ALON SHAYA was born in Israel, raised in Philadelphia, and calls New Orleans his home. The three celebrated restaurants he started and ran as executive chef/partner--Domenica, Pizza Domenica, and Shaya--reflect his culinary journey and love of Israeli and Italian cuisine. In 2017, Alon Shaya formed Pomegranate Hospitality to foster opportunities for colleagues, partners, and friends in a comfortable and professional environment where cultural differences are celebrated. Alon Shaya has been nominated for five James Beard Awards. In 2015 he was named "Best Chef, South" while at Domenica, and a year later, 'Shaya' was hailed as "Best New Restaurant". He was called one of the "50 People Who Are Changing the South" by Southern Living magazine, and by The Forward as one of the "50 Most Influential Jews in America". He is the author of a cookbook, Shaya: An Odyssey of Food, My Journey Back to Israel, published by Alfred A. Knopf, and with Pomegranate Hospitality he is opening two new restaurants: Saba in New Orleans and Safta in Denver.
An exciting debut cookbook that confirms the arrival of a new guru chef . . . A moving, deeply personal journey of survival and discovery that tells of the evolution of a cuisine and of the transformative power and magic of food and cooking. From the two-time James Beard Award-winning chef whose celebrated New Orleans restaurants have been hailed as the country's most innovative and best by Bon Appétit, Food & Wine, Saveur, GQ, and Esquire."Alon's journey is as gripping and as seductive as his cooking . . . Lovely stories, terrific food." --
Yotam Ottolenghi, author of Jerusalem: A Cookbook"Breathtaking. Bravo." --Joan Nathan, author of King Solomon's TableAlon Shaya's is no ordinary cookbook. It is a memoir of a culinary sensibility that begins in Israel and wends its way from the U.S.A. (Philadelphia) to Italy (Milan and Bergamo), back to Israel (Jerusalem) and comes together in the American South, in the heart of New Orleans. It's a book that tells of how food saved the author's life and how, through a circuitous path of (cooking) twists and (life-affirming) turns the author's celebrated cuisine--food of his native Israel with a creole New Orleans kick came to be, along with his award-winning New Orleans restaurants: Shaya, Domenica, and Pizza Domenica, ranked by
Esquire, Bon Appétit, and others as the best new restaurants in the United States.
These are stories of place, of people, and of the food that connects them, a memoir of one man's culinary sensibility, with food as the continuum throughout his journey--guiding his personal and professional decisions, punctuating every memory, choice, every turning point in his life. Interspersed with glorious full-color photographs and illustrations that follow the course of all the flavors Shaya has tried, places he's traveled, things he's experienced, lessons he's learned--more than one hundred recipes--from Roasted Chicken with Harissa to Speckled Trout with Tahini and Pine Nuts; Crab Cakes with Preserved Lemon Aioli; Roasted Cast-Iron Ribeye; Marinated Soft Cheese with Herbs and Spices; Buttermilk Biscuits; and Whole Roasted Cauliflower with Whipped Feta.
A celebration of Alon Shaya’s
SHAYA
An Odyssey of Food, My Journey Back to Israel
"A captivating memoir ... it may be the first cookbook you read cover to cover. Shaya's personal journey and path is intriguing and his story is hard to put down."
--Amy Spiro, The Jerusalem Post
"Alon Shaya's stunning debut cookbook, with over 100 recipes wrapped in a candid, compelling 'autobiography' about his culinary sensibility and how he found his way to becoming an award-winning chef. And we're the lucky beneficiaries of his unique, very personal take on what it means to meld the best of many food traditions ... so many fabulous flavors, so many imaginative combos."
--Sybil Pratt, Bookpage
"Part cookbook, part memoir, Alon Shaya writes of identity, memory, and the power that food holds in our lives. This is a beautiful cookbook, rich with emotion and recipes filled with spices and herbs and all of the vegetables I am drawn toward."
--Alice Waters
“Breathtaking. What makes this book dazzle is that Alon does not discard his food memories but transforms them into the recipes that so many of us have eaten at his restaurants Domenica and Shaya and can now enjoy by making them at home. Bravo!”
—Joan Nathan, author of King Solomon’s Table
“The way Alon weaves his cuisine through different cultures that he has encountered should be an inspiration to all young cooks who strive to create their own style. His book is as refreshing as it is imaginative.”
—Marc Vetri, author of Mastering Pasta
“Alon’s journey is as gripping and as seductive as his cooking: from his safta’s lamb kebabs to his liaisons with drug dealers at fifteen; from his blueberry rugelach or bright green falafel to the 500 crab cakes he lost to hurricane Katrina. Lovely stories, terrific food.”
