Around the Shabbat Table (4 page)
Read Around the Shabbat Table Online
Authors: Jayne Cohen
GRATED BLACK RADISH AND ENDIVE SALAD IN SHALLOT VINAIGRETTE
yield:
ABOUT 6 SERVINGS
1
â
2
pound black radish (available at many greengrocers, specialty and ethnic markets, and some well-stocked supermarkets)
Coarse kosher salt
1
â
3
cup finely chopped shallots
About 1 tablespoon plus 2 teaspoons fresh lemon juice
1
â
4
teaspoon grated lemon zest
About 4 tablespoons best-quality extra virgin olive oil,
Olive Oil Schmaltz
, or
Poultry Schmaltz
Freshly ground black pepper
2 small Belgian endives
2 tablespoons chopped fresh parsley, preferably flat-leaf
PEEL
the radish and grate it coarsely in a food processor or use the large holes of a hand grater. Place in a colander or strainer, sprinkle with about 1 tablespoon salt, and mix well. Weight the radish down with a plate and heavy object like a can of tomatoes, and allow to drain for about 1 hour, stirring it around every 15 to 20 minutes. Squeeze all moisture from the radish, rinse with fresh water, and squeeze thoroughly dry again. (It's easiest to do this using your hands.)
MEANWHILE,
in a small bowl, combine the shallots, lemon juice, zest, and olive oil or schmaltz; season well with salt and pepper. Stir in the grated radish and allow the flavors to unfold and mingle for at least 20 minutes.
CUT
the endives into fine shreds, then toss with the grated radish and shallot mixture. Taste and adjust seasonings (it takes quite a bit of salt), adding more oil or schmaltz and lemon juice as needed. Sprinkle with the parsley. Serve with
Chopped Chicken Liver from the Rue des Rosiers
, Chopped Chicken Liver with Caramelized Onions, or Chopped Eggs and Onions.
CLASSIC CHICKEN SOUP
yield:
2
1
â
2
TO 3 QUARTS
One 5- to 6-pound fowl or stewing hen (not a roaster) and its giblets (reserve the liver for another use)
2 chicken feet or 1 pound chicken wings
4 quarts cold water (quality is important here so if you use bottled water to make coffee or tea, use it here)
Salt
2 large onions, 1 peeled and quartered, 1 washed and roots trimmed but left unpeeled, and quartered
2 parsnips, scraped and cut into chunks
3 celery stalks, cut into large chunks
1
â
2
cup celery leaves
5 large carrots, scraped and halved
2 or 3 garlic cloves, peeled
6 fresh parsley sprigs, preferably flat-leaf
1 parsley root (petrouchka), peeled and cut into chunks, optional (often found in greenmarkets and specialty stores, as well as supermarkets with well-stocked produce departments)
2 large leeks, trimmed (reserve long green leaves), washed of all traces of sand and cut into large pieces, or
1 sweet red onion, peeled and quartered
10 to 12 peppercorns, lightly crushed
1 Turkish bay leaf
Several leaves of mild-flavored lettuce such as Boston or iceberg, if no leek greens are available
About
1
â
2
cup snipped fresh dill
Accompaniments: kreplach, matzoh balls, cooked fine egg noodles, rice, or kasha
PREPARE
the chicken: I find it easier to work with the chicken when it is cut up, so I divide it roughly into quarters. Remove all visible fat from the chicken and giblets. Remove the skin from the neck and the neck and tail openings. Wash all the pieces thoroughly, including feet or wings, and place in your largest stockpot, which should be tall and straight-sided. Add the water and about 1
1
â
2
teaspoons of salt to begin with.
TURN
the heat to medium and bring to a simmer. As the soup cooks, keep skimming off any scum and fat that rise to the surface. When the soup begins to “smile,” that is, tiny bubbles open and close along the edge of the pot, turn the heat down to very low. Skim the soup constantly; at this point, you really need to fret over it. When the soup is just about clear, add the onions, parsnips, celery stalks and leaves, carrots, garlic, parsley sprigs, parsley root, leeks, peppercorns, and bay leaf, and raise the heat slightly to bring it back to a simmer. Continue skimming any froth or scum.
WHEN
the soup is again clear, turn the heat down as low as possible. Cover the surface of the soup with the leek greens or lettuce leaves, and put the pot lid on, leaving it slightly askew. Simmer the soup for at least 2
1
â
2
to 4 hours longerâovernight is better still. (Some cooks simmer their soup in a 200°F oven overnight.) Never let the soup boil; if necessary, use a
blech
(flame tamer), or put it on top of two burner grates stacked together. (But do make sure the bubbles are breaking very gently on the surface. If there is no surface movement at all, the soup might spoil.)
