Zahav owners bring the taste of Israel (and a little Pittsburgh) home
By Gretchen McKay / Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
Home cooks often reach again and again for family recipes because they bring to mind a certain time, place or much-loved person.
James Beard Award-winning chef Michael Solomonov and business partner Steven Cook certainly had a time of great consequence and a particular audience in mind when they embarked on their third cookbook together in 2021.
Stuck at home during the COVID-19 lockdown, the longtime partners and Philadelphia neighbors struggled mightily to make sense of a world that didn’t revolve around going to work at their critically acclaimed Israeli restaurant Zahav, as they’d done nearly every day since opening in 2008.
“On March 16, 2020, everything stopped,” they write in “Zahav Home” (Harvest, $40), which hit bookshelves last month and follows “Zahav” in 2015 and “Israeli Soul” in 2018. “In a matter of a few hours, we went from more than 400 employees to zero employees.”
To keep their conversations from to going to “some pretty dark places,” the friends — both busy fathers, with seven children between them — often steered their daily chats toward food and what they were cooking for lunch that day, or had for dinner the night before.
“We both started cooking at home lot more than we had in a long time,” recalls Cook.
That not only got their creative culinary juices flowing in a new and less-fussy way, but also got them thinking that it might make sense to share what they were cooking with other family cooks tasked with getting dinner on the table each night.
“Those conversations sort of became the blueprint for the book,” says Cook.
Many of the dishes the chefs cooked for their families as the weeks became months reflected Zahav’s signature flavors. But the pair knew from years of experience that restaurant cooking is most definitely not the same as home cooking. If they were going to make a cookbook with their pandemic dishes, the recipe would have to simplified with shortcuts and everyday ingredients for the average cook.
For starters, preparing meals at home tends to be faster and less labor intensive than restaurant cooking. Also, it often depends on what cooks already have in their fridge or pantry when they tie on an apron — even when you’re a professional chef.
As Solomonov puts it, “We wanted to contrast everyone’s idea that [professional chefs] have truffles and foie gras in the house and throw elaborate dinner parties.”
Cooking at Zahav and other restaurants he and Cook co-own under the CookNSolo group, he notes, is more about prepping, portioning, refrigeration, holding and being able to assemble and plate dishes. Home cooking, conversely, “is about building as much flavor as you can with way less equipment and a little less time.”
And if you’ve got kids in the house? Washing dishes is also a big deal.
“You have to nail the food with simple technique and just enough spicing to indicate where this food is coming from and to satisfy everyone eating, without a ton of [expletive] to clean up at the end,” Solomonov says.
Completed a year later in 2022, “Zahav Home” hits on all notes.
Mouthwateringly photographed by Philadelphia photographer Michael Persico, its 125 recipes are clearly and lovingly written for busy parents — or anyone else who likes to cook but doesn’t want to be a slave to getting dinner on the table.
As they make clear in the book’s foreword, “not every day is a Sunday. Some days are Tuesdays, and you get home after dark and the kids are melting down. And some days are Fridays when you will do almost anything to avoid washing dishes.”
Most recipes require 10 ingredients or less, with instructions that are both easy to follow and quick to execute. That includes proteins: Solomonov notes there are several chicken recipes in the cookbook that will take just 45 minutes from start to finish — something you just couldn't do in restaurant, he says.
Even “company” food, like a braised lamb dish that takes three days to pull together and a foolproof Texas barbecue-meets-Jewish deli, slow-roasted short ribs dish seasoned with pastrami spices, require very little hands-on time.
“Scary is not what we wanted,” Solomonov says.
Home cooking gets a bad rap sometimes, he adds. “But it’s just soulful and delicious and honest. We don't want people to feel it’s a lower form of cooking.”
While they started with a rough outline, to keep the book authentic, they allowed themselves to riff when it came to cooking in an “actual habitat.” All of the dishes were made from scratch, start to finish, in Solomonov’s kitchen during marathon three- to four-day shoots.
“There weren’t any tricks or swapping things out,” he says. “We got together, and the book came to life as we were cooking, which was way more organic. It didn’t feel like work in the same way.”
While it isn’t being promoted as a kosher cookbook per se, there are no non-kosher ingredients and all recipes have Israeli and/or Jewish roots. Along with recipes for traditional favorites such as kugel (courtesy of Cook’s wife, Shira), dishes made with phyllo and tahini and matzo ball soup, you’ll find chicken wings with harissa-pomegranate molasses glaze or za’atar rub and several recipes featuring labneh, a Mediterranean cheese made from yogurt.
