I’ve been following Renee Muller for years, and when word got out that she was coming out with a cookbook, I knew it would be something special. You see, Renee doesn’t see food like the rest of us. To her, a table is a canvas, and each dish is another way to paint a beautiful picture. Renee is a food stylist par excellence and her magazines spreads are jaw dropping. I knew the photography would be out of this world, but I was in for even more. In Our Table, Renee invites us to experience the joy of eating memorable meals together, something she cherishes from her upbringing in Lugano, Switzerland. Her recipes are homey, family friendly and diverse. She’s got a little something for everyone – part healthy, part indulgent, some easy and some more complicated. The Chapters span the basics from appetizers and soups/salads to fish/dairy, meat/chicken, snack/sides, breads/cakes/cookies and desserts.
Beautiful photography and a range of mouthwatering recipes wasn’t enough for Renee. So she created a guide with never-before-seen video tutorials of some of her most popular recipes. From “how to stuff cabbage” to “how to cut caramels”, “how to make gnocchi” to “how to braid challah”, these videos are not just visually stunning, they are informative too. (You can watch them here!) You’ll also find a Pesach guide in the book to help you easily adjust many of the recipes and make them holiday approved.
I’ve already tried Renee’s seared tuna cubes over the holidays to rave reviews, but I’m looking forward to trying the broccoli winter salad below, the gnocchi di casa, sugo della nonna (her grandmother’s Italian marinara sauce), Belgian birthday waffles, lattice minute roast, meat manicotti, honey walnut brittle, irresistible toffee, buttery chocolate scones, deconstructed lemon meringue pie (what an awesome idea!) and more!
Of course I can’t do a cookbook review without giving one lucky winner a chance to own this beauty, so…
To enter to a win a copy of Our Table by Renee Muller,
- Comment on this post and share your most memorable meal or dish.
- For an extra entry, follow Busy In Brooklyn via Facebook, Twitter, Instagram or Pinterest. Just be sure to leave a note in the comment letting me know where you follow.
Giveaway is open to U.S. residents (for international entries, prize can only be shipped in the U.S.). Winner will be chosen at random at 10:00 AM EST on Monday, November 14th, 2016.
Broccoli Winter Salad with Creamy Onion Dressing
from Our Table by Renee Muller
Reproduced with permission from the copyright holders, ArtScroll/Mesorah Publications
1 (14-ounce) bag fresh broccoli, larger florets cut into bite-size pieces
1 (4-ounce) bag baby spinach leaves OR any other lettuce
1 large grapefruit, supremed (see Note)
1 cup pomegranate seeds
1 avocado, cubed
¼ cup roasted, salted cashews
For the dressing
½ cup oil
½ small onion, chopped
3 Tablespoons honey
¼ cup vinegar
1 teaspoon mustard
½ teaspoon salt
In a large bowl, combine broccoli, spinach, grapefruit, pomegranate seeds, avocado, and cashews.
Prepare the dressing: Place all dressing ingredients into a jar. Blend with an immersion blender until creamy. Drizzle over salad right before serving.
NOTE: A supremed citrus fruit is one that supplies the flesh of the fruit only, no membranes, no pith, only perfect segments that will add a touch of elegance to your salad. It requires a little practice, but once you get the hang of it you will find yourself doing it quite often. Start by trimming off the stem end of the fruit, including about 1/4-inch of flesh, using a small sharp knife. Repeat with other end. Arrange fruit to sit flat on a work surface. Following the contour of the fruit, slice away the peel and white pith from top to bottom. You want to make sure the flesh is visible and you are left with no white pith. Working over a bowl or sink, hold the fruit in one hand. With your other hand, cut alongside one membrane and then alongside the adjacent membrane, releasing the supreme. Carefully transfer segments to a bowl. Repeat until all supremes are removed. Now you will be able to taste the fruit only, with no bitterness whatsoever. I find that even my pickiest eater will enjoy an otherwise daunting grapefruit, if served this way. Try it.
from Our Table by Renee Muller
Reproduced with permission from the copyright holders, ArtScroll/Mesorah Publications
For the Dough
14 ounces (3½ sticks) butter OR margarine, softened
4 eggs, at room temperature
2 egg yolks, at room temperature
1 cup sugar
6 cups flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
For the filling
2 (8-ounce) packages cream cheese (not whipped), softened
5 Tablespoons (⅔ stick) butter, softened
⅔ cup sugar
2 teaspoons vanilla sugar
1 egg
1 egg yolk
2 teaspoons cornstarch
confectioners’ sugar, for dusting
In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the dough hook, on medium speed, combine softened butter, eggs, and yolks; beat until butter is broken down a bit, about 2 minutes. Add sugar; continue to mix. Slowly add flour and baking powder. Mix until a nice, soft dough forms. (Dough might seem sticky, but that’s OK, once it’s chilled it will be more manageable.) Divide the dough into 3 parts. Place each part into a separate resealable plastic bag; refrigerate, preferably for a few hours or overnight.
