Nechama Rivlin’s Recipe Box
The 1000+ recipes Nechama Rivlin, the late First Lady of Israel, left behind were written over decades on simple index cards. Many of them note the recipe’s source — the newspaper it appeared in, the friend who gave her a cake recipe, or well-known chefs. Nechama wrote her recipes in a concise shorthand, occasionally adding simple illustrations to make the preparation clearer. Explore a collection of her recipes below that capture a year’s worth of seasons.
Fall
Stretching from the end of the High Holidays to Hanukkah, fall is also the season of masik, when the first press of olive oil is produced. Fry meat patties and bread patties and make the most of the end of summer produce with Bulgarian guvetch, a vegetable casserole.
Winter
Winter in Israel rarely brings snow, but the cold temperatures are still the perfect excuse to spend the day in the kitchen making slow-cooked soups and hearty hamin for gatherings of friends and family.
Spring
In Israel, spring is fleeting, marked with green in the markets, and tied to Passover. Celebrate it with herb-studded noodles, fresh salads, stuffed celery roots, and a vegetarian riff on quiche Lorraine.
Summer
The long hours of sun in the summer yields the year’s sweetest produce from stone fruits to plump tomatoes and shiny eggplants. The season kicks off in Israel with Shavuot and its dairy treats like Nechama’s orange Bavarian cream with jam.