When the Jews lived in the Roman ghetto, they weren’t allowed to buy large fish, so they made do with smaller ones like anchovies and sardines, explains Sara Pavoncello, a historian and tour guide who grew up right near the famed Jewish ghetto. Those ingredients continue to play a large role in Roman Jewish cuisine, lending savory touches to everything from vegetable dishes to this soup. A typical winter dish for the Jews of Rome, this recipe comes from Sara’s grandmother Speranza, who used to prepare it for Sara after school. If you can’t find romanesco, use regular broccoli. 

Read more about Sara’s family in “For Sara Pavoncello, Keeping Roman Jewish Traditions Alive Is an Honor” and try her recipes for vitello al forno, baccala with onion and tomato, and Roman Jewish carbonara.

For the autumn holiday Sukkot, cookbook author Chanie Apfelbaum makes this salad with fresh figs, apples, beets, and pecans. Sweet and fresh, it lends a refreshing crunch to heartier meats and starchy sides. 

Serve this salad alongside Chanie’s pomegranate roast, and read about her Sukkot traditions in “Cookbook Author Chanie Apfelbaum Brings a Playful Spirit to Sukkot.” 

In this dish, Jamie Wei serves a silken block of tofu with a nutty, tahini based sauce, quick cucumber pickles and fiery chili crisp. We love it alongside her Taiwanese brisket.

Read more about Jamie’s family in “The Brisket Recipe That Bridged The Gap Between New York and Taiwan” and find her recipes for cucumber curry soup, pomegranate honey jelly, and date challah mantou.

Léa Karsenty’s grandmother, Mamie Sara, makes this artichoke salad with lemon and saffron for the meal before the Yom Kippur fast starts. Simple and piquant, it’s delicious alongside rich chicken loubia and warm anise seed challah. This dish can be prepared 1-2 days ahead of time and refrigerated. 

Read more about the Karsenty family’s pre-fast Yom Kippur spread in "How a Family of Strong Women Spends Yom Kippur in Toulouse," and try their recipes for fried eggplant with preserved lemon, saffron chicken broth with toasted pasta and vegetables, and cumin fava beans.

This recipe was shared by Emanuelle Lee. Read more about his family in "The Syrian Macaroni Dish That Made Its Way Around the Globe" and try his recipe for macaroni chicken.

This recipe was shared by Adeena Bleich and Sharon Fargo. Read more about their family in "The Lentils That Sustained a Family as They Fled Syria" and try their recipe for harissa (overnight chicken with wheat berries).

This bright and zingy arugula salad from Anna Gershenson offers a fresh note to a menu of Rosh Hashanah recipes like braised tongue with raisins, chicken with prunes and olives, and teiglach for dessert. For a vegetarian menu, follow Anna’s lead and add ½ cup of crumbled feta on top.

This recipe was shared by Anna Gershenson. Read more about her family in “The Rosh Hashanah When Anna Gershenson Became the Family Matriarch” and try her recipes for sweet-and-sour tongue, jam crumble bars, and braised chicken with onions olives and prunes.

During the peak of the Covid pandemic, Berkshires-based culinary educator Anna Gershenson taught us to make her mother Rhoda’s chopped herring recipe for a special project we called Tradish. 

Rhoda grew up in Riga, Latvia and was just 16-years-old when World War II broke out. She fled the city with her mother and uncle and “she [lost] her whole family in the process,” Anna explains. “After the war was over, my mom returned to Riga where she married my dad and together they started their own family.”

When Anna was growing up, Rhoda would cook her mother’s recipes including one for chopped herring or forshmak, which means pre-taste or appetizer in Yiddish. “The dish was said to originally be made with fried herring,” Anna explains. But in Jewish homes, it evolved into a pâté of chopped herring — sometimes with apples and onions. Latvian Jews typically call the dish gehakte herring, meaning chopped herring, she adds. 

Look for jars of herring with a clear marinating liquid, not those with a cream or mustard sauce. 

