israeli_salad.jpg

What can I say, I’m proud of ck for the Jewlicious farm visit! I hope they had a fine and productive time and that some people in need will get to enjoy the harvest of all those who joined Table to Table and Jewlicious on this farm excursion.

Oh, to make that delicious salad you need tomatoes, cucumbers (peel! Don’t be lazy), optional scallions, optional parsley, and then dress with good olive oil, lemon juice (fresh please), salt (don’t be shy) and pepper. And chop it up really, really, really small. Really. Yum!

Shabbat shalom!!

(Israelity is the image source)

About the author

themiddle

44 Comments

  • Or basil instead of parsley–and scoop out the cucumber seeds with a spoon after you cut it lengthwise, before chopping it.
    Yummm…….

  • Not to nitpick, but the cucumbers in the picture are not peeled, and I don’t think they generally are in Israeli salad. Otherwise, looks delicious!

  • One of the things I miss about Israel is olives. The processed ones simply don’t compare to those. Has anybody got the recipe for a side-dish that consists of thinly sliced aubergine (eggplant) topped with spiced tomato puree? I had those when I was staying in a city in the Negev.

  • You are nitpicking, Phoebe, but that’s okay. Israeli salad includes the peeling of the cucumber. Why would someone go to the length of chopping their tomatoes and cucumbers finely but neglect to take this additional step of peeling? Peel, my friends, peel.

    And Phoebe, for a francophile you disappoint a little. Wouldn’t you wish every cucumber to be peeled? Isn’t that the French way?

  • You picked lots of onions. Google for “onion jam” recipes and add it to your Rosh Hashanah menu. Next best thing to shmaltz – well – almost.

  • ShyGuy – we didn’t pick the onions for ourselves. It’s not like we loaded up the buses with the onions and brought them back home! But yes, onion jam sounds yum! Thanks for the tip.

  • I never peel cucumbers. If they’re good, they’re good with the skin. To each his own, I suppose.
    Parsley, in an Israeli salad at least, is never optional. It’s a staple! And very rich in iron.

  • ck… you didn’t sneak at least one little onion into your pants and take it home? Now that’s willpower. 🙂

  • this is gonna sound crazy. but don’t use olive oil, use a light tasting oil instead. that way you taste the veggies. it’s true.

  • Tiffy! First of all, in North America, most vegetables are tasteless – grown more for their looks and ability to withstand long delivery periods. So yes a strong olive oil might tend to overwhelm what little flavor your veggies have. But here in the holy land, man olive oil s the only thing you can use to complement the veggie goodness of the classic salad. So the answer to the dilemma is move to Israel Tiffy. I have an extra bedroom.

  • yeah living with you would be soooooo much fun. i could clear your cereal bowl off the table every single morning and occupy myself with other menial tasks. you know how much i love table clearing and dishes! and your wrong about the salaat! that was a tip i learned from an israeli! one last thing: I eat local veggies from my weekly organic basket. i have basically been living off of greens and cabbage :(. one last last thing: maybe produce is nice in israel when you get it at the shuk but the groceries stores there were way crappier than the ones here and…i’m pretty sure most israeli farmers use lots and lots of pesticides (as do the ones here…) and picking it up in a shuk might not reflect all the uhh organiciness you might think. like uhh kosher meat does not mean hormone free and is probably just as assy as hmmm gentile meat.

  • There’s many a piece of organically raised and kept cattle that’s slaughtered to become non-kosher meat. Philosophers and cattle die curious deaths.

  • middle if you thought it why’d ya keep to yourself? Muffti beat you.
    It’s a good word, here i’ll show you how it’s done, ” Damn middle, you are sooo assy!”…
    Sarah, I know that. Probably more organic gentile meat than kosher meat.
    ‘gentile meat’?
    no one is offended when i say assy gentile meat?

  • Meat is good for you. It makes you strong. With a salad and brown rice.

    Don’t clear the table. Throw it out the window.

  • My last comment disappeared after I’d hit the submit-key.
    Anyhow, I’m sure bulls don’t have a bris; “gentile” (from “gens” = people) used to refer to Pagans, then to all non-Christians, and became a popular reference to non-Jews only in the post-WW2 USA; meat is good for you, particularly children need meat as it’s a great source of iron and also of certain proteins that the brain needs to “install” its neurons properly; potatoes and pasta are better than their reputation as long as they’re not drowned in gravy.
    JM, do you dislike your neighbours?