Only one mixes meat with milk, which is not kosher. An Israeli riff on Italian spaghetti and meatballs, the recipe features couscous, a tiny pasta made from semolina flour, simmered in a pan with canned tomatoes and North African spices and small meatballs boldly flavored with za'atar, a traditional Middle Eastern spice blend.
”It’s a dish everyone gets, just with a totally different flavor profile,” Solomonov says.
Some of the recipes are new, while others have been adapted from their two previous cookbooks, such as one for chraime, a North African fish stew typically eaten on Shabbat. Here it’s made with easier-to-use grouper fillets instead of a whole fish and there’s also a vegetarian cauliflower option.
In staying true to their roots — both grew up in modest homes that didn’t often make extravagant food purchases — the men wrote the recipes economically, with today’s high food prices in mind. One of their favorite recipes, in fact, celebrates cabbage, one of the most humble and readily available vegetables in Pennsylvania.
“We run a business based on food costs, and have families we have to cook for and college to save for,” says Solomonov, who admits to buying 80% of his food at Costco. “The unsung heroes are way more satisfying, and [it’s more of] an accomplishment to get my kids excited about cabbage.”
Solomonov, who was born in Israel and raised in Pittsburgh, gives his former hometown a shout out with a “slightly more restrained” twist on one of the city’s most famous dishes, a french fry-topped iceberg salad. In his version, the potatoes are oven-roasted instead of deep-fried, and the ranch dressing is made with labneh.
“Yinz knows where that came from,” he jokes.
He’s unapologetic about using pickle juice to brine the potatoes before cooking. Growing up, “we always had pickle juice,” he says.
“We don’t like throwing a ton of stuff out in our restaurants and don’t want to waste food in our homes.”
Knowing some home cooks are intimidated by new recipes, the cookbook’s authors included a lot of instructional photos and helpful hints. It also boasts a detailed pantry list that includes “a strategic collection of just the right herbs and condiments” that will help replicate a taste of Zahav at home. While some might be unfamiliar, all should be easy to find in specialty food markets and international grocery stores.
Solomonov and Cook will be in Pittsburgh on Nov. 20 as part of the Pittsburgh Jewish Book Festival at Congregation Beth Shalom. They’ll speak about the cookbook from 7:30-8:45 p.m. Tickets cost $20 at bethshalompgh.org.
The men acknowledge their cookbook’s release comes at a difficult time, when there are so many headlines about Israel, but “that is all the more reason to get together with friends and family and cook and just enjoy each other,” says Cook. “We’ve gotten a huge outpouring of love and support from customers.
“Because at the end of day, that’s what we do for a living and love to do at home, too.”
In real life — i.e. outside of work — the friends don’t get to cook together that much. So being able to roll up their sleeves outside the kitchen they created more than a decade ago, Solomonov says, was a bonding experience.
“It’s very nice to be able to identity and practice things that are nourishing from a flavor standpoint but also for the soul,” he says.
Couscous & Meatballs
PG tested
Though the cookbook “Zahav Home” does not include non-kosher ingredients, this recipe mixes meat with milk, which is not allowed in a kosher household. A riff on spaghetti and meatballs, it features couscous, tiny balls of pasta that take just 10 minutes to cook in the sauce after being toasted.
“We love it for its quick cooking time and its appeal to children,” the authors write in the headnotes.
For meatballs
1 pound ground beef
2 large eggs
½ large onion, grated or very finely chopped
½ cup plain breadcrumbs
2 tablespoons za’atar
1 teaspoon salt
½ cup grated Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese, plus more for topping
For sauce
1 cup Israeli couscous
¼ cup olive oil
6 garlic cloves, thinly sliced
1 2-by-1-inch piece fresh ginger, peeled and chopped very fine
1 28-ounce can crushed tomatoes
2 teaspoons North African Spice Blend (recipe follows)
2 teaspoons sugar
2 cups water
In large bowl, combine meat, eggs, onion, breadcrumbs, za’atar and salt. Add cheese, stirring until evenly mixed.
Set oven to the highest broiler setting.
