This story orignally appeared on JewishFoodSociety.org

Recipe Roots: Basra, Iraq > Tehran > Ramat Gan, Israel > Istanbul > Basel, Switzerland > Gainesville, Florida and New York City || Berlin > London > Forest Hills, Queens

On January 1, 2015 Jake Cohen and Alex Shapiro both swiped right. A week after their first date, they were already seeing one another nearly every day. That spring, they faced one of their first big hurdles as a couple. Both families — Jake’s Ashkenazi and Alex’s Mizrahi — wanted them at their Seder tables. In Jake’s family, the annual invitation to Seder comes with a heaping side of Jewish guilt and expectation from his mother. “If you’re in the state of New York, there’s no reason you should miss Seder,” says Jake, who is the author of the new cookbook “Jew-ish: Reinvented Recipes from a Modern Mensch.”

But, Jake broke with tradition. That first year, the couple split their time, spending one night with Jake’s family and the other with Alex’s. The next year, they faced the same challenges of guilt and expectations. But, again, one night was celebrated with Jake’s family eating his aunt Susi’s famed braised brisket and his great-aunt Lotte’s meringues, and one was spent with Alex’s Persian family eating beet kubbeh a soup of dumplings wrapped in rice for the holiday, and tahdig, a prized dish of crispy rice. The Persian Seder was a revelation for Jake. “It was unlike anything I’d ever experienced and yet still so Jewish,” he explains on the Schmaltzy podcast.

Makes: 6 to 8 servings

Total Time: 4 hours  + overnight

Ingredients

2 tablespoons vegetable oil

1 5-to-5½-pound beef brisket, untrimmed

Kosher salt and freshly ground pepper, to taste

2 medium yellow onions, finely chopped

1 tablespoon dried fenugreek (leaves)

1 tablespoon dried turmeric

2 bunches parsley, minced (4 cups leaves and tender stems)

2 bunches cilantro, minced (4 cups leaves and tender stems)

2 bunches scallions, minced (12 each)

6 cups chicken stock

6 dried Omani limes

2 cups red kidney beans, soaked overnight and drained

Preparation

1. Preheat the oven to 350° F. In a large Dutch oven or roasting pan, heat the oil over medium-high heat. Dry the brisket with paper towels, then season with salt and pepper. Sear the brisket, turning as needed, until golden brown, 16 to 18 minutes. Transfer the brisket to a platter.

2. To the pot, add the onions and cook until softened and slightly golden, 3 to 4 minutes. Stir in the dried fenugreek and turmeric, and cook until fragrant, 1 minute.

3. Add the parsley, cilantro and scallions to the pot and cook, stirring to scrape up any fond on the bottom of the pot, until the herbs are dark green in color, 4 to 5 minutes.

4. Add the chicken stock and dried limes, then nestle the brisket into the pot and bring to simmer. Cover with a lid (use tinfoil to cover if you’re using a roasting pan) and place in the oven for 1 hour.

5. After 1 hour, stir in the soaked kidney beans and, using a paring knife, pierce a hole in each lime to release its flavor into the stew. Continue to cook, covered, until both the brisket and beans are tender, 2 hours more. Adjust seasoning with salt and pepper, then let cool completely and refrigerate overnight.

6. The next day, skim and discard the solidified fat cap, then transfer the chilled brisket to a cutting board. Cut against the grain into ¼-inch slices, then return to the pot. Return the stovetop and reheat over medium-low heat until hot. Check for seasoning, then serve.

Chewy Iraqi Almond Cookies (Hadji Bada)

Makes: 24 Cookies

Total Time: 35 Minutes, Plus Cooling Time  

Ingredients

2 cups finely ground almond flour

½ teaspoon ground cinnamon

½ teaspoon kosher salt

2 large egg whites

1 cup (200g) sugar

1 tablespoon rose water, plus more for rolling

24 whole raw almonds

Preparation

1. Preheat the oven to 350°F. Line two half sheet pans with parchment paper.

2. In a medium bowl, whisk together the almond flour, cinnamon, and salt to combine.

3. In a large bowl, whisk the egg whites, sugar, and rose water until foamy. (Note: You’re not making a meringue.) Stir in the almond flour mixture until a smooth dough forms.

4. Fill a small bowl with room-temperature water and add a few drops of rose water, then use this water to wet your hands to prevent sticking as you roll the dough. Roll the dough into tablespoon- size balls and place them on the prepared sheet pans, spacing them 2 inches apart and placing 12 balls on each pan. Push an almond into the center of each ball of dough.

5. Bake, rotating the pans halfway through, for about 15 minutes, until the cookies have spread out and their edges are golden. Let cool completely on the pans, then serve.

Excerpted from JEW-ISH: A COOKBOOK: Reinvented Recipes from a Modern Mensch© 2021 by Jake Cohen. Photography © 2021 by Matt Taylor-Gross. Reproduced by permission of Houghton Mifflin Harcourt. All rights reserved.  

Lotte’s Meringue Cookies