One of Michael Solomonov’s favorite chefs has a new cookbook with a title that translates to ‘Everything is awesome’

When Adeena Sussman, author and expert on Israeli food, planned her tour in celebration of her new cookbook, Sababa: Fresh, Sunny Flavors from My Israeli Kitchen (Avery, $35), Philadelphia had to be on her agenda.

A friend of chef Michael Solomonov, Sussman, along with her book, will be the star attraction during a special breakfast at Solomonov’s restaurant Zahav on Sept. 21. The event sold out in an hour, according to Sussman, but even if you didn’t manage to snap up tickets you can still cook a few recipes from Sababa for a taste of Sussman’s inspired food.

The book’s title translates to “everything is awesome,” a phrase that pretty much sums up the moment for Sussman, fresh off the runaway success of the two cookbooks she wrote with Chrissy Teigen. We caught up with her to find out what Americans still don’t know about Israeli food and what she learned about cooking from a supermodel.

There’s often a very sweet element to American breakfast. Israeli breakfast is much more vegetable-forward. The idea of eating salad for breakfast is totally normal here. It has its roots it kibbutz life, when people had to power through a day of farm work. It tends to be vegetarian, but there’s a lot of protein. Eggs and cheese. And always plenty of bread. It’s a good reflection of Israeli food overall — bright, spicy, lots of condiments, very fresh, unassuming but exciting, unbuttoned and casual.

Pretty soon after Zahav opened, I wrote about Mike for a magazine, and that’s how we first met. We have the same ideas about how you can tell a different story about Israel through the food. Also, I’ve invited Mike to eat at my house and cooked for him many times. Cooking is an extension of hospitality, and that for me balances out the nervousness of cooking for someone at his incredible level. When I cook for people, it’s about the homemade food, but it’s also about opening my home and showing affection.

If you shop for ingredients you love instead of recipes, it can take a lot of the pressure out of it. If you have purveyors you like, ask them a lot of questions. Say, “What’s a great cut of meat I can put in the pressure cooker?” Ask, “What’s the best tomato right now?” I like to off-load the decision-making to the real experts.

We do a lot of entertaining. Later today, we’re having people over. I don’t want to sound too Martha Stewart-y, but after I get off the phone, I’m going to buy some good cheeses, brush some bread with olive oil, and make some toast. I’ll get some grapes. I’m not doing a $200 grocery haul, but I like to say I touch the Shuk every day.

Interestingly, a lot of what’s trendy is not all that Israeli. There’s a lot of Asian food here, a lot of Spanish food. People like to eat globally. That’s the story of Israeli food. Until 10 years ago, there were a lot of French restaurants. Now people realize that Israeli food is worldly, too. There’s a nice balance between a respect for a tradition and a desire to try new things. Younger people go to grandma’s for Shabbat lunch and then they’ll go out for ramen or Thai food or whatever is happening in the moment.

There’s a really delicious recipe for sour lime and pomegranate chicken wings in the book. A lot of the recipes blend my American upbringing and my love of comfort food with an Israeli twist. American wings might use a hot sauce or a sweet soy sauce. I have dried limes around, so I turned them into a powder and cured the wings for 24 hours in it. During the last few minutes of cooking, I brush the wings with pomegranate molasses. It’s sweet, sour, and rich. It’s a good example of how I pull in an ingredient people usually use one way, and I apply it for my pleasure.

One: tahini. It goes savory and sweet. It’s a super food! And it’s like peanut butter, so there’s a familiarity to it. Two: pomegranate molasses. It’s great with red meat, or in long cooking stews. You can mix it with honey and drizzle it over fruit. Three: schug, the Yemenite green hot sauce. I drop it into chicken soup sort of like when you drop chilies into a bowl of pho. You can make my recipe or get it at Trader Joe’s. I’m fully in support of buying condiments.

I learned a lot from Chrissy. I learned to really trust your gut and your instincts. If you don’t love it, don’t put it in. Always be curious, be open-minded, stay in a place of humility and learning. It’s as much learning as collaboration.

Serves 6 to 8, as an appetizer

Active Time: 15 minutes

Total Time: 3 hours (including minimum marinating time)

Dried Persian limes come in two shades — black and a sort of walnut-y tan — and are traditionally dropped whole into Persian stews and soups to add a hint of citrus and the singular funk that only fermentation can. I wanted to spread the love to other preparations, so I crushed the limes into a powder to form the base for a dry rub that perfectly counterbalances the fattiness of chicken wings (you can also find dried lime powder on Amazon and Kalustyans.com). Sprinkling the rub on the wings, then letting it sink in, sends that distinctive pucker all the way down to the bone. I arrange the wings on a rack set over a baking dish and roast them until almost done, then brush them with pomegranate molasses for both high gloss and an extra layer of sour power.

1 teaspoon vegetable oil

2 pounds chicken wings (10 to 12 wings)

Juice and zest of 1 lime

4 small dried Persian limes,* or 2 tablespoons Persian lime powder (known as Lemon Omani powder)

1 tablespoon ground turmeric

2 teaspoons garlic powder

2 teaspoons sweet paprika

2 teaspoons kosher salt, plus more for seasoning

2 teaspoons sugar

1 teaspoon onion powder

1 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper, plus more for seasoning

1 teaspoon ground cumin

⅓ cup Pomegranate Molasses

Chopped scallion greens, for serving Pomegranate seeds, for serving

*If you can’t find dried Persian limes, using only fresh lime juice and zest works great, too. Simply toss the wings in the juice and zest of 2 limes as your first step, then combine all the other spices and proceed with the recipe.

From Sababa: Fresh, Sunny Flavors From My Israeli Kitchen by Adeena Sussman, published by Avery, an imprint of Penguin Publishing Group, a division of Penguin Random House, LLC. Copyright © Adeena Sussman, 2019