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Marinated Soft Cheese with Herbs and Spices
YIELD: 6 to 8 servings
This dish was a revelation when Emily and I ate it in Milan: when you start with great ingredients, you’re wise not to mess with them. It’s a perfect moment of simplicity; at the right temperature, olive oil and cheese can be as flawless as anything that costs you far more time, money, or energy. Any brand of soft aged cheese will do—I like La Tur, a flawless mixed-milk cheese that’s as creamy as goat, with just a little sheep-y funk that’s softened by the cow’s milk. Have fun with the spices: throw in a couple cloves instead of the star anise, add a sprig of rosemary instead of the bay, or use lemon instead of orange.
 
8-ounce wheel of soft goat or mixed-milk cheese, like La Tur
3 cloves garlic, unpeeled
1 teaspoon whole allspice berries
½ teaspoon whole coriander seeds
½ cup extra-virgin olive oil
2 bay leaves
1 dried árbol chile or ¼ teaspoon red pepper flakes
1 star anise pod
Two 1-inch strips of orange peel, divided
A crusty baguette
Maldon or other flaky sea salt to finish

   1. Heat the oven to 325F. Put the cheese in the bowl or rimmed plate from which it’ll be served so that it can soften.
   2. Use the side of a knife or a rolling pin to lightly crush the garlic, just so it starts to open up in its skin. Lightly crush or roughly chop the allspice and coriander and add them with the garlic to a small ovenproof saucepan along with the olive oil, bay leaves, árbol chile, star anise, and 1 strip of orange peel. Cover with a lid and bake for 40 to 45 minutes; the garlic will be very golden and the orange rind will have darkened quite a bit.
   3. Once the sauce has come together, remove the saucepan from the oven and increase the heat to 425F. Take the second strip of orange peel and give it a little twist over the pan to release the oil, then drop it into the pan and let the oil cool down.
   4. Cut the baguette on a bias into ½-inch slices and arrange them on a baking sheet. Toast at 425F for 6 to 8 minutes, until they’ve built some nice color along the edges.
   5. Pour the oil over and around the softened cheese, letting the spices run free, and sprinkle the salt just before serving. Slather the toasts with cheese and encourage your friends to dab up every last drop of the infused oil.


Shakshouka 
YIELD: 4 to 6 servings
Plenty of water, for the Jerusalem artichokes, fava beans, and an ice bath
1 tablespoon plus 2 teaspoons Morton kosher salt, divided
½ pound Jerusalem artichokes
1 pound fava beans in their shells
3 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil

1pint cherry tomatoes, halved
1 small red bell pepper, seeded and thinly sliced
1 small green bell pepper, seeded and thinly sliced
1 small yellow onion, thinly sliced
2 cloves garlic, minced

One 28-ounce can peeled whole tomatoes

1 egg per person

¼ cup zhoug (page 395)
Eggs poached in a spicy, savory tomato sauce: this dish serves itself. It’s my go-to when I show up at someone’s house and everyone is hungry. Chances are, there are eggs and a can of tomatoes on hand. Outside of that foundation, you can be as creative or as simple about adding anything else as you like.
 
Jerusalem artichokes, if you’ve never had them, taste and feel like a cross between potatoes and artichoke hearts; along with the fava beans, they make this dish special. They do need to be pre- pared separately, but you can do that in advance if it makes your life (and cooking timeline) easier. If you have trouble tracking either ingredient down, substitute any root vegetable—turnips, potatoes, even beets—for the Jerusalem artichokes, and a cup of shelled fresh or frozen beans, such as limas, for the fava beans.
 
Once you put pan to stove, the rest of the dish comes together quite quickly, so, for the sake of the vegetables’ flavor and texture, make sure everything is prepped and ready to go. Dress it up or down with your favorite vegetables or meats—whatever’s on hand—along with any herbs and spices you like. Tomatoes are the perfect backdrop. You’ll need one egg per person, as few as two or as many as six. Part of the fun is making this dish your own, but one word of advice: try it with the zhoug, a spicy Yemeni green chile sauce, like the Middle Eastern approach to pesto. Its fresh, herbal heat is the perfect finishing touch.


