SUPPER CLUB: Sephardic Shabbat by Alissa Kondogiannis

Name: SUPPER CLUB: Sephardic Shabbat by Alissa Kondogiannis
Start: 2025-03-21T18:30:00-04:00
Location: The Depanneur

Schedule

Fri, 21 Mar, 2025 at 06:30 pm

UTC-04:00

Location

The Depanneur | Toronto, ON

For thousands of years Jewish people have been gathering around the table on Friday nights to celebrate a humble but ancient ritual, the sabbath meal. The lighting of candles, the singing of simple blessings and the breaking of bread have been the unifying thread that has connected Jewish life across centuries and continents. In this multi-dinner series, Alissa Kondogiannis explores Shabbat dinners as they have evolved in Jewish communities around the world, e.g. Ashkenazi in Eastern Europe, Sephardi in Spain and North Africa, Mizrahi in the Middle East and Central Asia.
In North America, the majority of Jews come from the Eastern European Ashkenazi tradition; reasonable as they make up more than 80% of Jews worldwide. Unsurprisingly, this has informed many ideas of Jewishness in popular culture: things like Yiddish, Klezmer music, delicatessens, or the black garments of Orthodox Jews. Yet there is a whole other experience of Judaism much less familiar, the Sephardic Jewish traditions of Spain and Portugal. The Spanish Inquisition and the expulsion of Jews from the Iberian peninsula in the 15th Century created a geographic diaspora of Jewish people, sending many north and east into Europe, and others south into North Africa and the Middle East. Over time this led to a divergence in culture, dress, language, traditions, and of course, food. Yet the fundamental Jewish rituals remained, including that of Shabbat, the Friday night dinner marking the beginning of the Sabbath, the day of rest.
Sephardic food still hews to the tenets of Kosher law, but reflects the cultures and ingredients of the Mediterranean and the its cultures. Vibrant colours, piquant flavours, and complex spices mark a Jewish food very different than the kind that was imported from places like Poland, Ukraine and Russia; a cuisine where hummus and couscous is as familiar as bagels or brisket. This is food close to Alissa’s soul, the food that she craves when she eats out and that she makes for herself at home, that evokes the Mediterranean flavours of the Greek side of her family. Join us for a lovely meal showcasing the diversity, richness and vibrancy of the Sephardic tradition.
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Moroccan Carrot Salad
Shredded raw carrot, with the tang of lemon, the fire of harissa, and the complex aromas of cumin, paprika, cinnamon and coriander.
Hummus
Even though it has now become a global supermarket staple, the authentic, homemade version of this light, creamy chickpea and tahini dip cannot be beat.
Matbucha
A slow roasted North African dip made with sweet peppers and hot peppers, tomatoes and garlic.
Green Schug (Zhoug)
A spicy condiment made of cilantro, green chilies and cardamom especially popular in Yemen.
Homemade Challah
Alissa’s speciality, and frankly, worth the price of admission
Slow-Roasted Chicken with Preserved Lemons and Olives
Evoking the fragrant tagines of Morocco, this chicken is marinated with onions and preserved lemons, ginger, turmeric and ras-el hanout then slow cooked with plump green olives.
Vegetarian: Roasted Cauliflower
Jewelled couscous
Fine couscous studded with dried fruits, seeds and nuts
Hawaij-spiced Roast Sweet Potatoes
A fragrant Yemeni spice blend, hawaij starts with cumin, black pepper, turmeric and cardamom, but has countless variations. It pairs beautifully with the sweetness of the potatoes, then garnished with earthy tahini and silan (sweet date syrup).
Ma’aroud
Rolled semolina cookies filled with a sweet mixture of dates and cinnamon and scented with rosewater. Served with dried fruit, nuts, and fruit tea.
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$79 +HST
BOOK NOW! - https://thedepanneur.ca/event/supper-club-sephardic-shabbat-by-alissa-kondogiannis/
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Alissa Kondogiannis loved eating challahs and babkas her whole life, but it was only after travelling that she really got on the path of making her own breads from scratch. Her aim is to introduce everyone to the joys of making bread, and show that people don’t have to be intimidated by yeasted doughs. She has been teaching babka classes for a number of years in Thornhill, where she runs a small catering business, Barnstar Kitchen.
@barnstarkitchen
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Every weekend The Depanneur invites an amateur or professional guest chef to host a fun, informal dinner party. @thedepanneur