Well, summer is almost over.
And seeing as it’s been one of the hottest I’ve ever experienced in Tel-Aviv, I for one am happy to say, “Goodbye Summer- And don’t let the door hit your ass on the way out!!”

However- my joy is tempered with sorrow, because almost to the day, the last of summer means the end of the shiso season..
For those of you who know me, and my garden, you know that among other treasures lurking in the green oasis, such as pandan leaves, galangal, sky-pointing chilies, kaffir lime leaf trees, and lotus lilies,

Our Oasis

there exists my most precious culinary jewel- the elusive, elite, and absolutely irreplaceable SHISO.

For many Authentic Japanese specialties, you just cannot make them unless you have fresh shiso leaves.
If you live in Japan, Asia, San Francisco, NY, or Paris (the only city in Europe I’ve ever seen them, although there may be others) getting fresh shiso won’t be a problem.
However, if you live in Tel-Aviv, you can forget all about it.
I found this out the hard way 11 years ago when I moved here, and decided to make a Japanese dinner.
Fat and happy, I waltzed to the market, thinking I would surely be able to get shiso leaves- Only to be met with blank stares of incomprehension, and later when I asked horticulturists and suppliers, that it is impossible to grow them here because of the climate.
Well, I didn’t accept that, no way.
I ordered seeds from Japan, and spent the next 4 years trying to grow them:
I froze the seeds for 3 months to simulate the harsh Japanese winters.
I warmed the soil on coffee-cup warmers.
I tried planting the seeds in every month of the year.
Inside.
Outside.
Using different soil mixtures.
In short, I drove Alon insane with my experiments. Nothing worked.
Finally, in defeat, I threw years worth of pots and their contents into a big pile of soil I planned on mixing with compost, and resolved to forget my hopeless dream.
Imagine my surprise in the Spring when dozens of little shiso seedlings popped up in the compost heap.
Since then, they grow by themselves every year, reseeding themselves.
They grow to towering size, and the first growth leaves are comically gigantic, like lettuce leaves.

giant first-growth of the season shiso leaves

I’ve used these giant first growth leaves like sheets of Nori to wrap maki rolls, spring rolls, and other things…
And people from all over the country gradually heard about my shiso and
come grovelling and begging me to share them.
Now usually, I share anything, either ingredients, or knowledge, with anyone who asks.
But my shiso is different.
I worked for years to grow it, and I am not going to fork it over to some
nick-nack coffee-house cowboys to shove in the frig for 3 days and then put inside some atrocious bastardization of a Japanese dish that I wouldn’t feed to my cats!! No way!!

To this day, the only chef I have ever shared my precious shiso with, is the mighty chef Oren Goldwasser, a true expert in Japanese cuisine, who once had the only truly authentic Japanese restaurant in Israel, “Tatami”, in Haifa.
Which unsurprisingly, he closed, due to no one knowing or appreciating REAL and AUTHENTIC Japanese food here.
If I had to guess, the reason he closed probably was he got sick and tired of hearing clients ask him why he didn’t have a deep-fried chicken shnitzel and cream cheese maki on the menu.
(I wish I was joking, but I’m not. The photo below ,which to make it clear, OBVIOUSLY is not mine!!!  is what I found when I googled
“cream cheese maki”. WTF.)

this digraceful nightmare is, apparently, "cream cheese maki" And to this I say, "WTF"

In any case- Oren, much to my sadness at his not still having his Japanese place, now has a great fresh pasta place, “Fiori”, down in the Shuk ha’Namal, and needless to say, he doesn’t have any use for shiso leaves there.

http://www.shukhanamal.co.il/?p=795

Nonetheless, if he ever has a personal special dinner and asks for them, I make sure he gets them!
As for anyone else: Dream On!!

watch?v=k6Qd9VR1gD8

Here, by the way, is a link to a photo album of my yearly Shiso Kaiseki Dinner,  photos by my friend, the talented clarinet musician Michal Beit Halachmi :

http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10150161428156723.299016.546006722&type=1

Now without further ado, let me share with you (let’s face it, this recipe will only be able to be used by those of you who don’t live in Israel.
Unless someone here other than Oren impresses me enough to share, but oh well. Life isn’t always fair!!)

