From Cairo to California: A Family Cookbook

This cookbook began in 2007 as a collaboration between my sister and me as a tribute to our mother, and as a way to pass on her delicious Mediterranean and Sephardic recipes to my daughter. Although the original handcrafted cookbook remains safe with my daughter, my sister's loss of her treasured copy in the 2025 Palisades fire inspired me to undertake publishing this family cookbook to preserve our mother's recipes and honor her memory.The 37 vegetarian recipes include appetizers, soups and salads, signature dishes, pastas and rice, casseroles, and desserts. The recipes range from the simplest ful mudammas — the fava bean feast that is Egypt’s national dish — to Tahdig, an Iranian rice dish that challenges the best cooks. Vegetarian lasagna, baked rigatoni, vermicelli rice and puttanesca sauce are among the pasta dishes, while casseroles include eggplant and zucchini au gratin, filo and feta pie, mina, Matzah pie, and the spectacular Serbian dish, Gibanica. Scalloped potatoes are deliciously simple, as is the spinach and chive linguine. Like a good meal, the book ends with desserts — a family favorite orange loaf cake, a carrot cake, Sephardic delicacies like haroset (an Egyptian date spread), and classic Middle Eastern delicacies like basboussa and kataifi.The spirit of our mother, Vicky, is present throughout the cookbook. She would be happy and proud to know that her gifts are acknowledged and appreciated by her daughters and granddaughter. Read more