Our favorite Israeli cookbooks
It’s cookbook week again! From 10 to 18 November, to be precise. This weekend, Jigal Krant’s TLV won the title of The Golden Cookbook with its wonderful stories, photos and recipes from Tel Aviv. Definitely one of our favorite Israeli cookbooks, but we have a few more.
We can safely call 2018 the year of Israeli cuisine. It seemed as though one in ten cookbooks and restaurants had an Israeli touch. Wonderful, because that means we can eat extra-large amounts of hummus, kibbeh, pita, falafel, kunafah and shakshuka. The flavors are pronounced, spicy, savory but also fresh, and make you feel at home right away. It’s certainly not a difficult cuisine to master, and these cookbooks give you an extra helping hand.
TLV
I wonder how many people booked a ticket to Tel Aviv immediately after leafing through TLV. I imagine quite a few. It’s called The Golden Cookbook for good reason, because Jigal really makes you feel as though you’re walking through the vibrant city, from falafel stand to pop-up restaurant where everyone dances on the tables at the end of the evening. He gets the recipes straight from local chefs or comes up with modern ways to prepare classics himself. All in all, enough to keep you satisfied until the city trip you’ve just booked.
NENI
Restaurant chain NENI was founded by a mother and her sons and serves wonderful food based on Tel Aviv cuisine. The Amsterdam location is opening soon, but until then you can make the dishes from their cookbook of the same name. I had the best pita of my life there, and fortunately you’ll find the recipe in the book. As well as recipes for kebab with fish and aubergines, roasted aubergines with Asian tahini and green shakshuka. Fill the whole table and dig in!
Jerusalem
You can see Yotam Ottolenghi’s Israeli roots in all his books, but with Jerusalem he devoted an entire book to them. The basic hummus recipe in it is the only one I use now. Whether I spread it on a cracker or top it with spiced lamb and a parsley-lemon sauce (also from the book) and eat it with a steaming pita. The book is a little older than the two above, but I still cook from it regularly, which says enough, I think.
The Palomar
I admit it: the lively atmosphere of an evening at the bar of The Palomar in London is difficult to recreate at home. But as long as I can eat that wonderfully airy kubaneh bread with white tahini sauce and tomato sauce at home, I won’t complain. Recipes from modern Jerusalem are beautifully photographed in this book. Favorites include tuna tartare with whipped crème fraîche, schus and sesame cookies (see photo), and lamb chops with freekeh and cauliflower cream.
Breaking breads
Master baker Uri Scheft has bakeries in New York and Tel Aviv, where he sells the finest Israeli baked goods. From savory to sweet, from focaccia with potato and shakshuka to babkas filled with Nutella. He also gives you all the techniques for making classics such as kubaneh, challah and Jerusalem bagels. Israel has an enormous amount to offer when it comes to bread and pastries, and if you enjoy baking even a little, this is the book for you.
