About Gail Ashkanazi-HankinIn the early 1980s, when Americans started counting fat grams and watching cholesterol intake, Gail Ashkanazi-Hankin of Denver, Colorado decided to continue that healthful vigil during Passover. After all, it seemed counterproductive to work hard at preparing tasty yet healthy meals all year long, then eat foods laden with oil, schmaltz, and whole eggs during Passover.
For centuries, it was believed that these ingredients were necessary to provide the proper texture and flavor in foods that could not contain any leavening ingredients because of the laws of Passover. Ashkanazi-Hankin utilized her recipe adapting skills to debunk this long-held belief. The result is Passover Lite, a cookbook just released by Pelican Publishing Co.
Gail Ashkanazi-Hankin is also an artist, and she illustrated her cookbook with original line-art drawings throughout the text. She used watercolor and colored pencil to create the book jacket art.
The author is a St.Louis native. She graduated from Parkway Central High School, and was confirmed at Shaare Emeth. She attended Fontbonne College and received a bachelor of fine arts degree from the Kansas City Art Institute.
Gail Ashkanazi-Hankin spent a decade developing, collecting and adapting recipes that fulfill three categories of requirements:
- kosher for Passover;
- low in fat and cholesterol,
- tasty and attractive.
Passover Lite is a collection of nearly 200 tested recipes that include healthy versions of traditional Passover foods as well as contemporary, multi-ethnic foods that are also kosher for Passover and healthful. She draws from Mexican, Asian and North African cuisines to add variety to the book so the eight days of Passover are anything but boring when it comes to cooking and eating.
Rabbi Josef A. Davidson of B’nai Zion Synagogue in Chattanooga, wrote the foreword to Passover Lite. His parents live in St. Louis.
The book includes cooking and time-saving tips, snack and lunch suggestions and sample menus for several kinds of seders: first and second night, Sephardic and vegetarian.
Passover Lite is available at most bookstores, many Jewish gift shops or through the Pelican Publishing Co., (800) 843-1724. The author may be reached through E-mail at: LHANKIN@AOL.COM.
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