The book of New Israeli Foods – a culinary journey

I’m just home from my trip to Israel and trying to hold on to the experience as long as possible. And, for me, there’s no better way to do that than sharing food with friends. It’s Israeli food of course - using recipes from The Book of New Israeli Foods by Janna Gur. I’ve been using this cookbook since it was published in Israel a couple of years ago and love it – the recipes are easy to follow, the photography by Eilon Paz is fantastic and the stories of the food and people capture the diversity of the people and the food of the country.

Having coffee with author Janna Gur

A travelogue as well as a cookbook, it includes recipes of Jewish immigrants from throughout the Diaspora with traditional foods of their Arab neighbours, sections on the important holiday foods – from Rosh Hashanah to Passover to Ramadan, stories about some of the chefs who, in the last twenty years, have transformed the Israeli food scene and tons more!

The meze!

So - back to sharing the food. I invite a few friends over – first 3 or 4 and suddenly 10! And, in my kitchen with no counter space, I prepare 8 salads and meze - Labneh, Eggplant with tahini, Israeli salad, Tabouleh, Spicy Moroccan carrot salad, Roasted Peppers in Marinade, Matboucha and a Beetroot and pomegranate salad, followed by a Moroccan Style Hot fish, Pargiyot (grilled chicken thighs) and Mejadra (rice and lentils). (I didn’t do it alone - my friend Linda came early to help and later my friend Dan donned an apron).

My friend Dan helping with the Israeli salad.

I paired the food with a selection of Israeli wines and dessert was a box of baklava I bought in Nazareth and some fresh dates.

The verdict? Everything was a hit! You might, as we did, want to tweak a few of them with a little more lemon or a pinch more cayenne but my friends loved them.

Baklava from Nazareth

You can get many of the recipes on the website http://www.jannagur.com/ -- or get the book itself at The Cookbook Store in Toronto. If it’s not in stock they’ll order it for you. It’ll give you a whole new take of Israeli foods and it’s definitely worth adding to your cookbook collection. Let me know if you try any of the recipes and what you think.

Feel the burn!

I like to eat and drink. It is my way of discovering the world (and sublimating my inner demons). For me, Istanbul remains one of the gems of European travel.

Hamdi is one of the best restaurants in Istanbul, but if you are watching the budget (or are blind like me and walk straight past it) go next door to the café. You enter by the pastry shop downstairs.

A view of Istanbul from Eminonu Port

The large windows open onto the square below that looks along the Galata Bridge across the Golden Horn, with the Bosphorus glittering to the right on a sunny day. The square itself is bordered by two Istanbul icons. The Misir Carşişi or ‘Spice Bazaar’ is still filled with the aromas of cinnamon and other spices, even if souvenirs now take up most of the shelf space. The 400 hundred year old Yeni Cami or ‘New Mosque’ dominates the square and gives you a sense of how time is measured here.

Why had I come to Hamdi? The food is great and if you enjoy traditional Turkish Shish, then you have found a new home. Now comes the time to refresh the palate. Now is the time for raki!

As I sat sipping my raki it was the first day of Ramadan. The muezzin of the Yeni Cami gave the afternoon call to prayer so that all my senses were filled with the intoxicating beauty of this ancient city.

There was only one problem: the raki. Raki is a traditional anise-flavoured spirit and kind of the national drink of Turkey. It is mixed with chilled water, which turns this clear liquid to milky white as it dilutes.

Sipping raki, take 1; WOW! Take 2; Ah, now that's better.

Unfortunately, my waiter thought it better just to pour it over ice. It looked good, but the first sip was like swallowing fire. I am not talking about a martini-like hit here. I am talking about thinking my throat was melting. Luckily, so was the ice and it diluted the raki, the flavours started to emerge and the alcohol subsided. I removed the expression of panic from my face. I committed to the process, steeled myself and finished my medicine. Good times!

