Celebrity Israeli Chef Haim Cohen Spices up NYC!

Chef Haim Cohen, a chef and restaurateur who has reinvented Israeli cuisine, has come all the way from Tel Aviv to introduce Israeli flavors to the New York culinary scene.

Chef Cohen, who is widely known as Israel’s first celebrity chef and an informal culinary ambassador, was cooking an amazing Israeli dinner at the prestigious James Beard Foundation house this week.

For this special dinner, Chef Cohen served up a dinner that showcased his modern interpretation of simple street foods that one can find while traveling in Israel. For example, the famous Druze dish of fresh pita brad and Labana cheese was transformed under his hands into delicate tortellini, stuffed with Labana cheese. “What we wanted to do is to take the flavors that most people who’ve visited Israel usually recognize, but surprise them with a modern approach. When you bite into this tortellini you say, ‘Wow, I know this flavor. This is the flavor of the Galilee,’” said Chef Cohen.

I personally believe that this dish is the best example of New Israeli Cuisine, where tradition and innovation meet. Below, please find this exclusive recipe by Chef Cohen. Don’t hesitate to try it yourself. It’s defiantly doable and the outcome is super creative–and yummy!

After the dinner, during the Q&A, Chef Cohen told us that his main inspiration is his mother’s cooking and its simple yet delicious tradition.

Chef Cohen’s mother’s flavors were also featured in the food demonstration that he gave yesterday at the Culinary Institute of America. In front of a full auditorium of culinary students from around the world, Chef Cohen cooked some contemporary Israeli dishes such as: risotto with preserved lemons and peas, lentil salad with fresh herbs and tuna sashimi, and his signature dish–roasted eggplant over flames with tahini sauce.

“The risotto made its way from Italy to Israel and on the way we added a little twist to it,” explained Chef Cohen. “We left the butter and parmesan–after all, we don’t want a diplomatic crisis. On top of that we added the Moroccan lemons that give it a completely unique flavor. It’s sour and sweet, served hot and stands out–like Israel.”

LABANE CHEESE TORTELLINI WITH ZAHATAR AND OLIVE OIL

Ingredients:

Labane cheese

Dry zahatar

Olive oil

Atlantic salt

Pasta dough
400 grams pasta flour
4 medium size eggs

Method:

1. Place flour and eggs in a food processor and pulse until mixed.

2. Wrap dough in plastic wrap and chill for 2 hours.

3. With a pasta machine, roll 1/4 of the pasta dough 7 times on number 1, folding each time to 3.

4. Then pass the rolled dough through the machine until you reach number 7.

5. Cut the rolled dough into 1.5-inch squares.

6. Scoop 1 teaspoon of labane cheese into the center of the squares and fold in half to form a triangle and then join the corners of the base of the triangle by overlapping. Freeze.

7. In a bowl, mix 2 Tbs of zahatar with 6 Tbs of olive oil.

8. Fill a pot with water and bring to a boil. Put frozen tortellini in the boiling water. Remove them when they float to the surface.

9. Put pasta in a serving dish. Spoon the zahatar oil on top of the tortellini and sprinkle with a little salt.

BE-TE-A-VON!

7 people like this post.

Unlike