Two of my favorite words are “dairy” and “easy.” So when the book “Dairy Made Easy, triple-tested recipes for every day” (Mesorah Publications) landed on my desk during National Dairy Month (talk about timing!) I stopped eating my lunch of chocolate milk, yogurt parfait and string cheese and cracked open the book.
There are 60 meatless recipes for breakfast, lunch, dinner and desserts. Authors Leah Schapira and Victoria Dwek show how to make pizza, pasta, sandwiches, soups, salads and side dishes. The authors, who are also experts on kosher cooking, include a handy index that shows which ingredients to remove from a recipe to make it parve.
Schapira is a co-founder of cookKosher.com. Dwek is the managing editor of the kosher food magazine Whisk. In the introduction, Dwek says, “Dairy dinners just make the whole family so happy. I’m the most popular mom when dinner is pizza or pasta.”
Don’t mistake this for a Jewish cookbook. You won't learn how to make latkes or noodle kugel. Instead, Schapira and Dwek take you on a culinary tour of the world. (And they do so with charming asides on each recipe.) You’ll learn how to cook Italian (arancini, for example), Chinese (broccoli spring rolls), Mexican (white nachos), Cajun (creamy penne) and Wisconsin (Cheddar cheese soup).
A handy two-page illustrated guide to cheese by Brigitte Mizrahi describes the characteristics of Parmesan, goat cheese, feta, kashkaval, mozzarella, Muenster, Cheddar, pepper Jack and brie.
Besides the recipes, Schapira and Dwek show how to prepare homemade ricotta and cream cheese.
If you like to cook or need a present for a June bride and groom, you won’t go wrong with this book.
