A C O OK O K BO B O OK OK
Contents
Introduction 8 Jerusalem Jerusa lem food 10 The passion passion in the air 12 The recipes 15 A comment about ownership 16 History 18 Vegetables eget ables 24 Beans & Grains 94 Soups 130 Stuffed 150 Meat 172 Fish Fi sh 214 214 Savory Pastries 240 Sweets & Dessert Dessertss 256 Condiments Condiments 296 2 96 Index 310 310 Acknowledg Acknowle dgmen ments ts 318 318
SERVES 6
Na’ama’s Fattoush
Arab salad, chopped salad, Israeli salad — whatever you choose to cal l it, t here is no escaping it. Wherever you you go in the city, at any ti me of the day, a Jerusalemite is most likely to have a plate of freshly chopped vegetables — tomato, cucumber and onion, dressed with olive oil a nd lemon lemon juice — served next to whatever else they are having. It’s a local af fliction, quit e seriously, seriously, with a meal never being complete without it. Fr iends visiting us i n London always always complain of feeling they ate ‘unhealthily’ because there wasn’t a fresh salad served with every meal. A chopped salad can be served for breakfast , next to a plate of hummus or in a pita to add moisture; it can go with fried egg, with a chicken schnitzel or spooned over rice; it is a healt hy supper snack or a side dish for for a hefty piece of matu re steak. T here are plenty of unique variat ions on the chopped chopped salad but one of the most popular is Fattoush, an Arab salad that uses gril led or fried leftover pita. Other possible additions additions include peppers, radishes, lettuce, chi lli , mint, parsley, coriander, coriander, allspice, all spice, cinnamon and sumac. Each cook, each family, each community has t heir own variation. A small bone of contention is the size of the d ice. Some advocate the tin iest of pieces, only a few millimetres thick, others like them coarser, up to 2cm thick . The one thing that t here is no arguing over is that the key lies in the qual ity of the vegetables. They must be fresh, ripe and flavoursome, flavoursome, with ma ny hours in the sun behind them. This fabulous salad is probably Sami’s mother’s creation; Sami can’t reca ll anyone else in the neighbourhood neighbourhood making it . She called it fattoush, which is only true to t he effect that it includes chopped chopped vegetables vegetable s and bread, bre ad, but she added a kind k ind of homemade butt ermil erm ilk k and didn’t fry her bread, which makes it terribly comforting and soothing but very far from a real fattoush.
Recipe continued on next page
SERVES 6
Na’ama’s Na’ama’s fattoush fatt oush
scant 1 cup / 200 g Greek yogur t and cup plus 2 tbsp / 200 ml whole milk milk,, or 1 cups cups / 400 ml buttermilk (replacing both yogur t and milk) mi lk) 2 large stale Turkish flatbread or n aan (9 oz / 250 g in total) 3 large tomatoes (13 oz / 380 g in total), cut into -inch / 1.5cm dice 3 oz / 100 100 g rad radis ishe hes, s, thin ly sliced 3 Lebanese or mini cucumbers (9 oz / 250 g in total), peeled and chopped into -inch / 1.5cm dice 2 green onions, thinly sliced oz / 15 g fresh mint scant 1 oz / 25 g flat-leaf parsley, coarsely chopped 1 tbsp dried mint 2 cloves garlic, crushed 3 tbsp freshly squeezed lemon juice cup / 60 ml olive oil, plus extra to drizzle 2 tbsp cider or white wine vinegar vineg ar tsp freshly ground black pepper 1 tsp salt 1 tbsp sumac or more to taste, ta ste, to garni ga rnish sh
