Cottage Cheese Revolution

We've just gone through the Arab Spring and everyone's wondering where the next political uprising is going to take place.

The answer, at the moment, appears to be Israel! That Israel would have some sort of political upheaval probably surprises no one. The reason this time, probably will though.

Cottage Cheese.

That's right, Israel is going through a transformational societal revolution because of cottage cheese. Alright, so there is no massive revolution, but people are sure pissed off because of cottage cheese prices.

Upon word that cottage cheese prices would be almost doubled, a Facebook group was created to boycott the product. Word quickly spread, and already stores are reporting a 50% drop in cottage cheese sales. The Knesset is even debating the issue! Cottage cheese is an Israeli staple, with people eating it at any meal. I personally can't stand it, but most Israelis can't live without it. It will be interesting to see how this matter is resolved.

Just imagine what would happen here if hummus prices were to double!

www.israelfoodtours.com

Cottage Cheese Revolution

Bisli has arrived in Portland, Oregon!!???

My mom recently called me, quite excitedly, to tell me that the local Albertsons is carrying kosher for pesach Bisli in advance of Pesach. I know that stores in New York and LA carry Bisli, but I was definitely surprised to hear that it has now reached Portland, let alone the kosher for pesach version. Anyways, glad to hear one of the world's greatest snacks (you can see in the pictures that Bamba has made it as well) is expanding beyond the huge US markets and venturing to smaller cities.

Here is the evidence. All photos are copyrighted to my Mom's new iPhone 4. 

Bisli has arrived in Portland, Oregon!!???

Thanksgiving in Israel

I had the best turkey of my life this past Thursday.

The Turkey on the smoker.

I'll get back to the Turkey in a paragraph or two, but first a little background. Thanksgiving is easily my favorite US holiday. Ironically, Yom Kippur is now my favorite holiday, but only in Israel. I love that nobody drives, the air is clear, and that I can take bike rides on major highways without fear of being run over. Thanksgiving though will always be a special day for me, even in Israel, and every year that I've lived here I've made a point of making a full on turkey dinner. I use my mother's excellent Paul Simon recipe. I call it that because it calls for putting chopped Parsley, Sage, Rosemary and Thyme under the skin of the bird. It is a great recipe and the turkey always comes out well.

7 hours later...it is the best turkey I've ever had

This year I decided not to make a turkey or host a dinner, and was kindly invited by my friends Susi and Dave to their house for dinner. I made the trek out to Jerusalem, and just entering their house you could tell something special was going on. Susi and Dave decided to smoke their turkey, and I had never tasted smoked turkey before. The turkey was smoked on low heat for over seven hours, and the result was amazing. Instead of trying to use a dozen different superlatives to describe the taste, I'll just use three. It was just the moistest, juiciest, tastiest turkey I'd ever had. The smoke flavor really came through, and it was just an awesome, awesome turkey.

A lot of happy people

Every once in a while I get a culinary eye opening, eureka type moment. My first time at Abu Hassan, Adora's foie gras baklava, tasting cold pressed olive oil from olives you picked a few hours earlier are some of the recent ones from the past few years. This turkey definitely goes on this list if not going straight to the top of it. The whole night was a lot fun between the tasty turkey, good friends, and lots of wine. Thanksgiving lives on in Israel quite strongly for me and I'm already thinking about next year's smoked turkey.

Thanksgiving in Israel

Israeli Sangria Recipe

In honor of this week's wine festival I'm posting a recipe for Israeli sangria. Sangria is typically red wine, mixed with lemonade/sprite and various cut up fruits. You mix all of the components together, let it all sit for a while, and and it tastes really, really good.

To make sangria "Israeli" my first thought was to replace the lemonade with limonana. Limonana (Hebrew for lemon and mint) is a very popular drink in Israel that is basically lemonade with lots of mint added to it. The mint makes the drink very refreshing, and its one of the better coping mechanisms for the summer heat.

The fruits I would use for the Israeli sangria would be determined by the season. Plums, oranges, nectarines are all classic fruits for sangria and you can't go wrong with them. To mix things up a little you can also add Lychee, a seasonal summer fruit in Israel. While overall a sweet fruit, the natural small amounts of acidity in the Lychee add a nice element to the drink.

