Here you go, bro.
That's delicious.
So sick, right?
My name is Mike Solomonov.
I'm the chef and co-owner
of Zahav restaurant
here in lovely Philadelphia.
We're doing like a Brussels sprout two ways kind of thing.
We are caramelizing Brussels sprouts
and baba ghanoush that is made with Brussels,
fermented harissa or harif,
which is like a spicy paste,
feta cheese,
hazelnuts toasted with za'atar,
and white anchovies.
I love Brussels sprouts
because they're super versatile.
We shave them raw and make tabbouleh here
with like wheats and cheese and pomegranates.
I like them also grilled
or seared really, really hard like in this dish.
And they taste like popcorn.
They're sort of nutty.
And you've also got that contrast between, like,
the steamed green part
and then the cut, caramelized part.
So we just take our Brussels sprouts,
sear them in the pan.
And the ones that get like, a little bit too dark,
we yank out and just puree with tahina
and lemon and garlic.
We like to make our own harissa.
I like spicy a lot,
I mean, I like picante
but I also like the warm spices that we use here
to accentuate certain dishes.
But it also adds acid without it just being
a blast of lemon juice.
Anchovy, to me,
especially the white anchovies,
it's another --
first of all, it's another layer of acid
because they're like, kept in vinegar.
But to me it's like the umami sort of thing.
It's kind of like adding soy sauce or MSG
or anything sort of pungent, robust,
salty, briny, you know?
I just like the hazelnuts a lot.
I mean, I think hazelnuts and zucchini
are a really big thing in Egyptian cooking,
but the hazelnuts with the Brussels sprouts
just tend to work well.
It like, adds a little bit of sweet to it, too.
Maybe if the fish is a little too briny
or the cheese is a little too briny,
the hazelnut tends to ground it a little bit.
A few months ago, we became very close
with a creamery called Valley Shepherd,
which is out of New Jersey,
and they make amazing cheese.
They make all of our halloumi style cheese
here at Zahav,
and then they started making feta for us.
We use feta a lot.
I like the Bulgarian style feta cheese,
which is very popular in Israel.
Israel means a lot
when it comes to the cultures and the food.
That's so many different kinds of people.
The exciting thing about Zahav restaurant
and also the challenge
is that we're not in Israel.
Right?
So we have great produce,
we've got great farms,
we have all this access to really cool stuff.
Our growing season is totally different.
So we don't have tomatoes, for example,
for you know, nine months out of the year.
So we have to get a little bit creative.