Arab salad, chopped salad, Israeli salad—whatever you choose to cal l it, t here is no escaping it. Wherever you you go in the city, at any ti me of the day, a Jerusalemite is most likely t o have a plate of freshly chopped vegetables —tomato, cucumber, and onion, dressed with olive oil a nd lemon juice— served next to whatever else t hey are having. It’s a local affliction, quite seriously. Friends visiting us in London always always complain of feeling they ate “unhealt hily” because there wasn’t a fresh salad served with every meal. There are plenty of un ique variations on the chopped salad but one of the most popular is fatt is fatt oush , an Arab salad that uses grilled or fried lef tover pita. Other possible additions include peppers, radishes, lettuce, chile, mint, parsley, cilantro, allspice, cinnamon, and sumac. Each cook, each family, each community has t heir own variation var iation.. A smal l bone of content ion is the size si ze of the dice. d ice. Some S ome advocate the tin iest of pieces, only inch / 3 mm wide, others like them coarser, up to ¾ inch / 2 cm wide. The one one thi ng that there is no arguing over is that the key lies in t he quality of t he vegetables. They must be fresh, r ipe, and flavorsome, with many hours in t he sun behind them. This fabulous salad is probably Sami’s mother’s creation; Sami can’t reca ll anyone else in the neighborhood neighborhood making it. She ca lled it fatt it fatt oush , which is only tr ue to the extent t hat it includes chopped chopped vegetables vegetabl es and bread. bre ad. She added a k ind of homemade butt ermil erm ilk k and didn’t fry her bread, which makes it terribly comforting.
Try to get small cucumbers for this as for any other fresh salad. They are worlds apart from the large l arge ones we normally get in most supermarkets. You You can skip the fermentation stage and use only buttermilk instead of the combination of milk and yogurt. For a typical chopped salad, try the Spiced Spi ced chickpeas and fresh vegetable (page 56), 56) , omitting the sugar and the chickpeas. salad (page
If using yogurt and milk, start at least 3 hours and up to a day in advance by placing both in a bowl. Whisk well a nd leave in a cool place or in the fridge unti l bubbles form form on the surface. W hat you get is a k ind of homemade homemade buttermi lk, but less sour. sour. Tear the bread into bite-size pieces and place in a large mixing bowl. Add your your fermented yogur yogur t mixt ure or commercial buttermilk, followed by the rest of the ingredients, mix well, and leave for 10 minutes for all the flavors to combine. Spoon the fattoush into serving bowls, dr izzle wit h some olive olive oil, and garn ish generously generously with sumac.
SERVES 4
Roasted chicken with Jerusalem artichoke & lemon
Jerusalem art ichokes ichokes are well loved in the cit y but have actual actually ly got nothing to do with it ; not officially anyway. The name is a distortion of the Itali an name of this sun flower flower tuber, which which has an ar tichokelike flavor. From girasole articiocco to Jerusalem ar tichoke.
1 lb / 450 g Jerusalem artichokes, peeled and cut lengthwise into 6 wedges inch / 1.5 cm thick 3 tbsp freshly squeezed lemon juice 8 skin-on, bone-in chicken thigh s, or 1 medium whole chicken, quarter qua rtered ed 12 banana or other large shallots, sha llots, ha lved lengthw ise 12 large cloves garlic, sliced 1 medium lemon, halved lengthw ise and then very v ery thin ly sliced 1 tsp saffron threads 3 tbsp / 50 ml olive oil cup / 150 ml cold water 1 tbsp pink peppercorns, lightly crushed cru shed cup / 10 g fresh thyme leaves 1 cup / 40 g tarragon leaves, chopped 2 tsp salt tsp freshly ground black pepper
The combination of saffron and whole lemon slices not only makes for a beautiful-looking dish but also goes exceptionally well with the nutty earthiness of the artichokes. This is easy to prepare. You You just need to plan ahead and leave it to marinate properly. Serve it with Mejadra (page 120) .
