Burnt salad? :-/

I wouldn't call tonight's attempt a "disaster," per se. I think the dish tasted good, but there are definitely still kinks in the cooking process.

So my friend S e-mailed me the other day and recommended I try making Matboucha, as it was something she had made herself once. I have a feeling she saw my previous post, where I expressed a desire to find Israeli salads that didn't include cucumber.

To my delight, my cookbook, The Book of New Israeli Cooking: A Culinary Journey, includes a recipe for Matboucha (Salata Matboucha translates to "cooked salad" in Arabic), which is one of many options when ordering Israeli Meze.

According to my cookbook, Meze is another term for something like "antipasti" or "tapas" -- where several small plates are put out on the table along with pita. The plates can be filled with salads, hummus, cheeses, fish, etc.

As S warned me, Matboucha is very tasty (and SPICY!!!), but time-consuming, so make sure you set aside a couple of hours just for preparation (and more if you need to bake some pita, like I did).

The trouble with my first attempt at Matboucha is that I definitely overcooked it -- even though the recipe specifically says to cook the veggies for two hours. By hour 1:30 the dish looked like the color of blackberries as opposed to a healthy blood-red tone. When all was said and done I probably shaved a good 40 minutes off of the cooking time, but it was still overdone, so if anyone has a better idea of how long to cook Matboucha, I'm all ears!

Matboucha
Recipe courtesy of The Book of New Israeli Cooking: A Culinary Journey, by Janna Gur

It can be eaten hot or cold.

Ingredients
4-5 ripe tomatoes
4 sweet red peppers
4 hot green peppers
8-10 cloves garlic, crushed
1/2 cup oil
1 tablespoon paprika
1 teaspoon cayenne pepper
1 teaspoon salt
1 pinch sugar
1 tablespoon tomato paste

1. Using a sharp knife, cut a cross on the bottom of each tomato. Blanch the tomatoes briefly in boiling water, peel, halve, remove the seeds and chop coarsely.

2. Roast the red and green peppers over an open flame or under the grill. Allow to cool (preferably in a sealed plastic bag to make peeling easier), peel and remove the membranes and seeds. Chop coarsely.

3. Cook the tomatoes in a saucepan for 5-10 minutes, until all the liquid evaporates.

4. Add the remaining ingredients except the tomato paste. Lower the heat and cook for two hours, stirring occasionally (Note: I had the saucepan cooking over the lowest heat possible but two hours was definitely too much, even though the veggies are supposed to be slow-cooked. I would check the ingredients after cooking for an hour. If they're well-cooked, that should be enough.)

5. Add the tomato paste and cook for another 30 minutes (Note: Again, use your judgment. Since I had already overcooked the veggies, I maybe cooked them for five minutes more after adding the tomato paste). The salad is ready when it is shiny and very thick. Keep in the refrigerator up to 10 days or in the freezer up to three months. Bring to room temperature before serving.

Hummus and pita -- we're off to a great start!

I'm trying not to get a big head here, but I'm two for two so far. This of course means that the next thing I try will most likely be an unmitigated disaster!

I decided to go with the Israeli equivalent of pizza/burgers and fries for my first attempt at this kind of cuisine. Common dishes, yes, but not without their own challenges. Considering the last time I baked any kind of bread was during the first Bush administration (and by that I mean Bush Sr.) I was SO nervous that the dough wouldn't rise and it would taste terrible. And as mentioned in my previous post, where was I supposed to find tahini (a.k.a. sesame paste)?

Enter Sahadi's Importing Co. An oasis of hard-to-find (and not-so-hard-to-find) items right in the heart of Cobble Hill, Brooklyn.

This is a market that carries an extensive array of spices, cheeses, coffee and regional groceries. Initially I thought it was a Middle Eastern-only shop, but in actuality, its wares extend to Greek, Italian and Indian products as well.

It was here that I managed to find the ever-elusive raw, top-quality tahini, which is the key ingredient to hummus, as well as a jar of Shipka peppers (hot green, pickled peppers).

The rest of the ingredients were easily obtainable at my local supermarket, so without further ado, here are the results!

All recipes courtesy of The Book of New Israeli Food: A Culinary Journey, by Janna Gur

I can't help but toot my own horn here, but this hummus is to die for. The best hummus I ever had was at  Gam Gam, in the Jewish ghetto of Venice, while backpacking through Europe in 1998, and I think this hummus gives it a run for its money (remember, never been to Israel, so I have a lot of hummus tasting to do). It's creamy, with just the perfect kick of lemon, garlic, spices and hot peppers. I just wish I could get rid of the burning sensation under my fingers caused by the capsaicin in the peppers!

Not bad, huh?

This hummus is made in two parts. First you make the basic hummus, then the sauce that gives it that amazing harmony of flavors.

Basic Hummus Dip (serves 8-10)

Ingredients

1 lb 2 oz. small dry chickpeas

1 tablespoon + 1/2 teaspoon baking soda

1 cup raw top quality tahini

1 tablespoon freshly squeezed lemon juice

2 cloves garlic, crushed

Salt to taste

1. Soak the chickpeas overnight in a large bowl of cold water with one tablespoon of baking soda.

2. Drain and rinse the chickpeas and put them in a large pan. Add water until it reaches 1 inch above the chickpeas. Add the remaining 1/2 teaspoon of baking soda and bring to a boil. Cook covered over low heat for 2-3 hours (Note: Two hours was more than enough), until the chickpeas are very soft. Cool slightly, drain and save some of the cooking liquid.

