What is the secret of "simple elegance"? It's not about dozens of hard-to-find ingredients, pricey equipment, and complicated instructions. It's simply about paying attention to the small details - an unusual garnish, an unexpected ingredient, a touch of flair in presentation. Elegance - it's a way to show your care and love for those eating at your table, as you serve them beautifully presented food. Simplicity is how we can survive, and thrive, in today's hurried, busy world. Put them together and you have the perfect cookbook just in time for the holidays.

Daniella Silver, author of the bestselling The Silver Platter: Simple to Spectacular, once again teams up with bestselling cookbook author Norene Gilletz - the acclaimed "matriarch of kosher cooking" - to bring a whole new level of elegance to holiday tables with their new cookbook, Simple Elegance: Effortless Recipes with Sophisticated Results. This beautiful book provides delicious, yet easy and elegant recipes perfect for any party or dinner.

"Although I love to cook, I don’t like spending hours in the kitchen," Daniella says. "We all have very busy lives but still want to prepare healthy, fresh meals for our family and friends. When it came to writing a second cookbook, I wanted to focus on that concept even more: creating simple, elegant dishes that suit our busy schedules. I’m a busy mom, so this idea truly is the foundation of my cooking style."

From creative appetizers through gorgeous main dishes and show-stopping desserts, all the recipes feature accessible ingredients, easy-to-follow instructions, make-ahead and freezing tips, nutritional analysis, and mouth-watering photographs to ignite the imagination.

SIMPLE ELEGANCE contains over 160 recipes and each one includes Norene’s Notes, techniques, tips and advice from cooking guru, Norene Gilletz. All recipes have indications whether it’s freezer-friendly for make-ahead cooking, kosher for Passover, gluten-free, and full nutritional analysis. From Appetizers, Soups and Salads to Fish, Poultry, Meat, Dairy, Sides and Desserts, recipes include:

With a little thought, a little imagination, and a lot of caring, anyone can create a stunning dish, in less time than you would think. Create simple elegance for your holiday table.

Daniella Silver, author of the bestselling Silver Platter cookbook series, makes healthy, beautiful food simple. Daniella combines her artistic sense of style and presentation with wholesome, nutritious ingredients, delivering effortless dishes for every occasion. As a busy mom, Daniella re-imagines the traditional flavors of her own childhood using the fast, fresh, healthy ingredients of the modern kitchen. But don’t worry, she never forgets the sweets! Her latest book, The Silver Platter: Simple Elegance, inspires fans to focus on the small details for sophisticated results.

Norene Gilletz is a Toronto-based cookbook author, food writer, and recipe editor. She is a kosher culinary expert and food consultant, cooking teacher and lecturer, and a Certified Culinary Professional (CCP) with the International Association of Culinary Professionals (IACP). Norene was the first recipient of The Gil Marks Memorial Award and was also honored as a Pioneer in Kosher Food at KosherFeast in NYC. Norene is the leading author of kosher cookbooks in Canada. She has written 12 cookbooks, including a variety of health issues and special diets. She is the food editor for Jewish Action Magazine, published by The Orthodox Union, a food writer for the Canadian Jewish News and also writes a popular weekly blog, The Shabbat Table, for their online edition. Norene also gives cooking demonstrations and lectures on culinary topics and promotes her cookbooks worldwide. She is the owner of Gourmania Inc. and recently launched a line of kosher prepared and frozen foods under the brand name Norene Gilletz Kitchen. She is currently working on her latest cookbook: The Brain-Boosting Diet: Reduce YOUR Risk of Alzheimer’s & Dementia. You can learn more about Norene on her website, www.Gourmania.com.

Try these delicious recipes this holiday season.

Recipe(s) from THE SILVER PLATTER SIMPLE ELEGANCE: Effortless Recipes with Sophisticated Results

By Daniella Silver and Norene Gilletz

Artscroll/November 2016

1 Chicken (about 3 lb/1.4 kg),cut into eighths

2-3 large sweet potatoes, trimmed, halved, thinly sliced into half-moons (do not peel)

3 shallots, trimmed and halved

3-4 cinnamon sticks

kosher salt

freshly ground black pepper

3 Tbsp brown sugar

1 tsp ground cinnamon

1 tsp dried thyme

3 Tbsp pure maple syrup

1/4 cup water

1. Preheat oven to 400°F. Coat a large roasting pan with nonstick spray.

2. Trim and discard excess fat from chicken pieces. Arrange chicken in a single layer, skin-side up, in roasting pan. Add sweet potatoes, shallots, and cinnamon sticks, tucking them between and around chicken pieces. Sprinkle generously with salt and pepper.

3. In a small bowl, combine brown sugar, cinnamon, and thyme. Stir well. Sprinkle mixture evenly over chicken and vegetables. Drizzle with maple syrup.

4. Add water to baking dish, being careful not to drizzle it over the seasoned chicken and vegetables.

5. Bake, uncovered, basting occasionally, for 1 hour and 15 minutes, or until juices run clear and chicken is glazed and golden. Transfer to a serving platter.

• Variation: Add 8-9 Medjool dates, halved and pitted, with vegetables.

• Sweet potatoes contain antioxidants, including beta-carotene, which converts to vitamin A in the body. The deeper the orange, the higher the beta-carotene content is. Sweet potatoes have a medium glycemic index (GI). One medium sweet potato contains about 6.6 grams fiber.

3 eggs

1 ¼ cups sugar

1 ¼ cups vegetable oil

1 tsp pure vanilla extract

1 ½ cups orange juice

2 ½ cups flour (or gluten-free flour with xanthan gum)

1 tsp baking powder

1 ½ tsp baking soda

¼ tsp salt

3 cups fresh or frozen cranberries (no need to thaw)

1 ½ cups mini chocolate chips

1. Preheat oven to 350°F. Coat two 9 x 5-inch loaf pans with nonstick cooking spray.

2. In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, beat eggs with sugar, oil, and vanilla on medium-high speed for 3-5 minutes, until light.

3. Reduce mixer speed to low; gradually blend in orange juice.

4. Add flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. Mix just until combined. Fold in cranberries and chocolate chips.

5. Divide batter evenly between prepared loaf pans; spread evenly. Bake for 50-60 minutes, or until a wooden toothpick inserted into the center comes out dry.

6. Allow loaves to cool for 20 minutes. Invert onto serving platters.

• Muffin Variation: In Step 5, scoop batter into muffin pans coated with nonstick spray or lined with paper liners until ¾-full. Bake at 375°F for about 25 minutes. Yields 18-24 muffins.

• Frozen cranberries don’t need to be thawed. Just rinse and pat them dry with paper towels before folding them into the batter