2 Vibrant, Versatile Spring Sauces
What's the occasion? Adeena Sussman's new cookbook, Zariz, is here!
Welcome, and happy May! It’s always a celebration when my friend Adeena Sussman is back in the States from her adopted home of Tel Aviv—but when she’s here for the launch of a new cookbook, it feels like a national holiday.
There was such a palpable buzz of excitement the other night when she took the stage at the Streicker Cultural Center at Temple Emanu-El—a large venue on Manhattan’s Upper East Side (that she sold out)—for a fun, relaxed, engaging conversation with Top Chef judge Gail Simmons about her new book, Zariz.
Zariz means “speedy” in Hebrew, and as Adeena explained to Gail and her audience—as she does in the book’s introduction—the concept sprang from a decision she made after the publication of her last two books, Sababa and Shabbat, to find a “simpler, smoother way of cooking” in the face of the intense drama playing out beyond the walls of her kitchen.
“When the going gets tough,” she writes in the intro, “the cooking gets easy.”
That doesn’t mean five-minute/three-ingredient recipes, she notes—the book is for anyone who enjoys the act of cooking and simply wants maximum flavor without maximum effort. Zariz is full of mouth-watering recipes containing a dozen or fewer ingredients.1
As we entered the auditorium, each of us was handed a copy of the book along with a colorful cardboard box that contained three dips, spiced pita chips, and a Bamba peanut-butter marshmallow treat—all from the book and all delish. One of the dips—which can also be used as salad dressing—tasted delightfully familiar, while at the same time clearly Adeena-enhanced. It was Carrot-Tahini-Ginger Dressing/Dip, and it was the first thing I made when I returned to my own kitchen.
All of Adeena’s recipes are bright—bright with vibrant colors and contrasting flavors and textures—and like this one, they tend to seem at once surprising and comfortably familiar.
After making the dip, which I loved, I asked Adeena what she loved about it.
It’s very ‘Adeena coded,’ she told me. “It’s something you’re familiar with—that ‘drinkable’ Japanese-restaurant dressing, but with a twist of tahini, which makes sense for the recipe and for an ‘Adeena recipe’—it adds more depth, more creaminess. And instead of using more oil (most of those dressings have quite a bit of a neutral oil), the tahini is the emulsifier, and that makes it really, really good.”
One of the reasons I chose to make the dip is that I had all the ingredients on hand. “Everyone has a carrot in their larder,” Adeena agreed, “and in general, all those ingredients are so easy to have at home.”
Another reason I chose to make it is that it felt very springy—though clearly it’s a recipe for any time of year.
Since I can’t reproduce it here (copyrights and all that), I decided to give you a recipe of mine—a perfectly seasonal sauce that can be tossed with pasta, dolloped on roasted or grilled meats and vegetables, or spread on sandwiches and bruschetta. Like the recipes in Zariz, it’s a quick and easy crowd-pleaser.
Ramp, Basil & Almond Pesto
A note on ramps: I developed this recipe years ago, before ramps were over-harvested. They’re now at risk of becoming endangered in parts of the country (including New York), because they’re very slow growing and people go crazy for them this time of year. If you see them at the greenmarket you might talk to the growers about whether they’re using sustainable practices. If you find them in the wild, make sure to take only the tops, allowing the bulbs to remain in the ground.
Yields ¾ cup
2 cups basil leaves
1 cup ramp leaves
¼ cup roasted almonds (if you have raw ones, toast them in a hot dry pan until just fragrant, and let cool)
¼ cup extra-virgin olive oil
2 tablespoons grated Parmesan
2 teaspoons lemon juice
½ teaspoon salt
Freshly grated black pepper
Blanch the basil and ramp leaves by dropping into boiling water for no more than a few seconds, fishing them out with a slotted spoon, and plunging them into a bowl filled with cold water and a few ice cubes.
In the bowl of a food processor or blender, add drained basil and ramp leaves and the rest of the ingredients. Process until almost smooth, scraping down the sides as necessary.
Serve as a sauce for anything you can think of.
Salt, pepper, olive oil, and lemons not included!