Mothers inspire cookbook recipes

NEW YORK -- Chef Rob Feeni dedicates his new cookook to his parents, Laurie and Margaret Feenie, and includes some recipes that derive from his mother's.

About his walnut cake with maple ice cream, for example, he writes: "The cake is another of Mom's recipes. When I was younger, I was known to come home from school and eat an entire cake. The maple ice cream was my own addition, and Mom approves."

Walnut Cake With Maple Ice Cream

For the ice cream:

1 cup heavy cream

1 cup whole milk

5 large egg yolks

1/3 cup sugar

1/3 cup maple syrup

For the cake:

1 1/2 cups of flour

1 teaspoon baking powder

3/4 cup maple syrup

Juice of 1 lemon

3/4 pound unsalted butter, room temperature (1 1/2 cups)

1 1/4 cup sugar

Pulp of 1/2 vanilla bean

7 large eggs

1 cup walnut pieces, toasted, ground

To prepare ice cream:

In a saucepan over medium-high heat, bring cream and milk almost to boiling point. In a bowl, whisk yolks and sugar to the ribbon stage. Add maple syrup. Temper the yolk mixture with some of the cream and milk. Finish whisking in remaining cream and milk. Place mixture in a double boiler over simmering water and stir constantly until it reaches 175 degrees or it coats the back of a spoon. Cool and strain. Freeze in an ice cream maker according to instructions. (The ice cream will be more velvety if the mixture is refrigerated overnight.)

To make the walnut cake:

Line terrine molds or loaf pans with parchment and grease with butter and dust with flour. Preheat oven to 325 degrees. Sift together flour and baking powder and set aside. Combine maple syrup and lemon juice and set aside. With an electric mixer, cream together butter, sugar and vanilla pulp. Add one egg at a time to the butter mixture until well blended. Add half of the flour mixture and beat to incorporate. Beat in half of maple syrup mixture. Repeat, beating in flour them maple syrup mixture. Scrape down the bowl.

Add ground walnuts; mix until just combined. Pour batter into prepared pans. Bake for 45 to 60 minutes, or until a knife inserted in the middle comes out clean.

Makes 8 servings.

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Jennifer Felicia Abadi lives in New York now, where she was born in 1966, but her heritage includes Jewish roots in Palestine, Libya and Syria. It's a heritage from which she has drawn inspiration for a cookbook.

In "A Fistful of Lentils: Syrian-Jewish Recipes From Grandma Fritzie's Kitchen" her recipes are set in a warm context of family history.

There is also plenty of technical food lore, information and tips woven into the recipes' presentation. Recipes, which total about 125, include many which, although they sound and taste rather exotic, are perfectly easy for the American home cook to make.

A Syrian grilled cheese sandwich with mint, for example, won't tax anyone's skill or budget for a quick meal. Meatballs and cherries is an unusual version of a favorite main dish, while desserts could include a choice of rolled date cookies or honey cake with sesame glaze.