Put the Jerusalem ar tichokes in a medium saucepan, cover with plenty of water, and add half the lemon juice. Bring to a boil, lower the heat, and sim mer for 10 10 to 20 minutes, unti l tender but not not soft. Drain a nd leave leave to cool. Place the Jerusalem artichokes and all the t he remaining ing redients, excluding excluding the t he remaining lemon juice and half of the ta rragon, in a large mixing bowl and use your hands to mix everything together well. Cover and leave leave to marinate mari nate in t he fridge overnight, or for at least 2 hours. Preheat the oven to 475°F 475°F / 240°C. 24 0°C. Ar range the chicken pieces, skin side up, up, in the center of a roasting pan a nd spread the remaining remain ing ingredients a round the chicken. Roast for for 30 minutes. mi nutes. Cover Cover the pan with aluminum foil and cook for a further 15 minutes. At this point, the chicken should be completely cooked. Remove from the oven and add the reserved tarragon and lemon juice. Sti r well, taste, a nd add more salt if needed. Serve at once.
MAKES 16 COOKIES
Spice cookies
During the late nineteenth century, as part of their Protestant beliefs, the Templers arrived in Jerusalem from Europe and established the German colony, a picturesque little neighborhood southwest of the Old City t hat to this day feels unusually central European. This is the “civilized” part of town, where you you go for a coffee and a slice of Sacher torte if you wish to escape the harsh Levantine reality. Germanic influences on the city’s food are evident in Christian contexts— the famous Austrian hospice at the heart of the Old City serves superb strudels and proper schnitzels—but Czech, Austrian, Hungarian, and German Jews arriving in the city from the 1930s 193 0s have have also managed to stamp their mark, opening cafés and bakeries serving many Austro-Hungarian classics (see page 284). Duvshanyot , round iced cookies, made with honey and spices, typically for Rosh Hashanah, are possibly a result of this heritage; they are similar to Pfeffernüsse . cup plus 2 tbsp / 125 g currants 2 tbsp brandy scant 2 cups / 240 g allpurpose flour 1 tsp best-quality cocoa powder tsp bak ing powder tsp baking soda tsp each ground cinnamon, all spice, ginger, and nutmeg tsp salt 5 oz / 150 g good-quality dark chocolate, coarsely grated cup / 125 g unsalted butter, at room temperatu re cup / 125 g superfine sugar 1 tsp vanilla extract tsp g rated lemon zest tsp grated orange zest large free-range egg 1 tbsp diced candied citrus peel GLAZE
3 tbsp freshly squeezed lemon juice 1 cup cups / 160 g confectioners’ sugar
These are very loosely inspired by duvshanyot , or Pfeffernüsse. They are actually more closely related to an Italian spice cookie and are hugely popular on the sweet counter at Ottolenghi over Easter and Christmas. The recipe was adapted from the excellent The International Cookie Cookbook by Nancy Baggett.
Soak the currants in the brandy for 10 minutes. Mix together the flour, cocoa powder, baking powder, baking soda, spices, salt, and dark chocolate. Mix well with a whisk. Put the butter, sugar, vanilla, and lemon and orange zest in a stand mixer fitted with the beater attachment and beat to combine but not aerate much, about 1 minute. With the mixer running, slowly add the egg and mix for about 1 minute. Add the dry ingredients, followed by the currants and brandy. Mix until everything comes together. Gently knead the dough in the bowl with your hands until it comes together and is uniform. Divide the dough into 1¾-oz / 50g chunks and shape each chunk into a perfectly round ball. Place the balls on 1 or 2 baking sheets lined with parchment paper, spacing them about ¾ inch / 2 cm apart, and let rest in the fridge f ridge for at least 1 hour. hour. Preheat the oven oven to 375°F / 190°C. Bake the cookies for 15 to 20 minutes, until the top firms up but the t he center is still slightly soft. Remove Remove from the oven. Once the cookies are out of the oven, allow to cool for only 5 minutes, and then transfer to a wire rack. While the cookies are still warm, whisk together the glaze ingredients until a thin and smooth icing forms. Pour 1 tablespoon of the glaze over each biscuit, leaving it to drip and coat t he biscuit with a very thin, almost transparent film. Finish each with 3 pieces of candied peel placed at the center. Leave to set and serve, or store in an
