By Joe BaurFeatures correspondent
Kristin TeigA Roman Hanukkah may include mele fritte: crisp apple fritters served with vanilla sugar (Credit: Kristin Teig)Cookbook author Leah Koenig's new book, Portico: Cooking and Feasting in Rome's Jewish Kitchen, includes crispy, custardy apple fritters – just in time for Hanukkah.
Throughout Hanukkah, Jews around the world will fry everything from shredded potatoes to doughnuts to commemorate the miracle of the oil. That is, when the heroic Maccabees rededicated the temple in Jerusalem, long held by the Greek empire, by lightning the menorah with enough oil to last a day. But, as the story goes, it miraculously lasted for eight nights – forever binding fried foods with the celebration of Hanukkah.
At Hanukkah, one dish stands out for Jewish cookbook author Leah Koenig, who recently published her eighth cookbook, Portico: Cooking and Feasting in Rome's Jewish Kitchen, which is a culinary time machine that spans the millennia of Roman Jewish cooking. That dish is mele fritte: crisp apple fritters served with vanilla sugar.
Roman Jews are a Jewish diaspora community unto themselves and have a rich history stretching back as far as the fall of the Second Temple, when the Roman Empire reclaimed Jerusalem in 70 CE. That history includes their own culinary traditions merged with flavours from other diasporic Jewish populations that settled in Rome. For example, there are custardy matzo fritters introduced by Sephardic Jews forced out of Spain in 1492, alongside haraimi – a spicy, tomato-poached fish stew served with steamed couscous or bread that was brought to Rome by Libyan Jewish refugees throughout the late 1940s, '50s and during the Six Day War in 1967.
Today, a Roman Jewish menu might include a luscious beef stew ladled over rigatoni, tomatoes roasted until they fall apart with a drizzle of oil on top, rosemary-scented lamb and potatoes, and carciofi alla Giudia – Jewish-style artichokes deep fried into crisp, lightly salted blossoms. It might also include fritters.
While researching for the book, Koenig found a reference to apple fritters in a handwritten cookbook by Donatella Limentani Pavoncello called Dal 1880 ad oggi: La cucina ebraica della mia famiglia (From 1880 to today: My family's Jewish food). Pavoncello, a teacher by profession, wrote the book in the early 1980s, meant only for her family. But it has since become beloved by Rome's largest Jewish community.
"I think it spread because it is incredibly thorough and useful," said Koenig on the cookbook's popularity in the community. "She groups the recipes by holidays, so anyone cooking for Shabbat or Hanukkah or Passover could turn to that chapter and have an entire menu to work from. It is also a truly beautiful cookbook. Donatella hand wrote the recipes in her gorgeous script, and each chapter opener is illustrated with an intricate paper cutting – that she also made! – depicting the holiday. It's a gem."
Koenig's apple fritters are inspired by Pavoncello, but she had to tinker with the original to develop hers for Portico.
"Like with so many hand-written family cookbooks, a lot of her recipes did not get too specific with quantities and included vague phrasing along the lines of, 'shape until it looks right', or 'cook in the typical fashion'," Koenig explained. "I had to do some tweaking, but I made sure to keep the original spirit of the dish."
The apples are sliced into rings, coated in a thick – but not heavy – batter and fried until the outside is crisp and the inside is custardy and sweet.
"Donatella served the apple fritters as part of her Hanukkah menu," said Koenig. "So now I do, too."
Well before she discovered Pavoncella's book, Koenig had a vision for Portico. "In a way, I started writing this book in my head back in 2009 when my husband Yoshie and I honeymooned in Rome," said Koenig. "We spent a lot of time during that trip eating our weight in carciofi alla Giudia in the Roman Jewish Ghetto and had the good fortune of being invited to a Shabbat dinner at the home of a kosher caterer."
Kristin TeigLeah Koenig is the author of Portico: Cooking and Feasting in Rome's Jewish Kitchen (Credit: Kristin Teig)Koenig grew up in the Chicago suburbs eating traditional Eastern European Jewish fare for Shabbat, such as brisket, matzo ball soup and kugel. But the Roman Jewish shabbat table, Koenig explained, is a world unto itself.
"Our host Giovanni served us stracotto di manzo, a slow-simmered beef stew made with wine and tomato passata, a dish of veal and chicken meatballs swimming in a celery and tomato sauce, and several other wildly delicious things," she recalled. "I had never eaten any of those dishes before, in a Shabbat context or otherwise, and yet the context was so familiar that we immediately felt at home."
That dinner crystallised for Koenig just how vast, diverse and connected global Jewish cuisine is, setting her on a professional path to write about Jewish food. "Researching and developing recipes for Portico feels kind of like a thank you gift to a Jewish community that has given so much to me," she said.
The book title stems from an ancient structure, the Portico d'Ottavia (Octavia's Porch) built by Emperor Augustus in honour of his sister in the 1st Century BCE. The Portico was repurposed numerous times over the centuries. But in the 12th Century, Portico d'Ottavia became the home of La Pescheria, or the fish market. It stayed in operation for hundreds of years, right up until Italian unification in 1870.
In the book, Koenig writes that "The market was a major source of nutrition for Rome's Jews during the Ghetto period." She notes that the main street of the Jewish Ghetto today is called Via del Portico d'Ottavia, "in recognition of the neighbourhood's physical and emotional proximity to the market".
Armed with this history, Koenig knew from the very beginnings of this project that she wanted this cookbook to be called Portico.
"[Portico d'Ottavia] holds symbolic importance for the community and stands as a reminder of its longevity," she writes in the book's introduction. "I also love how the word portico, which translates as porch or front porch, evokes the idea of coming in – an entrance. The name Portico is my way of saying, 'Welcome. I'm glad you are here.'"
Kristin TeigThe apples are battered and fried until crisp outside and custardy and sweet inside (Credit: Kristin Teig)Apple fritters with vanilla sugar recipe
By Leah Koenig
Makes 6 to 8
Ingredients
For the vanilla sugar:
2 vanilla beans
300g (1½ cups) granulated sugar
For the fritters:
4 large baking apples, peeled
210g (1½ cups) all-purpose flour
3 tbsp granulated sugar
½ tsp kosher salt
½ tsp baking soda
355ml (1½ cups) milk or non-dairy milk
vegetable oil (such as sunflower or grapeseed), for frying
Method
Step 1
To prepare the vanilla sugar, split the vanilla beans lengthwise and scrape out the seeds; set the pods aside. Put the sugar and vanilla seeds in a food processor and pulse until fully combined. Transfer the sugar to a glass jar, add the reserved pods, cover tightly, and set aside. (The sugar can be used right away, but the flavour will develop over time. It can be stored, tightly covered, for up to 1 year.)
Step 2
To prepare the fritters, use an apple corer (or a melon baller or sturdy metal teaspoon) to carefully remove the apple cores and discard. Slice the apples into 1¼cm (½in) thick rings and set aside.
Step 3
In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, sugar, salt and baking soda. Add the milk and whisk until smooth.
Step 4
Heat 1¼cm (½in) of oil in a large frying pan over medium heat until shimmering. Line a large plate with kitchen paper and set nearby. When the oil is hot, working in batches of 4 or 5, dip the apple rings into the batter, let the excess drip off, then carefully slip them into the oil. Fry, turning once, until golden brown on both sides, 2 to 3 minutes per side.
Step 5
Transfer to the kitchen paper-lined plate to drain. Sprinkle the fritters generously with vanilla sugar while still hot and serve immediately.
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