Seriously, if you want to experience a place it is not enough just to see, hear and touch. You have to smell and taste to discover the building blocks of a culture. Besides, raki is very nice…if you show a little patience

HAMDİ RESTAURANT
Tahmis Caddesi Kalçın Sokak No:17 Eminönü - İSTANBUL
Tel: (0533) 658 80 11
http://www.hamdirestorant.com.tr/

Paris is lovely, but this chef's heart belongs to Provence

When I convinced my husband to take me to the movie Julie & Julia, I fully expected to find myself sympathizing with the blogger character Julie as she spends a year online blogging about cooking. After all, we seem to share an interest in that department. In reality though, the real character I connected with was that of Julia Child, as she followed her true passions in life, cooking and her husband, wherever they would take her.

As an avid cook and enthusiast of French cuisine, it’s hard not to have a soft spot for the woman who tried to teach the average North American housewife to embrace a style of cooking that requires not only patience but a deep passion for food. But I must admit that there is one point on which we differ..

While Julia calls Paris her "favourite place on earth," I can’t imagine how any chef who has spent time in Provence would prefer Paris. And the French Riviera with its markets loaded down with fresh olives, figs and herbs, to say nothing of it’s near tropical climate, is the place for me.

A market in the French Riviera

Influenced by the cuisine of Italy, being so close to the border, and flush with fresh-from-the sea dishes, la Cote d’Azur has some of the country’s best food. It was in the throes of August’s warmest days when I last visited Nice and yet I insisted I needed to find a restaurant with bouillabaise. A regional dish of the French Riviera, this fish stew is hearty and filling, and not what one would expect to be eating on a hot summer night. Like Julia, I was on the hunt for an authentic French experience and so I found myself walking the strip of restaurants close to the Mediterranean sea as restaurateurs called out to us trying to lure us in with their Special du jour and always offering a little something extra.

Delicious bouillabaise on a hot summer night!

Bouillabaisse is one of those dishes that differ from kitchen to kitchen, but all good ones have the taste of Provence, which Julia explains in her book My Life in France comes from "garlic, onions, tomatoes, olive oil, fennel, saffron, thyme, bay and usually a bit of dried orange peel." And while the debate over which version of bouillabaisse is "authentic" with anyone from the region could land you in hot water, Julia’s version is pretty tasty looking.

The Galilee Food Experience

I had such a spectacular time in the Galilee – but I’ve left a little overwhelmed! Somehow I have to decide what, of all the incredible food experiences I’ve had, I’ll put into a 4 day tour that I'm putting together for my clients. (to be combined with 4 days in Jerusalem).

Thankfully I have help from Abbie Rosner of Culinary Tours of the Galilee, a writer who’s researching the foods of the Galilee and knows the most incredible food producers and cooking teachers that I’d undoubtedly never find on my own. And, the great thing is that they include all of the foods and cultures of the Galilee – Jews (including all of the immigrant populations) Arabs, Druze, and Christians)

Lindan (far right) and Abbie Rosner (far left) of Galilee Cuisine

We started our trek near her home in a moshav near Beit Lehem Hagalil (Bethlehem of the Galilee) and ended in Rosh Pina visiting just a few of the many food producers and cooking teachers along the way.

The highlight for me was lunch at cheese producer Halavi eem Haruch. We enter the farm and drive about a half a kilometer along a serious country road (maybe more accurately described as a wide path) and through a herd of about 200 goats to the farm where we enjoy a multi course cheese. We started with labneh with olive oil and herbs, followed by a goat cheese ricotta. The next course - warm rounds of aged Isabella cheese (similar to Parmesan) with roasted tomatoes, eggplant sauteed with mint and a cabbage salad with a mild sesame oil flavour. A cheese plate for dessert included 7 distinctly different cheeses – each better than the other! I don’t think I’d ever find this place on my own and I’m glad that Abbie will be accompanying my groups.

A cheese plate - last course of a fabulous cheese lunch

A couple of other highlights were a visit to olive oil producer Rish laKish in Zippori for a tour and tasting and then to Rosh Pina where we visited another cheese producer (the wife is a baker).

Storage boutique cheeses in Rosh Pina

Abbie took me to many other places – to an herb and spice farm and to cooking teachers and, although I’d hoped to have an itinerary at the end of the trip, I’ll have to come back in November to finish the task. (oh the hardship of it all)

Zatar Blends from the Herb and Spice farm

Much of the food eaten throughout Israel is grown and produced in the Galilee and the Golan Heights – foods and vegetables, great wineries, cheese makers and olive oil producers – as well a fish farms that supply fresh water fish.

