Starters & Sides Made Easy Review & Giveaway

Starters & Sides Made Easy Review & Giveaway

Leah Schapira and Victoria Dwek know a thing or two about food. Leah is the author of Fresh & Easy Kosher Cooking and co-founder of CookKosher.com, and Victoria is the managing editor of Whisk Magazine. The pair are always surrounded by good food, so they decided to join forces and write a cookbook together. Passover Made Easy was their first collection of favorite triple-tested recipes, and now, the two have done it again. They have moved on to create a series of “Made Easy” cookbooks including Starters & Sides as well as Kids Cooking (review coming soon).

There’s something nice about a cookbook series. It’s familiar and you know what you’re gonna get. In the case of the “Made Easy” series, that’s great graphics, building block recipes, plating ideas and great kitchen tips. I especially love the friendly “conversations” that Leah & Victoria have throughout the book. They are set out in speech bubbles, making you feel as if you’re standing in the kitchen with two friends.

Starters & Sides Made Easy starts out with an elaborate spice guide to help guide you through the different herbs, spices and blends. It continues with building block recipes and chapters on vegetables, grains, meat & chicken, fish, dairy and sweet. The book finishes with ideas on how to convert some of the dishes from starters to mains. Each recipe is accompanied by a beautifully composed photo of the dish.

Some of the recipes I look forward to trying, include broccoli stuffed artichokes, sticky red potatoes, Yemenite yellow orzo rice, crispy beef, falafel cigars,  silan chicken salad, tangy tilapia nuggets, parmesan sticks, and whiskey sweet potatoes.

My only issue with this book is the size. I know it sounds weird but it sticks out of my cookbook shelf because it’s wider than most cookbooks.

GIVEAWAY DETAILS:

Busy In Brooklyn is giving a copy of Starters & Sides Made Easy! To enter the giveaway, you must:

1. Share you favorite Chanukah dish in the comments below.
2. Follow Busy In Brooklyn on Facebook, Twitter. Pinterest, and/or Instagram (one entry per media channel you follow – please specify which ones you follow in the comments).

Winner will be chosen at random on Wednesday, December 4th, 8:00 PM.

BONUS RECIPES FROM STARTERS & SIDES MADE EASY:

Coelslaw Balls with Jalapeno Dip
reprinted with permission from Starters & Sides Made Easy, Artscroll Shaar Press

Ingredients:
16 oz. coleslaw mix
1 1/2 teaspoons salt
3 garlic cloves, minced
1/2 tsp course black pepper
1/4 cup flour
3 tablespoons cornstarch
oil for frying

Jalapeno Dip:
3/4 cup mayonnaise
2 scallions, chopped
1 jalapeño pepper, seeded, ribs removed, chopped
2 tbsp water
1 tbsp lemon juice
1/2 teaspoon salt
pinch coarse black pepper
pinch sugar

Instructions:
1. Place the cabbage in a large strainer and sprinkle with the salt. Let stand for 15 minutes. Using both hands, squeeze cabbage very well to remove the excess water (it wont look watery to the eye, but plenty of liquid will come out when you squeeze).
2. In a large bowl, combine cabbage, garlic, pepper, flour and cornstarch. Mix until mixture becomes dough-like. Using a tablespoon and damp hands, form into falafel-sized balls.
3. Heat 2-3 inches oil in a saucepan over medium-high heat. Fry balls in hot oil until golden on all sides, 4-5 minutes total.
4. Prepare the jalapeno dip: in a small bowl, combine mayonnaise, scallions, jalapeno pepper, water, lemon juice, salt, pepper and sugar. Using an immersion blender, blend until smooth. Serve alongside coleslaw balls.

YIELD: 20-30 balls
AHEAD: You can freeze these balls, even after they are already fried. To reheat, spread them on a baking sheet and heat, uncovered in a preheated oven for about 10 minutes.

Cheesy Onion Rolls
reprinted with permission from Starters & Sides Made Easy, Artscroll Shaar Press

Ingredients:

2 cups flour
1 tsp salt
1 tsp sugar
1/2 tsp active dry yeast
1 tbsp butter
1 cup water

Filling:

3 tbsp butter, melted
1 onion, diced
1/2 cup mozzarella cheese
1 egg. lightly beaten

Instructions:

1. In the bowl of an electric mixer, combine flour, salt, sugar, yeast, butter, and water. Knead until dough is smooth. Remove to a greased bowl. Cover with a clean dish towel and let rise for 1 hour.
2. Prepare the filling: combine butter and onions.
3. Divide dough into 8 balls. Flatten each ball into a circle or square. Place a spoonful onion mixture and 2 spoons cheese in the center and fold two ends over the filing. Place an additional spoon onion mixture on top and fold over two remaining ends.
4. Brush with beaten egg and bake for 24 minutes.

AHEAD: These rolls with freeze nicely. Cover and rewarm when ready to serve.

RELATED POSTS: Passover Made Easy Cookbook Review

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72 thoughts on “Starters & Sides Made Easy Review & Giveaway”

  3. Fave Chanukah food is definitely latkes specifically unique flavored ones- this year I’m trying our Brussel sprout facon latkes!

    Reply

  13. actually, our NEW household favourite is the fried coleslaw balls — I just used a bag of coleslaw and it worked beautifully! Note: you may need more flour than you expect, and really SQUEEZE those balls to help them keep their shape in the oil. Made them last night and am considering making again tonight for guests. Omitted cayenne. Following on FACEBOOK

    Reply

  14. Can of wholeberry cranberries, 1 1/2 bags fresh cranberries, 1/4 c sugar, 1 orange broken up in segments and chopped in four to five pieces from each segment. Let come to boil until cranberries pop.taste.
    Add more sugar if too tart. Great in latkes and turkey or chicken. Enjoy and happy, happy all around!

    Reply

  20. My favorite Chanukah food to make is a mix of sweet potato and regular potato latkes with some applesauce.i also follow you in Facebook.Frielichen Chanukah

    Reply

  21. My favorite Chanukah food is latkes of course! My house smelled sooo good last night!
    I follow Busy in Brooklyn on FB, Twitter and Pinterest.

    Reply

  23. Have this cookbook and sticky red potatoes- great
    Yemenite yellow orzo rice is a keeper in my house and easy!
    Talapia nuggets tastes great when I made for for my Chabad house (chabad of orange county ny) Friday night but I promised never to do it again- paint in the neck.

    Reply

  30. My favorite Chanukah dish by far are lpotato latkes (using the shredding blade on the food processor) with applesauce

    Reply

  31. I follow you on Facebook.
    Your olive oil Dutch chocolate cookies have become my favorite Chanukah treat this year :)

    Reply

  32. My favorite dish for Chanukah is shakshukah, preferably made by Amazon Cafe, served with fresh foccacia and butter, and shared with my husband and kids. Those are my plans for Sunday Chaunkah brunch!

    Reply

  54. My favorite channukah food is sofganiot. My dad has been on the search for the perfect recipe since I can remember! Following on Facebook

    Reply

  63. this is the only time of year when I don’t feel ridiculous eating sufganiyot and getting powdered sugar everywhere =)

    Reply

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