Every Friday evening at sunset, the Jewish Sabbath — Shabbat in Hebrew — begins and until sunset the next day it is meant to be a time of rest.
“Instead of the mundane labor that inundated the week, on Shabbat we wrapped ourselves in a voluntary cocoon of peaceful and spiritual tranquility,” wrote cookbook author Adeena Sussman in her newest cookbook, “Shabbat: Recipes and Rituals From My Table to Yours,” published in September by Avery, an imprint of Penguin Random House.
Food was and continues to be a central part of Sussman’s Shabbat practices. Raised in Northern California, Sussman moved to Israel in 2016 and made Aliyah, or officially immigrated to Israel, in 2018. Now her typical Friday morning in Tel Aviv, where she lives with her Israeli husband, Jay Shofet, begins with a visit to the Carmel Market — or shuk — where she gathers seasonal ingredients, then returns home to prepare meals for the weekend.
Sussman is the co-author of 15 cookbooks, four of which have been New York Times bestsellers. She’s been working in the intersection of food and publishing for the better part of 20 years and writing about Israeli food and wine many of those years for publications including The Wall Street Journal, Bon Appétit and The New York Times.
“I really consider myself a recipe developer,” she said. “I’ve developed thousands of recipes in the last 20-plus years for other chefs and for my own cooking platforms and projects.”
Where Sussman’s previous book “Sababa: Fresh, Sunny Flavors From My Israeli Kitchen” celebrates her love of the food, culture, history and people of Israel, “Shabbat” is more focused on not just the Shabbat dishes she grew up with but also the Shabbat foods specific to the international Jewish communities that have immigrated to Israel and become interwoven into the country.
We get an Arabic-Israeli “Sheet-Pan Za-aluk” that features eggplant in a rich tomatoey spread that pairs perfectly with water challah. There’s a P’titim Risotto that straddles Libyan and Italian Jewish culture. Its greenish hue is derived from a confit of greens mixed with Israeli couscous. And she even features Mexican Gefilte Fish in Spicy Tomatillo Sauce from an Israeli couple who met in Oaxaca when she lived with his host family while studying Spanish. They now run a popular taqueria in Israel.
Capturing these flavors was a jumping-off point when Sussman decided to write “Shabbat.”
“Israel is an immigrant culture. And there are both local and immigrant traditions that help comprise what we like to call Israeli food these days,” she explained. “I was looking for another topic that would help me continue to deepen my understanding of my own relationship with Israeli food, Jewish food and cooking — the intersection of those three things.
“Shabbat just kept popping up because it’s an ancient concept that has been brought into modern times. And it’s observed a little bit differently today than it was, but people both maintain their original traditions and have also introduced their own modern dishes and traditions into it.”
Sussman pointed out that the importance of food during Shabbat is based in the importance of people gathering around a table in community.
“I think people are looking for comforting foods right now and reasons to be together. There’s nothing better than a meal to do that. Shabbat is an opportunity and almost a directive to set your phones aside when you walk in the door and elevate your experience by having a quality meal and social experience and something that’s elevated spiritually, whatever that spirituality might mean to you.”
“Shabbat” includes many dishes that can be made, yes, for Shabbat, but also the rest of the week. And, while the featured meal may be Friday night dinner, there’s all of Saturday to consider, too. Sussman takes care of that with intriguing salads, appetizers and dips to nosh on. She doesn’t neglect sweets either. How about Fudgy Medjool Date Brownies or Apricot Tahini Shortbread Bars? You’ll also want to experiment with her Shaken Iced Tahini Coffee and Pomegranate Sumac Margaritas.
While most of us who come from an Eastern European culinary tradition expect an egg challah, potato or noodle kugel, and roasted chicken or brisket as a traditional Shabbat dinner, here we’ve got a bit of a twist: recipes for her Water Challah, a Colorful Vegetable Kugel, and her late mother’s Shabbat Chicken.
I was initially skeptical of the concept of a water challah. This recipe comes from a popular Vishnitz challah factory in Israel. I made it, and it’s both wonderfully crusty and an easy bake. If you’re vegan, rejoice. But its origins are less about avoiding animal products and more about working around prohibitive cost of eggs in 18th- and 19th-century Eastern Europe.
