One of the advantages of living in Israel, and it is one that anyone who lives here should take full advantage of, is the shuk. For those that are not aware of what a shuk is, think of a permanent farmers market that also houses clothing, appliance, hardware and nik-nak stores. There are many shuks in Israel, some are mobile, moving from city to city each day and some, like Machane Yehuda in Jerusalem are static. I love the shuk, if not for the prices that are ridiculously low compared to the regular supermarkets, then for the selection of produce and my personal favorite, dairy products that are unmatched. I am not sure if the tomatoes are sweeter in the shuk because they are the first pick of the crop (the growers sell directly in the shuk), or because I pay 4 shekels a kilo for them (about $1.25 for 2.2 pounds) - but fact is the quality of the produce and the selection are second to none.

I long for Chelsea Market, that overpriced chic urban mall in New York City (TV Food Network has their studios there for anyone that is interested). The minute you step inside, the smell of fresh sourdough floats through your nostrils and fill your lungs - the sight of red plum tomatoes and perfectly round and uniform cucumbers fills the vegetable bins; it is an experience coming inside off of Eighth Avenue where all the hookers used to hang out (they moved to Ninth - in the seventies they hung out on Seventh according to Simon & Garfunkel). But what I miss the most in this modish inner-city oasis is the cheese store, if I remember correctly it is called Chelsea Basket (located right next to TVFN’s elevator banks) - they had some amazing cheeses from all over the place, a better selection than Murray’s on Bleeker St., which is saying a ton because Murray’s has a splendid selection (their staff is unmatched though).

Anyway, it was in Chelsea Market that I found what I thought was the best cheddar cheese ever - of course it was not kosher by rabbinical standards, but I had no problem with it. This cheddar was smooth yet perfectly brittle and just the right amount of tang - Fiscalini Farms Bandaged Wrapped for those that are curious - I found the perfect companion for sautéed spinach, caramelized onions, eggs and heavy cream, together they made a wonderful quiche. It was too bad that I could not use it in my restaurant, but I managed to find a decent, if not incredibly expensive alternative.

So, here I am in Israel - the land that flows with milk and honey and all they seem to be able to produce is five thousand variations of Emek cheese (which is a step above American without the food coloring). Smoked Emek (Israeli Gouda); Tal-HaEmek (Israeli Swiss); Gilboa (Israeli Muenster) - these are the cheeses most common in the supermarkets - and they are very disappointing too - until you look a little harder.

My move here was complete when I learned of a guy named Avrum in Machane Yehuda who shared my passion for all things dairy. The selection he has is incredible, and what amazed me is that this man who dons a big kippa, sports a beard and at ten in the morning still has the serrations on his arm from his tefilin (to the point, a religious man) is certified kosher by the Rabbinate and is selling cheeses from all over the world - God I love this land. Back in NY, I had to practically hold my Rabbi by the gonads in a monkey wrench to convince him that my Wisconsin Cheddar that was clearly labeled kosher lemahadrin was in fact kosher. I found heaven in Jerusalem, and St. Peter’s first name was Avrum.

I had a Bat-Mitzvah to cater and quiche was on the menu, I wanted it to be special and a trip to Chelsea Market was just what I needed to make that so - though that would have made for one expensive tartlet considering the cost of a round-trip these days. My personal guide to the rapture, Avrum St. Peter, gave me what I needed. From the back of his space, behind the display case, he walked out with the most beautiful cheddar I have ever seen (sorry Murray).

There is something to say about real English Farmhouse Cheddar - never had it before that day in December of 2007 - I understood what California based Fiscalini was aiming for and a credit to them, they do a good job at replicating it - but they pale in comparison to this Lancashire cheese. This cheese was dry and crumbly, tangy and sweet - all while being so smooth to the taste. Too much of it would give you stomach cramps, but it would be worth it for the taste. With all that said, I made the best spinach quiches of my life - and continue to do so.

It is a bit expensive - about 45 shekels for 100 grams, but it is so worth it. If you can get there, Avrum is located next to the candy store which exits to the parking lot by the closed end of the shuk - ask for the Lancashire cheese (a slightly cheaper and more mild alternative is a brand called Dorset Drum which he carries sometimes) and follow the recipe below. You will not be disappointed.

Ingredients - makes 2 quiches

Using excess dough, you can make designs to top off your quiche - like the flowers on top of this one.

3 1/2 cups of flour

3 sticks (12oz) chilled unsalted butter cut into cubes)

2 tsp salt

2/3- 1 cup ice cold water

Crumble the butter into the flour piece by piece with your hands (using machines for this does not taste as good - I am not quite sure why) - when the mixture resembles course corn meal, add the water a little at a time until a dough forms. Wrap in plastic and let set in the fridge for 1 hour.

Preheat oven to 165 Celsisus (325 Fahrenheit). Roll dough out to 1/3″ and put into a 9″ quiche pan - using a fork, score the dough all around (especially the sides) to prevent a bubble from forming in the oven. Put pan in the oven for 15 minutes - you are not looking for color here - only a good congealing of the dough.

Filling

1/2 kilo fresh spinach (washed and dried)

2 large onions

6 eggs (large)

750 ML 32% cream

250 ML 1 or3% milk

100 grams of Cheddar (I wont hold you to the good stuff - just make sure it is cheddar and not some Emek dirivitive made to be like cheddar)

Salt and Pepper to taste.

