15 minute read
TJH Speaks with Danielle Renov
Miso, Moufleta, and Being a Mom TJH Speaks with Danielle Renov
BY SUSAN SCHWAMM
Danielle, it’s a pleasure to speak with you. I know that your book, Peas Love & Carrots, just came out and sold 30,000 copies.
Yes. Thank G-d. We actually sold 30,000 copies before the book came out. We sold 30,000 in pre-order, which is amazing.
Let’s talk numbers. You have 59,000 followers on Instagram. You started your account four years ago. Would you have imagined this explosive growth in such a short time?
Not at all. Not at all. And it was never even my goal. My goal was just to come on and show people what I made for dinner and have them make it, too. When I started Instagram, there was no Instagram Stories. So it was literally just about posting a picture of food and the recipe so that other people can make it. There was no option, really, of connecting in a way other than that.
Then Instagram Stories came out about six months after I started my Instagram. And I remember everybody was so hesitant at first. But I looked at my husband, and I told him, “Oh my gosh. This was made for me. I love this. I get to connect with people and talk to people and actually show them what I’m cooking when I’m cooking in real time. This is amazing.” I just loved it from the beginning.
Have you learned anything from your followers?
So much. They’re just so supportive and so kind. I really think what you put out is what you get back. They put out so much love and so much positivity and so much goodness that all I want to give back to them is goodness and love and positivity. I just really appreciate them. I really do. They take the time from their day for positive feedback, for positive interaction. I just think it’s so nice because they’re busy also, and it’s really special.
A lot about your persona is includ ing the family in your cooking.
I don’t lead a separate life from my kids. They’re very meshed in my work. There’s no “Instagram Dan
ielle” and “Mom Danielle.” There’s one Danielle, and my kids are just a part of my life and a part of everything. Sometimes they cook with me. Sometimes they don’t. Sometimes I work while they’re sitting on my lap. It’s just a constant fluid motion in and out of work. What tips would you give for somebody who’s a working mom, how to balance their family life and work life?
You know what? It’s so hard because I’m really blessed with a job that allows me flexibility. So, if I don’t put the recipe up today, well, I really always feel bad if I said I was going to, but my kids come first.
Normally, when it’s not corona, my husband travels every week to the United States. He leaves Sunday and comes back Friday. So I’m also on my own a lot with the kids. For the most part, I don’t really have a choice, because I’m the only one around. I really have to put them first. So if I can’t put the recipe up today, I’ll wait a day. Obviously, deadlines are harder. But, usually, deadlines happen a month in advance. So I’m very, very scheduled.
I think that’s really the key for any mom that works from home or from
anywhere. Being scheduled and being organized is really, really, really key, right? You know Shabbos is coming every Friday. So do your grocery shopping on Monday, Tuesday, or Wednesday when you have that little pocket of time. I spread out my cooking amongst Wednesday, Thursday, or Friday so that it doesn’t all just land on my lap on Friday. I really try to plan ahead. I know Wednesdays are my crazy days – they were this year with after-school activities and carpools and things like that. So I make sure, on Wednesday mornings, to have dinner made by like 10 a.m. so that it’s something I could just pop in the oven and not be busy in the kitchen cooking between carpools and work and kids at home.
Were you always this organized or did it evolve because of ne cessity?
I’m a pretty organized person. Hold on. I’m a very, very organized person by nature. So that kind of came second nature to me. What was difficult for me, though, because I’m such an organized person, is that no matter how organized you are, children bring chaos.
Absolutely.
And they bring unpredictability in the best way possible. But that unpredictability could be everything planned and everything going right, and then, thank G-d, if you have a boy or two, you know that at the worst possible moment, that boy needs to go get stitches. And it’s not a big deal because he’s already gotten used to it. But stitches happen, broken bones happen, all the little last-minute things that kids bring with them that, no matter how scheduled and how organized you are…. You really have to be able to go with the flow. And I feel very lucky that my job allows me that flexibility.
Let’s talk about the book. When did you decide that you wanted to create a cookbook?
I, originally, 10 years ago, started to write a cookbook. I even tried to approach several publishers on the phone, and I had a manuscript typed and printed and everything was really ready to go to the next step. I literally had the stack of recipes on the floor of my bedroom in this binder for years and years. And, finally, I was just like, “You know what? This is so crazy. I’m never going to take the months needed off my life to edit and do photography and do all those things needed to create a cookbook. Let me just start an Instagram account and just put the recipes up for free. Why do they have to just sit here?” So I started slowly doing that. Over time, I said to myself, “Why would I write a cookbook? This is so much better. It’s like instant gratification.” I post a recipe and people see it and make it, and I get to hear from them right away.