If you’re new to baking, this is a great bread to start with, and Sussman’s instructions are easy to follow. Just start in the morning to give the dough time to rise, and, if your kitchen is cool, heat your oven at the lowest temperature, turn it off and let the dough rise in there.
“Don’t be intimidated,” said Sussman. “You control the bread; the bread doesn’t control you. Handle the dough with confidence.”
The result will be two beautiful, crunchy braided loaves. If that’s one too many, you can easily wrap the second in plastic wrap, then foil, and freeze it after it cools.
Sussman’s Colorful Vegetable Kugel is one of those “why didn’t I think of that!” recipes. This is a dish her mom came up with to take advantage of garden vegetables for a lighter version of savory potato kugel. Here are shredded potatoes, yes, but also colorful summer zucchini and squash, carrots, onions and garlic. Be sure to squeeze as much liquid as you can out of the shredded vegetables. Then mix all the ingredients together, pour into a casserole dish brushed with vegetable oil, and bake. If summer squash isn’t in season, Sussman suggested shredding butternut squash and adding a modest amount of spaghetti squash or other colorful root veggies.
Enjoy the leftovers cold or sliced into pita with lettuce and tomato.
Finally, there’s My Mother’s Shabbat Chicken. I grew up eating roast chicken for Shabbat dinners with my grandparents and family, so I was instinctively drawn to it. Here, this Sussman family staple features chicken pieces smothered in caramelized onions. You’ll bake the sliced onions in the baking dish until they soften, then place chicken pieces over them and season each piece with onion powder, garlic powder, cayenne pepper and paprika — for a deep red skin. Bake for about 50 minutes at 350 degrees, then broil the dish briefly to get even more color on the chicken and a sizzle to the onions, now beautifully schmaltzy.
Sussman’s been on a book tour since before the traumatic events of Oct. 7, and she’s eager to return to Tel Aviv. What will she make for her first Shabbat meal at home?
“Probably a whole fish from the shuk, and challah and a soup,” she said. “I usually let the market be my guide, so I’ll see what I find there. I think persimmons are going to be in the picture as well.”
Colorful Vegetable Kugel
Makes 10 to 12 servings
⅓ cup plus 1 tablespoon vegetable oil
1 pound russet potatoes (2 large potatoes), peeled and shredded
1 pound green, yellow or a combination zucchini (3 medium), shredded
1 tablespoon kosher salt
¾ pound carrots (2 large or 3 medium), peeled and shredded
1 large onion, very thinly sliced
4 garlic cloves, minced
4 large eggs, lightly beaten
¼ cup olive oil
½ cup potato starch or all-purpose flour
½ teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
Preheat the oven to 400 degrees.
Grease a 9-by-13-inch baking dish with the 1 tablespoon of vegetable oil.
Place the shredded potatoes and zucchini in a large bowl with ½ teaspoon of the salt, toss and let sit for 5 minutes.
Arrange a clean kitchen towel on a work surface and place a large handful of the potato-zucchini mixture on the towel. Wrap the towel around the mixture and squeeze out and discard as much excess liquid as you can. Transfer to a large bowl and repeat with the remaining potatoes and zucchini.
Add the carrots, onion, garlic, eggs, olive oil, the remaining ⅓ cup vegetable oil, the potato starch, the remaining 2½ teaspoons salt, and the pepper until everything is incorporated.
Pour into the prepared pan and bake until the top is golden, 1 hour. Cool slightly and cut into squares.