Sangria is a great drink with almost any meal and will sure to go over well at your next summer picnic.

Copyright: http://www.spanish-food.org.uk/2010/06/sangria-drink-spain/

Israeli Sangria Recipe

Ingredients:
Bottle of dry red wine
Lemons
Mint
Sugar
Plum
Orange
Nectarine
Lychee
Instructions:
1. Cut up one plum, one orange, one nectarine, and a handful of lychees. You can make a small dice or keep them as larger sized pieces.
2. To make the limonana squeeze the juice of four lemons into a liter and a half bottle. Add 10 mint sprigs and 3 spoonfulls of sugar. Fill the bottle with water and add a tray of ice cubes. Chill.
3. Mix a whole bottle of wine, half a liter of limonana and fruit together. Let sit for at least 2 hours and up to overnight in the fridge.
4. Sangria is best served chilled, but you can let the temperature return to room temperature if that's your preference.
5. Once it runs out, make some more!

Savor Israel

Israeli Sangria Recipe

The Government Stole Our Idea!

Savor Israel is not the only organization that is trying to expose people to Israel's culinary achievements. The Foreign Ministry recently had a number of high profile food writers, restaurateurs and other food industry leaders come to Israel for a food tour. Check out the article below, written in the Jerusalem Post, and hopefully next time the Foreign Ministry will contact Savor Israel to lead the tour:-)

The Government Stole Our Idea!

Spicy Cactus

Sabrasim!

In the past few days I've eaten 300 grams, or an entire bottle, of schug. Schug is a Yemenite hot sauce, but what makes the kind I've been devouring unique is that it is primarily made up of sabrasim. Sabrasim, or prickly pears as they are referred to in English, are sweet cactus fruits that are popular in Israel. The sabrasim schug is still plenty hot, but has a unique sweet taste to it that the sabrasim provide.During the summer, when the sabrasim are the most in season, you can count on a sabras vendor at almost every major highway offramp/intersection. I'll be sure to buy some and make my own sabras schug. 

Savor Israel

Spicy Cactus

Green in the Desert

I was in the Negev yesterday doing some food research and was blown away by how green everything was. The Negev region has received more rain so far this year than the yearly average, and it shows. The hills are dotted in with green plants everywhere, grasses are growing, flowers blooming, and its quite an overall sight. I just wanted to share this picture of wildflowers blooming near the ruins of the Nabataean city of Avdat. Most of the year the only colors you see in this landscape are golden yellow and brown, so the greens and purples are a nice treat.

Wildflowers outside of Avdat

Savor Israel

Green in the Desert

NY Times and Russian Culture (food) in Israel

First, I want to wish the US Hockey team luck tonight against Canada.

Second, there was a very interesting article published in the New York Times the other day about Russian culture in Israel. It was written by the Times' Moscow bureau chief, and it was published in the travel section. The author writes about the impact, with his primary focus being culinary, of the 1.5 million immigrants from countries that comprised the former Soviet Union to Israel in the last 20 years.

The article is definitely worth a read, and he even mentions a restaurant, Nanushka, that I've reviewed on this blog in the past. My only concern is that people will flock to Ashdod expecting a more grandiose place than the reality...at least from my experience.

Savor Israel

NY Times and Russian Culture (food) in Israel

Erez Komarovsky Workshop

Roasted Eggplant Salad

Last weekend I was able to attend a cooking workshop led by Erez Komarovsky. Erez is the same Erez behind the successful chain of Lechem Erez (Erez Bread) stores throughout Israel. Erez leads a variety of different workshops at his beautiful home in Matat, located in the Upper Galilee near the Lebanese border. He has incredible views of the Galilee and has an impressive organic garden full of broccoli, swiss chard, no less than five kinds of sage, beets, kohlrabi, and much more. I never though kohlrabi had much flavor, but eating it picked straight out of the ground made me realize how incredibly sweet the vegetable can be if grown right and eaten freshly.