Form seasoned meat into small balls, about ½ inch in diameter. Arrange the meatballs in a single layer on a sheet pan and drizzle oil on top.
Broil meatballs until browned, about 5 minutes.
Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Place couscous on a sheet pan and toast until golden, about 7 minutes.
Pour oil into a large skillet set over medium heat. Stir in the garlic and ginger, cooking until aromatic, about 2 minutes.
Add tomatoes and their juices, spice blend and sugar, stirring until evenly mixed. Add water and bring mixture to a rapid boil.
Stir in couscous and cover, cooking until tender, 10 minutes.
Transfer meatballs to the sauce and warm for 5 minutes. Sprinkle grated cheese on top, and serve.
Makes about 75 small meatballs.
To make North African spice blend: Using an electric spice grinder or a mortar and pestle, grind 1 tablespoon each coriander seeds, cumin seeds and caraway seeds with ½ cinnamon stick and a pinch of salt until powdery. Store any extra spice blend in a small jar in a cool, dark place.
— “Zahav Home: Cooking for Family and Friends” by Michael Solomonov and Steven Cook
Butternut Squash Baba Ganoush
Baba ganoush is traditionally made with eggplant, but here it’s made with roasted butternut squash, which is easy to find in Pittsburgh most of the year.
For tahini sauce
5 garlic cloves
5 tablespoons lemon juice
¾ teaspoon salt
1 cup tahini (sesame paste)
¼ teaspoon cumin
¾ cup very cold water
For squash
2 pounds butternut squash
¼ cup olive oil
1 teaspoon salt
1 pomegranate, seeded
½ cup pepitas, toasted in a dry skillet
Preheat the oven to 425 degrees.
Cut squash in half lengthwise and remove seeds.
With the tip of a sharp knife, score the insides of the squash in a crosshatch pattern, then slather the cut sides generously with oil and season with the salt.
Roast cut side up until very tender, about 90 minutes. You may notice the flesh separating from the skin.
While squash is roasting, make tahini sauce.
In food processor or high-powered blender, puree garlic, lemon juice and ½ teaspoon salt. Blend until you have a coarse puree. Let the mixture stand for 5-10 minutes to let the garlic mellow.
Pour the mixture through a fine-meshed strainer set over a large mixing bowl, pressing on the solids to extract as much liquid as possible. Discard solids.
Stir in the tahini and remaining salt. Whisk everything together until smooth, adding water a few tablespoons at a time. Continue adding water until you have a thick yet creamy sauce. (This will keep in the fridge for a week or in the freezer for up to a month.)
When cool to the touch, scoop out the flesh and transfer to a large bowl. You’ll need about 2 cups squash; save any leftover squash for another recipe.
Stir in the tahini until it’s nice and creamy and evenly mixed.
Scatter the pomegranate seeds and pepitas on top. Serve with pita or your favorite cracker.
Serves 4.
— “Zahav Home: Cooking for Family and Friends” by Michael Solomonov and Steven Cook
Cabbage Cacio e Pepe
PG tested
No matter the season, you can always find heads of green cabbage in even the smallest grocery store.
“If this recipe can’t convert a cabbage hater, nothing can,” write Michael Solomonov and Steven Cook in their latest cookbook, “Zahav Home.” If you have a pizza stone in the oven, it will make a huge difference — the bottom of the veggie will get caramelized, too.
1 medium head green cabbage (about 2 pounds), trimmed as needed
¾ teaspoon salt
½ cup olive oil
½ cup red wine vinegar or distilled white vinegar
1 teaspoon coarsely ground black pepper
1 cup grated pecorino cheese, plus more if you like
Preheat oven to 425 degrees.
Slice cabbage into 4 round slabs about 1 inch thick.
Arrange cabbage slices in a nonreactive baking dish or on a sheet pan, preferably one with sides. Sprinkle salt over the cabbage.
In small bowl, stir together olive oil and vinegar. Pour all over cabbage slices. Sprinkle with black pepper on top.
Roast cabbage slices until paring-knife tender, about 30 minutes. On the oven’s broiler setting, broil cabbage until the tops are very brown. (This takes longer than you think it should.)
Remove cabbage from broiler and finish with a snowfall of cheese, if desired. It’s fun to eat the roasted cabbage with a knife and fork.
Serves 4.
— “Zahav Home: Cooking for Family and Friends” by Michael Solomonov and Steven Cook