I will also try to write a little more about the food there, but one thing that was great was the ever-present cucumber and tomato salad. Unlike hummus, which I can't imagine eating again for months, I could not get tired of the great cucumbers and tomatoes grown in Israel and served with practically every meal. I was happy to find our fridge full of farm share cucumbers when I got home, and a number of flawless, deep red tomatoes on our counter.
I had gone about 2 weeks without milk and meat in the same meal, so for brunch yesterday I felt like I wanted both on the same plate. Bagels and lox are a quintessential Jewish-American breakfast/brunch (although not at all Israeli) - this was exactly what I wanted.
I don't think this really qualifies as a recipe, just a list of what I like on a bagel with lox:
- very thinly sliced red onion
- sliced tomato
- thick sliced cucumber (peeled and seeded if large)
- drained capers
- whipped cream cheese
Pile it on the toasted bagel of your choosing (I like everything, Meghan always goes with sesame), and enjoy. I like to go capers and onion first (so that the cream cheese keeps the capers from rolling off), followed by tomato and cucumber, with the lox on top. I don't think order really matters - it is hard to screw this up.
YUM, but fyi - from generations of kosher, Jewish lovers of bagel, lox and cream cheese - fish is considered "neutral" and can be eaten with milchik (milk based meals) or fleishik (meat based meals). That is the reason why lox, bagel and cream cheese as well as creamed herring show up so often on the kiddush menu after Shabbat morning services or on the post Yom Kippur break the fast menu.
ReplyDeleteThere are those however who classify fish in with milchiks and do not allow mixing fish and meat, but in my extended experience being Jewish and albeit very limited experience with keeping kosher, I have not seen that. (see http://www.jewfaq.org/kashrut.htm from Judaism 101)
Meat (the flesh of birds and mammals) cannot be eaten with dairy. Fish, eggs, fruits, vegetables and grains can be eaten with either meat or dairy. (According to some views, fish may not be eaten with meat).
No matter what, you can always slather that bagel with cream cheese before you add the lox! I felt I had to correct the record...while you may have found your love of cooking in my kitchen, I did not offer any crash courses on the laws of kashruth!