Hanukkah has gotten short shrift for its entire history. The books of Maccabees that tell its story are not part of the Jewish biblical canon. The rabbis were skeptical of the holiday for nationalist overtones. It lacks the spiritual depth of the High Holidays or of Passover.

But the holiday’s major ritual — eight days of lighting the menorah — is among the most familiar symbols of Judaism to Jews and non-Jews alike. And after Yom Kippur and Passover, it’s the most observed holiday even by less-traditional Jews. Isn’t it time for a Hanukkah cookbook that takes the holiday seriously?

That’s what Eight Courses, Eight Nights aims to do. The origin of the book is in a dinner party my wife and I threw for eight successive years in which we gathered eight friends around a table for an eight-course meal in which each course showcased the signature ingredient of the holiday: olive oil, the substance used to rededicate the temple in Jerusalem, and which lasted for eight nights when there was only enough oil to last for one.

Eight Courses, Eight Nights begins with chapters on the origin, meaning and history of the holiday; the history, ritual significance and culinary properties of olive oil; and on the two best-known foods, latkes (potato pancakes) and sufganiot (donuts). It then presents eight menus, each with eight courses, based on the menus we actually made for our guests at our home.

Readers will learn a great deal both about the holiday and about cooking technique. And browsers will pick up a few novel recipes that they could use on Hanukkah or all year round.

Book proposal available upon request.