Prepare the filling: In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the whisk attachment, combine all filling ingredients until creamy. Refrigerate until ready to use.
Preheat oven to 350°F. Prepare standard or mini muffin pans.
Using a box grater, grate one piece of well-chilled dough onto a plate. If the dough hasn’t chilled enough, place it into the freezer for a bit. Refrigerate grated dough until ready to use.
Remove remaining dough from the fridge. Working with one piece at a time, roll out dough to ¼-inch thick. Cut rounds with a 3½-inch round cookie cutter or glass. Place rounds into a muffin tin, pushing down and pressing sides to cover all sides. Fill each with a heaping tablespoon of filling.
Place 1-2 tablespoons grated dough over each cheese pocket (be generous; this is what makes the pockets pretty), pressing down gently to attach them to the cheese filling.
Bake cheese pockets, 25-30 minutes, until golden. Let cool; dust with confectioners’ sugar.
My most memorable dish would have to be my father’s meatloaf dinners. My mom made great meals and delicious recipes, but it was always a treat when my dad would break out one of his dinner staples and cook meatloaf and mashed potatoes!
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My most memorable meal is my potato soup and macaroni and cheese. It’s our go to when someone has a bad day, it’s raining, and it’s what I’m always craving!
And I follow BIB on Instagram and Facebook!
Most memorable meal is zucchini soup and matzah balls. Reminds me of all the holdiays spent with family.
I follow you on Facebook!
My most measurable dishes are always the ones that are so simple. Specifically, I love the feeling of seeing my son enjoy my homemade potato kugel. Such a simple dish, but the memories and the generations its goes back warms my heart. I follow you on IG, FB, Twitter, and Pinterest :)
My grandmother’s stuffed cabbage!
I follow you on Facebook, Instagram and Pinterest and love your recipes!
I love my husbands meatballs and mashed potatoes – he makes his familys “secret sauce” and its amazing!
I follow you on FB and instagram.
My most memorable dish was when I made a recipe for fire poppers that I found in a magazine. It tasted like it was made by Dougies and everyone loved it!
Ps. I follow you on Facebook and Instagram
My most memorable meal, or more like treat, would be boiling up milk with hot cocoa, my father would heat the milk in a sauce pan and we would wait for it to boil and rise and quickly shut the stove before it would spill over!
Hi! I follow you on Facebook and instagram.
My most memorable dish is my mother’s chicken paprikash. That dinner was a great way to get in touch with our roots!
I follow you on Instagram and Facebook!
I’ve been eyeing this book recently and have heard amazing things about the recipes would love one
1. My most memomorable meals are holidays with family and my grandmother’s homemade gefilte fish that started with a trip to the fish monger, picking the live fish from the tub, taking home the fish with it’s skin and bones and then chopping the fish by hand and rolling the mixture into shapes which we added to the pot. We were over 20 people and we needed to make A LOT of gefilte fish! Definitely a labor of love.
2.I follow you on Facebook.
Pizza made with kosher prosciutto (and no cheese) in the Rome Ghetto. We were starving after a long trip with limited kosher food, and finding this pizza shop was a godsend.
My grandmother’s stuffed cabbage!
I’m famous for my standing rib roast. I serve it with caramelized carrots, roasted potatoes and a cabernet ketchup relish on the side.
Instagram is where I follow BNB!
Sweet and sour meatballs with spaghetti, my comfort food :)
I follow you on fb!
My most memorable dish would be shakshuka as my mother is isreali and is a staple by us.
My most memorable dish is sesame chicken legs. My nieces and nephews luv it and we make it every time they come. Luv ur blog and I follow you on Instagram.
