Iconic New York institution Russ & Daughters has been slinging Jewish baked goods and smoked salmon for four generations. In other words, they know their stuff. To celebrate the release of their cookbook, RUSS & DAUGHTERS: 100 Years of Appetizing, they’ve lent us a recipe for an especially scrumptious and easy appetizer-slash-snack that you’ll want to munch on year-round.
Yes, we know that apples and honey is a thing on Rosh Hashanah, when dipping the fruit in honey is meant to symbolize a sweet New Year. And matzo — that flaky, irresistible cracker — is a Passover thing. So what are they doing together in this recipe? Well, if you think of matzo, oven-fried in butter, as simply a delicious cracker (which it is) and apples and honey as a blessed combination of texture and flavor, these little hors d’oeuvres make a lot of sense.
When we ran this as a Rosh Hashanah special at the Cafe, we expanded upon the array of flavor by adding silken gravlax (cured salmon) along with the bite and crunch of pickled onions and the tartness of Greek yogurt. It works for Rosh Hashanah, it works for Passover, and it works whenever you want a simple nourishing snack. (And if, for some reason, you find yourself out of matzo, the snack works just as well on toasted and buttered shissel rye.)
Gravlax, Apples & Honey
MAKES 4 SERVINGS
Ingredients
- ⅔ cup distilled white vinegar
- 1 tablespoon granulated sugar
- 2 teaspoons kosher salt
- 1 medium red onion, thinly sliced
- 4 sheets matzo
- 6 tablespoons clarified butter
- 8 ounces whole-milk Greek yogurt
- 2 Granny Smith apples, cored and thinly sliced
- ½ pound gravlax, thinly sliced
- Freshly ground black pepper to taste
- 1 to 2 tablespoons honey, to taste
- 1 tablespoon chopped fresh dill, for garnish
Instructions
- Make the pickled red onion by whisking together the vinegar, sugar, and 1 teaspoon of the salt in a bowl. Place the sliced onion in a container with a lid (a mason jar works well). Pour the vinegar mixture over the onion until all the slices are submerged. Cover and let stand at room temperature for at least 2 hours.
- Preheat the oven to 400°F. Line a baking sheet with parchment. Break each sheet of matzo into four pieces. Melt the clarified butter in a shallow pan set over low heat (or even atop the oven will work.) Dip the matzo in the butter to coat on both sides, and place on the lined baking sheet. Sprinkle all the matzo with the remaining 1 teaspoon salt. Bake for 8 to 10 minutes, until the matzo is golden. Let the matzo cool.
- Schmear each piece of toasted matzo with Greek yogurt. Then top each piece with four to six slices of apple, two slices of gravlax, a few turns of pepper, and a few drained pickled red onions. Drizzle with honey and garnish with dill.
- The pickled red onions will keep in the refrigerator for 2 weeks.
Excerpted from RUSS & DAUGHTERS: 100 Years of Appetizing by Niki Russ Federman and Josh Russ Tupper. Copyright © 2025 by Niki Russ Federman and Josh Russ Tupper. Reprinted with permission from Flatiron Books. All rights reserved. Photography by Gentl & Hyers. Illustrations by Jason Polan, LLC.
