Newsletter: 🕎 A Happy Hanukkah, with help from Evelyn and Judi Rose + alternatives to turkey for Christmas 🦃

🕎 A Happy Hanukkah, with help from Evelyn and Judi Rose + alternatives to turkey for Christmas 🦃

🎁 Save 25% on ckbk gift subscriptions perfect for all your foodie friends!🎁

Recipes to Celebrate Hanukkah

This Hanukkah we are thrilled to bring you Recipes to Celebrate Hannukah—family traditions, and fabulous food, from food writer, author, and cookery teacher, Judi Rose. In her article, Judi brings us precious memories of Hanukkah’s past with her mother, the legendary chronicler of Jewish food Evelyn Rose.

Celebrated this year from December 14 to 22, the eight day Jewish Festival of Lights remembers the miraculous lighting of a temple oil lamp containing only a single day’s worth of oil, that somehow burned for eight days. Hence eight days in which to light the eight candles of the menorah, and plenty of time for feasting as you celebrate the bringing of light into the darkness.

Judi talks us through the origins of the festival, and shares some of her favorite Hanukkah recipes—find Evelyn Rose’s own recipe for the obligatory latkes, and classic and modern takes on Rugelach.

Fried food is a traditional feature of the feast, referencing the magical lamp oil—such as Claudia Roden’s Bimuelos de Hanukkah; sweet, yeast-risen fritters in syrup. There are plenty of fabulous fried treats in our recipe collection for a Homemade Hanukkah. Find Sweet Noodle Kugel with Apples, and Frittelle di Zucca (squash fritters from the Veneto). There are also recipes for that all important Challah, the darkly golden loaf that is an essential presence on the Jewish table.

Happy Hanukkah to you all!

Read Judi’s feature on Recipes to Celebrate Hanukkah

Pictured above: Evelyn Rose's Potato Latkes from Judi Rose's feature on Recipes to Celebrate Hanukkah

A healthy Mediterranean take on classic Jewish dishes

Jewish food is as rich and varied as the many communities worldwide who have developed their own traditions, and evolve them today. As we publish Judi Rose’s feature on Hanukkah, we are delighted also to highlight the addition of her latest book to ckbk. In To Life!: Healthy Jewish Food, written together with her cousin Dr Jackie Rose, Judi combines aspects of a nutritious Mediterranean diet with Jewish culinary traditions, taking inspiration from her mother's recipes.

“From cuisines and cultures across the world, Jewish mothers have handed down recipes to the next generation, inspired by local cuisine and ingredients, adapted to conform with kashrut – Jewish dietary laws. As circumstances, times, and tastes changed, Jewish food has evolved.

This book we hope will continue that tradition.(…) As busy professionals, wives and mothers, we know that however healthy a recipe is, unless it’s easy to make, looks and tastes delicious, and really works, it’s unlikely to become a family favourite. So we’ve filled this book with recipes inspired by the great Evelyn Rose that we think meet those criteria, and that we love to cook and share. We hope you’ll love them too. As Evelyn Rose used to say, enjoy them in good health.”

Find good advice on How to Get Started eating a healthier diet, and a wealth of no-compromise-on-flavor recipes—such as this Florentine Chickpea and Spinach Soup, and this Baby Aubergine and Roasted Pepper Salad.

Find all 101 recipes in To Life!: Healthy Jewish Food

Don’t feel like turkey this Christmas?

Christmas means turkey, or does it? Of course, if you love turkey, by all means carry on as you were. But if it isn’t your favorite thing, it might be good to know that in the UK at least, turkey for Christmas is a fairly recent preference—it was only in the 19th century that it replaced the goose. Spiced Beef is an traditional recipe that has importance in England and Ireland. Carp is the tradition in many Scandinavian countries.

Take inspiration from alternative traditions, or explore our collection of Alternatives to Turkey for Christmas. Find Josceline Dimbleby’s Glazed Goose with Special Stuffing, and her Little Lamb Pies with Chestnuts and Spices. Or try a Pineapple & Mustard-Glazed Ham, or this Curry Cauliflower Christmas Pasty with Almonds and Apricots.

Browse our Alternatives to Turkey Collection

Ingredient focus: Brussels sprouts

Brussels sprouts, a many-headed variant of the common cabbage, are obscure in origin. While the name seems to point towards Belgium, they are only known to have been in French and English gardens in the late 18th century, and later in the US. Sprouts are, of course, synonymous with Christmas, and while they grow year round, they are likely to be at their best in cold weather.

If you have have been put off by the cabbage smell, and bitterness of badly cooked sprouts, think again. They are a real treat when cooked properly—both nutty and fresh in flavor, and packed with green goodness.

Sprouts, like their cabbage cousins, respond well to many cooking methods, braised, stir-fried, steamed, or roasted; it depends on your preference and what you are cooking them with. Look through these 16 Ways with Sprouts for inspiration—find Shaved Brussels Sprouts with Poppy Seeds, Black Mustard, and Coconut Oil, these Maple-Mustard Brussels Sprouts with Radicchio and Pecans, and the perfect Christmas side dish; these Brussels Sprouts Braised with Pancetta.

6 of the best homemade gifts

Giving gifts is central to the season, and there is no more heartfelt gift than one you have made yourself. What could be better? Make your gift something delicious and discover more in our Edible Gift collection too!