Time for honey and holidays to flow

MAYBE THE evolution of the Israeli food scene over the last 25 years isn’t the first thing that crosses your mind when you think about contemporary Israel. Maybe you’re not even sure what Israeli cuisine is. But if it piques your interest, especially in this week before Rosh Hashana, the Jewish New Year, there’s a new coffee-table-worthy cookbook.

Janna Gur, founder and editor of a prestigious Israeli food and wine magazine, Al Hashulchan Gastronomic Monthly, has put together “The Book of New Israeli Food,” a beautiful, informative collection of photographs of Israeli life and food along with recipes and a series of essays by prominent Israeli food writers on such topics as cheese, wine, tahini, olive oil and the rise of Israel’s fish-farming industry in the wake of the collapse of the eastern Mediterranean’s fisheries. The book also has sections on Israel’s Jewish and Islamic religious holidays and includes recipes for dishes related to each.

Thanks to the diverse cultures that have contributed to Israel’s population, including Palestinian, Eastern European, North African, Mediterranean and Spanish via the Ottoman Empire (where Spanish Jews fled to during the Inquisition), the cuisine is a vibrant mix.

I loved the photographs and the way the book’s essays brought Israel so vividly to life. As I set out to cook from it, I was pleased to find that the metric conversions had already been done for American home cooks. Unfortunately, they proved more often than not to be wrong.

There were also a few odd mistakes, including a recipe for a beef dish that midway through mysteriously directs you to add the chicken, and odd lacunas on the subjects of baking-dish sizes and just what sauteed onions should look like -- transparent? Caramelized?

The appealing photo by Eilon Paz that accompanied a recipe for lamb patties baked in tahini sauce inspired me to try the recipe just as a friend asked me to supply the main dish for a potluck. I refused to be daunted by the book’s stern instructions to use only fresh tahini (and preferably only from Nablus or Nazareth).

The recipe also called for creating baharat, a Palestinian spice blend that included cardamom. I am not a great cardamom lover. More than a pinch produces a perfume-y taste that I don’t care for. But I dutifully added the called-for tablespoon to the blend of cinnamon, nutmeg and all.

Mercifully, more than half the guests turned out to be vegetarians. The patties were an unmitigated catastrophe -- oily, oddly dull in taste and redolent of cardamom -- and in no way resembled the glossy photograph.

One of the brave carnivores suggested that they were slightly more palatable if generously salted. My gracious hostess made the whole thing disappear.

Next I tackled a Shabbat apple cake for a dinner party with a whole new set of fierce foodies. This time the results were excellent, although the eggs -- despite a precise eight minutes of beating -- never quite lightened and thickened as called for. But the cake was a hit and did vaguely resemble the photo. So I forged ahead with a salad that called for a pinch of cinnamon in the dressing. It was subtle and very good.

For Rosh Hashana, The Times’ test kitchen adapted three recipes from “The Book of New Israeli Food,” adjusting times and temperatures: a honey cake (of course), an interesting Moroccan Jewish holiday side dish of pumpkin and couscous and a beet-pomegranate salad that’s not from the holiday chapter but showcases the pomegranates coming into season.

If you’re thinking of preparing the honey cake, start now: The cake improves if it’s allowed to “mature” a week so that the richness of the honey flavor deepens. This is also the time to experiment with an artisan or specialty honey that will give your cake an even more refined taste.

As for the book, I still love it. It’s a door into the life of present-day Israel, and it made me want to pack immediately and revisit the land of pomegranates, dates and honey.

It’s too bad that some of the recipes seem almost thrown together, but for a confident, freewheeling cook, it could still be a road map to good eating.

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food@latimes.com

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Magical honey cake

Total time: 1 hour, 15 minutes, plus 7 days maturing time for the loaves

Servings: Makes 3 loaf cakes, about 12 servings each

Note: This recipe is adapted from “The Book of New Israeli Food” by Janna Gur. The cakes should mature for seven days before serving. Try this recipe with any of a variety of honeys; the flavor notes of the honey come through nicely as the cakes mature, making this recipe well-suited for more robust and unique honeys such as chestnut and acacia. If you don’t like the taste of coffee in your honey cake, replace it with 1 cup of strong dark tea.