I thought, Why do I need to charge them for a book for? Really, cookbooks are so expensive to produce. If I make back my money, I’m lucky. Like this, on Instagram, I don’t have any risk, and I have the benefit of knowing that I’m bringing people around the dinner table to eat good food, and I love that. I did that for three and a half years. And then, last year, my parents and my husband really pushed me. They were like, “It’s time. It’s time. It’s time.” I signed a contract with ArtScroll like a week or two after Pesach and now, a year later, here we are and the book is out.
Wow. Does it have so many more recipes than in that original man uscript?
I don’t even think it has one recipe that was in that original manuscript.
The book I wanted to write when I was 25 or 26 is not the book I wanted to write when I was 34 – I now have a little bit more insight into life and motherhood. When I was 25, I wanted something trendier and something different.
This time, I wanted to create something that really could help women, mothers, men, people who were single, people who were married, people who were just starting out, people who have been cooking for years. And I really grew into my Moroccan heritage. Who knew that you could make a Moroccan recipe an actual recipe? It’s impossible. If there’s anything that I should be applauded for, it’s figuring out how to quantify Moroccan ingredients, which is literally a job because no Moroccan grandmother or Moroccan mother can ever teach you how to cook with any sort of measurement. You have to watch them, and you have to do it 100 times until you get the motions down. So, quantifying those measurements is really a job, and I really wanted to include that in this book. I love that there’s something for everyone in here.
What are some of the recipes that you’re the most “proud of” in this book?
I really am proud of all of them because every recipe in there represents something. And they’re in there for a reason.
The ones that I’m most proud to have included – not necessarily most proud of in terms of the integrity of the recipe, just very proud that it was included in the book – are the ones that really hold a lot of meaning to me and really resonate with me – the ones that my grandmother made me growing up, the dishes that we ate for a typical dinner, the moufleta that I requested all the time. It’s the recipes that hold memories that I’m the most proud of.
Which recipe took the longest to perfect?
It’s so funny. The recipe that literally took the longest to perfect was the inner child cookies, a silly cookie recipe. It’s like a kitchen sink cookie but for kids. It took me a month and at least 20 batches of cookies to make. Once I got the recipe, I had to make the recipe multiple times to make sure it was consistent. And I tried it with all the add-ins, every variable of add-ins. I really wanted people to be able to use the cookie dough as a blank slate. After all that, I don’t think my kids are ready to eat an inner child cookie just yet because they tasted so many.
Interestingly, I’m not a baker. I mean, I love a good cookie. And I was very specific about the kind of ripple effect that I wanted the cookie to have and the mouthfeel. I wanted the edges to be crisp but the inside to be chewy. I wanted it to be soft but not too soft and not crumbly. I had all of these expectations, and it took me a long time to get them right.
Looking through the cookbook, it seemed like there were more chicken-type dishes than desserts. What are your taste preferences? Are more of a “sweet” person or a “savory” person?
I definitely have a more savory palate. And even within savory dishes, I prefer lemon, acid, spicy, definitely less on the sweet side.
As for the dessert section, well, there are more recipes in that chapter than in most other cookbooks because there are more than 250 recipes in the book in general. Compared to the chicken and meat sections, there may be more of them than desserts, but the way I see it, we cook dinner seven nights a week and we eat dessert maybe one or two nights a week, so the proportion of chicken and meat recipes to dessert in a cookbook should be higher.
So true! I barely serve dessert during the week but supper has to get onto the table no matter what. Speaking of supper, when you have to get supper served quickly, what dishes do you turn to?
The stir-fry is something that I go to a lot because I always have leftover rice. And I always have one piece of leftover chicken or two slices of meat or even just tofu that’s packaged in the fridge, something that I can use in a stir-fry, and I always have a few vegetables, one carrot, two peppers, whatever it is. So fried rice is something that I turn to a lot if I need a quick dinner. When all of those elements are prepared already, it’s just about bringing them together, so it’s super easy.
The tomato soup is also a really quick one. And then the crispy baked chicken fingers are something that I do quite often also, which is why I chose to give three recipes for it, because I probably make it once a week or once every other week. In the cookbook, you have three different flavorings, three different sauces, so you can change it every week. It feels less repetitive.
I see that you like to use different spices in your dishes.