Swiss Chard

Upon arriving at his home you are greeted by the smells of several different fresh baked breads that have just come out of his stone oven. There were delicious roasted eggplant, roasted tomato and roasted pepper salads along with a massive bowl of homemade hummus to eat. Before the workshop even starts Erez makes sure you’re pretty full.

After the tour of his garden, where I had the best kohlrabi of my life, we were led into his downstairs kitchen where we gathered around a long table and eagerly anticipated Erez’s cooking demonstrations. The specific workshop that day was breads and soups. He preceded to make a garlic confit bread, a jerusalem artichoke bread, a pumpkin seed and leek challah, a spicy asian soup with a pumpkin and leek stock, a beef and bean stew, and finally a leek, artichoke and garbanzo bean soup. All of the breads and soups were really tasty and the workshop was very inspiring. I posted the garlic confit bread recipe, which was the highlight for me.

Hummus and leek soup, variety of breads

Erez is extremely knowledgeable not only about bread recipes, techniques, and all things bread, but about Israeli and Galilean cuisine in general.  Seasonality is a strong theme in his cooking, hence the heavy use of leeks throughout the day. This focus on local and seasonal ingredients is something I try to model my style of cooking after as well. The workshops last 4 to 5 hours, and I highly recommend trying it out.

 
Galil Olive Orchards
 
Homemade hummus

Savor Israel
www.savorisrael.com

Erez Komarovsky Workshop

Garlic Confit Bread

The latest post on the blog is about a memorable cooking workshop I participated in last weekend, led by Erez Komarovsky. The theme was breads and soups, and one recipe in particular stood out. I’m posting the recipe according to what I observed from Erez. Have fun baking and I hope it tastes great for all those that try.

Garlic Confit Bread

Ingredients:
½ kilo organic whole wheat flour
½ kilo bread flour – high gluten
25 grams wet yeast or ½ spoon of dry yeast
3 spoons brown sugar
*¾ cup garlic confit
1 ½ spoon salt
1 ½ spoon rosemary
3-3 ¾ cups water

Instructions:
1. In a big bowl mix the flour and yeast.
2. Add water and start mixing and kneading for several minutes.
3. Add brown sugar and continue mixing and kneading until all together you’ve been kneading the dough for approximately 8 minutes. It is important not to knead for too long.
4. Add chopped rosemary and mix into dough. Add garlic and mix gently into dough as to not break the cloves. Add the salt and mix in as well. Continue kneading the bread very gently another 3-4 minutes.
5. Add 2 spoonfuls of the garlic confit oil. Mix into the bread.
6. Cover bowl with a nylon covering/trash bag and let sit for 2 hours. Keep outside of a fridge only if cold, otherwise in fridge.
7. Without touching the bread more than needed, lay out it as one long mass of dough on a floured surface.
8. With a cutter, make two inch wide strips.
9. Place baking paper on an oven tray and flour if dough is still sticky.
10. Take 4 strips of the dough and line next to each other. Press ends together and lay over a rosemary sprig on the oven tray.
11. If the tray is big enough add another set of 4 strips pressed together.
12. Place a nylon/trash bag back on the bread and let rest another 1 ½ hours.
13. Preheat oven to 230 C.
14. Flip dough so that the rosemary is on top of the bread now.
15. Before putting the bread in the oven place 8-10 ice cubes in the bottom of the oven to create steam. The steam will keep the bread moist and soft as it bakes.
16. Place the tray with bread in the bottom third of the oven.
17. After 20 minutes lower temperature to 180 C. Cook for another 20 minutes.
18. After the 20 minutes open the oven door to let out any remaining steam. Continue baking for another 10 minutes. This will create a crispy crust.
19. Serve and enjoy!

*Garlic Confit Recipe
Ingredients:
20 (can do any amount you want) heads of garlic
Olive Oil

Instructions:
1. Peel the garlic cloves and put in a stove pan
2. Pour olive oil into the pan until the garlic cloves are completely covered and add a small additional amount
3. Cook for 30 minutes at the lowest heat possible. It is important the oil doesn’t boil because it will burn the garlic.
4. You can store the garlic and oil together or separately in the fridge for several months.