Note: These first two steps are very time-consuming, but so worth it

3. Put the chickpeas in a food precessor, add 2/3 cup of the tahini and process until almost smooth. If the paste is too thick, add a few tablespoons of the cooking liquid. Season with lemon, garlic and salt; taste and adjust the seasoning (Note: I'm partial to more lemon than usual, but don't overdo it). For a richer creamier version, add the remaining tahini and process until the hummus is completely smooth and fluffy.

Complete Hummus (serves 6-8)

Ingredients
Basic hummus dip (recipe above)

The Sauce:
1 cup freshly squeezed lemon juice
2 teaspoons ground cumin
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon hot red pepper, chopped
1 tablespoon garlic, crushed
4-5 Shipka peppers (small hot green, pickled peppers), seeded and chopped

To serve:
Raw tahini
Olive oil
Chopped fresh parsley
Chopped onion (Note: I didn't bother with the onion -- didn't make a difference)

1. Mix the ingredients for the sauce and set aside for one hour.

2. Spoon 2-3 heaping tablespoons of hummus dip into each serving plate and spread around the rim, leaving a crater in the center. Fill the crater with one tablespoon of raw tahini. Pour on 2-3 tablespoons of the sauce, sprinkle some olive oil and top with chopped parsley and onion.

And what would delicious, savory hummus be without fresh, straight-out-of-the oven pita?

My only complaint about my homemade pita is that it was a little too thick and puffy for a flatbread, but it still tasted chewy and delicious. Next time I'll invest in a brick oven ;-)

Pita

Ingredients (for 10 pitas)
3 1/2 cups bread flour
1 oz. fresh yeast (Note: Fresh yeast is almost impossible to come by unless you're a professional baker or Food Network personality. I used dry yeast and it worked almost TOO well!)
1 1/2 cups water (Note: Lukewarm water is best)
1 tablespoon sugar
1/2 tablespoon salt
2 tablespoons olive oil

1. Mix the yeast with the flour in a mixer fitted with a kneading hook. Add the water, sugar, salt and olive oil and knead for 10 minutes, until the dough is smooth, shiny and slightly sticky.

2. Transfer the dough to a large greased bowl. Sprinkle olive oil over it, cover with cling wrap and allow to rise to twice its original size.

3. Preheat the oven to maximum (500 or 550 degrees F).

4. Place the dough on a work surface sprinkled with flour and divided into 10 equal parts. Roll each part into a ball. Cover with a moist towel and leave for 10 minutes.

5. Roll out each ball into a disk 4 inches in diameter and 1/4 inch thick. Arrange on a tray lined with baking paper and bake for 5 minutes, just until the pitas swell up and begin to show golden spots. Avoid over-baking, which will cause them to dry up.

6. Remove from the oven and allow to cool slightly. Cover the pitas with a kitchen towel for a few minutes to keep them soft.

Here we go, so, um, Shalom!

Israeli cuisine. Never gave it much thought up until a couple of months ago. Sure, I'm a self-professed and proven foodie. I LOVE to cook, try new restaurants, throw dinner parties, stuff my face with yummy-tasting goodies -- you get the picture.

But Israeli food? Why? I've never been to Israel, spent most of my years of Hebrew school daydreaming about my future life with Michael J. Fox (as a result, "Shalom" pretty much remains the extent of my Hebrew-speaking ability), and assumed that a typical Israeli menu didn't extend beyond pita, hummus and falafel.

And speaking of falafel, ever since a Hebrew school classmate got sick to his stomach after eating too much of the fried delicacy 20-some-odd years ago at a Yom Ha'atzmaut party I've steered clear of the stuff.

Enter my aunt's recent Chanukah gift and catalyst for this blog:

I started flipping through the cookbook soon after I received it, but I have to admit, I was a little intimidated by the recipes -- where was I supposed to get raw tahini? Or, rather, what exactly IS tahini? What is kashkaval cheese?

And more importantly -- will my Puerto Rican Catholic husband eat any of these dishes? Will I?

So the cookbook wound up collecting dust for a good two months, until a conversation with my fellow foodie and dear friend M helped me to realize that a) I needed a new cooking challenge and b) I should blog about my attempts to cook Israeli food!

Before you read any further, I want to say once and for all that I am NOT trying to pull a Julie Powell here. Yes, this blog is going to document my adventures and experiences in Israeli cooking -- something I know NOTHING about. And (fingers crossed) I hope it will also serve as a forum where people can offer me tips and advice (seriously, please, I need it!). 

I do not intend to "cook my way" through The Book of New Israeli Food: A Culinary Journey -- although I'm going to try to make as many recipes from it as possible. The author, Janna Gur, includes such mouth-watering photographs of her dishes as well as popular food markets and restaurants that it's going to be hard to resist trying to make everything. Also, I'm a busy woman. I won't be posting daily. Or even weekly. I'll try though.

So as I start this journey, I want to thank a few people in advance for their initial advice and support. As previously mentioned, my friend M, who pretty much gave me this idea :-) My friend S, whose recent trip to Israel automatically has made her an eager and willing food-taster. My colleague C, who pointed out the amazing Middle Eastern food market right in my own backyard and who has offered excellent suggestions for the direction of this blog. And, of course, my husband, A, for putting up with this crazy gastronomic challenge to begin with :-)