In the fif­teen years since Michael Solomonov opened his first restau­rant, Zahav, Israeli food has become ubiq­ui­tous across Amer­i­can cities, plates, and palates. Through Zahav, Solomonov ush­ered Israeli fla­vors, and the laid­back but abun­dant phi­los­o­phy of Israeli food pre­sen­ta­tion, into America’s restau­rant scene. With his first cook­book, Zahav, cowrit­ten with his long­time busi­ness part­ner, Steven Cook, Solomonov clued his fans into some of the restaurant’s icon­ic recipes. Now, with their newest cook­book, Cook and Solomonov show fans a new, famil­ial side to Zahav.

Zahav Home takes us on a jour­ney into the duo’s home kitchens after they, like most peo­ple across the world, found them­selves in quar­an­tine at the out­set of the COVID-19 pan­dem­ic. Rely­ing on the flair for spice, cit­rus, and tahi­na that has kept read­ers and restau­rant fans hooked over the past fif­teen years, the book presents unstuffy recipes con­struct­ed with week­night din­ners and relaxed week­ends in mind.

The recipes in Zahav Home are inven­tive yet straight­for­ward. Solomonov and Cook con­tin­ue to push read­ers’ palates, but this time through unique prepa­ra­tion meth­ods and inno­v­a­tive fla­vor pro­files that do not require hard-to-find ingre­di­ents or a high degree of pre­ci­sion. Take, for exam­ple, a set of recipes in Zahav Home​’s chap­ter on sal­ads. A recipe for pick­led water­mel­on rind fol­lows that of a spinach sal­ad fold­ed with feta, water­mel­on, and — if you can believe it — canned black olives. The sal­ad can serve as a sim­ple but nov­el week­night side dish, while the pick­led water­mel­on is a clever way around food waste that can be made between oth­er activities.

Unlike most restau­rant chef – authored cook­books, Solomonov and Cook con­sid­er the needs of a home cook. While there is the occa­sion­al Sun­day-bake show­stop­per (we see you, pis­ta­chio sticky buns) and a bit of pomp and cir­cum­stance for those inter­est­ed (black lime bars and kataifi-wrapped hal­ibut, any­one?), there are also recipes for bal­anced week­night din­ners and snacks made with school lunch­es in mind. Recipes like mujadara with slow-roast­ed salmon and sesame chick­en with mat­bucha shoul­der the effort of com­ing up with Tues­day-night din­ner. Baby apple cakes, Solomonov says, are great lunch-box fillers for kids as they head back to school.

Zahav Home is a book for both the young-and-hun­gry food­ie/chef-hope­ful with a day job and the par­ent with a fam­i­ly to feed. Its gor­geous images, sig­na­ture Solomonov sto­ry­telling, and fresh takes on now famil­iar fla­vors make it a must-read for all.