The title of this entry is also the title of the cookbook I bought at
the airport on our arrival in Tel Aviv. I'm sure that most of you will not be
surprised by this purchase. Needless to
say, I found a few dishes that I hoped to try on our 10 day stay but our first
evening there was, thank goodness, not going to reflect the local foods during
our stay. We arrived on the Sabbath and
our hotel was in a Jewish area so everything but the McDonalds was closed. My
advice... stay away from the McDonalds in Israel. Otherwise, we found some real jewels and
managed to have some of the best bagels, ever, lots of shwarma, some falafel,
amazing hummus and tons of salad and pickles. The food that really stood out
though were the olives. What a flavour!
Here's one of our new favourite recipes
from Fresh Flavors from Israel. Be'te-avon!
Hummus with Meat and Pine Nuts
Chef Avi Steinitz
600g(1 1/2lb) basic hummus (store
bought or your own recipe)
4 tablespoons olive oil
450g (1 lb) beef ground with 100g
(3 1/2oz) lamb fat (Using a high fat beef would work w/o extra fat)
1 large onion, finely chopped
3 cloves garlic, finely chopped
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
3/4 teaspoon baharat spice mix
(shown at end of recipe)
Dash of ground chili pepper
(cayenne)
2/3 cup parsley, chopped
2-3 tablespoons pine nuts, lightly
toasted
1.
Heat the oil in a large, heavy, hot skillet and fry onions until they
turn golden. Add the meat and stir-fry for 2-3 minutes, breaking it down into
small crumbs with a fork. Add garlic,
season with salt, pepper and baharat and fry 1-2minutes. Add half the parsley, mix well and remove
from the stove. Keep warm.
2.
Spoon the hummus onto plates and spread around the rim, leaving a crater
in the center. Heap the meat mixture in
the crater, sprinkle with the remaining parsley and top with pine nuts. Drizzle some olive oil and serve at once.
Serves 4-6 with pita bread and a big salad.
Baharat Spice
1 tablespoon ground cardamom
1 tablespoon ground black pepper
1/2 tablespoon ground allspice
1 tablespoon ground cinnamon
1 tablespoon ground dry ginger
1/2 tablespoon ground nutmeg
Mix all the ingredients and store
in an airtight jar.
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| Baklava, baklava as far as you can see! |
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| Alex could wear this bagel as a bracelet! |
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| fresh grapefruit |
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| Freshly squeezed pomegranate juice |
yum- I want to try this. I love hearing about the fresh local foods in different regions.
ReplyDeleteThat pomegranate press looks great- certainly beats peeling one and trying to separate the pith and seeds.