Savor Israel
www.savorisrael.com

Garlic Confit Bread

Haiti

As everyone's hearts go out to the people of Haiti I thought to post some recipes of typical Haitian dishes. In addition to donating to organizations helping with the relief effort, we should try to incorporate some of Haitian culture into our lives. Try out these recipes I adapted from RecipeZaar.

Haitian Chicken with pikliz (www.foodgps.com)

Haitian Chicken in Spicy Tomato Sauce

This spicy chicken dish is full of local flavors typical to Haiti. Serve it over rice and alongside the pickliz vegetables in the recipe below.

Ingredients
1 medium sized chicken, cut into 2 breasts, 2 legs, 2 thighs
1 large onion – thinly sliced
1 scotch bonnet pepper or other very hot pepper – finely chopped
6 garlic cloves - minced
3/4 tomatoes - peeled and diced
3 tablespoons sugar (brown or demerara)
3 limes or lemons
Salt
Pepper
Vegetable oil – 2 to 3 tablespoons

Instructions
1. Preheat oven to 375°F.
2. Wash chicken well & pat dry. Then rub each piece will with lime or lemons and season with salt and pepper.
3. In a large pan or pot heat oil and when hot sear chicken pieces skin side down until they have a nice golden color. Add the onion and peppers at the same as the chicken.
4. Combine in a bowl the garlic, sugar, tomatoes.
5. Remove pan from heat and drain excess oil, onions and peppers into the tomato mixture.
6. Place the chicken in an oven pan and cover with the tomato mixture. Cook for another 30-40 minutes or until the chicken is fully cooked.
7. Serve the chicken and sauce over rice accompanied by pikliz vegetables.

Pikliz Vegetables

Pikliz (spicy pickled) vegetables are a staple of Haitian food. These pickled vegetables are served at almost every meal and are very spicy!

Ingredients
6 scotch bonnet peppers or a smaller amount of larger very hot peppers
2 cups thinly sliced cabbage or shredded cabbage
1/2 cup thinly sliced carrot or shredded carrot
1/4 cup thinly sliced onion or shredded onion
4 whole cloves
1 teaspoon salt
8-10 peppercorns
3 cups vinegar

Instructions
1. Cut the off the tops of the peppers, and roughly chop
2. Place the peppers and the rest of the ingredients in a quart size jar.
3 Add the vinegar, close jar tightly, and let sit 24-48 hours before serving.

Notes: Refrigerate after opening the jar. The pikliz will store for several months.

Savor Israel
www.savorisrael.com

Haiti

Miriam’s Kitchen – Jewish-Indian Cuisine

Some of the starters (http://miriamskitchen.beer-sheva.gonegev.co.il/)

A few weeks ago I had the chance to experience one of the more unique dining options in Israel. In a moshav (small town) called Nevatim, halfway between Beer Sheva and Dimona, there is a restaurant called Miriam's Kitchen. Nevatim is known for its large Indian-Jewish community, and Miriam's Kitchen serves Indian food typical of the Southern Indian city of Cochin. Most of Cochin's 3000 person Jewish community moved to Israel in the 1950's bringing its rich culinary history to the country. Influenced by Iraq, Yemen, and a variety of Indian influences Cochin's food is one of most interesting and diverse the country has to offer.

Miriam's Kitchen is what the name implies. Miriam cooks you food made in her kitchen and you eat in her living room. Tasty chapattis, garbanzo bean dishes, fragrant rice, roasted eggplant and more greet you as the first course to the meal. This is followed by Kube, Dosa and spicy chicken cooked in coconut milk, amongst others. For someone unfamiliar with Indian food the new flavors, textures and smells will be an eye opening experience. Even those that know Indian food well will appreciate the authenticity and flavor.

While the food is most definitely the highlight of the meal, a close second is Miriam's husband Nehemia's stories about the history of the Jewish community in Cochin. Extremely passionate about his community, Nehemia speaks about the historical origins of the community to their present state in Israel. Both Nehemia and Miriam are happy to talk about the techniques and ingredients used in their dishes and genuinely enjoy providing meals for the visitors that arrive.

