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a cookbook

T E N S PE E D PR E S S
BERKELE Y

Contents

Introduction 8

Jerusalem food 10

The passion in the air 12

The recipes 15

A comment about ownership 16

History 18

Vegetables 24
Beans & Grains 94
Soups 130
Stuffed 150
Meat 172
Fish 214
Savory Pastries 240
Sweets & Desserts 256
Condiments 296
Index 310
Acknowledgments 318

INTRODUCTION

INTRODUCTION

Serves 6

Naamas Fattoush

Arab salad, chopped salad, Israeli salad whatever you choose

to call it, there is no escaping it. Wherever you go in the city, at
any time of the day, a Jerusalemite is most likely to have a plate of
freshly chopped vegetables tomato, cucumber and onion, dressed
with olive oil and lemon juice served next to whatever else they
are having. Its a local affliction, quite seriously, with a meal never
being complete without it. Friends visiting us in London always
complain of feeling they ate unhealthily because there wasnt 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 healthy supper snack
or a side dish for a hefty piece of mature steak. There are plenty of
unique variations on the chopped salad but one of the most popular
is Fattoush, an Arab salad that uses grilled or fried leftover pita.
Other possible additions include peppers, radishes, lettuce, chilli,
mint, parsley, coriander, allspice, cinnamon and sumac. Each cook,
each family, each community has their own variation. A small bone
of contention is the size of the dice. Some advocate the tiniest of
pieces, only a few millimetres thick, others like them coarser, up
to 2cm thick. The one thing that there is no arguing over is that the
key lies in the quality of the vegetables. They must be fresh, ripe
and flavoursome, with many hours in the sun behind them.
This fabulous salad is probably Samis mothers creation; Sami
cant recall anyone else in the neighbourhood making it. She called
it fattoush, which is only true to the effect that it includes chopped
vegetables and bread, but she added a kind of homemade buttermilk
and didnt fry her bread, which makes it terribly comforting and
soothing but very far from a real fattoush.

Recipe continued on next page

28

VEGE T ABLES

Serves 6

Naamas fattoush

scant 1 cup / 200 g Greek

yogurt and cup plus
2 tbsp / 200 ml whole
milk, or 1 cups /
400 ml buttermilk
(replacing both
yogurt and milk)
2 large stale Turkish
flatbread or naan (9 oz /
250 g in total)
3 large tomatoes (13 oz /
380 g in total), cut into
-inch / 1.5cm dice
3 oz / 100 g radishes,
thinly 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
tsp freshly ground
black pepper
1 tsp salt
1 tbsp sumac or more
to taste, to garnish

Arab salad, chopped salad, Israeli saladwhatever you choose

to call it, there is no escaping it. Wherever you go in the city, at
any time of the day, a Jerusalemite is most likely to have a plate of
freshly chopped vegetablestomato, cucumber, and onion, dressed
with olive oil and lemon juiceserved next to whatever else they
are having. Its a local affliction, quite seriously. Friends visiting
us in London always complain of feeling they ate unhealthily
because there wasnt a fresh salad served with every meal.
There are plenty of unique variations on the chopped salad but
one of the most popular is fattoush, an Arab salad that uses grilled
or fried leftover pita. Other possible additions include peppers,
radishes, lettuce, chile, mint, parsley, cilantro, allspice, cinnamon,
and sumac. Each cook, each family, each community has their own
variation. A small bone of contention is the size of the dice. Some
advocate the tiniest of pieces, only inch / 3 mm wide, others like
them coarser, up to inch / 2 cm wide. The one thing that there is
no arguing over is that the key lies in the quality of the vegetables.
They must be fresh, ripe, and flavorsome, with many hours in the
sun behind them.
This fabulous salad is probably Samis mothers creation; Sami
cant recall anyone else in the neighborhood making it. She called
it fattoush, which is only true to the extent that it includes chopped
vegetables and bread. She added a kind of homemade buttermilk
and didnt 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 ones we normally get in most
supermarkets. 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 chickpeas and fresh vegetable
salad (page 56), omitting the sugar and the chickpeas.