My most memorable mean is when I made a date night at home restaurant style :)
I also follow you on Facebook
Fried veal chops on Pesach!! I follow you on instagram
I follow you on facebook and on instagram.
my most memorable food….brings me back to my childhood parties…
my aunt would make a “sandwhichon” which is basically large sandwhich bread, cheese, pink sauce (mayo and ketchup) and thin slices of roasted peppers and cheese. there are different variations but its amazing!
Another “childhood party” favorite was “tequenos” which is like motzarella skills but its cheese wrapped in actual dough and then friend.
It’s amazing how food can bring you back to old memories!
My most memorable meal is the first meal at my mother in law. She isn’t a foodie but went out of her way to prepare things I like.the best part. I am a foodie so anything I make for her is “amazing.: I follow bib on facebook. No instagram, I waste so much time on facebook, what would I do if I had instagram tooo
My most memorable meal are those in my hubby’s house. So many delicious recipes (which I really should get from her) but above all her Cornish Pasties (an English favorite) which is a pie crust like dough filled with ground beef and veggies and folded into a semi circle type shape
I follow you on Facebook and Instagram!
My most memorable dish is my mom’s famous tongue. She always makes it for a yt or special occasion. I follow you on Facebook, instagram, pinterest, and twitter.
My favorite childhood meal was Chinese beef and onion. I was so excited when my mom learned how to make a Chinese dish, my favorite cuisine. Now I make it as beef and broccoli. I follow you on Facebook and Instagram and enjoy your blog. This cookbook looks fantastic- I’d love to cook from it.
My most memorable meal has to be the one my husband cooked for us erev Yom Kippur last year. He made buttery cedar planked salmon that was infused with a woodsy smokey flavor and a side of sweet grilled corn on the cob, zucchini, red peppers and onions. The meal was completed with a rustic whole grain bread that was crusty on the outside and soft and chewy on the inside topped with an herb butter. I could have this meal every night of the week! I’m a loyal follower on FB and Instagram and just started following you on Pinterest! Can’t wait!
My kids’ favorite is chive risotto cakes (barefoot contessa). And my mother makes sure to drop by when I make them!
I follow you on instagram!
My most memorable meal is Friday night chicken soup in the freezing winter
(I follow you on instagram and facebook)
There are too many memorable meals to have a favorite – highlights include, latke making w my inlaws, making gefilte fish by hand w my mother, making rainbow pasta w my kids.
my most memorable dishes are the ones my children always ask for on certain holidays – on Peach it’s always fresh squeezed lemonade and chocolate dipped strawberries, sukkos is stuffed zucchini
SO many memorable meals to choose from… But on this day or non-stop rains and endless cups of tea, my heart harkens to tea time at my grandmother’s. There would always be cake and cups of strong Russian tea.
Follow on pinterest
My most memorable cooking is with my kids, they have just started cooking on their own. We are up to Fried Rice, and I love watching my boys make it (now without me).
I follow you on FB, twitter, instantly and Pinterest
My most memorable meal is when my husband and I went to Mikes Bistro in NY for our anniversary a few years ago and had a tasting menu with paired wines. We felt like we were judges on a cooking competition and it was just a lot of fun. I follow you on Facebook and Instagram and would love to win this cookbook!
Thank you for your beautiful and well worded review….I hope you continue to enjoy my book and please tell me how everything works out! having a connoisseur as yourself cook from Our Table is a true honor!
My most memorable meal is my mother’s shabbat dinner from my childhood – chicken soup with matzo balls, london broil, a vegetable which she never made us eat and either brownies or pie for dessert.
My most memorable food is spaghetti and meat sauce. I got sick of it growing up because my mom made it so much, but it has become my family’s go-to comfort food now.
My most memorable meal is cheese fondue and linzer torte for dessert. I could not move for a week
I follow you on all the platforms listed.
My most memorable meal is my birthday meal – roast beef & yorkshire pudding. I’d ask for it every year when I was a kid and now, I used to make it for myself and it’s the only beef I eat.
Most memorable meal is my baked ziti! It saved us last year ;) We were supposed to make my brother a sheva brachos on Motze Shabbos. However, it was the same day as that HUGE snowstorm last year and there was a state of emergency declared. We werent even home but we managed to get to my sister nearby and cooked a bunch of pans of ziti and somehow put together a whole sheva brachos. Everyone really enjoyed it! Zitti is just an easy go to recipe that is Delicious!