Miriam (http://miriamskitchen.beer-sheva.gonegev.co.il/)

Savor Israel
www.savorisrael.com

Miriam’s Kitchen – Jewish-Indian Cuisine

Hummus Wars, Part 83

If you've been following this blog you know that the Lebanese seem to view it as a matter of utmost national importance to establish hummus as being of Lebanese in origin. They've filed lawsuits trying to gain legal recognition of this assertion, and a few months ago the largest bowl of hummus ever was made by a group of Lebanese chefs. Well...it’s not the biggest bowl anymore…

A group of chefs in the Arab town of Abu Gosh, just outside of Jerusalem, have made a bowl of hummus twice as big as the previous Lebanese record holder. If you thought that this would definitively end the hummus wars, you would be wrong. Word has already leaked that the Lebanese are planning an even bigger bowl of hummus. I only hope one day that the issue of which country has the bigger bowl of hummus is the main diplomatic row between the two countries.

Savor Israel
www.savorisrael.com

Hummus Wars, Part 83

Adora

I know I've claimed that Irit is possibly my favorite restaurant in the country, but there is strong competition for this title from Adora. Founded in the last 5 or 6 years by the relatively young chef Avi Biton, the restaurant has quickly risen the ranks to be one of Tel Aviv's top restaurants. Outside the food being really, really good and creative, one of my favorite things about Adora is the inspiration for the food. Chef Biton tries to blend classical French techniques and dishes with ingredients, influences and dishes from Israel and the Middle East.

Foie Gras Baklawa (http://www.rest.co.il/sites/Default.asp?txtRestID=5985)

One of the best examples of this, and possibly the restaurant's signature dish, is the Baklawa covered Foie Gras. Baklawa is a sweet desert made from layers of phyllo dough covered in honey and pistachios. Chef Biton wraps a piece of foie gras in phyllo dough, perfectly cooks it, and then drizzles the dish with honey and pistachios. I'm not a good enough writer to try to describe how good it is. Trust me, its delicious, and, in my opinion, a must have dish for non-vegetarian/vegan and against eating foie gras visitor to the restaurant.

Eggplant falafel (http://www.rest.co.il/sites/Default.asp?txtRestID=5985)

A second dish worth writing about is the eggplant falafel dish. As you can see in the picture above, the dish appears to be three beautifully fried falafel balls. Once you bite in you realize this is a unique take on the classic regional food. Instead of ground of garbanzo beans one finds roasted eggplant inside. Only the outside of the dish is the garbanzo bean mixture and it is the perfect coating to the soft roasted eggplant. The "falafel" is served with a nice yogurt sauce and tasty sprout salad.

Adora is also very reasonably priced, making the restaurant one of the best places for value in the city. I'm already thinking about my next visit.

Savor Israel
http://www.savorisrael.com/

Adora

Merry Christmas!

Merry Christmas to everyone celebrating. Clearly, Christmas is not a big deal in Israel, and even more so in Tel Aviv. I thought about going to Bethlehem or Nazareth this year, and I hope to one year. There would be some great Christmas food too, middle eastern style.

I wanted to share two food articles I've come across recently. The first article is on a petition to ban the govt. policy that all official foreign guests of the govt. can only be taken to kosher restaurants. I was not even aware of the policy before reading this, and whole heartedly agree that there's no need for such a law. Thanks to Elaine for sending the article.

The second article was on a reporter's quest to witness the butchering of a sheep in Yafo on the recent Muslim holiday of Eid Al-Adha, the Festival of the Sacrifice. The holiday and the ritual slaughtering of the sheep commemorates Abraham/Ibrahim's decision not to sacrifice his son Isaac/Ishmail, but rather kill a lamb/ram after being directed to do so by God at the last moment. The article was very well written and goes into fairly graphic detail about the killing of the sheep by one family in Yafo.

Have a great Christmas and Happy New Year too!

Savor Israel
www.savorisrael.com

Merry Christmas!