Water Challah
Makes 2 medium challahs
1½ cups (350 grams/ml) warm water (110 degrees to 115 degrees, a little warmer than you think), plus more as needed
3 tablespoons (38 grams) sugar
One ¼-ounce (7-gram) packet active dry yeast (2¼ teaspoons)
3 tablespoons (42 grams/ml) plus 2 teaspoons (10 grams/ml) neutral oil
4¾ cups (618 grams) all-purpose flour, plus more as needed
2½ teaspoons (14 grams) fine sea salt
2 tablespoons (30 grams/ml) almond milk (or other vegan milk of your choice)
2 teaspoons (10 grams) maple syrup or light brown sugar
3 tablespoons (27 grams) nigella seeds, black sesame seeds, poppy seeds, or seeds of your choice
In the bowl of a stand mixer, whisk the warm water and sugar (I use a fork — no need to dirty a whisk). Whisk in the yeast and let it get foamy and fluffy for about 10 minutes (if this doesn’t happen, your yeast is dead. Start over!). Mix in the 3 tablespoons (42 grams/ml) of oil, then add the flour and mix until a shaggy dough forms, adding an additional 1 to 2 tablespoons of warm water, if needed, to help the dough come together.
Scrape any dough from the paddle attachment back to the bowl, then fit the mixer with the dough hook and knead for 2 minutes. Add the salt and continue to knead until the dough is smooth and elastic and pulls away from the sides of the bowl, adding flour by the tablespoon as needed, 5 to 6 minutes; the dough should be moist and plush but not sticky. To knead the dough by hand, dump it onto a lightly floured work surface and knead until the dough is plush but not sticky, 9 to 10 minutes.
Lightly coat a large bowl (it could be the mixer bowl itself) with the remaining 2 teaspoons oil (10 grams/ml), place the ball of dough in the bowl, flip it gently to coat, cover with plastic wrap, and cover with a kitchen towel. Let the dough rise at room temperature until the dough has at least doubled in size (I like mine almost tripled in size), 2 hours to 2 hours 30 minutes in a colder room or 1 hour 30 minutes to 2 hours in a warmer room.
Line a baking sheet with parchment paper. Uncover the dough, turn it out onto the counter and cut it into 2 equal-sized pieces. Divide each half into 3 pieces and roll each one out into a rope about 11 to 12 inches long. Let the logs rest for 5 minutes to allow the gluten to relax. Pinch the top ends of the ropes from half the dough together and braid them, then tuck the ends under, weighing down the pinched end with a chef’s knife to secure the dough. Repeat with the second half of dough. Place the loaves on the parchment-lined baking sheet and let rise, uncovered, until fluffy and high, about 1 hour 30 minutes.
During the last 15 minutes of the second rise, arrange a rack in the center of the oven, and preheat the oven to 365 degrees.
In a small bowl, whisk together the almond milk and maple syrup. Gently brush the tops and sides of the challahs with the liquid, sprinkle with the seeds, and bake until the crust is deeply golden brown and the bottoms sound hollow when tapped, 25 to 30 minutes. Cool before slicing or tearing.
My Mother’s Shabbat Chicken
Makes 4 servings
1 large onion, very thinly sliced (about 2 cups)
1 tablespoon olive oil
1¼ teaspoons kosher salt
½ teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
One 3½- to 4-pound chicken, cut into 8 pieces, patted dry
1 teaspoon onion powder, plus more to taste
1 teaspoon garlic powder, plus more to taste
¼ teaspoon cayenne pepper
1½ teaspoons paprika
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. In a 9-by-13-inch baking dish, toss the onions with the oil and ¼ teaspoon each of the salt and black pepper and evenly spread out the onions on the bottom. Place the onions in the oven and bake until they begin to soften, 10 minutes.
Remove the onions from the oven, place the chicken pieces, skin side up, on top of the onions, and sprinkle with the remaining 1 teaspoon of salt and ¼ teaspoon of black pepper. Sprinkle the onion powder, garlic powder, cayenne and paprika on top (do the paprika last for a beautiful color). Bake until the chicken is cooked through and juicy and the onions are soft and golden, 45 to 50 minutes.
When the chicken is cooked, raise the oven temperature to broil, and broil just until the top darkens in color and the onions sizzle a bit, 2 to 3 minutes. Serve the chicken with the schmaltzy onions.
Adapted from “Shabbat: Recipes and Rituals From My Table to Yours,” by Adeena Sussman (Avery, an imprint of Penguin Publishing Group, a division of Penguin Random House, LLC, September 2023).
Golden is a San Diego freelance food writer and blogger.
