A WORLD OF ISRAELI COOKING

Zahav

Zahav

Zahav

Named Eaters 2014

Chef of the Year
I like it on eggplant with
pomegranate. I like it with walnuts
on fish. I like it with beets. I like it
with garlic on roasted lamb. I like it
with date molasses on foie
u contents u
gras. I like it with harissa
Introduction
1. Tehina
on kofte. I like it on a
(The Secret Sauce)
2. Salatim
schnitzel sandwich with
3. Beyond Chicken Soup
Iraqi mango pickles. I like
4. My Grandmothers
Borekas
it on ice cream. I like it
5. Mezze
straight from the jar.
6. Live Fire
7. Ben Gurions Rice
8. Mesibah (Party Time)
9. Milk and Honey

Israelis love tehina like Americans love Doritos and

wrestlingunconditionally and a little bit irrationally.
The country doesnt run without it. Israelis eat it raw
and use it as a dip. They put in on sandwiches and
salads. They sauce fish and meat with it. They use it in
sweets. They add it to hummus by the truckload.

Although I was born in Israel, my family moved to Pittsburgh when I was two.
Growing up, my entire Israeli identity was limited to a few Hebrew phrases,
usually shouted by my father: Maspeek! (enough!) , pounding the table for
emphasis when I misbehaved, which was often; hazak (hard), encouraging me
to blow my nose; kvissa (laundry chute), reminding me not to leave my clothes
all over the place. Part of our household identity was the jar of tehina that was
always on our kitchen table ...

Zahav

hummus
I sometimes wonder where my career would be
without hummus. More than anything, its the dish that
brings people to the restaurant in the first place. And
more often than not, it is what brings them back. Theres
something transcendent about a perfect bowl of
hummus that tells our guests theyre in the right place. I
often imagine that somewhere beneath the restaurant is
an engine room with two guys shoveling hummus into a
giant furnace that keeps the stoves lit and the lights on.
Without hummus, Zahav would be a cold, dark shell.
When Israelis eat hummus, they say, lets go wipe
some hummus, which refers to the action of scooping up
hummus with pita, but it also makes it clear that eating
hummus is a social activity. It does not involve standing at
the kitchen counter, dipping factory-shaped baby carrots
into a cold, stiff tub of store-bought hummus by the light
of the refrigerator.
Hummus in Israel is pure luxury. The texture is smooth
and creamy and the flavors are nutty, rich, and satisfying in
a completely wholesome way. The problem with even the
best-quality store-bought hummus is that it requires certain additives to make it shelf-stable, notably lemon juice
(or more likely citric acid). These additives turn hummus
sharp and sourlight years away from the dreamy qualities
of fresh hummus.
Fortunately, great hummus could not be easier to make
at home. All it requires is a food processor, cooked chickpeas, and my Basic Tehina Sauce. Some people will try to
tell you that canned chickpeas are useless: Unfriend them
immediately. While I would prefer that you soak and cook
dried chickpeas as we do at the restaurant, fresh hummus
made from canned chickpeas is a hundred times better
than anything you can buy. And it takes less than five minutes. Hummus follows the rule that simple things are often
the hardest to do well. Our hummus at Zahav has only five
ingredients, but it took us longer to develop than any other
recipe on our menu.

Basic Tehina Sauce

Makes about 4 cups

1

1
2

head garlic
cup lemon juice (from 3 lemons)
teaspoons salt
generous cups tehina
teaspoon ground cumin

Break up the head of garlic, letting the unpeeled

cloves fall into a blender. Add the lemon juice and
teaspoon of the salt. Blend on High for a few
seconds until you have a coarse puree. Let the mixture stand for 10 minutes to let the garlic mellow.

Pour the mixture through a fine-mesh strainer set

over a large bowl, pressing on the solids to extract as
much liquid as possible. Discard the solids. Add the
tehina to the strained lemon juice in the bowl, along
with the remaining 1 teaspoon salt and the cumin.

