Zahav Home: Cooking for Friends & Family: A Heart-Healthy Middle Eastern Collection with Quick and Simple Recipes, Cook Delicious Meals in No Time, Featured on the Today Show

by Michael Solomonov, Steven Cook

In this long-awaited sequel to the bestselling and award-winning Zahav, Michael Solomonov and Steven Cook invite you to cook the way they do at home, with 125 new recipes for simple and achievable meals.

Genres: Cookbooks, Cooking, Food

384 pages, Hardcover

Published September 10, 2024

About the author

MICHAEL SOLOMONOV is the multiple James Beard Foundation Award winning chef behind Zahav, which won the 2019 James Beard Outstanding Restaurant award and was named an “essential” restaurant by Eater, and co-author of four cookbooks: the James Beard Award winning Zahav, Federal Donuts, Israeli Soul, and the forthcoming Zahav at Home. He and business partner Steven Cook are the co-owners of the nationally beloved, trailblazing Philadelphia hospitality group, CookNSolo, responsible for hit restaurants celebrating the vibrant cuisine of Israeli: Dizengoff, Federal Donuts, Goldie, K’Far Café, Laser Wolf, Lilah, and Zahav.

Reviews

[Miss✧Pickypants ᓚᘏᗢ · Rating 5 out of 5]

Another COVID cookbook but wow, just wow. You won't find the restaurant recipes here but rather what the authors cooked at home, using the same flavors as what you'd get at the restaurant. This big beautiful book is full of extremely well written and easy to follow recipes. And the pictures and pictorials, so, so many! Loved that they showed exactly what to anticipate.

At the very least, I will be making: green cabbage with caraway, honey and chickpea; green shakshuka; baby apple cakes; harissa dressing and zhoug. The level of detail makes this a fantastic cookbook for less experienced cooks but it is quite perfect for anyone who loves Israeli/Mediterranean foods and flavors.

[Harold Citron · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is the second of chef Solomonov's cookbooks that I have read and used. Once again, he brings the reader into the world of Israeli and Mediterranean cooking. Full of straight-forward instructions accompanied by a slew of colorful photographs showing the various steps of the recipes.

Enticing as the first book, Zahav Home is worth the read for the first 80 pages alone. Focusing on various salatim (salads in Hebrew) my mouth literally began to water after reading some of the recipes. Both healthy and delicious. The focus on vegetables continues throughout the book, both in a cooked vegetable section and even with chicken and meat dishes. For people looking for healthy options, there is plenty to choose from and adapt.

Given the focus of the cuisine, Solomonov showcases a palate of regional spices and ingredients, from za'atar and, halwajj, and sumac, to ambah, labneh, tehina, and harissa. For those unfamiliar with the ingredients, the book starts off with a pantry section, including background, use and sourcing.

In terms of cooking, I have tried a few of the chicken recipes. One drawback is his use of what he calls the "Three-C's" spice mix of cumin, coriander, and caraway, (though in a few recipes, he adds a fourth C, ground cardomom). That mix did not go over well with the guests at the dining room table, and when I substituted one recipe with a za'atar and sumac blend, got rave reviews. But the beauty of the book is that these are straight-forward recipes that give the cook the freedom and flexibility to adapt and adjust to family tastes.

The one knock I will give on the book is on page 279, his recipe for Israeli couscous and meatballs. In his original Zahav book, Solomonov noted that his recipes adhered to the laws of kashrut, specifically not mixing meat and milk and the meat dishes included only kosher animals. While the chef noted that his restaurants are not kosher, his personal feeling was that if one was going to create a Jewish / Israeli cookbook, that one of the defining attributes of the cuisine was utilizing the constraints of Jewish dietary laws, because if not, why bother. I was deeply moved and impressed by that vision, so its somewhat disappointing to see him include Parmigiano Reggiano in the recipe when there are so many flavor and texture alternatives to choose from. So, knock maybe a 1/4 star off for that.

But overall, I believe that this is a great addition to my bookshelves and eagerly anticipate making a number of the recipes in the future.

[Keith · Rating 2 out of 5]

This is in no way a worthy followup to the original Zahav cookbook. What made that book compelling was its storytelling, which elevated it from being merely a collection of recipes. Solomonov not only delved into the unique culinary scene in Israel, he also examined the fraught politics of Israel-Palestine and spoke vulnerably of his own turbulent personal life. None of that features here. To be fair, retreading the same ground would not be very interesting, but the comically large font of this physically massive book only highlights this near-total lack of storytelling. Solomonov and Cook offer a little framing up top about the inspiration for the book (cooking at home during the pandemic, with its necessary paring down of ingredients), but that's about it.

These days, we are blessed with an abundance of excellent cookbooks on various Mediterranean and SWANA / Middle Eastern cuisines — including some great options written by Palestinian authors who share their own perspectives. This book does nothing to distinguish itself from this set, and I fear that titling it nearly the same as the first Zahav cookbook will only dilute the legacy of the original.

[Michele Stark · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is the first cookbook I’ve purchased in a long time where I actually want to make the recipes — and these are easy enough to make any time. All the Israeli flavors we love and simple to make at home. We’re literally marking pages and picking recipes to make each week. If you love Israeli / Mediterranean food like we do, it’s worth checking out. These are perfect for the home cook. Unfortunately I don’t use an instant pot, because there’s a few recipes for that — but it’s tempting me to get one.

[Michelle · Rating 5 out of 5]

Beautiful!

[Kate]

Made the sesame tahini chicken with matbucha, winter green salad with schug dressing, pomegranate orange juice carrots.

[Karrie · Rating 5 out of 5]

Even tho I might never eat some of this food, this is one of the most beautifully made cookbooks that I have ever read. And I work in a library and have at least 20 checked out at any given time.

[Samaj Jabr · Rating 4 out of 5]

i kinda like this book, lots of the stuff my mom made are in there

[Jenell Masse · Rating 5 out of 5]

The salads are incredible!

[Joe V · Rating 5 out of 5]

Tried a bunch of these recipes and there were no bad options. Lots of other flavors throughout the book that look interesting that I'd like to try in the future