My most memorable meal would definitely be my mothers pizza bubble ring! It was a treat we would always beg for and made us forget all about our long day at school!! Now I make it for my husband and he loves it too!
I follow you on instagram!
My most memorable meal is chicken goulash I recently made with chorizo sausages added for flavor. In the 3 years that I’ve been cooking dinners; this was an instant favorite.
I avidly follow your blog and instagram page!
stuffed veal! a favorite growing up…
My first thought for my most memorable meal goes to my grandparents home.
But I think the first time I hosted a shabbos meal in my newlywed apartment was definitely one of my most memorable and proudest meals!
Following on pinterest, Facebook, and instagram
My most memorable meals feature family favorites – brisket on Pesach and beef cabbage soup in the Sukkah. I follow on Facebook.
My most memorable meal is always the same. Fish Salad with freshly made Tartar Sauce. Never a scrap left when served!!
Most memorable meal was following Tzom Gedalia. The fast ended during a flight I was on and the airline didn’t have my kosher meal. All they could offer me was a mealy peach and soda.
The first night of Succos we always have stuffed cabbage, duck w/ an orange sauce and skirt steak w/ onions
I follow you on instagram
My Most memorable meal is my mothers meatballs and spaghetti, whenever I take my kids to my parents house on sunday for supper they request meatballs and spaghetti!
I follow on Instagram!
Mmmm these look delicious. My most memorable meals are when I make my grandmother’s spaghetti recipe. It is so delicious.
I follow your blog.
Most memorable meal…. my grandmother’s stuffed cabbage. It was the best.
My most memorable meal is my father’s special meatballs and spaghetti, no one can make it just like his!
The recipes look great on my tiny phone. I bet the cook book is more useful and lovely! Memorable meal would be blue crab at Pawleys island SC I caught killed and cleaned them myself, then I cooked and ate them with no ill effects!
My most memorable meal is pesach at my parents. Gorgeous cookbook! I follow you on Facebook and Instagram
Most memorable dish is hands down my mother’s’chreimy’, a Libian saucy fish served on Friday night. I follow you on Facebook! Love your posts
My most memorable meal is our usual break the fast dinner. It usually includes, french onion soup, garlic break, fresh salad, and cinnamon buns for dessert!!! All dishes that are amazing any time! I follow you on Instagram and Facebook!
Memorable dish is definitely my mothers potato kugel- she used to make double batches because if she only made one we’d finish it before shabbos even started!
I follow you on Facebook,Instagram, and Pinterest.
My most memorable meal was my mothers pizza bubble ring. It always made us forget about our long day at school. Now I make it for my husband and he loves it too! I follow you on instagram!
Most memorable dish….chicken wellingtons with duck sauce. My mother made it evry sukkos.
Following on facebook and instagram
My most memorable dish is my mom’s potato kugel and stuffed cabbage.
My most memorable meal is meat pizza topped with chicken. I follow you on instagram
Memorable dish – My mom’s Friday night chicken soup.
most memorable meal is probably the first time I cooked supper for my hubby and didnt wash the leek well enough- we kept hearing grains of sand in our teeth….
Most memorable meal is my great aunt Chavkas matzah ball soup. Her kneidlach were the size of tennis balls and soft and perfect.
I follow you on IG and FB 💕
I must say out of all the many dishes I have cooked my favorite so far is the short ribs ravioli. It was like a warm hug to me pasta and meat my favorite food combined into 1 amazing dish. I follow BIB on facebooo and instagram
My most memorable meal is sweet and sour meatballs. Although my mom makes a lot of delicious food, the sweet and sour meatballs came out when we had big family gatherings .
I follow BIB on Instagram! :)
My most memorable meal was my Oma’s potato pancakes– a recipe I have never been able to duplicate. She cooked for an army but there were only the four of us. The rest went to neighbors who devoured them
My most memorable dish is challah. Making it with my kids l’kavod shabbos is an experience that I will always treasure! Thanks for all the great recipes!
My husband and I made a salmon steaks with dijon mustard that we started by searing on the stove in a caste iron skillet and finished in the oven. It was the best salmon I ever tasted. The recipe was from Bon Apetite and I haven’t been able to find it again. (this was around 26 years ago)
I follow you on Facebook and Pinterest.
My Most Memorable dish is tongue gnocchi I had one Purim- It was delicious I drool about it constantly.
