Cooking Class with Levana (1/22 or 2/4) + Whole Food Cookbook
Item Number: 109
Time Left: CLOSED
Description
Dates are: January 22nd, or February 4th
When Lévana opened her eponymous restaurant with her husband and two brothers-in-law in the late 1970s, all Kirschenbaums were perfectly aware they were facing a hard sell: introduce fine kosher dining to the Kosher public, who until then was content either eating at home or grabbing a bite in the rare joints that served institutional old world treats. The general prediction was that the presumptuous idea would fall flat on its face.
Undaunted by being the trailblazers of the trend, Lévana and her partners surrounded themselves with the best chefs, developed the most delicious dishes and waited patiently until the idea of upscale kosher caught on. The rest, as we all know, is history: The kosher food and wine market has experienced a veritable explosion and occupies pride of place among the most prestigious competitions. Many luxury kosher restaurants have opened and thrived since Lévana’s pioneering days, bearing out the dictum that imitation is the greatest form of flattery.
Celebrity chef Lévana has been offering cooking demonstration for over thirty years, in her classroom on the Upper West Side – where she gives weekly demos – and around the country. She makes the preparation of nutritious and exotic cuisine seem easy. She gets countless devoted fans for her fearless, practical and nutritious approach to cooking, and spreads the good word on simple, streamlined, elegant and wholesome dining. Serious ingredients, fun dishes: This is her motto! Watching her in action as she prepares fabulous meals, seemingly effortlessly and with great humor, often with the most rudimentary appliances and utensils in the makeshift kitchens she is offered as venues for her demos, and hearing her exhort the crowds about using nothing but the real thing, has been a real source of inspiration to thousands of admirers. Lévana’s warmth, enthusiasm and expertise keep her demonstrations lively and rewarding in every way, going beyond cookery into significant byways of nutrition, kitchen tools, food shopping and personal experiences.
Fine dining that is also contemporary, nutritious and easy to prepare is a way of life that Lévana instills in her classes. Lévana’s unfussy, straightforward approach utilizes fresh, all natural ingredients to create international flavors from her native Morocco and other wide-ranging culinary influences. She teaches on every imaginable culinary theme yet scorns all culinary trends and diet fads, instead urging her students to express their personal style and let their cooking and entertaining be an emanation of them: This generosity in sharing the philosophy of her craft well beyond the recipes could well be the secret of the timelessness of her cooking.
Lévana’s Cooking Class Demos are truly like no other. Watch as Lévana demonstrates how easy it is to prepare delicious nutritious meals within a reasonable budget, and then have to opportunity to sit down, eat, and enjoy the gourmet meal she has prepared for you!
Lévana shares stories, practical shortcuts to gourmet cooking, preparation and kitchen tool tips, as well as ingredient sources. Lévana prefers to use healthy whole grains, seasonings, and sweeteners, and when possible, gluten-free ingredients. For Lévana, it’s not only about the meal or the recipes, it’s about the philosophy of cooking, eating and entertaining. You will not be getting your hands dirty, but the classes are definitely interactive, and each student gets to take home a recipe booklet providing step-by-step instructions on how to prepare the evening’s meal.
Each student receives a full recipe booklet detailing each dish. When you attend Lévana’s class, you get so much more than just recipes. You’ll get the full benefit of Lévana’s experience and recipe development. Unlike a recipe in a cookbook, you will have seen the finished product and tasted each dish before you even consider making it yourself. Want to know what side-dishes go best with a dish? Need to make substitutions for health reasons? Are you an absolute beginner who needs help purchasing the tools to begin cooking? Lévana will provide all this and more. You’ll find classes with Lévana so much more informative than any cookbook.
You will also get a copy of her cookbook The Whole Foods Kosher Kitchen.
- A GENERAL INDEX, with more than 350 recipes!
- A GLUTEN-FREE INDEX, with natural and delicious gluten-free adaptations of more than 250 dishes!
- A PASSOVER INDEX, with more than 250 Passover-friendly recipes!
The Whole Foods Kosher Kitchen is available for order through three convenient options:
It include a bonus DVD featuring 2 full-length cooking demos by Lévana - The Simple, Healthy & Delicious Shabbos Feast & The Simple, Healthy & Delicious Seder Feast!
Book Description
For the past 35 years Lévana Kirschenbaum’s name has been synonymous with upscale Kosher dining through her eponymous restaurant Lévana, her library of best-selling cookbooks, and her enormous online following on her popular blog, Facebook and Twitter.
With her latest book, The Whole Foods Kosher Kitchen: Glorious Meals Pure and Simple, Lévana embarked on her most ambitious journey yet: to present a beautiful, comprehensive compilation of her life’s work, her Magnum Opus as she calls it: The hundreds of dishes she shares are at once economical, easily prepared, and absolutely irresistible: Serious ingredients, fun dishes: This is her motto, even when it comes to dessert.