Read more about Anna’s family in “The Rosh Hashanah When Anna Gershenson Became the Family Matriarch” and try her recipes for kreplach, braised chicken with olives, and sweet-and-sour tongue. 

"The key to good matzo brei lies in two things: very seasoned, very caramelized onions; and properly soaked matzo boards. Not enough soaking and it’ll be dry; too much, and it’ll feel bland and waterlogged. It may take you a few tries to see what I mean. It is, after all, an art," explains Alison Roman in her book "Dining In: Highly Cookable Recipes."

Read more about her family in "Alison Roman’s Family Brunch: Gravlax + Matzo Brei" and try her recipe for Scotch gravlax. Plus, find more Passover recipes here.

"Leftover salmon will keep in a tightly sealed container in the refrigerator for up to 5 days. Cooked salmon is extremely versatile. It’s great scrambled with eggs and onions; stuffed into a toasted sandwich with a slice of tomato and crisp lettuce; shredded over salad greens; or in a creamy fish salad. My favorite is to blend 1 part chopped smoked salmon, 1 part poached salmon, and 2 parts sour cream; it makes a great party dip," explains Evan Bloom in his cookbook "Eat Something: A Wise Sons Cookbook for Jews Who Like Food and Food Lovers Who Like Jews."

Read more about his family in "For Wise Sons’ Evan Bloom, Salmon Is Jewish" and try his recipe for peaches and sour cream.

This recipe was shared by Henry Glucroft. Read more about his family in "A Romanian Summer Meal Served on the Beaches of Belgium" and try his recipes for mamaliga (Romanian cornmeal porridge) and guvetch (vegetable stew).

When Anna Gershenson was little, her mother Rhoda made a simple chicken with onions, letting the bird cook in its own juices. As a professional cook and culinary educator, Anna has added olives, prunes, and lemon for a dish that’s special enough for Rosh Hashanah, but simple enough to make during the week. 

This recipe was shared by Anna Gershenson. Read more about her family in “The Rosh Hashanah When Anna Gershenson Became the Family Matriarch” and try her recipes for sweet-and-sour tongue, jam crumble bars, and arugula salad with fennel.

The table at writer, chef, and farmer Hedai Offaim’s home an hour outside of Jerusalem is always full. A typical Saturday brunch spread might include this white shakshuka, a glowing orange and tomato salad, fried eggplants, crispy corn latkes, and a fish panzanella made with leftovers from Shabbat dinner the night before. “If we have guests, we might even have more,” he says. And there are always guests — his table can seat up to 25 people. 

In classic shakshuka recipes, eggs are nestled and gently cooked in a spiced tomato sauce. In Hedai’s version, the sauce is replaced with creamy and tangy labneh that’s seasoned with herbs, and just the egg yolks are used. (You can freeze the leftover egg whites for up to two months, or use them to make many Passover-friendly desserts). Since the yolks cook quickly, make sure to have the rest of your meal ready and on the table before you add them to the pan. 

This recipe was shared by Hedai Offaim. Read more about his family in "Hedai Offaim’s Table Is Always Open — And Covered with the Bounty of Israel."

This recipe was shared by Lottie Bildirici. Read more about her family in "In This Syrian Community, There’s Always Mujadara on" and try her recipes for jibon (spinach and cheese casserole) and cauliflower mujadara (cauliflower and lentils).

Tamar Moradoff’s kuku sabzi is loaded with fresh herbs, leeks, and spinach. It’s wonderful served warm for Shavuot alongside her recipes for stuffed grape leaves, rice with dill and lima beans, creamy noodles called ash, and the rice pudding shir berenj. You can also enjoy it at room temperature the following day. 

Read more about Tamar and her family in "The ‘Boss Lady’ Mashadi Chef and Grandmother" and try her recipes for grape leaf dolmeh with sweet and sour filling, ash reshteh (Persian creamy noodles with walnuts), and Persian green rice with potato tahdig.

