Redwoods

This post has nothing to do with food or Israel (I’m breaking blogging rules, sorry) but this is too amazing not to post.

Mike Nichols, a National Geographic photographer, took a picture (above) of a 300 foot tall, 1500 year old Redwood tree. It took him multiple cameras and weeks of setting up to get this shot. Check out the video too on the making of this picture and click here for a preview of the National Geographic article. I promise the next post will be about food:-)

Redwoods

Reducing carbon dioxide emissions on Yom Kippur

Yom Kippur is this Sunday night/Monday, which for me means no cars in the streets! Each year I'm blown away by how amazing it is to walk through a city with literally not a single car, save the occasional ambulance and police car doing regular patrols. The air quality is a lot better, kids play in the middle of the streets, and I go for walks on the main highways. It's awesome! I'll definitely be posting pictures of the no car phenomenon we can all thank Yom Kippur for.

Back to food...along with cars, cows are a huge producer of CO2 gases. In the spirit of trying to reduce CO2 emissions, here are a few recipes, perfect for breaking the Yom Kippur fast, that are meat free.

Zucchini Carpaccio w/Crumbled Feta

Ingredients:
2 zucchinis

Olive Oil

Salt

Pepper

Feta cheese - several ounces

Instructions:
1. With a mandolin or carrot peeler, slice the zucchini lengthwise to get very thin slices. Lay out on a plate with as little overlap as possible.

2. Drizzle with olive oil, sa

lt and pepper.

3. Crumble feta cheese over the carpaccio strips and let the strips marinade for 30 minutes.

4. Serve and enjoy!

Southwestern Salsa Stuffed Avocado

Ingredients:
5-6 Avocados

Corn - kernels of two freshly cooked stocks or half a can

1/2 Red Onion - finely diced
Jalapeno - half of one pepper, finely diced

Cherry Tomatoes - one package, quartered

Lemon juice - 1 lemon

Salt

Pepper

Instructions:
1. Cut the avocados in half, lengthwise and throw away the pit. Place on a serving tray.

2. Mix the corn, red onion, jalapeno, cherry tomatoes. Add lemon juice and season with salt and pepper.

3. Place a spoonful or two of the salsa mixture in the avocado and serve.

No cars on the streets! (Tel Aviv, Yom Kippur 2008)

Reducing carbon dioxide emissions on Yom Kippur

Tel Aviv 10 block culinary walking tour

The other day I came across this article from The Atlantic food blog about a culinary walking tour of Brooklyn. I've heard stories about New York's culinary diversity, but somehow I've never really been to New York to see for myself. Ironically, on Tuesday I'm going for a week (Philadelphia and DC too) to visit friends and family. The article made me think about Tel Aviv's culinary diversity and what an ideal 10 block culinary tour of Tel Aviv would entail. Stay tuned for a future post once I have devised a route showing off the best that Tel Aviv has to offer.

Tel Aviv 10 block culinary walking tour

Krembo

This blog post is going to be a tribute to one of my favorite Israeli snacks…Krembo! Krembo is not a kind of food unique to Israel, its similar to a s’more, but I’ve never seen them sold elsewhere. For those unfamiliar, Krembo is an individually packaged snack made of a cracker bottom, an airy cream filling and covered with chocolate.

One sign of winter in Israel is the appearance of Krembo in the stores. If its too hot than the chocolate melts, so they only show up around November. I think Krembos taste great, and I am amazed by their versatility. You can eat Krembo at room temperature which is the classic way. Freezing them makes them just a little bit better in my opinion. You can also zap it in the microwave for a few seconds to get a more s’more type taste.

Check out the YouTube video below on how Krembos are made (Hebrew only). One thing I found interesting was that the Krembos are so delicate they have to packaged by hand and not by machine. Next time you’re in Israel during the winter be sure to have yourself a delicious Krembo.

Krembo

Cool Rosh Hashanah Article

Check out this NY Times article about recreating a typical Rosh Hashanah meal in...1919!

Cool Rosh Hashanah Article

Finished school and modern Israeli Ravioli

Hi, sorry for the delay between posts. I'm going to try to post more frequently, but I finished my MBA at the beginning of the week! and the last few weeks have been a little crazy. Now that I'm done with the MBA I have more time to focus on the Savor Israel blog, so keep checking frequently for new recipes and articles on food and Israel.

