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July 2009

Dulce de leche liquor

I first encountered dulce de leche liquor when I was around 20, on a trip to Buenos Aires. Always one to travel light, I went with only a small backpack, which made my mother all the more amused when I returned home, having managed to stuff five bottles of wine …

Green beans with sherry and Romano

These green beans have no one dominant flavor. Rather, everything blends together — sherry, garlic, basil and Romano cheese. It simply tastes good. The beans have a special, wrinkly texture from being fried — not pan-fried, but really fried, in lots of oil. I was inspired by this recipe for …

Simple eggplant tomato stew

This is somewhat of a classic dish in these parts, and super-simple: Fresh tomatoes meet an interestingly shaped baladi eggplant, and all of the above are in season right now. You’ll find a version of this eggplant salad just about everywhere here, sometimes served cold, sometimes spicy, and frequently made …

Cherry coconut sorbet with amaretto

This recipe really gives it all away at once — cherry coconut sorbet with amaretto. That’s what’s in it: cherries, coconut and amaretto. Oh, and a bit of sugar. It’s really that simple. I’ve been eying the beautiful cherries at the market for the past several weeks now. They’re not …

Sprouted lentils in olive oil and herbs

The combination of sprouted lentils and herb-infused oil produces a dish with a rich, nutty taste. I was inspired by a very similar dish we had at a brunch in Zichron Yaakov.

Restaurant: Brunch at Piccotto in Zichron Yaakov

We happened upon this restaurant while strolling through Zichron Yaakov, looking for a place to eat brunch. It turned out to be an excellent deal in a very pleasant setting — about a dozen mezes, alongside fresh-baked bread, coffee and an omelet/shakshuka of your choosing, for 56 shekels a person …

Cross-Mediterranean caprese with fried onions and sumac

This version of a caprese salad takes a trip around the Mediterranean: The classic Italian mozzarella and tomatoes, plus Middle Eastern seasonings — fried onions, sumac and cumin. I used cherry tomatoes (plum cherry tomatoes, to be precise), which tend to be sweeter than regular tomatoes, and thus work very …