FRESH SHRIMP in TEMPURA SHISO:

Ingredients:
12 extra large, live or almost live, whole fresh shrimp.

Peeled, heads cut off, keep the very last segment of the tail shell on, clean the sand vein by cutting through the back with a tournee (oh and believe me: fresh live shrimp have a lot of crap in them an it’s pretty gnarly job cleaning them. Make sure to rinse them well after cleaning the guts.)
Under no circumstances use frozen shrimp for this dish!!!!!

I ONLY buy fish and seafood from Moshe (Musi) Penster, who in addition to having THE BEST fish shop in town, ( 03-510-1863) is also like a brother to me and is one of the most hilarious guys you’ll ever meet, and a crazy perfectionist, too!!!
Here’s  a photo of him, plus me and Alon, at his shop one night when we had “Sushi Night” in the market!

http://www.rimaolvera.com/blog/night-shuk-sushi-bar-what-fun-we-had/

12 fresh shiso leaves

12 toothpicks

Tempura flour, 1 cup

Shichimi (togaroshi) japanese chili powder

Ice cold water

Canola oil

For ponzu dipping sauce:
Soy sauce, 1/4 cup
Yuzu juice, 4 TB
Mirin, 6 Tb
Lemon juice, juice from 1/2 fresh lemon

METHOD:

Mix all Ponzu sauce ingredients. Set aside.

Wrap each fresh shrimp in a shiso leaf as shown in photo. Secure with a toothpick.

In 2 bowls, split the tempura flour in equal parts.
Mix about 2/3 cup ice water with the flour in one of the bowls.
Make sure not to overmix, in fact, it should be lumpy, and look terrible and as if it isn’t mixed right.
It should be very thin, NOT a thick “pancake” batter, like most people here seem to think Tempura batter is suppposed to look like.

(Damn!! I’ve eaten “Fish n’Chips” in England with a more delicate batter than most tempura in Israel!! Ugh!!)

Heat a heavy bottomed pot filled halfway up with canola oil. Heat up gradually, on med-low heat, not quickly heating it on high heat. Test by adding a drop of the batter. It should sizzle
and float immediately.

Dredge the wrapped shrimp in the other bowl containing the reserved dry tempura flour, knock off excess by banging on your hand holding the shrimp, with your other hand (don’t touch the shrimp itself)

Dip the shrimp, in batches of 4, in the tempura batter, amd shake off excess. It should look very light and you should see the shrimp and leaves colours very clearly, if the batter looks like it is covering it too thickly, add more water.

Fry in batches of 4, turning once, for about 1 minute total, until just barely cooked and the leaf is crispy.

Remove to drain on paper towels, sprinkle with Shichimi pepper, serve immediately with the Ponzu sauce.
Oiishi!!!!! (delicious)

Sorry about the cleavage and no makeup, but it's my day off

Manga Alon!

Blue is waiting in vain for some

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For those of you who watch “Duet”-
There is one episode which was devised by the producers to cover-up a disastrous pilot, (nothing to do with me!!)
where I must introduce the episode by saying:
“This is an unusual Duet..because this time, it’s not my story..”

And so I will say this again.. but yet, in a way, it is my story, because it is the story of when Rima met Peter..
A chance meeting which, in fact, changed my life.

So, it began about a year ago, we were sitting around the house on Saturday, and the phone rang.
It was Yomi Levi (you remember, one of my best friends, who, along with his brother, owns and runs the best Turkish specialty shop in Tel-Aviv.. מעדניית יום טוב at 43 Levinsky..)
”Wake up!” he said, “We are going to Herzliya to eat at a great Turkish place! I’m picking you up in an hour!”
So what to do except get ready to go??