—Yotam Ottolenghi, author of Jerusalem: A Cookbook
Marinated Soft Cheese with Herbs and Spices
YIELD: 6 to 8 servings This dish was a revelation when Emily and I ate it in Milan: when you start with great ingredients, you’re wise not to mess with them. It’s a perfect moment of simplicity; at the right temperature, olive oil and cheese can be as flawless as anything that costs you far more time, money, or energy. Any brand of soft aged cheese will do—I like La Tur, a flawless mixed-milk cheese that’s as creamy as goat, with just a little sheep-y funk that’s softened by the cow’s milk. Have fun with the spices: throw in a couple cloves instead of the star anise, add a sprig of rosemary instead of the bay, or use lemon instead of orange.
8-ounce wheel of soft goat or mixed-milk cheese, like La Tur
3 cloves garlic, unpeeled
1 teaspoon whole allspice berries
½ teaspoon whole coriander seeds
½ cup extra-virgin olive oil
2 bay leaves
1 dried árbol chile or ¼ teaspoon red pepper flakes
1 star anise pod
Two 1-inch strips of orange peel, divided
A crusty baguette
Maldon or other flaky sea salt to finish
1. Heat the oven to 325F. Put the cheese in the bowl or rimmed plate from which it’ll be served so that it can soften.
2. Use the side of a knife or a rolling pin to lightly crush the garlic, just so it starts to open up in its skin. Lightly crush or roughly chop the allspice and coriander and add them with the garlic to a small ovenproof saucepan along with the olive oil, bay leaves, árbol chile, star anise, and 1 strip of orange peel. Cover with a lid and bake for 40 to 45 minutes; the garlic will be very golden and the orange rind will have darkened quite a bit.
3. Once the sauce has come together, remove the saucepan from the oven and increase the heat to 425F. Take the second strip of orange peel and give it a little twist over the pan to release the oil, then drop it into the pan and let the oil cool down.
4. Cut the baguette on a bias into ½-inch slices and arrange them on a baking sheet. Toast at 425F for 6 to 8 minutes, until they’ve built some nice color along the edges.
5. Pour the oil over and around the softened cheese, letting the spices run free, and sprinkle the salt just before serving. Slather the toasts with cheese and encourage your friends to dab up every last drop of the infused oil.
Shakshouka YIELD: 4 to 6 servings Plenty of water, for the Jerusalem artichokes, fava beans, and an ice bath
1 tablespoon plus 2 teaspoons Morton kosher salt, divided
½ pound Jerusalem artichokes
1 pound fava beans in their shells
3 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
1pint cherry tomatoes, halved
1 small red bell pepper, seeded and thinly sliced
1 small green bell pepper, seeded and thinly sliced
1 small yellow onion, thinly sliced
2 cloves garlic, minced
One 28-ounce can peeled whole tomatoes
1 egg per person
¼ cup zhoug (page 395)
Eggs poached in a spicy, savory tomato sauce: this dish serves itself. It’s my go-to when I show up at someone’s house and everyone is hungry. Chances are, there are eggs and a can of tomatoes on hand. Outside of that foundation, you can be as creative or as simple about adding anything else as you like.
Jerusalem artichokes, if you’ve never had them, taste and feel like a cross between potatoes and artichoke hearts; along with the fava beans, they make this dish special. They do need to be pre- pared separately, but you can do that in advance if it makes your life (and cooking timeline) easier. If you have trouble tracking either ingredient down, substitute any root vegetable—turnips, potatoes, even beets—for the Jerusalem artichokes, and a cup of shelled fresh or frozen beans, such as limas, for the fava beans.
Once you put pan to stove, the rest of the dish comes together quite quickly, so, for the sake of the vegetables’ flavor and texture, make sure everything is prepped and ready to go. Dress it up or down with your favorite vegetables or meats—whatever’s on hand—along with any herbs and spices you like. Tomatoes are the perfect backdrop. You’ll need one egg per person, as few as two or as many as six. Part of the fun is making this dish your own, but one word of advice: try it with the zhoug, a spicy Yemeni green chile sauce, like the Middle Eastern approach to pesto. Its fresh, herbal heat is the perfect finishing touch.
1. Fill a large pot with the water and 1 tablespoon salt, and bring to a boil. Thoroughly scrub the Jerusalem artichokes; if they’re large or unevenly sized, cut them into even chunks. Boil for 30 to 35 minutes, until they’re about the consistency of a cooked potato, easily pierced with a knife but not falling apart. Drain, and when they’re cool enough to handle, slice into little coins.
2. Fill another pot with water and bring it to a boil; meanwhile, prepare an ice bath. Cook the fava beans for 5 minutes, or until the outer shell puffs up and pulls away from the bean. The water in the pot will turn reddish, but don’t freak out—that’s normal. Shock the beans in the ice bath to stop the cooking, then shell them when they’ve cooled down. You should have about 1 cup beans.