How to make Latkes with Adam Teeter

I want to wish everyone a Happy Hanukah, Christmas, Kwanza and whatever other holidays are taking place at the moment. Hanukah is not, in my opinion, a great food holiday. At least not in comparison to other food oriented holidays. Thanksgiving is probably the best with its traditions of Turkey, cranberries, pumpkin pie, sweet potatoes, brussel sprouts, stuffing, leftover sandwiches the next day, etc. It's almost a full year away, but I'm ready for Thanksgiving already. Ramadan, ironically, is a great food holiday. While observant Muslims do fast (not the best way to enjoy food) during the daytime, each night there is a sumptuous feast. Even amongst the Jewish holidays, Hanukah doesn't do too well. Pesach Seder is an infinitely better meal than any Hanukah specific foods and meals.

Still, there are some unique food traits to Hanukah worth mentioning. Sufganiyot or jelly donuts are traditional to eat on Hanukah, and who doesn't love a jelly donut? However, I’m willing to guess though that most people identify latkes, or potato pancakes, as their primary Hanukah food treat. Who doesn’t like fried grated potatoes with applesauce on top? If you've ever wondered how to make latkes, well you're in luck this year. My friend Adam Teeter is now starring in his very own latke making instructional video. Learn how to make three kinds of latkes and enjoy the great soundtrack.

How to make Latkes with Adam Teeter

Sustainability Conference

(Carmei Avdat vineyards in the Negev region of Israel)

Last month the first ever Israeli Sustainable Food conference was held in Tel Aviv. It was sponsored by Hazon, the American Jewish food and biking folks, and The Heschel Center, a leading Israeli environmental organization. Unfortunately, I was not able to go, and I am disappointed I can't give a first hand account of the event. I'll be sure to make the next conference, and am thrilled that this issue is more in the forefront in Israel. Israel is an agricultural powerhouse in terms of its production and technological advances, but the environmental impact of this production is rarely discussed. Can food production for 10 million Israelis and Palestinians in a small, desert be sustainable at all? Does sufficient food production have to come at the expense of diminishing water resources and pollution through mass use of chemicals that enhance yields? I hope to explore these issues much more in depth in future posts. Stay tuned...

Sustainability Conference

Coffee...Bauhaus Style

It has been a little bit since my last post, and I apologize for the tardiness of this entry. But to make it up to you I'm writing three posts today! Getting straight into the first one...

Tel Aviv is known for its hundreds of buildings built in the modernist architecture style known as Bauhaus. Brought to Tel Aviv in the 1920s and 30s by its European immigrants, the architectural style is one of the city's defining characteristics and much of the city is a UNESCO world heritage site because of these buildings. I had coffee the other day with a professor of mine from Emory at Sucar (sugar) because it was 1) close to where we both live and 2) apparently the last coffee shop (so he says) that truly adheres to the Bauhaus style. What does he mean by that?

The building the coffee shop is located in is of Bauhaus style, but so are many coffee shops in the city. The difference, my former professor explained, is the windows. The windows at Sucar are curved with the building, and apparently no other coffee shop has windows that truly conform and meld to the Bauhaus style of their building. As for the coffee shop itself..the coffee was strong and the variety of cookies we had were very good. There is probably better coffee and cookies at other coffee shops in the city, but if you want the true Bauhaus coffee shop experience you have to go to Sucar.

Cafe Sucar

(www. telaviv4fun.com)

Coffee...Bauhaus Style

Trying to define Israeli cuisine

There's a new article in The Atlantic today that tries to tackle the issue of what defines Israeli cuisine. The article appears to be written by an American who spent a few months in a higher end restaurant in Tel Aviv. She writes well, brings up some good points, but nothing said is particularly new. In the end she shies away of trying to define what Israeli cuisine in, and while this may be the entirely correct thing to do, it feels like the easy way out for her. Read it, and decide for yourselves.

Trying to define Israeli cuisine

Vino!

I haven't written about Israeli wine yet, so...

NPR (the best radio station...ever) has an interesting piece about Israeli wine and geopolitics. Much of Israel's best wine is grown and produced in the West Bank and the Golan Heights, geographical areas claimed by Palestinians and the Syrians respectively. The article brings up the issue of how these wines' origins should be labeled, and what may happen to these vineyards should the areas one day not be part of the Israel.

Geopolitics aside, Israeli wine is really good and steadily gaining a strong worldwide reputation, and I'll talk about some specific brands in future posts.

Vino!