My husband and I went to Israel back in 2005. We saw a lot of historic places and ate a lot of tasty food. But now, almost 7 years later, I remember only a handful of items we had there – labaneh, za’atar, hummus, Israeli style salad, and Arabic style coffee. I guess it is time for us to visit Israel one more time. 🙂
Coincidentally, our Israeli cuisine week fell on the same week as Passover. We choose the country of the week at random, but this was a lucky break, because the same week Alex’s parents also invited us over for a seder with all the traditional Passover food.
| Israeli Salad |
It is a very simple salad. Its secret is in preparation, specifically, in finely chopped veggies. The cubes should be as small as 5mm (0.2in) or smaller on each side. Take equal proportions of tomatoes and cucumbers (say, 3 tomatoes and 3 cucumbers). Finely chop them. Add 2 cloves of minced garlic, 1/3 cup of fresh chopped parsley, 1/3 cup of finely diced red bell pepper. Combine. Add 1/2 tsp of za’atar, salt and black pepper to taste. Dress with olive oil and lemon juice. There is a variation of this salad, which is basically the same thing but with Israeli style couscous added to the mix.  |
| Falafel |
Before making my own falafel I decided to try one from Trader Joe’s. I was so unimpressed that I almost decided to skip making it. Fortunately, I didn’t. I found a recipe that I thought would be easy enough to make and, voila, my falafel turned out to be very good. After Alex tasted a piece he didn’t leave the kitchen as he usually does but stayed near the plate of fried falafels in anticipation of the time when he could get more of “these tasty things”. Of course, I love my husband! |
| Gefilte Fish |
I don’t remember eating gefilte fish in Israel. I don’t even know if it is a popular dish there or not. However, I could not miss making it for an Israeli style dinner because I don’t make it often enough so this was a perfect opportunity for me to improve my gefilte fish skills :). I adopted my mom’s recipe that she brought from Odessa. Unfortunately, I could not make it the real gefilte fish since it would require taking out fish skin and stuffing it. So here is fish stuffing without being gefilte. We’ll pretend it’s there. Ingredients
Peel and slice onions. Reserve onion skins (outer yellow shells) for later. In a stainless steel frying pan heat a little oil and add onions. Saute until translucent, add sugar and continue to saute until the juices evaporate and onions start to caramelize (become medium brown). Deglaze with wine and set aside. Remove crust from the bread, cut it to 1 inch cubes and pour milk over it. Set aside to soak. Wash and pat dry fish fillets. Cut them in small pieces and puree them in a food processor along with an egg (I like my gefilte fish little chunky so I do not process fish until completely smooth). Transfer to a mixing bowl. In the food processor, puree onions until smooth. Add to fish. From the bread, remove excess moisture and also add to fish. Mix adding salt and pepper. As a result you should get light and somewhat sticky dough. With wet hands form oval patties that are about 3 inches in the longest side (in order to keep my hands wet so the dough wouldn’t stick to my hands I turn on a faucet with cold water and wash my hand after forming each patty). Pan fry the patties in a little oil on both sides until they just golden brown. At the bottom of a heavy pot or dutch oven, arrange onion shells. Place fried patties directly on onion shells add boiling water or vegetable stock so it just covers the patties. Bring to a gentle boil and cook on low for about 20 minutes. Remove patties from the pot and serve with latkes. |
| Latkes |
| Latkes are very easy to make and everybody loves them (even my children). I don’t make them very often only because they are packed with calories.
Ingredients
Peel and grate potatoes. Place potatoes in a colander and remove excess of water. Add eggs and mix well. Add matzo meal, salt and black pepper. Mix. Heat oil in a nonstick pan. Spoon potato mixture to the pan and flatten so you get 1/4-1/3 of an inch thick patties. Fry on both sides until golden brown. Transfer to a paper towel to remove excess oil. Serve hot with sour cream. |
