Zahav Home: Cooking for Friends & Family

Spending so much time during the height of the pandemic at home and cooking for just their families convinced Solomonov and Cook, James Beard award–winning restaurant owners and authors of Zahav: A World of Israeli Cooking, that they needed to write something that would help home cooks successfully create the dishes they made in their restaurants. The result is this wonderful collection of 125 recipes inspired by modern Israeli cuisine. The book opens with a pantry overview that illustrates some of the flavor-bomb items, such as shipka peppers and black limes, that home cooks will need to buy. Next come the recipes, which range from the traditional—matzo ball soup and challah—to new favorites such as green shakshuka and phyllo quiche with summer squash. Culinary novices will especially appreciate the vivid photographs included with many of the recipes, the encouraging and friendly tone the authors employ, and recipes that repurpose leftover bits and pieces from fridge and pantry that often end up in the trash can (see, for instance, the watermelon-rind pickles).