  • man…my message just got deleted too. i was saying my reference to gentile meat was meant to be juvenile. but thanks for the linguistic lesson…totally usefully informative. a well planned veg diet is also good for you…i’ll bet mine is more nutrient rich than most meat eaters. and no, im not sallow and my skin is not falling off my bones or anything. i’m pretty sure my neurons are uhh installed, but if they were improperly installed that might explain alot more about me…

  • True, Giyoret, a lot more words are derived from that root, e.g. genetics.
    I think it’s important to stay clear off too much convenience / fast food; it may save you time, but the price you pay in the long run’s high. Over here, paediatricians usually ask parents whether their child is raised on a vegetarian diet to ensure the parents know what proteins the child may require in addition.

  • I’m with my sister Tiff. I also don’t eat meat. My diet is rich in nutrients and I am healthy as can be. All my neurons are chill and my synapses are verily crackling with activity. OK, so I’m a bit of a psycho – but don’t believe everything you hear.

  • We await with bated breath for JM’s answer! Finally, after all these years at Jewlicious, someone has asked THE pertinent question. JM, what is your favorite chinaware?

  • TM, men only can distinguish between three kinds of chinaware: clean enough for guests, clean enough for me, I think she (i.e. gf, wife, mother) needs to do the washing-up.

  • gentile in Italian is pronounced “jenteeleh.” In French there’s gentile (jonti) which means nice. Both gentle and gentile in English are derived from the Latin term gens (meaning “clan” or a “group of families”). In Late Latin gentilis meant “pagan”, and the term gentile has sometimes been used in the past as a synonym for “heathen” or “pagan”; this usage is archaic. Now it means non-Jew. The “nice” meaning of “gentle” derives from being well-born, or noble from the same family or clan. Etymology rules!

  • “g” pronounces like “dj” before front vowels in Italian; you need to add an “h” to pronounce it like a /g/, e.g. spaghetti.

  • Sarah, don’t forget the fourth category:

    I think she needs to do the washing up after serving me dessert and coffee far away from all that clanging noise and the running water. As I sip quietly and consider which magazine to read, I look forward to her folding the laundry before scrubbing that little spot of beer I spilled at dinner. Hope she plans to scrub the bathtub right after because I sure would like to take one and it’s been a few days since she last cleaned it. That chicken she made earlier was a little overdone, but I won’t say anything because if she still has some energy, I sure hope to get laid tonight.

    Did I miss anything?

  • Teensy quibble re: Italian pronounciation–“jen-tee-lay”. (not leh)
    Molto gentile, grazie. (gratz-ee-ay). 3 syllables.
    I contribute what I can, so I will also do one other thing for humanity: the “cia” “gia” “gio” in words are one syllable; for example, it is Lu-cha-no Pavarotti, not Loo-chee-ahn-oh and Jorr-jo Armani, not Joor-jee-oh like people say.
    Buona notte, piccioni, e sogni d’oro!!

  • No Sarah, of course not, if she did, she would see the china he chipped at dinner while she was up getting him the salt and pepper.

  • We all know that TM enjoys the sweets of married life himself, but he does not scruple to demotivate others from marrying, with scary fantasies of objectification and slavery.

    If this is male guilt, it is not necessary. Men are very nice.

    Anybody who was scared off marrying by post 35 probably couldn’t face the challenges of boiling spaghetti anyway, so maybe it is just as well. Nature’s way.

    Tiff, can’t you see he just wants his line’s descendants to outnumber your family’s? It’s a survival technique.

    CK, are you going to let your sister be scared away from the chuppah like this?

  • Boiling spaghetti isn’t exactly a feat even if you’re picky about your pasta being al dente.

    I was trying to use reverse psychology on TM to make him list the household chores he actually does take care of.

  • I am the king of leaf-rakers as that season is virtually upon us, and when the rains of autumn come, I like to cower in fear behind my wife when thunder rolls by.

    Besides, I wasn’t speaking about myself but embellishing your post #30.

  • I just put my money where my mouth is. I sent a few bucks to EFRAT, at their web site.

    A little present from Grandma to the soon-to- be- born. Blessed be the one who is coming.