Leah Schapira: From picky eater to prolific food maven

Make room on the shelf for another cookbook, because Leah Schapira’s newly released “Fresh & Easy Kosher Cooking” is one book that no kosher kitchen should be without.
Schapira’s cooking career began at the age of eight when her mother, desperate to find a way to get the notoriously picky Leah to eat, taught her how to cook. Since then she has become a well known food columnist and recipe developer whose list of credentials is long and impressive: food editor at Mishpacha Magazine from 2007 to 2010, senior food editor at Ami Magazine, coauthor of the best selling Silver Spoon cookbook and cofounder of KosherCooking.com, a kosher recipe exchange website.
Yet true to its subtitle “Ordinary Ingredients Extraordinary Meals,” this new book, published by Artscroll, contains over 170 simple recipes, most of which use basic ingredients, it is chock full of helpful tips, side dish suggestions and enticing full color photographs. Broken down into nine chapters with a full index, recipes are logically grouped and easy to find.
The opening chapter, titled Menus, contains five sections, each of which contains a photo gallery of recipes, listed by page number, for that particular menu. Appetizer Ideas contains 21 dishes culled from various sections of the book, each of which could be a fantastic start to any meal. Pesach Menu features fourteen recipes, including main dishes, desserts, side dishes and more that are easily adaptable for Pesach, although I am willing to venture that many of the salads would be Pesach-friendly as well.
The Make-In Take-Out page lists eleven popular take out items, including Onion Blossoms, Iced Mocha Coffee and Garlic Knots, that can be easily prepared at home and there were several other recipes for popular store bought items that I noticed while leafing through Fresh & Kosher, including Israeli pizza dipping sauce (popularly known as rotev), pesto and tartar sauce. Quick & Easy displays 22 tantalizing recipes at a glance, while the Freezes Well page identifies twenty one freezer friendly recipes, great for those busy nights when you really have no time to cook.
Most of the chapter headers offer helpful advice as well. In keeping with the “fresh” portion of the cookbook title, the Soups chapter header offers a list of produce items that are in season in the fall and winter, while the Salads chapter header gives a full roster of spring and summer fruits and vegetables. The Side Dishes chapter header provides helpful suggestions of which items pair well together, a useful guide for those who like to experiment in the kitchen. Ever wondered what types of pasta work best in which dishes? Wonder no more as the Brunch & Lunch chapter header explains which pasta shapes work best in different types of dishes. The Main Dishes section begins with a quick explanation of some basic kitchen pots and pans while the Desserts chapter header gives some very useful freezer storage tips.
As for the recipes themselves, they dazzle in their simplicity and leafing through this three hundred thirty six page volume you will find yourself making mental notes of which recipes you want to try, although after a while, your list will likely be too long to remember, because page after page, Schapira offers recipes so tempting that it is difficult to read this cookbook without salivating. There are literally dozens of recipes in Fresh & Easy that are intriguing without being intimidating. How could you not want to try Spinach Grilled Cheese, a nutrient laden version of everyone’s favorite comfort food?
Savory Hamantaschen with Apricot Dipping Sauce that are filled with chicken and vegetables and then fried? Or any one of the 38 dessert recipes that beg you to drop everything and head for the kitchen?
While Fresh & Easy was released just days ago, it is one of those cookbooks that is destined to become an instant classic. A welcome addition to any kitchen, it is one of those can’t-live-without cookbooks that you will find yourself reaching for again and again.

Sandy Eller is a freelance writer who has written for various websites, newspapers, magazines and private clients in addition to having written song lyrics and scripts for several full-scale productions. She can be contacted at sandyeller1@gmail.com.