Fasírt, (pronounced foh-shet), are Hungarian patties traditionally made with breadcrumbs. Instead of breadcrumbs, Baily Kohn’s great-grandmother Alta Blima made these chicken patties with soaked challah, using leftover bread from Sukkot. Smoky paprika and grated onion make these crowd-pleasers and there was always a plate of fasírt on the table at Simchat Torah meals. Serve with your favorite condiments, or follow Alta Blima's custom and make a batch of cabbage noodles to go with them.

Read more about Alta Blima's story in "The Legacy of Holocaust Survivor Alta Blima Hartstein Lives On in Her Recipes" and try her recipes for seared beef tongue with paprika oil and walnut kindl.

This recipe was shared by Rachel Simons. Read more about her family in "A Schnitzel Recipe That’s Traveled to Hong Kong, London, New York, and Beyond" and try her recipes for crispy smashed potatoes, fennel and herb salad, and chocolate tahini truffles .

This recipe was shared by Italo Camerino. Read more about his family in " How Roman Jewish Recipes Endured at One Family’s Home in Montreal" and try his recipes for carciofi all giudia ('Jewish style' fried artichokes), concia (zucchini salad), and aliciotti con indivia (anchovies with escarole).

During the summer, Susie Stark Serevenich’s mom Handa would fry a batch of these chicken wings the family calls “bubbie chicken” for her grandchildren to tide them over until Shabbat dinner. In her own home, Susie made the recipe for birthday dinners and now that her kids are grown, her husband’s encouraged one of them to open a bubbie chicken business. 

When the dish is freshly fried, “You can’t not eat it,” Susie says. 

Read more about Susie’s family in "The Resilience and Recipes of Holocaust Survivor Handa Stark" and try her mother’s recipes for sweet egg noodles with ground walnuts.

Chef and baker Rinat Tzadok adapted her father’s slow-simmering recipe for chicken stew to her quicker-paced life. Her recipe is ready in 45 minutes, but still captures the flavor of her dad’s version.  

This recipe was shared by Rinat Tzadok. Read more about her family in "A Quicker Take on a Slow-Cooked Chicken Stew." 

This recipe was shared by Peter Weltman. Read more about his family in "For This Family, Shabbat Dinner Is Their Judaism." 

Peter likes to pair the wings with amba, a piquant pickled mango condiment that’s popular in Israel and toum, a powerful garlic spread from Lebanon that his mother keeps on hand for him when he visits.

These chocolate tahini truffles take just 10 minutes to make — but they will need an hour in the freezer to firm up, so be sure to make the recipe before dinner. 

This recipe was shared by Rachel Simons. Read more about her family in "A Schnitzel Recipe That’s Traveled to Hong Kong, London, New York, and Beyond" and try her recipes for schnitzel with cherries, crispy smashed potatoes, and fennel and herb salad.

Auschwitz-Birkenau survivor Benjamin Lesser shared this recipe and story in "Honey Cake & Latkes: Recipes from the Old World by the Auschwitz-Birkenau Survivors." It is reprinted here with permission of the Auschwitz Birkenau Memorial Foundation.

“The story of this compote goes back to Munkatch, Hungary. My grandfather had a stately home on a major street called Sugar—an appropriate name for that sweet home. He had a big orchard and gardens (in the rose garden there was a sukkah made of wine bottles, and I remember seeing prisms of sunlight through the glass). Many kinds of berries and fruits grew in the orchard: raspberries, blueberries, apples, plums, and pears. The orchard also had a red lattice walkway with hanging grapes. Every year, we would line up there and somebody on the tree would drop pears to us. We’d make a big chain all the way to the house, maybe twenty kids. We’d put those pears in tissue paper in the attic to ripen. And of course, we made compote.

When I was a child, we would always pick the fruit while it was hard, not yet ripe. Then we would put all of it in the attic to ripen. Once ripe, pears and all the other fruit picked from my grandfather’s orchard would be sliced and then cooked in the water.

When I make this recipe, I pick fresh pears from my trees, or if I need more fruit, I buy it dried, especially prunes, and place them in the water to achieve the same result.”

Explore more recipes from Holocaust survivors in "Recipes from the Kitchens of Holocaust Survivors."