An hour later, Yomi arrived at our door, and with him was a drop-dead gorgeous man who looked like some sort of cinematic fantasy hybrid between, say, George Clooney, and a young Sean Connery..

Yomi introduced us, saying “This is Peter Norman- the famous Swedish chef everyone has been telling you that you must meet- he popped by, and decided to join us for lunch!”

Now, of course, I was overjoyed.
Because, actually, for months, I had been hearing “Chatter” (as they say in the C.I.A and Mossad when referring to receiving  high-quality buzz about someone-) about the fabulous Peter Norman- a crazy chef and stylist of mythological talent, who for reasons unknown, had decided to leave his pastoral farm in Sweden and move to Israel..
And in fact, I had been scheduled several times to meet him and due to one arak thing or another, just never happened..

Well, never mind. He came into our house, a book in his hand, introduced himself..
And it was that old cliche you always hear..”I felt like I had known him my entire life”. But it was true.
The book he had brought to me was in fact a copy of his book, “the PINK Cookbook”

http://www.lundlund.com/food-stylists/peter-norman/biography

Now, as all of you know, I do not read, or own, any cookbooks. But this one was different.
Not so much a cookbook, this was the single most aesthetically beautiful piece of food art I had ever seen.
And what made it even more striking to me was, the same time as I had been travelling the world, to 13 locations, filming “Duet”- Peter had been travelling the world- to 13 locations- shooting on location each chapter of his book.
It was remarkable, and his book took my breath away- And it still does.

Within hours of meeting, (Well, the place in Herzliya was closed!) we were all sitting at a steak house in NeveTzedek- (Makom shel Basar, to be exact, and I actually happen to really like this place- site : http://makomshelbasar.rest-e.co.il/)  Eating steaks, drinking countless bottles of wine, talking about travels, life, food, adventures, as if we were lifelong friends just reunited after a few months of travels apart, comparing stories..

That night (which in fact happened to be Peter’s birthday) ended up with us all over at Peter’s place-
(A beautiful, welcoming oasis of impeccable taste, refinement, and beauty, in the middle of Tel-Aviv)
drinking Swedish Aquavit, downing frozen vodka, eating caviar, dancing around the room to Brazilian remixes of 70’s disco classics, and generally having the time of our lives!!

And that was the start of our friendship.
From that day on, we trawled the markets of Tel-Aviv, ate countless dinners in his beautiful home, gossiped, planned menus, brainstormed ideas for all kinds of projects, cooked and ate beautiful meals, and of course, drank endless bottles of wine..

Peter, as is his nature, that is to say, he is a true citizen of the world, and follows his heart fearlessly, and purely, has moved away to Mexico City, just 2 weeks ago, with his partner, who we all fell in love with as he did..

And I will say this-
My life, and in fact, all of Israel, became a duller, and poorer place the day he left.
I have never met someone like Peter before- Full of charm, grace, laughter, wit, generosity, empathy, and blazing talent- Yet without one bit of the pretentious ego or narcissism that plague many in our field, with far lesser gifts than his..

I know I will visit him many times in beautiful Mexico,  a country which is also one of my true loves..
Strangely, in another part of my life, I was sure I would move there to live one day.

And I know he will be back to Israel many times, too, as the dust of this strange land has gotten under his skin, and will never allow him to turn his back completely on this place..

Meeting Peter was one of the rare occurrences which even fleetingly, make me believe in a higher power-
One which brought us together in order to experience life all that much more fully.

Miss you Peter

Rima Olvera & Peter Norman’s Grilled Fresh Shrimp with Tarragon and Pistachio Butter

20 large fresh shrimps, cleaned by cutting through the back of the shell with scissors, removing the sand vein, but leaving the head attached (if you simply insist on it, you can remove the heads, but they look and taste much better with them on..)