Whisk the mixture together until smooth, adding

ice water a few tablespoons at a time to thin it out.
The sauce will lighten in color as you whisk. When
the tehina seizes up or tightensit willkeep adding ice water, bit by bit (about 1 cups in total), until
you have a perfectly smooth, creamy, thick sauce.

Taste and add more salt and cumin if you like. If

youre not using the sauce immediately, whisk in a
few extra tablespoons of ice water to loosen it.

Hummus Tehina
Makes 3 cups

1 cup dried chickpeas

2 teaspoons baking soda
1 cups Basic Tehina Sauce,
plus a bit more for garnish

1 teaspoon of salt

teaspoon ground cumin
Paprika, for garnish
Chopped parsley, for garnish
Olive oil, for garnish
Place the chickpeas in a large bowl with one teaspoon of the baking soda and cover with plenty of water (the chickpeas will double in volume, so use more
water than you think you need). Soak the chickpeas
overnight at room temperature. The next day, drain
the chickpeas and rinse under cold water.

Place the chickpeas in a large pot with the remaining

teaspoon of baking soda and add enough cold water
to cover by at least four inches. Bring the chickpeas
to a boil over high heat, skimming off any scum that
rises to the surface. Lower the heat to medium, cover
the pot with a lid, and continue to simmer for about an
hour, until the chickpeas are fully cooked and completely tender. Then simmer them a little more. (The
secret to creamy hummus is overcooked chickpeas;
dont worry if your chickpeas are mushy and falling
apart a little.) Drain.

Combine the chickpeas, Tehina Sauce, salt, and

cumin in a food processor. Puree the hummus for several minutes until it is smooth and uber-creamy. Then
puree it some more! To serve, spread the hummus in
a shallow bowl, dust with paprika, top with parsley,
more Tehina Sauce if you like, and drizzle generously
with olive oil.

Zahav

Israeli Salad: Mango, Cucumber, and Sumac Onions

Serves 4 to 6

there is no meal in which

Israeli salad is out of place at the
table. I could eat it three times a day
for the rest of my life. I cant think
of a more perfect and balanced
dishrefreshing and substantial
at the same time, with great acidity
from fresh lemon, richness from
the generous dose of olive oil,
sweetness and umami from the
tomatoes, and a slight bitterness
from the herbaceous parsley. Israeli
salad is wonderful because the
more you eat of it, the better you feel.
I often find myself craving this salad during the
long Northeastern winters, but its simplicity requires
perfect ingredients to really singout-of-season
tomatoes dont cut it. So weve adapted this salad
to our seasonal environment. When tomatoes are
not perfect, we use stand-ins like mangoes, pickled
persimmons, passion fruit, or even grapes for a salad
thats Israeli in spirit. Remember to season the salad
aggressively with salt, lemon, and olive oil. With so
few ingredients, its important to make the most of
those you do have.

2 mangoes, cut into small cubes (3 cups)

1 cucumber, diced (3 cups)
cup Sumac Onions (recipe follows)
3 tablespoons olive oil
2 teaspoons lemon juice
3 tablespoons chopped fresh mint
1 teaspoon salt

Combine the mango, cucumber, Sumac Onions, olive

oil, lemon juice, and mint in a bowl and toss to combine. Season with salt and serve.

Sumac Onions

1 red onion, sliced thin

teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon sumac
1 tablespoon red wine vinegar

Combine all the ingredients in a mixing bowl and

toss to combine. Serve immediately.

u ingredient u

sumac
Sumac grows as a feathery cluster of red-seeded berries that you see on bushes along our
highways getting crushed by sparrows. The
berries were used to add sour flavors to food in
the Middle East before the Moors introduced
lemons. The Pennsylvania Dutch still make pink
lemonade with sumac. I love sumac because
you can add a sprinkle of tartness to dishes
without using acid or liquid; its perfect for such
delicate things as raw fish.