I follow you on Instagram
Most memorable dish is chicken soup. Reminds me of good times with my family!
My most memorable meal was when I tried making stuffed cabbage rolls for my mother in law. They came out pretty good.
I follow you on Instagram as @Cezovski9
I remember my mother’s apple pudding. It was made with sliced apples and a crushed cornflakes topping. I guess it tasted like baked apples with a crunchy topping. I use oatmeal, cinnamon and almond flour to make my topping today that is gluten-free. I follow you on facebook, twitter and Instagram.
I’m famous for my standing rib roast, served with caramelized shallots over fingerlings, sauteed broccoli and cabernet ketchup on the side.
And I follow you on Instagram! Love the new stories.
most memorable dishs, my cornbeef – always gets rave reviews and a follow up call asking for the recipe.
i follow you on FB
My son’s bar mitzvah Shabbat meals! (My kids ask me for that chicken Marsala all the time now. )
Also, following on twitter!
Sweet and Sour meatballs will always be a nice memory to me. It brings me back to time spent with my extended family and friends.
I follow you on instagram :)
One of my most memorable meals was when i went out with my date (my hubby now) and he ordered half the store and I ordered a greek salad. I still laugh when I remember the look on his face!
My most memorable meal is my moms delicious Chicken Francaise. I follow BIB on Instagram and Facebook.
My most memorable meal is my mother’s stuffed cabbage. While she doesn’t like to patchker in the kitchen her stuffed cabbage is amazing!
My most memorable dish is sweet potato black bean enchiladas… one of my first “totally from scratch” meals and it actually turned out amazing :)
I follow on Facebook, twitter, and Pinterest :)
I really enjoy your blog . You always come up with such creative and unique ideas!
My mother’s chicken soup… Nothing smells more like home or shabbos than that!
Dairy delicacies my grandmother made for Shavuos when I was younger!
My most memorable meal is the one my
Mom would make each year on the night we’d come home from overnight camp: meatballs and spaghetti!
My most memorable meals was Pizza with soy sausage on it at a Pizza Shop in Wheaton, Maryland. I follow Busy In Brooklyn on Facebook, as well as on your Blog.
I follow on Instagram
My most memorable meal is the first dinner I ever cooked. Was simple chicken and rice but i was one proud newlywed:)
Pizza from scratch is always popular
I follow Busy In Brooklyn via Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and pinterest!!
My most memorable meal is my Savta’s Friday night dinner: chicken soup with matzah balls and noodles, cornflake crumb chicken, brisket, roasted vegetables, and apple crisp! I follow you on Facebook and Instagram and would love to win!
meat cabbage soup on succos in the cold succah
My most memorable meal is my potato kugel Friday afternoon fresh from the oven crispy on the outside and gooey on the inside. I make 6 kugels each week and sometimes need to pull out extras from the freezer. I love making it and love eating it! Before leaving to Israel, my eight year brother asked me to make a kugel “freezer” for my family.
My most memorable meal is my Granny’s zucchini soup. I remember being asked at a magic show, when I was 8 years old, what my favorite food was was. To the crowd’s surprise I answered “zucchini soup”. I think that the magician expected to he was expecting to hear something like pizza or hot dogs, but he never tasted my Granny’s zucchini soup. My Granny is originally from Hungary, and is a real expert at cooking authentic Hungarian cuisine. It’s always a treat when I get to enjoy her fabulous cooking.
My most memorable meal is my mother’s chicken soup. Always made fresh every Friday, I can eat the whole pot! It’s one of my favorite parts of going home. I follow BIB on instagram. Thank you for your great recipes!
Most memorable is my grandmothers spaghetti and meatballs.
I follow on FB – Ellen Casper
I am salivating at the memory of homemade Yemenite melawach with resek (fresh grated tomato) along with shemenet (sour cream) mixed with schug (hot sauce) to taste and tolerance. Add a couple of sliced hard-cooked eggs and perhaps a bit of feta cheese — happy dance!!
My most Memorable meal is sweet potatoe cassarole. So sugary and so good.
I follow on face book.
My most memorable meal was when we ate lemon meringue for Shulchan Aruch at the Peach seder in a hotel. Our waiters came back with dessert, stating that the line for the mains was too long and they would bring that next. The problem was that the clock was ticking and chatzos was near. I think they were quite confused when they brought out the mains and none of us touched it (we had all bentched and ate afikomen).