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 and leave in a cool
place or in the fridge until bubbles form on the surface. What you
get is a kind of homemade buttermilk, but less sour.
Tear the bread into bite-size pieces and place in a large mixing
bowl. Add your fermented yogurt mixture 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, drizzle with some olive oil,
and garnish generously with sumac.

VEGE T ABLES

29

F I SH

181

Serves 4

Roasted chicken with Jerusalem artichoke

& lemon
Jerusalem artichokes are well loved in the city but have actually got
nothing to do with it; not officially anyway. The name is a distortion
of the Italian name of this sunflower tuber, which has an artichokelike flavor. From girasole articiocco to Jerusalem artichoke.

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
thighs, or 1 medium
whole chicken, quartered
12 banana or other
large shallots, halved
lengthwise
12 large cloves garlic,
sliced
1 medium lemon, halved
lengthwise and then very
thinly sliced
1 tsp saffron threads
3 tbsp / 50 ml olive oil
cup / 150 ml cold water
1 tbsp pink peppercorns,
lightly crushed
cup / 10 g fresh thyme
leaves
1 cup / 40 g tarragon
leaves, chopped
2 tsp salt
tsp freshly ground black
pepper

180

MEA T

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 just need to
plan ahead and leave it to marinate properly. Serve it with Mejadra
(page 120).

Put the Jerusalem artichokes in a medium saucepan, cover with

plenty of water, and add half the lemon juice. Bring to a boil, lower
the heat, and simmer for 10 to 20 minutes, until tender but not soft.
Drain and leave to cool.
Place the Jerusalem artichokes and all the remaining ingredients,
excluding the remaining lemon juice and half of the tarragon, in a
large mixing bowl and use your hands to mix everything together
well. Cover and leave to marinate in the fridge overnight, or for at
least 2 hours.
Preheat the oven to 475F / 240C. Arrange the chicken pieces, skin
side up, in the center of a roasting pan and spread the remaining
ingredients around the chicken. Roast for 30 minutes. 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. Stir well, taste, and
add more salt if needed. Serve at once.

S w e e t s & d e s s e rt s

279

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 that to
this day feels unusually central European. This is the civilized part of
town, where you go for a coffee and a slice of Sacher torte if you wish to
escape the harsh Levantine reality.
Germanic influences on the citys food are evident in Christian contexts
the famous Austrian hospice at the heart of the Old City serves superb strudels
and proper schnitzelsbut Czech, Austrian, Hungarian, and German Jews
arriving in the city from the 1930s have also managed to stamp their mark,
opening cafs 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 Pfeffernsse.
cup plus 2 tbsp / 125 g
currants
2 tbsp brandy
scant 2 cups / 240 g allpurpose flour
1 tsp best-quality cocoa
powder
tsp baking powder
tsp baking soda
tsp each ground
cinnamon, allspice,
ginger, and nutmeg
tsp salt
5 oz / 150 g good-quality dark
chocolate, coarsely grated
cup / 125 g unsalted
butter, at room
temperature
cup / 125 g superfine
sugar
1 tsp vanilla extract
tsp grated lemon zest
tsp grated orange zest
large free-range egg
1 tbsp diced candied
citrus peel
Gl a z e

3 tbsp freshly squeezed

lemon juice
1 cups / 160 g
confectioners sugar

278

S w e e t s & d e s s e rt s

These are very loosely inspired by duvshanyot, or Pfeffernsse. 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 1-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 inch / 2 cm apart, and
let rest in the fridge for at least 1 hour.
Preheat the oven to 375F / 190C. Bake the cookies for 15 to 20 minutes,
until the top firms up but the center is still slightly soft. 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 the
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
airtight container for a day or two.

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