Typical Israeli Breakfast: Bountiful
Meir Adoni is one of Israel's top chefs, and his Tel Aviv restaurant, Catit, is one of the hottest tickets in town.
He's In New York to mark his home city's 100th birthday at the James Beard House with a spectacular formal dinner, so The Early Show asked him to stop by to prepare a traditional Israeli breakfast -- with pita, dips -- the works!
Catit's sophisticated cuisine and beautiful setting have made it a destination for foodies in the Mideast.
Adoni explained that Israel's pioneer farmers would work in the early morning, since the sun got so hot in the afternoon. After the day heated up and their appetites did, too, they would break for a hearty meal of bread, olives, cheese, and vegetables to refuel themselves.
Israeli hotels and restaurants often hold to this tradition and generally serve a large, varied and satiating "Israeli breakfast" to tourists.
Typical spreads include:
RECIPES
Shakshuka
1 onion - chopped
4 garlic clove - sliced
6 tomatoes - peeled & diced
1 spoon tomato paste
3 sweet red pepper - diced
4 sausages
1 bunch of Spinach
1 tea spoon Jalapeno pepper - chopped
Salt, black pepper, cumin, sweet and savory paprika, sugar
Olive oil
4 eggs
Coriander - chopped
Preparation:
In a large frying pan, sauté onion until lightly browned, add garlic, jalapeno, red pepper, paprika.
After 3 min of sweating those ingredients, add the tomato, tomato paste, sausages, and the spinach. Add the eggs, lower the heat, cover the pan for about 5-7 min, until the egg white completely cooked. Serve sprinkled the cumin and coriander on top
Tabouleh
1 cup of cracked wheat - soakage
1 chopped onion sauté
2 spoon roasted pine nuts
1 bunch of chopped parsley
2 spoon chopped mint
1/3 cup Pomegranate seeds
Tea spoon Jalapeno pepper - chopped
Lemon juice, salt, olive oil
Make sure to sautee the onions and toast the pine nuts before mixing. Then simply stir all ingredients together and serve.
Pickled Sardines or Herring
10 clean sardines or herring
Pickling mixture:
200g kosher salt
30g fennel seeds
30g sugar
1 black pepper tea spoon
2 spoon of Thyme leaves
Mix together the pickling mixture. Disperse half of the mixture onto a tray, place the sardines so the skin touching the mixture directly. When the fish are arranged, cover them with the remainder of the mixture. After 30 min take the sardines out in to ice bath, then dry with a towel. Store with olive oil, thyme, bay leaf up to one week.