Rosh Hashana begins this Friday evening, and in honor of the Jewish New Year I'm posting a recipe worthy of a dinner for this holiday courtesy of the Israeli chef Aharoni. There are ingredients I view as very Israeli like the silan (date honey), lamb, garbanzo beans, and cherries. The silan (honey) is symbolic of rosh hashana, and it was in fact date honey, not bee honey, that was first eaten in biblical Israel. The fusion between Italian and Middle Eastern cooking also seems very modern Israeli cooking to me as well. So we'll call this is a modern Israeli Rosh Hashana dish. Wishing everyone a wonderful start to their new year.

Lamb Ravioli in a Silan, Cherry and Shallot Sauce (courtsey of Aharoni)

Ingredients:
Sauce
Shallots – 12
Cherries (seeded) - 1 pound
Cumin seeds - 1 tablespoon
Black Pepper - to season
Garbanzo beans - 1 can (cooked beans)

Sugar - 1/3 cup

Squeezed Lemon Juice - 1/2 cup
Silan (regular honey can be used as a substitute) - 1/3 cup

Chicken stock - 1 liter

Pasta - Ravioli

see linked recipe

Pasta maker or rolling pin

Ravioli filling

Ground lamb - 1-1.5 pounds

1 Red Onion - finely minced
Parsley - 1/2 a bunch, finely chopped
Salt - to season
Pepper - to season

Instructions:

Sauce

Saute whole shallots with pepper and cumin seeds until shallots are well carmelized in a big pan
Add cherries and garbanzo beans and saute for five minutes on medium heat
Add chicken stock, sugar, lemon, and silan. Bring to boil and then reduce heat to a simmer
Cook for 45 minutes until almost liquid has almost completely reduced

Ravioli (altnernatively, you can buy ready made Ravioli at the store)

While the sauce is reducing prepare the pasta dough. There are hundreds of ways to make pasta dough, and I by no means know which is the "best". Here's a link to a good recipe if you don't have your own favorite way.

To make the filling for the raviolis, mince the red onion, and mix in a bowl with the ground lamb, salt and pepper. Saute until the lamb is cooked. Review the ravioli recipe link on how to prepare the raviolis once you have made the dough and the filling. Cook the raviolis for 3-4 minutes and place aside.

Putting it all together

Take the raviolis and lay them in the sauce once it has almost completely reduced and cook for another three minutes.

Lay the raviolis on a serving plate and pour the sauce on top. Enjoy and Shana Tova!

Finished school and modern Israeli Ravioli

Gluten free and other food allergies

I am allergic to countless foods. When I was two years old I had an anaphylactic reaction to fish and later testing revealed I was in fact deathly allergic to all seafood. I have also developed lactose intolerance, severely limiting the dairy products I am able to deat. In addition, I have minor allergies to peanuts, pistachios, and citrus fruits give me heartburn. Often people comment on how awful it must be to be so limited, when in fact I think I am still able to eat wide varieties of different foods.

A good friend of mine is a Celiac, and is unable to eat any food with Gluten in it, knocking out all wheat products. My father is allergic to half the foods on the planet, and I more and more I meet people with significant food allergies.

I want this blog to reflect this increasingly reality and with that in mind I want to share a blog about cooking gluten-free, Gluten-Free Girl. The recipes are amazing, whether you're a Celiac or not.

Gluten free and other food allergies

Figs and Alon and Becca are back

As Rosh Hashanah approaches certain seasonal foods are appearing in the markets including one of my favorite fruits...figs.

Roasted figs with goat cheese is one of my favorite foods and its so easy to make. Just pre-heat your oven to 350 F. Place figs in an ovenproof tray and make a slit almost all the way through the fig. Slice a thin piece of goast cheese and put in the fig. Season with a very small amount of black pepper and bake for 10-15 minutes. If you want, you can add a drop of balsamic vinegar on each fig once they're out of the oven. The sweetness of the fig and acidity of the vinegar blend well together.

Alon, co-founder of Savor Israel, just came back from his honeymoon in Mexico and Cuba today! Tomorrow evening he and his wife, Becca, are coming over and I'm making mojitos with the limes I was given at Mezcal and figs with goat cheese. I'll be sure to take pictures and post those.

Figs and Alon and Becca are back