3. Add the olive oil to a large enameled or stainless-steel skillet that has a lid (but don’t use the lid just yet). Turn the heat to high, and when the oil is shimmering, pull the skillet off the heat and carefully add the cherry tomatoes; they’ll give off
a lot of smoke and may splatter. Place the pan back on the heat, and don’t stir; you want the tomatoes to char lightly in a few places.
4. After a couple of minutes, when the tomatoes are starting
to blister, stir in the bell peppers, onion, and garlic.
Cook, stirring frequently, for 4 minutes or so, until all the vegetables are a little golden around the edges and the cherry tomatoes are melting into everything else.
5. Decrease the heat to medium, and add the Jerusalem artichokes, favas, and remaining 2 teaspoons salt. Roughly crush the canned tomatoes between your fingers, or chop them, and add them to the pan with their juice. Cook the sauce for a couple of minutes, until it thickens slightly.
6. Decrease the heat to medium-low, and use your spoon to make little divots in the sauce, one per egg. Crack an egg into each, cover the pan, and cook for 4 to 5 minutes, until the egg white is set but the center still jiggles. Dollop a spoonful of zhoug over each egg before serving.
Tabbouleh with Preserved Lemon and Almonds
YIELD: 4 to 6 servings This simplest of salads always surprises people at Shaya. “How can parsley salad be so complex?” they ask. The answer is twofold: preserved lemon and baharat (page 000). Take the time to find (or make) these ingredients and it will pay off with flavor, although ¼ teaspoon of pumpkin pie spice is a pretty good replica of the baharat and freshly grated lemon zest can stand in for preserved lemon. Bear in mind, tabbouleh is a parsley salad—even the bulgur plays a supporting role—so it is only as good and fresh as the parsley you get. Find bunches with crisp, bright green leaves at the grocery store or farmer’s market.
¼ cup water
⅛ teaspoon plus 1 teaspoon Morton kosher salt, divided
2 tablespoons bulgur wheat
5 tablespoons lemon juice
1 teaspoon minced preserved lemon
½ teaspoon Baharat (page 000)
¼ teaspoon ground allspice
¼ cup extra-virgin olive oil
2 quarts lightly packed fresh parsley leaves (from about 4 bunches)
1 cup sliced almonds, toasted
A quarter of a red onion, finely chopped
1. Bring the water to a boil with ⅛ teaspoon salt (this won’t take long since there’s so little of it). Put the bulgur in a small heatproof bowl, cover it with the boiling water, and cover with plastic wrap or foil until all the water is absorbed, 15 minutes or so. Fluff it with a fork and let it cool.
2. Whisk together the lemon juice, remaining 1 teaspoon salt, preserved lemon, baharat, and allspice. Stream in the olive oil while you whisk to finish the dressing.
3. Finely chop all the parsley and toss it in a large bowl with the bulgur, almonds, and onion. Drizzle in the dressing and mix by hand. Serve right away.
Über den Autor
Alon Shaya
Klappentext
An exciting debut cookbook that confirms the arrival of a new guru chef . . . A moving, deeply personal journey of survival and discovery that tells of the evolution of a cuisine and of the transformative power and magic of food and cooking. From the two-time James Beard Award-winning chef whose celebrated New Orleans restaurants have been hailed as the country's most innovative and best by Bon Appétit, Food & Wine, Saveur, GQ, and Esquire.
• "Alon's journey is as gripping and as seductive as his cooking . . . Lovely stories, terrific food."
--Yotam Ottolenghi, author of Jerusalem: A Cookbook
• "Breathtaking. Bravo." --Joan Nathan, author of King Solomon's Table
Alon Shaya's is no ordinary cookbook. It is a memoir of a culinary sensibility that begins in Israel and wends its way from the U.S.A. (Philadelphia) to Italy (Milan and Bergamo), back to Israel (Jerusalem) and comes together in the American South, in the heart of New Orleans. It's a book that tells of how food saved the author's life and how, through a circuitous path of (cooking) twists and (life-affirming) turns the author's celebrated cuisine--food of his native Israel with a creole New Orleans kick came to be, along with his award-winning New Orleans restaurants: Shaya, Domenica, and Pizza Domenica, ranked by Esquire, Bon Appétit, and others as the best new restaurants in the United States.
These are stories of place, of people, and of the food that connects them, a memoir of one man's culinary sensibility, with food as the continuum throughout his journey--guiding his personal and professional decisions, punctuating every memory, choice, every turning point in his life. Interspersed with glorious full-color photographs and illustrations that follow the course of all the flavors Shaya has tried, places he's traveled, things he's experienced, lessons he's learned--more than one hundred recipes--from Roasted Chicken with Harissa to Speckled Trout with Tahini and Pine Nuts; Crab Cakes with Preserved Lemon Aioli; Roasted Cast-Iron Ribeye; Marinated Soft Cheese with Herbs and Spices; Buttermilk Biscuits; and Whole Roasted Cauliflower with Whipped Feta.
