We go with a less-is-more approach… warm challah, dips, Moroccan salmon, soup, and a satisfying dessert
Photography by Sina Mizrahi
For the first few years after I got married, I was making these elaborate Shabbos menus (to impress my husband?), and he was so nice and ate everything I served. Eventually, he admitted that he was so full after the soup that it wasn’t enjoyable to eat another course. I was so relieved because I’d always hated that super-stuffed Friday-night feeling, and I also wanted to spend less time in the kitchen. Now I keep it basic when it’s just us for Shabbos.
Almost everything is homemade… growing up in a chef house made me very discerning about good food (my mother is the owner and chef of Primavera in Monsey). We go with a less-is-more approach… warm challah, dips, Moroccan salmon, soup, and a satisfying dessert like warm chocolate chip cookies and ice cream. For lunch it’s challah, fewer dips, fresh salads, a small cholent with add-ins like homemade kishke and hard-boiled eggs, and dessert. Aside from the eggplant, I make the dips once every few weeks and they keep great in the fridge.
Most weeks I make a six-cup recipe that has us covered for one shabbos, plus some rolls for the kids’ lunches during the week. Once in a while I’ll do a full five-pound recipe, when we’re having a lot of company or if I’m asked to take challah as a zechus for someone.
We usually save the hosting for Shabbos lunch, and there’s a big kiddush every week in shul, so I like to serve lots and lots of light, refreshing salads and keep the main course as light as Jewishly possible with something different like pareve quiche and a fruity drink. Then I do a big dessert spread. I find that dessert becomes the longest course, as guests we didn’t know beforehand have warmed up (living in Vegas, we get a lot of tourists and friends of friends of friends…). We’re getting to the good parts of conversation, and no one is struggling to get the kids to the table anymore, so it’s more relaxing.
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