Israeli Food Bloggers Share Shabbat Menu Featuring Meatballs and Chocolate Cake

An Israeli food website has published a detailed Shabbat (Sabbath) meal plan featuring five distinct dishes, designed to be prepared before the holiday begins. The menu includes a warm mushroom and greens salad, meatballs with okra and tomatoes, green Persian rice, a fennel, kohlrabi, and carrot salad, and a chocolate almond cake for dessert. The recipes are presented as accessible options for a Friday evening meal, with some dishes requiring minimal preparation time.

The warm mushroom salad, attributed to Ben Shi, involves sautéing mushrooms with olive oil and balsamic vinegar, then combining them with green onions and baby greens. The meatballs with okra and tomatoes, by Rotem Liberson, are pan-fried and then simmered with cherry tomatoes, okra, garlic, chili, lemon juice, and chicken broth. The recipe suggests using beef or lamb for the meatballs.

Liza Panelis contributes a green Persian rice recipe, which starts with blending herbs like cilantro, garlic, and onion into a paste. This paste is then added to the rice after a brief sauté. The menu also features a refreshing salad of thinly sliced fennel, julienned carrots, and kohlrabi, dressed simply with olive oil, lemon, and salt. For dessert, a dairy-free chocolate almond cake made with dark chocolate, coconut oil, and almond flour is recommended.

The article emphasizes the ease of preparation for most dishes, with some requiring only about fifteen minutes of active cooking time. It also offers tips, such as using a mandoline for the salad vegetables and not overbaking the chocolate cake, suggesting it should remain slightly soft in the center.