Carefully butterfly the shrimp tails (open them, but leave the shell whole from the back to hold the butter while roasting..)
2 sticks (200 grams) unsalted butter, softened,
3-4 cloves fresh garlic,
1 bunch fresh tarragon leaves,
about 1/4 cup fresh flatleaf parsley,
splash of Pastis, Pernod, or white wine,
zest from 1 lemon,
several turns fresh ground black pepper,
1/4 cup of shelled crushed pistachios,
big pinch sea salt-
Process all in food processor.
Spread each opened shrimp tail (look at photo) with a thick layer of the butter, and roast on top rack of oven, on hottest temp/”broil”, for about 4-5 minutes.
Serve immediately, with fresh lemon wedges (Meyer’s if available) nice sourdough bread, a frisee and lettuce salad, and a few bottles of crisp, dry white wine (like Sancerre, or good unoaked Sauvignon Blanc)

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This is just a “short” note to discuss a risotto I ate last night at Il Pastaio,
which for lack of a better word, was @#$% ing Transcendent! Ethereal! Sublime! Exquisite! Celestial!!

Il Pastaio

In any case, you get the point that it was delicious.
It was this:
Lemon and Saffron Risotto.
The Arborio rice was al-dente- perfectly so.
*Note to TLV “Chefs” – You DO NOT make risotto by putting rice and water into a pan, covering it, and walking away. Testo di Cazzo!!!!!
You must STAND THERE AND STIR IT, CONTINUALLY, THE ENTIRE TIME.
And PS. remember the Italian saying of how to make perfect risotto:

“Rice is born in water, and dies in wine”

This means, add wine to the rice in the pan first- before anything else!
Not water, or  the old Israeli favourite- powdered chicken soup concentrate.
I’ll give you guys this helpful tip free of charge!!!!

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arborio_rice

It was FLAT- which by the way, is EXACTLY the way it is supposed to be!
You aren’t supposed to be able to stack up risotto up in a tall pile!!
(i.e., unlike the SPACKLE which is passed off as risotto everywhere else in Tel-Aviv- soggy, mushy, filled with butter, cheap cheese, and believe it or not usually cream too, and so thick it can be and usually is, put into ring-molds and formed into solid, nasty, mountains- and usually served with some more crap piled on top of that, I might add!!)

It was filled with the delicate taste of both fresh lemons, and the ephemeral fragrance of a very special type of saffron.

Saffron Harvesting

Which comes from, well, let’s just say:
“A Nation with whom Israel does not have Diplomatic Ties with”.
It is the best saffron in the world, and if you happen to watch the Istanbul episode of my show, Duet, (here’s a promo clip from here. The clip is in Hebrew, sorry.

http://www.facebook.com/video/video.php?v=142785493139&ref=mf

The show itself however is in English.
If you happen to live in Asia, Europe, Russia, or Israel, you can see it on tv.
If not, ask GRB media, which is the US distributor, to release it in the US. Thanks!!

There you will see me comment on finding some of it in the market there.
NO ONE here, other than me, uses this stuff, and instead uses the cheap,
C-grade Spanish saffron which has an unmistakably bitter aftertaste.

Did I mention the slight creaminess of EXACTLY the right amount of Parmigiano Reggiano?!

Parmigiano Reggiano

The colour of that heavenly saffron shining like the golden rays of a sunset in Paradise?!
The sighs of sensual delight as we all devoured every last grain of rice and then felt like picking up the plate and licking it?!

Well, in any case, the last time I had a risotto that perfect, it was made by the blessed hands of my legendary saute cook, “Manny”  (Manuel)-
A tiny, aggressive, Yucatan Mexican Mayan Indian, who happened as well as being one of the best line cooks I ever had the privilege of working with, was a true master of the art of making a perfect risotto, had a wicked and cynical sense of humour, and was also married to a 6- foot tall Irish redhead who loved to drink  and fight almost, well, ok, even more, than Manny himself.
What a Legend!

