Book club with a twist: Chef Einat Admony's Cookbook Shuk
While I haven’t met Chef Einat Admony in person, I imagine we would be friends and feel a closeness to her as I have been cooking “with her” for almost ten years first with her Balaboosta Cookbook and now Shuk both published by Artisan Books .
My review copy of Shuk arrived right before we visited Israel for the first time and became the best guide for our trip. We have traveled all over the world and we are always drawn to the markets. There is something about being immersed in the seasonal bounty, the experience of creating a meal from one stall to another and the smells, sounds and personality. Upon return, I have turned to Shuk again and again to remember our trip.
I have a color coded sticky note system for identifying the types of recipes I want to make (blue-bread, red-meat, orange-legumes, green-veggie, etc) and today I invited my family to move the sticky tabs to the side of the cookbook to indicate ones they would like me to make and then I took Einat Admony’s newest cookbook with me to our local food co-op so I could gather ingredients to make quite a few recipes this week.
I love to get to know a cookbook by starting with the sauces. Pictured here are what I made tonight: Red S’chug, Green S’chug, Yellow Harissa and Preserved lemon Paste. Each sauce is exquisite in flavor and they each can be eaten by the spoonful or on pita, with hummus, on fish, meat, veggies, tacos, with cheese, as dips or on sandwiches and they are both highly versatile and scrumptious. I can’t wait to try the preserved lemon paste with my yogurt in the morning for a sour, tart, tangy yet a little sweet flavor experience
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Jesica is a librarian and book critic. To see what else she is reading, loving or recommending follow Jesica on Instagram, Facebook or visit her profile at Wrapt to see what else she is reviewing here.