Move over gefilte fish, chicken soup, and chopped liver… Here’s how we do it.

Illustration by Lea Kron

The Man

Sammy Ben David

Father of 6

Jerusalem

Director of Sales

My food experiences as a child were very rich in flavors and spices. Both of my grandmothers were from Morocco, and both excellent cooks. My mother, having a passion for cooking, would prepare many of the traditional Moroccan foods for Shabbat, including fish, chickpeas, and cooked and raw salads. The main course was usually brisket or Asian-themed chicken, not your traditional Moroccan main courses, which were reserved for the holidays.

As the eldest, I was my mother’s assistant, helping her in all the food preparations. I learned at a young age the joy and pleasures of cooking — and, most importantly, that organization is key in the kitchen, especially when planning a varied menu. Every week I prepare the traditional Moroccan fish, which has been the oneg of Friday night dinner for many generations. Happily, my children are also becoming experts in the preparation and tasting.

Although I usually help my wife with her Shabbat prep by making fish and maybe a couple of dips, this week I was going to do it all — including fresh salads, the main course, and the desserts.

The Prep Begins

On Wednesday, I started my grocery shopping on my work break, letting myself get inspired at the grocery store. I bought the basics that I knew I’d need — fish, meat, cold cuts, and vegetables. When I got home that night, I sat down to decide on my menu. I knew that it had to contain lots of different salads and dips, since my wife, who has a French Algerian background, loves to serve a variety of foods for Shabbat, and I wanted to make sure she’d be happy.

Once my menu was written out, I made a list of all the ingredients I was missing. On Thursday, I made my second trip to the grocery store for all the remaining ingredients. Homemade challah is a must — especially with Moroccan salads and fish, store-bought wouldn’t be the same, so my wife volunteered to make her delicious challot.

When I got home after a very long day on Thursday night, I decided I’d better get started, as I had a long list of things to do. I started by roasting the peppers and eggplant for my Marrakesh salad. Since I enjoy being creative in the kitchen, I decided to create an Asian-themed marinade for the brisket, which I named “Teriyaki Honey Brisket.”

Once I’d mixed together the ingredients and coated the meat with the marinade, it occurred to me that with the predicted heat on Friday, I’d better get dessert out of the way too. I found a recipe for a chewy chocolate-chip brownie and got that into the oven too. It was already 2:00 in the morning at this point, but the house had a wonderful aroma.

Fish, Salads, and Dafina

Living in Israel, I’m off of work on Friday, so on Friday morning, I went to daven, came right back home, and then the real work began. The first dish I started was the Moroccan fish, followed by the matbucha, since they both require time to simmer to give them that beautiful texture and color. Next I cooked the brisket and marinated three different types of potatoes in a natural garlic and honey sauce, placing them in the oven to roast.

I went on to prepare the dafina (the Moroccan version of cholent), which is an essential on Shabbat morning. With only one burner free, I peeled and boiled the carrots to be mixed with the harissa sauce.

By now, the stovetop was in full use, with no available space left. The fish and matbucha simmering, giving the kitchen a wonderful familiar smell of Shabbat. I moved on to the Markeshi salad, peeling the skins from the roasted peppers and eggplant. I placed everything in a bowl with marinated lemons and blended it all with a hand blender.

Once the carrots were boiled, I started to fry the fish for lunch, followed by the eggplants. I wanted to make fresh salsa for Seudah Shelishit (a Mishpacha recipe that we clipped a long time ago).

At this point the kids came home from school, and they all love to assist me in the kitchen. My eldest loves to cut the vegetables in the exact sizes needed, which is a great help. He volunteered to cut the vegetables for the salsa, as well as the lemons, which I added to the fish to keep it moist and tender.

Since I knew it would be hot on Shabbat, I wanted to serve ice cream for dessert, even though I’d never tried making my own ice cream. I found a recipe and gave it a try. It required a lot of effort, since each ingredient had to be whipped separately, which meant lots more dishes to clean. I played with the flavors and settled on mocha and chocolate chips.