ADJUST
the seasonings. Using a slotted spoon, remove the chicken and carrots and set aside. Let the soup cool to room temperature in the pot,
uncovered
. (Hot soup in a covered pot may turn sour.)
WHILE
the soup is cooling, pick over the reserved chicken and discard the bones, skin, and other inedible parts. Reserve the chicken for another use or refrigerate along with the carrots to serve in the soup.
STRAIN
the cooled soup through a fine-mesh sieve, pressing down on all the vegetables to extract as much of their juices as you can, then discard the vegetables.
REFRIGERATE
the soup covered overnight, or until all the remaining fat has congealed on the top. Carefully scrape off the fat and discard it. If the soup still seems fatty, line the sieve with a layer of paper towels and pour the soup through it into a clean bowl or pot (if the soup has jelled from chilling, bring it to room temperature first). If the paper towels become thickly coated with fat, you might want to change them once or twice during the process.
BEFORE
serving, reheat the soup. Taste for salt and pepper and add lots of fresh snipped dill. If you feel the soup is not strong enough, reduce it over high heat to concentrate the flavors. Serve the soup very hot, with additional fresh dill, the reserved carrots, and, if desired, shreds of the soup chicken. It is delicious with kreplach, matzoh balls, egg noodles, rice, kasha, or just plain.
From Maimonides on, much has been made of the curative powers of Jewish chicken soupâ“Jewish penicillin,” “the doctor that makes house calls,” and so on. Now, it seems, the doctor often needs “doctoring”âand not just in America. A friend in Verona, Italy, confessed that Italian Jews at times enhance their homemade soups with imported Israeli bouillon cubes for a needed jolt of flavor.
Broth is no more than the simmered essence of its ingredients, and the problem here, of course, is the weakened flavor of the chicken itself. Traditional Jewish chicken soup was always made from a tough old hen with plenty of character. Today's battery-feeding produces picture-pretty birds with lots of fat and little flavor. So how do you coax out enough flavor from a lackluster bird to make a splendid soup?
Over the years I've gleaned some
trucs
for preparing excellent Jewish chicken soup.
1. Start with the best-quality fowl you can find; kosher chickens make especially clear, flavorful soup, and organic kosher chickens are now available. If at all possible, buy feet, or at least some extra wings, to give the soup extra body. I find that although chicken backs are fine for making chicken stock, they are too fatty and lack the requisite clarity of flavor for a soup meant to be served solo. It may seem extravagant to use a large hen for soupâafter all, the cooked chicken cannot be served later as an entree (you've already extracted all the flavor from it). However, the meat is perfectly good for chicken salad, sandwiches,
Fried Onion and Chicken Kreplach
, and
Dayenu
, or served cut up in soup. Or prepare Chicken Latkes: combine coarsely shredded or chopped chicken with sautéed onions (garlic and mushrooms too, if desired), eggs, fresh herbs, and matzoh meal or soaked and drained challah. Season well, form into little cakes or drop by heaping tablespoons into hot oil. Fry over medium-high heat until golden-brown on both sides.
2. To compensate for the often anemic taste of today's chickens, I add lots and lots of earthy, aromatic vegetables to provide the soup with strength and character.
3. It's a struggle, but I resist the temptation to use a lot of water. And if the soup tastes too watery when I'm finished, I reduce it as much as necessary, even though it pains me to see the fruits of all my labor just boiling away.
4. Long, slow cooking will extract every bit of flavor from both chicken and vegetables. Using a huge stockpotâa 20- or even 24-quart size, far larger than the contents would warrantâand a tiny flame, so there is no danger of the soup boiling, I cook it for at least four hours, and more often overnight.
5. To prepare the chicken, I remove every bit of fat and some of the excess skin, since they don't add any flavor and later I'll just have to discard the grease they produce.
6. Skim, skim, skim. Froth and scum taste bitter and look terrible.
7. To prevent the precious flavors from evaporating, after I have finished skimming the soup, I cover the surface with a layer of the green part of the leeks used in the soup. If I have no leeks, I use the outer leaves of a mild lettuce.
8. And lastly, I
never
bring the soup to a boil. That roiling bubble action traps fat and scum beneath the surface, bonding them to the liquid, so that the soup becomes clouded, murky, and impossible to clarify. Instead, I let it simmer gently for the entire cooking period, “smiling,” as the French say of the tiny bubbles that open and close along the edge of the pot. (Boiling the finished soupâstrained and defattedâto reduce it is, of course, another matter.)
  
