For thousands of years Jewish people have been gathering around the table on Friday nights to celebrate a humble but ancient ritual, the sabbath meal. The lighting of candles, the singing of simple blessings and the breaking of bread have been the unifying thread that has connected Jewish life across centuries and continents. In this multi-dinner series, Alissa Kondogiannis explores Shabbat dinners as they have evolved in Jewish communities around the world. Tonight Alissa turns her attention to Tel Aviv, and the fresh, market-driven style of home cooking that defines that city's tables. Where her past Dep dinners have leaned into Ashkenazi-Sephardic mashups and her own South African-Jewish upbringing, this menu draws on the North African and Middle Eastern threads — Moroccan, Arabic, Libyan, Yemeni — that have folded into modern Israeli cooking over the past seventy-odd years.
-----

Challah
Alissa is well known at The Dep for her challah — she teaches the venue's popular challah and babka classes — and this dinner starts, as her Shabbat tables always do, with a fresh, homemade loaves.

Salatim
This spread of small salads and dips that opens an Israeli meal is sometimes described as a "United Nations of the table". The wave of nearly 700,000 Jewish immigrants who arrived from Europe, North Africa and the Middle East in Israel's earliest years is what gave the spread its enormous variety; every community added its own dish to the table. This includes pumpkin chershi — a Libyan Jewish squash dip that's spicy, tangy, garlicky and a little sweet, charred eggplant salad, olives, and torshi — Persian-style pickled vegetables.

Moroccan Spiced Salmon
North African flavours woven into the Israeli table — salmon crusted in dates, almonds and fresh mint.

Zaatar Roasted Potatoes
Finished with zaatar, creamy labneh and a touch of chili crisp — think British-style crispy roast potatoes, with a Middle-Eastern twist.

Tomato & Cilantro Salad
A fresh Israeli table classic of ripe tomatoes, cilantro, sumac, preserved lemon and pomegranate.

Cardamom Malabi
A beloved Middle Eastern dessert: a silky cardamom milk pudding, finished with rosewater syrup, toasted coconut and pistachios.
-----

Check out Alissa's amazing Latkes recipe as featured in the award-winning The Depanneur Cookbook

-----
Every weekend The Depanneur invites an amateur or professional guest chef to host a fun, informal dinner party. @thedepanneur