How many times have we heard “…in these uncertain times” or “…due to the events of this year” or “…because of the unprecedented events” in the past few months? I think the most useless purchase of 2020 will go down as the event planner/calendar. It’s impossible to make plans these days – whether for international travel or even a dinner party. Here in Israel, the places that are open for business one day are closed the next. For the most part, our airport still remains closed to international flights. We face uncertain, yet imminent, complete lockdowns once again over the fall holy days due to containment of COVID.

In past years, we have enjoyed hosting IDF Lone Soldiers for the holidays: kids who leave their home countries, their families, friends and lives, to volunteer their service in the Israeli army. We’ve had wonderful young adults from the States, the UK, Columbia, South Africa, Mexico, France, and
Australia. This year will be different. This year, we will only have one or two guests at a time spaced over several meals. No soldiers.

As is typical for this time of year, we have been having our end-of-summer one last doozy of a heat wave. For two weeks, we endured temperatures in the triple digits Fahrenheit (40-43*C) with a shift of winds blowing in the desert dust from the East. It’s finally down in the 90s, but, still – with temperatures like these, who wants to cook in a hot kitchen all day? And who can sit down to eat a heavy meal?

This year, I’m focusing on large, cooling salads that can be easily assembled with some accompanying sides. No heavy soups or roasted meats. There are a few recipes borrowed from friends of different ethnicities. Some salads, like the basil recipe, look and sound very unusual (to put it mildly). But I’m including them because they work!! The flavors all come together to create a delicious symphony in the end. So…. let’s get chopping!

LEBANESE BASIL SALAD

O.K. When my friend brought this salad to the table I was…ummm…reticent to try it. This Lebanese Basil Salad just screamed WRONG!!! But, surprisingly, this works!! Gloriously! The flavors all meld together beautifully to create a total sweet, savory, crunchy, salty umami explosion. Promise me you’ll try it just once, and then write to tell me what you think.

INGREDIENTS:

• 2 cups roughly chopped fresh basil leaves (2 large bunches)
• 1 small can pineapple chunks, drained
• 1/4 cup each, chopped red and yellow bell pepper
• 1/4 tsp (or more if you like heat) chili flakes
• 1/2 cup walnuts
• juice of 1/2 large lemon
• drizzle extra virgin olive oil
• sea salt

In a large mixing bowl, put the washed and chopped basil leaves and peppers. Gently mix in the nuts and pineapple chunks. Pour the lemon juice over the top using a fine strainer to take out the pulp and pips. Drizzle on the olive oil …. about 1/4 cup and sprinkle on the chili flakes and sea salt. Toss gently and plate. And please… I’m really curious to know how you love this refreshing dish.

ENDIVE & APPLE SALAD

This one! Amazing! Easy! Refreshing! Restaurant-worthy! Israeli! It can be a starter, a side or an entire meal. I serve this with whole grain toasts topped with a delicious goat Brie. For us, it makes a whole meal. This recipe was given. To me by Dafna, a vegetarian, native Israeli amateur chef. Because it is traditional to serve apples and honey to Mark a sweet new year, I’ll be serving this for a late lunch the first day of Rosh HaShannah – which also happens to be a Shabbat (so no cooking).

Ingredients:

• 8 heads of endive lettuce, roughly chopped
• 2 large green apples, thinly sliced
• 2 large Fuji or Gala apples
• 1/4 cup lemon juice
• 1/2 cup candied pecans or walnuts
• Orange Honey Mustard Vinaigrette, recipe below

Wash and roughly chop the endive into a large, shallow bowl. Thinly slice the green apple around the core, leaving the peel on. Dip the slices in a little saucer of lemon juice to prevent discoloring and add to salad. Toss in nuts and mix gently. Dress lightly with the vinaigrette…recipe below. Then garnish with sliced red apple and fresh basil on top.

Orange Honey Mustard Vinaigrette

• Zest and juice of 1 orange
• 1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil
• 2 TBSP honey
• 2 tsp apple cider vinegar
• 2 tsp minced red onion or shallot
• 2 tsp Dijon mustard
• 1/4 tsp sea salt and freshly cracked black pepper

I make this in a Mason jar because it’s easy to add ingredients, shake, pour and refrigerate any leftover dressing all in one jar. Using a microplaner or small grater, grate the orange zest into the jar. Place a fine wire mesh strainer over the jar and squeeze in all the orange juice. Add the honey, oil, vinegar,mustard, chopped onion, salt and pepper. Cover and shake vigorously to create an emulsion. Pour lightly over salad, just to wet, not to overwhelm. Gently mix into salad before serving.

I’m still enjoying our bumper crop of tomatoes this summer! Heirloom varieties from the US plus cherry tomatoes (did you know that the cherry tomato was first developed in Israel over 4 decades ago?) and tomatoes grown from seeds I traded with a local Bedouin woman. Yes, I know I just wrote I’ve been trying to keep the house as cool as possible by not slaving over a hot stove all day. Usually I spend hours parboiling and peeling hot tomatoes to then cook all day for pasta sauce. I spend my late summers canning away foods to be enjoyed throughout the year. This year I tried something different. I cut up my tomatoes, whole, no peeling, and laid them out flat on a foil-lined baking sheet. A drizzle of EVOO and a drizzle of balsamic vinegar over the top. A generous sprinkling of sea salt, pepper and dried oregano and a tiny pinch of chili flakes and pop it all into a 200*C/400*F oven for 15 minutes.