The Golan Heights Winery

And although it’s a small area in a small country – the distances between Akko to Safed and Rosh Pina, to the Sea of Galilee and to the Golan Heights are so packed with great foods and great food experiences that the task packing the best into 4 days has me overwhelmed.

But, never daunted I’ll just carry on. Perhaps a glass of Syrah with help.

The Galilee: Food for the Soul and So Much More!

I’ve arrived in Tiberias to attend a tourism event and for the next three days the places I visit and the foods I eat have been pre-ordained. And, although there haven’t been a lot of choices, I haven’t been unhappy.

To start with, I’ve had the chance to revisit all of the important Christian sites in the Galilee the most important of which will be included in the cultural/historical part of my own itineraries.

Church of the Multiplication of the Loaves and Fishes in Tabgha

Our first day includes a visit to Mount Gilboa and Nazareth. In Nazareth, a couple of blocks from the Church of Annunciation, I recognize a little shop that sells the best baklava pasties I’ve ever had and I run in and buy a box. It’s not cheap at 150 shekels (about $40+ Cdn) for a kilo, but they’re well worth it. I haven’t found them anywhere but in Nazareth, so although it probably isn’t the most appropriate time to be buying pastries, I can’t help myself.

After the tour of the church there’s a reception, dinner and a show at the Golden Crown Hotel. At the reception, there’s a beautiful display of fresh and carved fruit by the Sudfeh Restaurant. Mounds of pomegranates, dates, figs and prickly pears fill the tables and I was impressed by the skillful carving of a young member of the Sudfeh family.

A display of prickly pears at the Sudfeh Restaurant

Dinner was typical Middle Eastern fare – including mejadra with a twist. Mejadra is a rice and lentil dish found throughout the Levant and I learned that in the Galilee it’s typically made with bulgar, not rice – and in this case, fewer onions than are normally used. It was excellent and I’ll try it when I get home. A lovely wine from the Galil Winery accompanied dinner.

We begin day two with a boat trip on the Sea of Galilee and visits to the Church of the Beatitudes and Capernaum. The sites of the last two days have been, like Jewish and Muslim holy sites through Israel, very spiritual places and I’m happy to have visited them again.

From now until Wednesday my journeys will be less spiritual. I’ll be visiting food producers, wineries and a few of the Galilee’s best cooks and chefs. Maybe not spiritual but a source of inspiration.

A Taste of Jerusalem

I arrive at Ben Gurion airport at 7:30am, tired after my 11hr. flight from Toronto. By the time I pass through customs (quick and easy for travellers to Israel) and get my luggage it’s around 8:30am and I’m off to Jerusalem for a day of food and feasting.

By 9:30 I’ve dropped off my luggage and am on my way to Mahane Yehuda shuk (market). The day in Jerusalem isn’t about finding new places – it’s about visiting places I already know – and a chance to enjoy great street food. At home I don’t eat fast food but here, I can’t resist falafel, bourekas, schwarma , hummas and pita and zatar.

The Mahane Yehuda shuk in Jerusalem

Zatar bread - fast food heaven!

I start my day at one of my favourite shops (definitely not street food) - Ma’zeetim (the sign is only in Hebrew) selling the best of Israeli wines, cheeses, olive oils and other things. I’m looking for a couple of gifts and Itzik Sananes, who left the high tech field a few years ago to open this great little shop, recommends a red wine from the Agur Winery in the Judean Hills (Kessem 2007) that he says is exceptional. Not cheap at 90 shekels (about $28Cdn) but it’s a special gift. I also buy a bottle of olive oil to bring home for my friends who’ve had it at my house and loved it.

Koroneiki Olive Oil from Gsher Olive Oil

I visit a few more shops before heading to Shalom Falafel for what many say is the best in West Jerusalem. Because I haven’t tried all of the falafel in the city, I can’t attest to that, but it is superb!

