cake with Italian cream cheese frosting was mentioned along with a salad with toasted walnuts and a persimmon flan. Everything sounded delicious and I’m hanging on to that bundt cake recipe, but I immediately zeroed in on the persimmon martini with fresh ginger, lemon, and a vanilla bean. The cocktail recipe was written with a juicer in mind, and I don’t own one. I pureed the persimmon flesh with lemon juice and grated ginger rather than juicing them. However you do it, the flavors will be fantastic. This cocktail is perfectly suited to the fall season, and I’m already thinking of other ways to combine these well-matched ingredients.I started by scooping the very ripe flesh from four persimmons and picking out the seeds. That went into a food processor with lemon juice, freshly grated ginger, seeds scraped from half a vanilla bean, and a little honey. It was processed until smooth, and then it was stirred with ice and vodka in a cocktail pitcher until well chilled. The ice was strained as the martinis were poured into glasses. If you use a juicer, your fruit mixture will be thinner and should work fine in a cocktail shaker. I learned the hard way that my puree didn’t pour well through the shaker’s strainer. Hence, I transferred it to a pitcher. Once in glasses, the martinis were garnished with half a vanilla bean.
Pickled pumpkin has such a nice ring to it, and that’s what this was supposed to be. The page for this salad had been marked since March when I first got the book My Favorite Ingredients
. I had waited months to try it, and when I had an extra butternut squash and some tomatoes on hand from our CSA, I went for it. With a mix of both winter squash and tomatoes, it’s a perfect cross-over season dish. I’ve enjoyed everything I’ve tried from this book. Interesting flavor combinations and simple, seasonal dishes keep me coming back to it. The chapters in the book are organized by ingredient, and this salad is from the vinegar chapter. The butternut squash was pickled in red wine vinegar, and the salad was finished with aged balsamic. The vinegars were balanced by the sweetness of the squash and slow-roasted tomatoes and the beautiful, creamy, fresh burrata.To begin, you should pop the tomatoes in the oven since they slow-roast for three to four hours. Of course, this can be done in advance, and the tomatoes can be stored in the refrigerator. Halved tomatoes were sprinkled with salt and pepper and roasted at 250 degrees F until shriveled with concentrated flavor. For the pickles, sugar was combined with red wine vinegar, a bottle of dry, white wine, some bay leaves, coriander seeds, fennel seeds, a bunch of thyme, and a hot chile. The mixture was warmed until the sugar dissolved while the butternut squash was seeded and sliced. The peel was left on the squash to keep the thin pieces intact while cooking. The squash slices were placed in the pickling liquid where they simmered for about an hour and then were allowed to cool. I picked the squash pickles out of the liquid and strained the liquid back over the pickles before storing them in the refrigerator. Readying the tomatoes and pickles took some time, but it was mostly waiting time. Then, putting together the salad was a breeze. The dressing for the salad was a mix of fresh oregano leaves chopped with some salt and combined with lemon juice and olive oil. The pickled squash and roasted tomatoes were arranged on plates and topped with burrata, that was drizzled with the oregano dressing, and then aged balsamic was dribbled on the plate. 