Tehina

My Moms Coffee-Braised Brisket

Serves 8

this is my take on the dish my mother served at

virtually every special occasion dinner of my childhood. And my moms version was her take on the dish
that her mother made. Brisket has a long history on
the Jewish table, primarily because it was a very economical cut. Unfortunately, brisket is no longer cheap,
but when cooked properly, its still one of the beefiest
and most flavorful pieces of meat you can find.
My grandmother made her brisket with carrots,
potatoes, and Heinz Chili Sauce, which gave it a traditional sweet and sour flavor profile. My mother added
the coffeeshe doesnt remember why, but its pretty
brilliant, actually. Unlike stock, the more traditional braising liquid that takes hours to make, coffee is
ready in minutes. And its deep roasted flavors work
really well with beef (coffee makes a great addition to
barbecue sauce, too). In my version, I add cardamom
to evoke Turkish coffee. Ive also replaced the sweetness of that chili sauce with dried apricots.

You will find braised eggs like these in a cholent,

or chamin, a Sabbath stew cooked slowly overnight
and served on Saturday afternoon. The eggs become
almost creamy from the long cooking time, and as the
coffee braising liquid penetrates the shell, it colors the
eggs and subtly flavors them. I like to finish the whole
dish with grated horseradish for a little bit of pungency to wake up the long-cooked flavors of the brisket.
I make brisket over several days: the first day, the
seasoned meat is refrigerated overnight, the next day
the brisket is cooked. It can then be served, but its
flavor and texture is far better if it rests in its braising
liquid another night and then warmed, sliced and
served the following day.

1 brisket (first cut, about 4 pounds)
Salt

1 tablespoons ground cardamom

1 tablespoons ground black cardamom

2 tablespoons finely ground coffee

2
4
10
1/3
1
2
6

cup canola oil

large onions, sliced
carrots, sliced
cloves garlic, sliced
cup tomato paste
cup dried apricots
cups brewed coffee
eggs in their shells

Fresh horseradish, grated

Warm the canola oil in a large pot with a tight fitting

lid over medium heat and add the onions, carrots, and
garlic. Cook until the vegetables have softened but
not browned, about 8 minutes. Add the tomato paste
and continue cooking until it reduces slightly, about 2
more minutes. Add the dried apricots, brisket, coffee,
and 6 eggs (in their shells). Add enough water to bring
the liquid level halfway up the side of the brisket.

Mix 1 tablespoon plus 2 teaspoons salt, cardamom,

black cardamom, and coffee together and rub the mixture into the brisket. Cover loosely with plastic wrap
and refrigerate overnight.

Cover, and braise for 1 hour. Remove the eggs, gently

tap them all over to make a network of small cracks all
over the shells, and return them to the braise. Continue cooking until the brisket shreds easily with a fork,
about 3 more hours. Let the brisket cool in its braising
liquid in the refrigerator overnight.

Preheat the oven to 475F. Put the brisket on a rack

set inside a roasting pan and roast until the exterior
has browned, about 20 minutes. Lower the oven temperature to 250F.

To serve, preheat the oven to 350F and bake until

warmed through, about 30 minutes. Slice, and spoon
the broth over the meat. Serve with grated fresh
horseradish.

11

P r a i s e f o r Z a h av

Zahav [is] an Israeli restaurant of

national renown.The New York Times
An utter and total revelation. Bon Apptit
Michael Solomonov has become Americas
leading interpreter of Israeli cuisine.
Wall Street Journal
Hardcover $35.00

publicity &
marketing

A 2011 James Beard

Awardwinner for
Best Chef, Mid-Atlantic,
Michael Solomonov is the
co-owner and executive
chef of Zahav, Philadelphias renowned modern
Israeli restaurant. With
his business partner and
co-writer, Steven Cook, he
also owns Federal Donuts,
Percy Street Barbecue,
Dizengoff, and Abe Fisher,
all in Philadelphia.

Pre-Publication
Media Event
National Media
National 10-City Author
Tour Including
Philadelphia, New York,
Chicago, San Francisco,
Portland, and Seattle
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Publicity
Contact
Rebecca Liss
rebecca.liss@hmhco.com
(212) 598-5729

352 pages
9 x 11
Full-color throughout
Publication date: October 1, 2015
ISBN 978-0-544-37329-7
Produced by Dorothy Kalins Ink
Design by Don Morris Design
Photographs by Mike Persico
A Rux Martin Book

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