After lunch I rest for an hour and then walk to the old city to buy fabulously fresh spices my favourite shop. Kasem and Sons spice shop have everyone you might look for – and lots of spices you haven’t heard of. I leave with coriander, cumin, cinnamon, nigella and zatar for my friend Ella and a gift of a Maqlubeh blend for me.

Building a spice pyramid at Kasem & Sons

Next stop Abu Shukri for the best hummus in Jerusalem. I haven’t tried all the hummus either but again I’m not going to argue the point. Everything at Abu Shukri is sensational.

Although all day I’ve been thinking about what new restaurant I can try for dinner, by the time it rolls around I’m completely zonked and decide to ditch dinner and make up for it by having an extra meal somewhere in the Galilee – maybe in my great food meccas of Nazarateh or Rosh Pina.

Israel, here I (and my appetite) come!

Lucky me, I leave today for Israel to check out the food and wine in the Galilee. And because for me, no trip to Israel is complete without visiting Jerusalem, I’ll spend two days visiting all my favourite food places there - Mahane Yehuda shuk (or outdoor market) and the Old City and a fabulous dinner somewhere.

Jerusalem: Mahaneh Yehuda produce market. Courtesy of Israeli Ministry of Tourism

If you don’t think of Israel and food in the same sentence, you’re not alone. Janna Gur, author of my new favourite cookbook The Book of New Israeli Foods begins with the statement “they say nobody comes to Israel for the food” -- and then she goes on for 299 pages of recipes and stories telling you why people should go to Israel for the food. Well, there are lots of other reasons to visit, but don’t overlook the food.

There’s phenomenal food to be found everywhere –traditional foods of the Jews and Arabs who have always inhabited the land, and the “new” contributions of the waves of Jewish immigrants from North Africa, Iraq, Iran, Yemen, Lebanon, Syria and other Arab and Muslim countries. And, lest you think I have any food biases – there’s a whole other array of foods from the Eastern European Jews – you know, a million Russians haven’t arrived in Israel without bringing borscht and kreplach!

But I’m not going to have any borscht or kreplach. I’m gonna have hummus and falafel and a good tagine. I’m going to enjoy some fine Israeli wines –not the overly sweet Manischewitz wines that some of us remember – but fine award-winning, internationally acclaimed wines from the Golan Heights Winery and many others. Israeli wines have come so far in the last two decades and I’ll let you know in the next few days about some of the finest ones I get to taste.

If you have anything or anyplace you think I must search out, drop me a note. If you love it, I probably will too.

Foodie Fantasies at Sea?

I took my first cruise in the mid 1990’s and for years, I would not go back on another one. Mostly because the idea of having to go to dinner at a set time and having to share a table with strangers every night was not very appealing at all. Lunch and breakfast were not any better - it was buffet served on plastic dishes. Sure, there was a lot food, so if the objective was to stuff your face, it was the perfect vacation, but if you had a more refined palate, you were in trouble.

Now lets fast-forward a few decades - what a difference! Many cruise lines are now floating foodie fantasies. Many of the cruise lines have outdone themselves in the food department. Some are working with world renowned chefs to create a more memorable experience. Instead of cruisers marveling at how much they can eat on board a cruise ship, they’re now oohing and aahing about what they ate. And I don’t blame them! Take a company like Oceania Cruises: they’re getting ready to launch their latest ship, the Marina, which will feature the very first Jacques Restaurant, named after TV personality and Chef Jacques Pepin.

Meanwhile, Silversea Cruises has a full roster of chefs from the internationally acclaimed Relais & Châteaux. These are the best of the best hotels and restaurants from around the world, and they’re the ones who’ve inspired every dish on the menu. For a truly unique experience, their Wine Restaurant dishes out a 6 course meal accompanied by incredible wines. You definitely want to be wearing elegant clothes for this lovely affair to remember.

Holland America Line's Culinary Arts Center

Holland America Line has taken it a step further too - not only do guests enjoy incredible cuisine on their cruises, they can even take cooking courses at their Culinary Arts Center. They have partnered up with Food and Wine magazine and built a state of the art theatre-style venue with a demo kitchen, huge large screens and international chefs are invited on board the ship to lead a series of courses.

And all of this is while you're still on board the ship! Now just think of all the food finds to discover when the ship arrives in port…