Herzl’s Specialities

No matter what our dad does, he likes to do it properly. So, he will only cook when he’s got the time, which is usually on a Sunday. He would make breakfast for us on a Sunday morning and shakshuka or minestra for Sunday night supper, dishes my mother would never make because they are his speciality. He also takes care of all the braai duties–if my mother is making pickled peppers or aubergines, it’s always dad’s job to char-grill the vegetables.

Sunday breakfasts started when I was about 12 and all four children were still living at home. My dad didn’t like seeing us filling up on toast–he wanted to give us a healthy breakfast–so he would spend ages finely chopping pineapple for fruit salads with raspberries and figs, or removing all the pith from grapefruit to serve as juicy segments, or dicing tomato, cucumber and yellow pepper for Israeli salad.