While the tomatoes are roasting, I sterilize my quart sized jars and lids in a boiling water bath for 20 minutes. After the trays of tomatoes are out of the oven and cool down about 5 minutes, I transfer them to a larger bowl and use an immersion blender to crush it all into a tasty pasta sauce. The still-hot tomato sauce is poured into the sterilized jars and zehu, that’s all!

The next way we’ve been enjoying all those yummy tomatoes is a very simple tomato toast, a recipe brought to Israel from the Spanish Sephardic Jews. It’s become a family favorite, especially when paired with a salad. I even eat it in the morning for breakfast with a medium cooked/slightly runny yolked egg on the top. It tastes absolutely decadent!!!

I buy 3 long, crusty baguettes to last a day in our household. Slice each baguette in half lengthways, then cut into halves or thirds. Place in a 200*C/400*F oven for about 5 minutes or until the bread starts to brown around the edges. Remove from oven, and while still hot, rub generously with peeled, raw garlic – we like it very garlicky, so I use a clove for each slice. Halve a large, fresh tomato. Rub it all over the garlic toast, skin side down, so the bread turns pink with tomato. Drizzle with EVOO and sprinkle with sea salt.

The next salad takes me back to my Southern California days. It’s my version of a fiesta salad. If I wasn’t trying to keep the house bearable cool (we just have one tiny AC in the master bedroom and one overworked, too-small AC in the salon, so…. if I didn’t mind using the oven so much I’d roast a sheet pan full of zucchini, onion, tomato and bell pepper to put on top. Here’s the stripped-down version. Feel free to improvise!

FIESTA SALAD

On a large platter I arrange the following (can you tell I’ve really been getting into serve-yourself platter salads? It makes for great presentation):

• Tortilla/corn chips
• 1 medium sized can corn,drained
• 1 medium sized can black beans, drained
• roasted veggies, optional
• chopped tomato
• chopped cilantro (cuzbara)
• 2 chopped avocados
• 1/4 cup toasted pine nuts or pumpkin seeds
• 1/3 cup grated sharp cheddar

This is large and hearty enough to serve as a whole meal. I squeeze lime over the whole salad and serve little side bowls of sour cream, salsa, chopped onion and black olives. A cilantro-lime vinaigrette is also a welcome topping.
Cilantro-Lime Vinaigrette

• 1 cup cilantro/cuzbara leaves
• 1 lime
• 1 clove garlic
• 1/2 tsp cumin
• 1 tsp honey
• 1/2 cup olive oil
• 1 tsp apple cider vinegar
• 1/2 avocado
• 1/2 tsp sea salt

Put all ingredients in a blender or food processor, or use an immersion blender to make a creamy emulsion. Drizzle over salad. Keep refrigerated in a small Mason jar for about 3 weeks.


This light and creamy (dairy) salad is very Israeli, the flavors mild and very cooling. It’s a perfect accompaniment with fish or a dairy meal (I’m thinking a quiche or a cold Lukshen kugel/noodle pudding). Serve in a shallow bowl with a sprinkling of fresh rose petals (edible if organic), nasturtiums or marigold petals from the garden. I think it’s really funny that they call it Grapes Salad with a plural – because you shouldn’t be confused and think it only uses one grape, hahaha!

ISRAELI GRAPES SALAD

INGREDIENTS:

• 2 cups green grapes, halved lengthwise
• 1 cup celery chopped thin
• 1/4 cup chives or green onions, chopped thin
• 1/2 cup walnuts
• 1 cup plain yogurt, if you have goat milk yogurt, it’s amazing
• 1 TBSP honey
• 2 tsp freshly squeezed lime juice
• 1 tsp lime zest
• 2 TBSP finely chopped fresh mint
• sea salt and freshly cracked black pepper, to taste
  Combine first four ingredients in a large bowl. In Mason jar, combine the yogurt, honey, lime juice and zest, chopped mint, salt and pepper. Cover and bake well. Pour the entire jar of ‘sauce’ over the grape mixture. Refrigerate at least an hour before serving.

I hope you are all managing to stay cool- whether it be the heat of the Middle East or the humidity of the East Coast of the US. I understand the fires and smoke combined with the heat all up and down the West Coast of the United States has made life really unpleasant. Here’s hoping the New Year brings better things than the past.

I’ll be doing another recipe blog during the holidays. I’m already working up a few delicious surprises! Please let me know what interests YOU!!! Would you like more food-related posts? They are my most popular. Or would you like to read more about the places, people, or culture? Perhaps the politics here in the Mid East is what excites you- that’s ALWAYS an interesting topic. Or the many religions here…. and the myriad religious sub-sects within each larger religious community. Thank you for taking the time to read Israel Dreams, and let me hear from YOU!

Until next time, happy holidays and looking forward to fall!