   1. Fill a large pot with the water and 1 tablespoon salt, and bring to a boil. Thoroughly scrub the Jerusalem artichokes; if they’re large or unevenly sized, cut them into even chunks. Boil for 30 to 35 minutes, until they’re about the consistency of a cooked potato, easily pierced with a knife but not falling apart. Drain, and when they’re cool enough to handle, slice into little coins.
   2. Fill another pot with water and bring it to a boil; meanwhile, prepare an ice bath. Cook the fava beans for 5 minutes, or until the outer shell puffs up and pulls away from the bean. The water in the pot will turn reddish, but don’t freak out—that’s normal. Shock the beans in the ice bath to stop the cooking, then shell them when they’ve cooled down. You should have about 1 cup beans.
   3. Add the olive oil to a large enameled or stainless-steel skillet that has a lid (but don’t use the lid just yet). Turn the heat to high, and when the oil is shimmering, pull the skillet off the heat and carefully add the cherry tomatoes; they’ll give off
a lot of smoke and may splatter. Place the pan back on the heat, and don’t stir; you want the tomatoes to char lightly in a few places.
   4. After a couple of minutes, when the tomatoes are starting
to blister, stir in the bell peppers, onion, and garlic.
Cook, stirring frequently, for 4 minutes or so, until all the vegetables are a little golden around the edges and the cherry tomatoes are melting into everything else.
   5. Decrease the heat to medium, and add the Jerusalem artichokes, favas, and remaining 2 teaspoons salt. Roughly crush the canned tomatoes between your fingers, or chop them, and add them to the pan with their juice. Cook the sauce for a couple of minutes, until it thickens slightly.
   6. Decrease the heat to medium-low, and use your spoon to make little divots in the sauce, one per egg. Crack an egg into each, cover the pan, and cook for 4 to 5 minutes, until the egg white is set but the center still jiggles. Dollop a spoonful of zhoug over each egg before serving.
 


Tabbouleh with Preserved Lemon and Almonds
YIELD: 4 to 6 servings
This simplest of salads always surprises people at Shaya. “How can parsley salad be so complex?” they ask. The answer is twofold: preserved lemon and baharat (page 000). Take the time to find (or make) these ingredients and it will pay off with flavor, although ¼ teaspoon of pumpkin pie spice is a pretty good replica of the baharat and freshly grated lemon zest can stand in for preserved lemon. Bear in mind, tabbouleh is a parsley salad—even the bulgur plays a supporting role—so it is only as good and fresh as the parsley you get. Find bunches with crisp, bright green leaves at the grocery store or farmer’s market.
 
¼ cup water
⅛ teaspoon plus 1 teaspoon Morton kosher salt, divided
2 tablespoons bulgur wheat
5 tablespoons lemon juice
1 teaspoon minced preserved lemon
½ teaspoon Baharat (page 000)
¼ teaspoon ground allspice
¼ cup extra-virgin olive oil
2 quarts lightly packed fresh parsley leaves (from about 4 bunches)
1 cup sliced almonds, toasted
A quarter of a red onion, finely chopped
 
   1. Bring the water to a boil with ⅛ teaspoon salt (this won’t take long since there’s so little of it). Put the bulgur in a small heatproof bowl, cover it with the boiling water, and cover with plastic wrap or foil until all the water is absorbed, 15 minutes or so. Fluff it with a fork and let it cool.
   2. Whisk together the lemon juice, remaining 1 teaspoon salt, preserved lemon, baharat, and allspice. Stream in the olive oil while you whisk to finish the dressing.
   3. Finely chop all the parsley and toss it in a large bowl with the bulgur, almonds, and onion. Drizzle in the dressing and mix by hand. Serve right away.