Food News: 'Zahav' serves up Michael Solomonov's modern Israeli recipes
Israeli chef Michael Solomonov is both informative and pure fun today in an interview on NPR’s ‘Fresh Air.’ Talking with Dave Davies, Solomonov discusses Zahav—his modern Israeli restaurant in Philadephia, recounts tales of his former struggle with drug addiction, and shares a recipe for tehina, the mother sauce of Israeli cuisine.
Listening to this interview makes one think twice about buying store-bought hummus, or even serving it chilled for that matter. Like so many chefs, it's not the Michelin-inspired recipes of haute cuisine that get Solomonov excited about food; rather it's the simple flavors from his childhood, such as the pastries his grandmother baked, which created the indelible taste memories he carries with him to this day.
Solomonov’s new cookbook is Zahav: A World of Israeli Cooking. In it he focuses less on elegant Israel-inspired dishes found in the likes of cookbooks by Yotam Ottolenghi and Sami Tamimi, and more on casual contemporary homestyle Israeli cooking. Solomonov’s cookbook is also featured today in the NY Times food section.
In Solomonov's restaurant, he marinates with onion juice, cooks directly over hot charcoal, and uses a variety of ingredients that may not be available in the average supermarket. Yet Solomonov's cookbook is a trove of simple and interesting Israeli recipes that combine fresh Mediterranean ingredients in a clear, healthful, and accessible way, making Zahav perhaps the most exciting cookbook release of this fall.