It’s depressing to come home from a trip to a foreign country and realize that you cannot replicate their food here. This is true of Thai food. A lot of the ingredients cannot be had here, or not in the fresh condition in which they are found in the Land of 10,000 Smiles. Plus, Thai food can be sort of labor intensive to cook, employing techniques that are unfamiliar to a Western kitchen. I like to go out for Thai from time to time, but it is not the same as cooking it at home.
So, I was a little concerned that a similar fate would befall my recent experience with Israeli cuisine. Sure, it looks simple: fresh vegetables simply prepared and presented. Too simple, I thought, so there must be a catch. I asked my Sweet Lady for an Israeli cookbook and a cast iron skillet for Brumalia. She delivered and guess what, it’s that simple. Let us take, for example, shakshuka.
I developed a thing for shakshuka while I was in Israel probably because it is more or less Jewish huevos rancheros. I did not think it could be as simple as putting some tomatoes, hot sauce, and eggs in a skillet. Guess what, it’s as simple as putting some tomatoes, hot sauce, and eggs in a skillet. Reading the recipe, I was inspired to give it a try with whatever I had lying around.
That meant no tomato paste, no fresh tomatoes, just a can of diced tomatoes, some nice fresh eggs, and a brand new pan of the type cartoon wives use to chase their husbands. Put them all together and you get something that tastes like what it tasted like in Israel. I bet that with better tomatoes it will taste even better, but it wasn’t at all bad right out of the gate. A little Christmas miracle!