But I digress: the risotto, made by Manny, that had been burned into my memory as being the best I ever had, up until last night ,
(And p.s. this includes the dozens I have eaten all over Italy)
happened to have been a wild mushroom risotto, made with a mix of pristine wild chanterelles,  lobster mushrooms, and porcinis, from the forests of California, and hand-delivered by a bear of a guy who looked like he himself lived in a hollow log in the same forest his precious mushrooms were collected in!!)

Wild Mushrooms

Manny, “En Camote” (deep in the S**T ) of a particularly vicious service which included, among other things, tickets rumbling out of the printer like the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse, RH half-drunk on a bottle of red wine hidden indiscreetly behind the waiter’s buzzer, yet nonetheless expediting perfectly the seething mass of aggression, stress, and fiery madness that was an  Enrico’s Friday night dinner rush-

And in the middle of this mayhem, Manny passed down the line to me, as I was working my usual station on the grill, directly in the malevolent, tractor-beam like glare of RH, the leftover remains from a pan of that mythological risotto.
I stuck a spoonful of it in my mouth, in between throwing on the grill a frightening number of duck breasts, tuna steaks, boneless quail, and god knows what else the Evil Expeditor had mercilessly called to me all at once..
And I tell you when that risotto hit my tongue I heard a heavenly chorus of Angels singing!

The singing Angel actually didn't look like this. but this picture is more interesting

About 20 minutes later, a waiter comes running in, risking the Wrath of RH by showing his face in the kitchen without being buzzed- warning us that a table of Italians were on their way to the kitchen and they wanted to speak to the chef about the risotto they had just eaten.

“WTF?!” I remember thinking, “what in the name of Batman’s Mother does anyone have to say about the risotto?! It was perfect!”
I turned my attention back to the grill, whose entire surface was by now completely covered, with not a centimeter to spare- yet nonetheless didn’t prevent RH from calling me another 9-10 items which he could see with his own eyes I couldn’t possibly fire, yet still earned me a withering comment referring to my clumsy ineptitude, or something of that nature.. and a dirty look, too!

A few seconds later, 3 Italian guys who looked like they just rolled out of their Villa in Sicily, burst into the kitchen :
“Who made that risotto?!” they demanded, looking around aggressively.

Sicilian Villa

RH turned and fixed them with a scowl frightening enough to turn your blood to ice- and sad “That guy”- pointing to Manny, who at this point was 12 saute pans deep in the middle of a typically colossal fire of orders-

What happened next was a shock, I’ll tell you-
That was 17 years ago and I remember it like it was yesterday!
These 3 Italians jumped behind the line, grabbed Manny, and one after the other, kissed him on both cheeks- shouting that they had made a bet that the only person who could have made that perfect risotto was an Italian- and that the waiter told them that not only was Manny NOT Italian- he was a Mayan Mexican Indian- and they had bet him 100$ each that he was lying-

After shaking his hand and giving Manny 100$ as well, they went out of the kitchen in search of the waiter, who had just made a hefty bonus for the evening.. and who Manny himself searched out after the shift to demand a 50% cut of the proceeds that the waiter had earned due to his risotto skills…!!
Well, anyway, as usual, I seem to have gotten distracted, but the point being, is up until last night as I said, Manny’s Risotto was the best I’ve ever had…

So enough of this talking.
Get your A** over to Il Pastaio this instant, and ask Tel-Aviv’s incarnation of Manny- (Moshe- who is chef Itzaac’s sous-chef, who I demanded to meet last night and basically did to him what those Italians did to Manny years ago-)
to make you a risotto- ANY damn type he decides to make-
Although I would highly recommend asking, or outright begging, if necessary, for that saffron and lemon risotto, which I will be dreaming of, with lust and desire in my heart, until next time I am there to eat it again!!!!!

http://www.ilpastaio.co.il/pasta_ita.html

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