6 cups plus 3 tablespoons flour

1 1/2 cups sugar

2 heaping teaspoons cinnamon

1 1/2 cups honey

1 cup canola or vegetable oil

4 eggs

2 tablespoons instant coffee

1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda

1 cup raisins

1 1/2 cups chopped walnuts

1. Heat the oven to 340 degrees.

2. Combine the flour, sugar and cinnamon in a large bowl. Add the honey, oil and eggs and beat into a smooth batter with a whisk or mixer.

3. Dissolve the instant coffee in 1 cup of boiling water. Stir the baking soda and then the coffee into the batter. Gently fold in the raisins and walnuts.

4. Pour the batter into three (9-inch by 5-inch) glass loaf pans and bake for 45 minutes to 1 hour, or until the tops of the cakes are risen and golden, and a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.

5. Place the loaf pans on a rack to cool slightly; remove the loaves to cool completely. Tightly wrap the loaves with foil and place in a cool, dry place (not the refrigerator) to mature for 7 days.

Each of 36 servings: 219 calories; 4 grams protein; 29 grams carbohydrates; 1 gram fiber; 10 grams fat; 1 gram saturated fat; 24 mg. cholesterol; 61 mg. sodium

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Baked pumpkin jam with cinnamon and ginger

Total time: 1 hour, 15 minutes

Servings: 6 to 8

Note: Adapted from “The Book of New Israeli Food” by Janna Gur. This sweet side dish, part of Moroccan Jewish cuisine, is served with couscous at Rosh Hashana dinner.

2 tablespoons olive oil

1 large onion, trimmed and sliced into 1/4 -inch half rings

1/2 cup sugar

1/2 teaspoon cinnamon

1/2 teaspoon fresh chopped ginger

3 thyme sprigs

3 1/2 cups chopped fresh pumpkin, from 1 small (about 1 pound) peeled and cleaned pumpkin

2 8-ounce boxes couscous

1. Heat the oven to 325 degrees.

2. In a medium, heavy-bottom fry pan heated over medium heat, add the olive oil and onion. Gently cook until the onion caramelizes, about 20 minutes, stirring frequently. Stir in the sugar and continue to cook until the sugar dissolves. Stir in the cinnamon, ginger and thyme sprigs. Finally, stir in the chopped pumpkin.

3. Place the pumpkin mixture in a 13-by-9-inch baking dish. Bake the pumpkin until it is tender and slightly caramelized, 45 to 50 minutes, stirring every 15 minutes. Remove and discard the thyme sprigs.

4. While the pumpkin is baking, prepare the couscous according to the manufacturer’s instructions.

5. To serve, mound the couscous in the center of a large platter and garnish with the pumpkin.

Each of 8 servings: 313 calories; 8 grams protein; 62 grams carbohydrates; 3 grams fiber; 4 grams fat; 1 gram saturated fat; 0 cholesterol; 7 mg. sodium. --

Beet and pomegranate salad

Total time: 1 hour, 20 minutes

Servings: 6

Note: Adapted from “The Book of New Israeli Food” by Janna Gur. Pomegranate concentrate or molasses is available at select Jons markets, cooking supply stores and Middle Eastern markets.

3 to 4 medium beets

2 tablespoons pomegranate concentrate or molasses

2 to 3 tablespoons lemon juice

2 to 3 small, dried red chile peppers, crushed

Coarse sea salt

1/2 cup fresh cilantro leaves

1 cup pomegranate seeds

1/4 cup lightly flavored olive oil

1. Cook the beets in a covered medium saucepan of boiling water until tender, 45 to 50 minutes. Cool, peel and cut into very small dice. Place in a medium bowl.

2. Add the pomegranate concentrate, lemon juice, peppers, one-eighth teaspoon sea salt, or to taste, and combine. Set aside for about 15 minutes.

3. Toss the beets with the cilantro leaves and pomegranate seeds, drizzle with olive oil and serve.

Each serving: 118 calories; 1 gram protein; 9 grams carbohydrates; 1 gram fiber; 9 grams fat; 1 gram saturated fat; 0 cholesterol; 24 mg. sodium.

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Rosh Hashana

Encore: More holiday recipes Thursday at latimes.com/food.