The Tastiest Recipe Of All

I watched in awe as the spheres of dough turned golden brown.

It was my first attempt at making profiterole, the famed French dessert, and it appeared to be going without a hitch.

Beyond nailing the tricky nature of Pâte à Choux, a classic French pastry that serves as the common denominator for many delightful desserts (including profiterole), I brimmed with pride at having pulled it off within the confines of a very old and neglected kitchen — which happened to be the first I could call my own.

It was on the third floor of a two-bedroom apartment on Rehov Antigonus, a meandering, tree-lined street in northern Tel-Aviv, half a block from the #25 bus that would take me to the university.  As a college student, I was learning about Israeli history, politics and even the unique lichens growing on the trees and rocks I’d walk past on my way to the bus stop. Lessons about food — such as the profiterole I was baking — were purely my own.

Without aging myself too much, I’ll remind younger readers that this was before the internet era, before YouTube videos explaining the difference between mascarpone and ricotta, before TikTokers seamlessly produced elaborate dishes in 15 seconds flat. Success was gained through a careful combination of recipe reading and persistence (or obstinance) to get the dish right, oftentimes only after multiple attempts. Dog-eared, food-stained cookbook pages bore the brunt of battle.

In the kitchen on Rehov Antigonus, the challenge was even greater: there was no stovetop, only a hot plate, and no oven, just a toaster oven — both of which appeared as old as the State of Israel itself.

I invite you to remember that one of the many blessings of being 18 is that one is steeped in confidence and zeal. Which explains why, time and time again, I produced countless culinary achievements with the limited tools I had. There was the aforementioned profiterole (French cream puff stuffed with either whipped cream, custard or vanilla bean ice cream, then drizzled with dark chocolate ganache), pears poached in Port and pineapple upside-down cake. Plenty of savory dishes sizzled to life as well: asparagus-parmesan soufflé, pâté with cognac and green peppercorns and the ultimate crowd pleasure: Chicken Marbella, roasted chicken with olives, prunes, white wine and herbs.

I learned invaluable lessons the year I spent in the kitchen on Rehov Antigonus.  Lessons on patience, tenacity and even science (yes, there is a difference between folding and mixing beaten egg whites into a batter) were plentiful. But most importantly, the act of creating a dish and sharing it with others — the joy and sense of fulfillment that comes with that — had a transformative effect and is something that still nourishes me today.

Happy Reading,

Alona Abbady Martinez

alona@bocaratonobserver.com