Cook In Israel is the new cookbook written by Orly Ziv. Orly contacted me a few months ago and told me about her cooking school in Israel and the cookbook she was working on. It sounded very exciting, but to be honest I wasn’t sure what to expect. A few months later this gorgeous new cookbook filled with my favorite kinds of Israeli style recipes showed up at my doorstep. I learned that Katherine Martinelli, a long time friend of joyofkosher took the photos! Needless to say I am excited to share this book with you and to learn more about Orly and her new cookbook.
I feel a kindred spirit with you being that we are both nutritionists and I love that your book is mostly vegetarian. How did you decide which recipes to include?
I run a cooking school in Israel and so I chose recipes that my guests really like first. Then I added more of my favorite recipes that us eggplant and tomatoes, my two favorite vegetables, there can never be enough recipes to use them. I added recipes for the Jewish holidays and my family’s preferred recipes.
Can you tell me a bit about your Greek heritage and how it has affected your cooking?
I grew up on Sephardic cooking which meant lots of tomato sauce, eggplants and feta cheese. I guess that is why those are my two favorite vegetables. We used to have borekas for Shabbat breakfast and my mother and grandmother used to make them fresh every week. We also ate lots of fish at home and not as much meat, so you can see the influence.
Your recipes are all very quick and easy, but sometimes I am sure you cook something more difficult. What is the most time consuming dish you make and why do you think it is worth it?
I do cook very simple food with fresh high quality ingredients. When using fresh quality ingredients you do not need to complicate the cooking as you want the fresh flavors of the food. However, making Borekitas from scratch is more time consuming just like baking your own challah, but the taste is heaven.
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Since you offer cooking classes regularly I am sure you have many tips for our readers, please share what you feel is your best tip. My best tip is cutting an onion without crying, all you have to do is keep the root on until the end. One of my guests wrote on TripAdvisor: “Orly showed me how to cut an onion without tearing up. This is a ‘life-changer’!”.
Can you pick your favorite recipe in the book and share it with us?
This is difficult as all the recipes are my favorites 🙂 but since you ask I’ll share the challah bread which I make every Friday. If you follow the recipe as is you’ll get the same results every time and you’ll stop buying it from the store. I even had a non Jewish guest prepare the challah for Thanksgiving dinner.
Which recipe do you feel is the most quintessential Israeli, that everyone should know how to cook?
I always teach homemade hummus. It is famous in Israel and easy to make. One time a couple came to my class and the wife told me that her husband doesn’t really like hummus, but she still wanted to learn how to prepare it. A few weeks later she wrote to tell me how often she makes and how much her husband loves it. All my guests really love hummus and it is very healthy, especially mind without any preservatives or vegetable oil as in store bought hummus.
Thank you so much Orly for talking to us and for sharing your recipes for Challah, Hummus and by special request Malabi, a middle eastern rose water pudding that can be made dairy or parve, can’t wait to try.
Go to Cook In Israel to find out more about Orly, her culinary tours, cooking classes and how to purchase this book, Buy Now.
Your cook book is really very interesting. I like this very much… Thanks to you
Thank you for sharing says: BusyInBrooklyn! Would love to know what do most enjoy about the cookbook?
I recently received this cookbook and I am thoroughly enjoying it!
Thank you Melissa. Appreciate your comment. Orly
Olive oil is my favorite adding to hummus with fresh parsley
Samantha, see my reply one down
Every eggplants , tomatoes dishes are my favorite and that’s the reason i have the whole session of eggplants and tomatoes recipes in my cookbook
Well i always have tahini, feta cheese, tomatoes, cucumbers, flour, sugar and chocolate actually I have plenty on hand 🙂
great review, I cant wait to check this book out. I love fresh hummus, I will definitely try this recipe, thanks for sharing!
What is your favorite spice/flavoring you add to your hummus?
What’s your favorite dish?
What products do you think are beneficial to always have on hand?
always like trying new recipes!
Book looks really fantastic. We can never have enough cookbooks, specially from israeli recipes.
This is a perfect recipe!! It’s a creative and easy way to use up leftovers and to get beans into our food. (They’re growing on us..) We always get rave reviews when we serve it to guests. We have also served it with beef as an entree on Shabbat.
It’s also great because you can adjust the spiciness. I use mild salsa when I serve it to guests who aren’t keen on spicy foods, and I add in a dash of chipotle powder for people who love spices.
I leave out the cumin and mushrooms because I’m not a fan of either, and it’s still great! To replace some of what is lost in the mushrooms, I add more beans and another pepper.
Hindy in my stock pantry I always have tahini, silan (honey made of dates), almonds and nuts, whole purpose flour, whole wheat flour, brown sugar and pasta 🙂
Whenever you are in Israel book my cooking tour at http://www.cookinisrael.com. It will be my pleasure to cook with you.
Thank you Ronnie for your comment
looks very cool!
Love the idea of so many vegetarian recipes, as that is the way we eat mostly. Looks like a terrific book
I would love a list of her well stocked pantry. The book looks great!
Tam, when we israelis travel we like to nibble the local foods – that’s part of the experience don’t you think? 🙂
Wish you luck Cyntia!
Thank you Avril
I look forward to opportunity to do some REAL Israeli cooking with your guidance and recipes.