This substantial, beautiful volume goes beyond the traditional scope of a cookbook, and generously shares a whole natural, sensible, and wholesome way of life; it belongs in every household, Kosher or not, just within reach, sure to be used again and again: a cherished, useful gift for any occasion.
This book includes Lévana’s latest, as always all natural recipes, with 72 gorgeous full-page photographs by Meir Pliskin. It is chock-full of simple and natural dishes and desserts that uses whole unprocessed foods.
The Whole Foods Kosher Kitchen book is an important work. It restores kashrut to a respected position in the natural food world.
Reviews for The Whole Foods Kosher Kitchen:
“Levana Kirschenbaum, who pioneered gourmet kosher cooking for the past 30 years at her upscale restaurant on New York’s Upper West Side, has produced her third gorgeous cookbook, brimming with absolutely delicious dishes for your haute guests — and for your family, too, who deserve the finest. There’s a gluten-free section as well as a special Passover department. What are the benefits of whipping up your own menu instead of going to your neighborhood café? The answer is infuriatingly simple, she says. Your own creation “looks good and inviting, it tastes good, it feels good, it is healthier, it’s ready in no time, and it yields ample servings.” Also it fosters “a mood of wholesomeness, togetherness, and good cheer.” I’ll drink to that!” – 15minutesmagazine.com
“…I usually am not much of a cook but now that I have your newest cookbook the kitchen is my new hot spot (it always was, now I own it, I don’t just eat in it!) I recently made the peach pie, silken tofu chocolate mouse and halva from your cookbook. I loved them all and so did everyone who ate them. I love your cookbooks because I like to eat healthy and your cook book gives me that guarantee; a healthy meal that is also great tasting. Hopefully I’ll be able to meet you and try the foods that you have cooked.” – A fan, Shira Finman
“Updated, super-healthy kosher food never looked so good. Lévana Kirschenbaum’s easy recipes are precise, down to earth, and delivered with enthusiasm and joy.” ~ Dianne Jacob, author of Will Write for Food
“Lévana’s Passion for wholesome foods will inspire you to change the way you cook and eat today. The Whole Foods Kosher Kitchen contains a treasure trove of simple, scrumptious recipes for your eating pleasure. Learn how to eat your way to good health – and enjoy every bite!” ~Norene Gilletz, cookbook author, food writer, cooking teacher, and culinary consultant. www.gourmania.com
“This is Lévana’s Magnum Opus, a book that takes kosher cooking to a whole new level with everything we ever needed to know about preparing healthy cuisine from soup to nuts… The operative word here is delicious as Lévana proves that healthy never means boring or bland with recipes that the entire family will enjoy.” ~ Helen Schwimmer, food columnist for The Jewish Press
When I read Lévana Kirschenbaum’s recipes, I feel as if they were written for me. This is the kind of food I want to cook. The recipes are creative and enticing, and yet Lévana somehow manages to make them simple to prepare and healthy as well. Most of all I love Lévana’s flexibility. Always the teacher, Lévana shows many ways to vary her dishes, making it easy for cooks to use ingredients at hand and to learn how recipes work as well. Her crepe recipe can be made with chickpea flour, buckwheat flour, spelt flour, oat flour or whole wheat pastry flour instead of all-purpose flour. When making her brownies, you can substitute gluten-free flour, or use potato starch for Passover. “The Whole Foods Kosher Kitchen” is full of delicious surprises. I’m eager to wake up to Lévana’s Moroccan breakfast soup of steel cut oats flavored with olive oil, fenugreek, garlic, cilantro and mint. For my next festive dinner I’m trying to decide between her chicken curry with tomatoes and plantains, her beef stew cooked in green tea with parsnips, sweet potatoes, celery root and ginger, and her potato, olive and tomato tajine with tofu and preserved lemon. But even before that I’m going to try her Indian sweet potato pudding with coconut milk, orange flower water, cardamom, saffron and ginger. ~ Faye Levy, author, “1,000 Jewish Recipes”
Reviews spotted on Amazon.com
“This is cooking the way I like it- fresh clean thoughtful and ingredients-driven with just the right dash of creative and fun” ~ Joseph Levi
“The book itself is beautiful and fun to read and they way it constructed with Levana’s passages and comments you almost feel expert chef herself guiding you.” ~ Eugene G.
“Levana’s latest book is a masterpiece. I gave a copy to each of my five daughters and daughter’s in law, and it’s been my go to gift for all the women in my life.” ~ Leah Pol
“Levana’s amazing personality comes through in this wonderful cookbook. It’s written with such love and humor. And, the delicious, healthful and easy to prepare recipes are unique and just superb!” ~ Rivkah Kugel
“This book beat expectations. Each recipe I have tried offers a full flavor experience but is healthy too. The tips, encouragement and alternatives offered along the way is what makes this cookbook more than just a cookbook — an encyclopedia for the kitchen!” ~ Jonathan Seliger
Special Instructions
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