I do. I’m pretty particular about spices. I’m definitely not a food snob. I feel like everything has its place. I love a good hamburger. I love takeout food. I love bad Chinese food. I love good, good Chinese food. I love all the food. But when it comes to spices, I am particular because, really, spices hold a really beautiful power. We can take a piece of chicken and with the power of spices, we can go to Mexico. We can go to China. We can go to Israel. We can go to Morocco. We can go to Greece. We can travel the world with a simple piece of chicken through these spices.
The quality of your spices really affect the outcome of your dish. So the better quality spices you can buy, the better tasting your food will be in the end.
Even within the shuk in Israel, where I buy my spices, there are a lot of spice vendors. So you have to do your research and walk around. I have one specific spice vendor that I like, and their spices are very, very high quality and they’re not cut with anything. It’s very common, especially in America, for spices to be cut with other things like citric acid or stabilizers. You should read the back of the label on your spices and see what the ingredients in your spice are – something like black pepper should be only black pepper. But you’d be surprised at what you find. So it’s good to just check it out and try to get the best quality spices you can. What spices – besides for salt, pepper, onion powder, and garlic powder – are the must-have spices for someone just starting to cook?
In my cabinet, I always have paprika in oil but you can use regular paprika. Paprika in oil doesn’t have as long of a shelf life but it does have a better flavor. I love mustard powder. Sumac, turmeric, cumin, cinnamon, cardamom, coriander – I would say those are the most basic spices you should have. What are some tips you can give for presenting food when you’re serving it?
I think presentation matters when it comes to food because we eat a lot with our eyes. But I think what people don’t realize is that presentation is so much easier than it seems. You don’t need to be finicky with the food. Investing in a few beautiful clean white dishes, where you can just take the food and put it on there and plate it nicely and then pour the juice over so it’s not dry – that’s something that’s really easy to do. Also, eating on real dishes. Obviously, not everybody has the time to wash dishes, but those kinds of little things really do, I think, make the overall experience of eating the food more enjoyable.
We’re coming up on yom tov soon. What are some dishes you recommend for Rosh Hashana or Sukkos?
I love yom tov. I feel like most families have so many traditions around the food they eat on holidays. I really don’t serve those foods all year long, so I really look forward to
the holidays, when I have the chance to prepare and serve and eat those foods.
For Rosh Hashana, I always make a lamb shoulder. It’s actually in the book. I always make the couscous with the seven vegetables that’s very traditional in a Moroccan home on Rosh Hashana. I always make the apples and honey mustard chicken because, you know, apples and honey.
On Sukkos, I serve, what I would say, is a little bit “funner” food. I’ll make the tiny schnitzel and serve it with a non-dairy ranch dip, and that’s really fun. I make tons of salatim. I stack my freezer. I make the chocolate peanut butter pretzel bites and I make healthy cookies. I put those in the freezer so that at every Sukkos meal, I can put out a platter of cookies to serve. You end up spending so much time in the sukkah anyway, you need something to munch on.
I really love the holidays because I feel like it’s just such a fun time to highlight food that we don’t necessarily eat all year long. It creates memories.
What are different trends in ko sher cooking that you see are coming up on the horizon or that you’re seeing right now?
I’m just so happy because I think kosher cooking is progressing in such a wonderful way. We’re not up-to-date within our kosher world, but we’re getting there really, really quickly. Ingredients like spices like sumac and saffron are becoming more well-known to the average kosher consumer. Look at miso – kosher consumers even know to ask, “Well, should I buy red miso or white miso?” These are great questions, and they’re things that I don’t think kosher consumers would have asked even five years ago.
I think it’s not about trends as much as it’s just opening our horizons.
You’re very busy being a mom and working. What do you do to relax?
I’m not really a relaxer. Well, I went to the beach today – everyone’s on vacation here in Israel. There are no camps, so we have three weeks of intense “kid” time. And because of corona, there’s not as many activities as normal. You really need to make appointments. You can’t just go on a hike. You have to make an appointment for the hike. Things are a bit more complicated than normal, but we’re making the best of it, like everyone else.
What’s on the horizon for you? You’re an entrepreneur. You have your spice business. You have your Instagram. You have your cookbook. What else could we be seeing in the future for you?
Right now, nothing. The book just came out, and I really am enjoying riding the wave of the book. It’s just been amazing, and so much hard work went to it. I didn’t think I’d be comfortable promoting it or doing things like that because it’s really not my style to push things. But I’m so proud of it. It’s really is a representation of everything my community does on Instagram. I’m loving just really living in this moment right now.