Slice onion into half moons and sauté on low flame in a butter and olive oil mixture (use your judgment in terms of quantity, I use extra virgin cause I like the taste and I use 1 tbsp of each - I also add a pinch of kosher salt as it helps the sauté go quicker by leeching out the water) - stir regularly. When the onions are a deep brown, add the spinach leaves (you can keep them whole or chop them up - I keep them whole) and stir for about 2 minutes - salt and pepper the mixture to your liking at this point. Shut the flame and take pan off of stove. The spinach should be a bright green at this point.

Beat the eggs, cream and milk together - salt and pepper.

Now, layer the cheddar on the bottom of the cooled crust. Add the spinach and onion mixture, then pour the egg-cream in until it is about 1/8″ from the top.Place pan in oven (same temp as the crust) and cook for 35-40 minutes. Your quiche might not look done, it might seem loose inside - don’t stick a toothpick in it, it will always come out wet - just trust me that once it cools completely and sets you will have the most perfect quiche. (I prefer to put it in the fridge after it cools and reheat it the next day, for some reason it tastes the best this way.

One of the things I love about the finer foods in great restaurants are the sauces, perhaps that is why I chose to focus my culinary studies on the art of sauce making, a.k.a. saucier. A good sauce is a rich, creamy and velvety smooth liquid that is bursting with a myriad of flavors and depth, and the key to any great dish. And a good saucier knows that without properly made sauces, the food he or she is preparing is average at best. For it is not the way a roast is cooked or a chicken is grilled or a salmon is poached that makes a chef great, it is the bath of carefully defined flavors that accompanies the dish that makes the chef so great. Sure, you cannot be great if you burn your roast or char your chicken or boil your salmon, but in the event that you do - a good sauce can make up for the mishap by disguising the error.

Now, I am not advocating that anyone should overcook their food - on the contrary, red meat should still be red and chicken should be juicy not dry and salmon should be tender and pink - but not everyone is equipped to accomplish this feat properly, not everyone has the skill set needed to “see” the inside of a roast without cutting it open. It is for this reason that the need for a good sauce is paramount to all else, especially because at the end of the day, beef tastes like beef and fish tastes like fish and chicken tastes like frog legs (well, it does!). Certainly there is a thing to say about the taste of grass-fed, free-range cattle or Kobe bred cows to the stable meat usually served in butcher shops, but its all beef, and if it is not flavored well, its just going to taste like beef.

When I had my own restaurant in the Washington Heights section of Manhattan I made the restaurants name by focusing on all things liquid - sauces, dressings, soups - from the pastas to the fish to the pizza to the salads, everything needed to have a unique flavor and that came from the sauces. The key to the success of the dishes I served was the subtle flavorings that hid beneath the silky sauces, essences of things that were familiar to the palate, but hard to identify in the overall composition. They acted as enhancers to the dish, making a lemon caper sauce special because it had a tiny hint of fennel in the background and a mango velouté sing a Don Ho song because of the gentle presence of coconut and macadamias. And while I gladly took credit for the compositions, the technique which allowed me to do this was old and commonly used.

A sauce needs something to bring it all together, to serve as a binding agent that melts everything down and establishes a new, more formidable creation - like what iron and coal do in the process of making steel. For chefs making a sauce, this comes in several forms - for the purpose of this entry, we will focus on one, the roux. A roux (pronounced roo)is a simple mixture of flour and fat - preferably butter - in equal quantities and sautéed to varying degrees of color from blonde to brown. The darker the roux, the nuttier the flavor (if you are using butter), but it is not solely for the flavor that you color a roux. The pigmentation has more to do with the color of the intended sauce than anything else, you would not put use a dark roux for a white sauce as if you did, your sauce will not be white. The shade of the roux is inconsequential here, it is what the roux can do for you (and your sauces) that makes it my favorite thickening agent.

A properly made roux can take fifteen ingredients and coalesce them into one - it is the effect of the grains of flour which literally soak up the fat and liquid around it - a work of science that creates works of art. Take my mango velouté which I mentioned above, the primary ingredient in the sauce are mangos, but it also has stock, pineapple pieces, red onion, sweet red peppers, lemongrass, coriander seed, coconut and a crushed macadamia nuts. The roux helps meld the ingredients together, making all the individual ingredients harmonious - allowing the mango to shine by adding the flavors of all secondary ingredients around it and making it one.

And a roux can also turn a chicken soup into a cream of chicken soup, it can turn a blah tomato soup into hearty bisque, and it can turn macaroni and cheese into a pasta béchamel. In the coming entries I will refer to a roux regularly - if you did not know before what it was, now you do. To make a roux and hold it over is not necessary unless you plan on using it daily - but in case you are curious, here is the process.

Basic Blonde Roux

Blonde-Roux, great for cream sauces like beschamel

Brown Roux - excellent for tomato and chicken based sauces - a shade darker and it would be great for gravies.

8 ounces butter (2 US Sticks; 1 Big Israeli Stick) or 8 ounces oil (if you must)

1/2 cup sifted flour

Preparation

In a sauté pan, melt the butter over low heat - do not brown - add flour and stir until all the flour is incorporated into the butter. Stir regularly while cooking for a minimum of 2 minutes (blonde roux); the longer you cook it after here the darker it will get. The smell (if you are indeed using butter) as it cooks will resemble cooked nuts, this is most prominent as the butter browns and turns the flour a deep golden color (brown roux) and this is best used for dark, rich sauces. I prefer to keep the roux blonde as it allows for me to darken it later if I need it.

Let the roux cool thoroughly and place in a bowl, cover with plastic wrap and stick in the refrigerator to use as you need.

I would say BatayAvon here but if you eat this as is you will throw up.