Chow Down to Eurovision 2015 - Israel

Shalom, the Chow Down to Eurovision 2015 now takes us to beautiful Israel.

Following on from the 2013 success of a Yotam Ottolengi inspired dish, Israel has again turned to Yotam for inspiration. I received a copy of Jerusalem one Christmas and it quickly joined the ranks of cookbooks that live on my bedside table along with those of Shane Delia and Dan Lepard, the type of food you want to be inspired by before you head to sleep....for hopefully tasty dreams!

While many will see an inviting array of farmers market vegetables most will hardly notice the poor kohlrabi in the corner. 

A vegetable that often gets purchased because it's purple and interesting but then without the courage or knowledge of how to use it, ends up being given to the chickens...or was that just me?

Kohlrabi also comes in green if purple isn't your colour.

Picking a new vegetable and then learning how to cook it is a great game, some would say sport and in a seamless segue that brings us to today's Eurovision hit from the past. 

In 1992 Dafna (accompanied by half the wiggles with microphones stuck down their tops) represented Israel with Ze Rak Sport (It's Just Sport). Dafna came 6th and then went on to host the Eurovision Song Contest when it came to Jerusalem in 1999. 

I really like the Kohlrabi salad featured in Jerusalem but not having all the ingredients on hand I went about with my own variation. 

Kohlrabi Salad

Ingredients

• 1 small red onion
• 1 small lemon
• 1-2 kohlrabi
• 50g dried currant 
• 100ml sour cream
• 2 sprigs fresh mint leaves + garnish
• Salt

Method

• Peel onion, cut in half vertically and finely slice
• Add onions to a bowl and squeeze over the juice of a lemon, let sit for 30 minutes
• Peel Kohlrabi, cut in half and slice thinly
• Drain the juice from the onions and reserve
• In a mixing bowl add kohlrabi, onions, currants, mints and sour cream
• Combine and add pinch of salt and a splash of lemon juice
• Serve with extra mint garnish

Kohlrabi is crisp, almost an apple of the vegetable world and is great sliced really fine into chips, grated into fritters and raw in a crunchy salad.

This year the Golden Boy from Israel was Nadav Guedj who managed to no only take Israel to the Eurovision finals after a 4 year absence, the king of fun placed 9th.

I caught up with Nadav in Vienna for a very quick unplanned interview about tattoos which didn't get awkward....OK it might have got a bit awkward discussing covering himself with tattoos?!?!

Previous Israel Chow Down to Eurovision:

2014 Apples in Pyjamas

2013 Hummus with the lot!

Chow Down to Eurovision 2014 - Israel

ערב טוב this is Jerusalem, Israel calling.

Last year Israel was extremely popular in Chow Down to Eurovision with their dish Hummus with the Lot.

There is a limit to how much hummus one human can safely consume and without over sharing all I'll say is I know that exact quantity.

We are going to be having breakfast in Israel today with an apple fritter known as Apples in Pyjamas, it tastes just like a donut but it's an apple so you can truly say you only had an apple for breakfast.

Izhar Cohen provides the cardio to burn off our breakfast with Olé, Olé from 1985.

Get out the leg warmers, head bands and smile extenders this is classic 80's jazz ballet at it's Tony Bartuccio best!

Despite winning in 1978 Izhar placed 5th in 1985.

 

 

 

Apples in Pyjamas

Ingredients

• 3 granny smith or other tart apple
• 1 cup flour
• 1 cup milk
• 1 egg
• Cinnamon
• Sugar
• Oil to fry (about a litre)

Method

• Add flour, milk, egg and a pinch of sugar to a jug
• Blend smooth with a hand blender
• Slice apples about 1/2cm thick
• Remove core with a cutter (I had a star cookie cutter)
• Heat the oil in a deep saucepan on high heat (raise and lower heat as required)
• In 2 separate bowls place some extra flour and the batter
• Coat the apple ring in flour
• Dip the apple into the batter and let the excess run off
• Fry for about 1 minute on each side till golden brown
• Coat in cinnamon sugar (add as much or as little cinnamon as you like to a bowl of sugar)
• These would be perfect with ice cream for a quick faux apple pie
• If you work quickly you don't need lemon to stop the apples going brown, the flour also helps to slow the process

 

 

 

Can Mei Finegold and Same Heart bring the Eurovision trophy back to Israel for the fourth time? 

בהצלחה

Chow Down to Eurovision 2013 - Israel

Ding Dong say no more Israel it's your turn to Chow Down to Eurovision. The 1999 contest in Israel was the first Eurovision I saw when I stumbled across it on Sunday night and thought what the hell is this and was hooked.

Naturally I have gone back and watched every contest from 1957, expect 1956 and 1964 as there aren't visual recordings seriously no one pushed record??

The Eurovision moments I will highlight today are The chocolate girls from 1976 (you just have to sing and bounce along) and Dana International's interval act extravaganza as I believe that played a huge part in getting hooked in this joyous sceptical.

For our dish today I was inspired by Yotam Ottolenghi series in Jerusalem where hummus is more a meal than just a dip as most would see it in Australia. I have combined my love of the late night drunken roadside chicken kebab with hummus and created my hummus with the lot, probably not traditional but oh so satisfying.

 

 

Hummus with the lot

Ingredients

• 6-8 chicken thigh fillets
• 3 tbsp. ras el hanout
• 1 small red chilli finely chopped
• 1 clove garlic minced
• 4 tbsp. olive oil
• 2 400g cans chick peas
• 2 cloves garlic
• 1 tsp. ground cumin
• 4 tbsp. tahini
• 160ml olive oil
• 80ml water
• Juice of 1 lemon
• Salt to taste
• Handful of parsley
• 2 spring onions, finely sliced
• 2 sweet chilies, sliced
• Pomegranate seeds to garnish

 

Method

• Cut 1cm slices across the width of the fillets
• Combine the chicken slices, ras el hanout, chilli, garlic, and oil in a mixing bowl
• Let marinate for 30 mins
• Drain the chickpeas in a colander
• In a food processor as the chickpeas, peeled garlic, cumin, tahini, olive oil, water and lemon juice
• Process to a smooth paste
• Salt to taste
• In a really hot large fry pan add the chicken and marinade
• Cook for about 15 minutes till golden brown, I like to crispy and even over cooked to represent the chicken from a late night kebab
• Spread the hummus over a plate finishing with the classic trough
• Arrange some parsley, sweet chilies, spring onion on the plate
• Add some chicken to the centre of the hummus
• Drizzle with either some of the oil from the pan or fresh olive oil
• Sprinkle with pomegranate seeds
• This can be done on individual plates or one larger platter to share, or to eat all on your own if AB is not home, it's full of fibre so it's healthy!

 

 

 

 Israel will be represented by Moran Mazor who will perform Rak Bishvilo.

!בהצלחה