The Second Avenue Deli Cookbook (22 page)

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Authors: Sharon Lebewohl

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Lamb Stew
SERVES
6
TO
8
1 tablespoon paprika
2 tablespoons garlic powder
1 tablespoon onion powder
1 tablespoon plus 2 teaspoons salt
1¼ teaspoons pepper
3 pounds lamb shoulder or shank, trimmed of fat and cut into 1-inch cubes (retain bones; buy 4 pounds to end up with 3 pounds of actual meat)
3 tablespoons corn oil
3 cups chopped onion
2 tablespoons finely chopped or crushed fresh garlic
1 cup celery, chopped into ½-inch pieces
1 cup dry red wine (to be used ½ cup at a time)
1 28-ounce can plum tomatoes, including juice (chop tomatoes into chunks)
½ cup clear chicken soup or stock
3 bay leaves
3 pounds Idaho potatoes, peeled and chopped into ¾-inch chunks
2 cups carrots, diced into ½-inch pieces
1 10-ounce package frozen peas
3 tablespoons cornstarch
3 tablespoons cold water
1. In a large bowl, thoroughly mix paprika, garlic powder, onion powder, 1 tablespoon of the salt, and 1 teaspoon of the pepper. Toss lamb cubes in mixture, coating thoroughly, and marinate 6 hours or longer.
2. In a large skillet, heat 2 tablespoons of the corn oil, and sauté onions, stirring occasionally. When browned, add garlic, and sauté quickly. With a slotted spoon, remove onions and garlic to a large bowl. Sauté celery in remaining oil (add a bit more if needed), remove with a slotted spoon, and add to bowl with onions and garlic. Deglaze the pan by pouring ½ cup of the wine into the skillet, and, on low heat, scraping it clean. Pour wine and scrapings into the bowl with onions, garlic, and celery.
3. Heat the remaining tablespoon of corn oil in the same skillet, and brown the lamb cubes (it's best to do it in batches, so all pieces brown evenly). Remove the lamb to a large stockpot, and deglaze the pan once again, using the remaining ½ cup of wine. Pour wine and scrapings into the bowl with onions, garlic, and celery.
4. Add plum tomatoes, chicken soup, and bay leaves to the lamb in the stockpot, and bring to a boil.
5. Add potatoes and carrots. Cover, lower heat, and simmer for 10 minutes.
6. Add onions, garlic, celery, 2 teaspoons of the salt, and ¼ teaspoon of the pepper, and simmer, uncovered, for 15 minutes or until potatoes and carrots are fully cooked. Add peas, and cook for 3 minutes.
7. Place cornstarch in a bowl, and add 3 tablespoons cold water, one at a time, stirring until smooth and all cornstarch is dissolved. Add 1 cup stew juices, a little at a time, and stir until smooth. Bring stew to a boil. Add cornstarch mixture, and, stirring constantly, boil for 2 minutes. Pour lamb stew into a large serving bowl, and toss to mix ingredients thoroughly. Remove bay leaves and any loose bones before serving.

A
CCLAIMED RESTAURATEUR
Drew Nieporent is the owner (in some cases with celebrity partners like Robert De Niro, Sean Penn, Christopher Walken, Bill Murray, and Mikhail Baryshnikov) of some of New York's hottest restaurants: Montrachet, Tribeca Grill, Nobu, Layla, City Wine & Cigar Co., and TriBakery. His ever-expanding restaurant empire also includes Rubicon in San Francisco (with De Niro, Francis Ford Coppola, and Robin Williams), Nobu London, and FreeStyle, a wine-country restaurant in Sonoma, California. He's currently restoring Minton's Playhouse—an historic Harlem jazz club. And some time in the future, he'd even like to open a Jewish deli.
In June of 1992, I invited famous French
cuisinier
Paul Bocuse to present a formal multicourse wine-pairing dinner at Montrachet. The guests were New York food cognoscenti—major city chefs, reviewers, and restaurateurs. The afternoon of the dinner, I threw an elaborate “Welcome to New York” party for Bocuse in the lovely Urban Archaeology garden on Elizabeth Street (this is a grassy, tree-shaded Gotham oasis that nobody knows about, with a Corinthian colonnade and exquisite fountains and statuary). New York chefs—none of them French—were asked to prepare signature dishes for this afternoon event. Among those present were Mesa Grill's Bobby Flay, David Burke of Park Avenue Café, Shun Lee's Michael Tong, and Abe Lebewohl, who brought, as requested, vast quantities of pastrami. But Abe always went the distance. He surprised me as well with a magnificent chopped liver bust of Bocuse, complete with chef's hat and, around the neck, a ribbon comprised of red pepper strips hung with a lemon slice—for the Légion d'Honneur medal Bocuse wears at all times.
The party had a turn-of-the-century Folies Bergère theme, complete with an accordionist playing Edith Piaf music, a juggler in a striped shirt and beret adroitly tossing vast champagne bottles into the air, and a buxom leopard-bikini-clad fire eater whose act was on the salacious side. Bocuse walked through it all with an air of
blasé impassivity (he's not one to register great emotion). The only thing that really excited him was Abe's chopped liver sculpture. It was the undisputed hit of the day—though Bobby Flay said the best part of the event was listening to me try to explain to Bocuse in my high school French what the sculpture was made of.

French
cuisinier
Paul Bocuse contemplating his chopped liver likeness at a party thrown by Drew Nieporent.

Drew Nieporent's Braised Lamb Shanks with Dried Fruit
SERVES
6
This Passover dish has a dual inspiration: the wonderful garlicky leg of lamb my mother used to prepare for Seders when I was a child and my voyages of culinary discovery in the Middle East.
FOR THE MARINADE
2 cups dry white wine
5 tablespoons olive oil
4 shallots, chopped fine
4 carrots, cut into ¼-inch dice
4 garlic cloves, chopped fine
1 leek (white and pale green part only), halved lengthwise, washed well, and chopped fine
6 lamb shanks (about 6 pounds total)
Salt and pepper
3 tablespoons olive oil
2 tablespoons matzo meal (if you're not preparing this as a Passover dish, substitute flour)
3 medium vine-ripened tomatoes, chopped
2 cups water
Bouquet garni (composed of 1 bay leaf, 1 fresh thyme sprig, and ¼ bunch fresh parsley sprigs—all tied together in a cheesecloth bag)
1 tablespoon cumin seeds
1 teaspoon coriander seeds
4 tart apples, such as Jonathan or Granny Smith
⅓ cup orange juice
6 dried figs, chopped
6 dried pitted dates, chopped
6 dried apricots, chopped
2 tablespoons raisins
1 cup packed fresh mint leaves, washed well, spun dry, and shredded fine
1. Whisk together marinade ingredients, add shanks, and toss to coat. Cover, and marinate in refrigerator for at least 8 hours (or overnight).
2. Preheat oven to 325 degrees. Using tongs, transfer shanks to a plate, pat dry, and season with salt and pepper. Pour marinade through a sieve set over a bowl, and reserve vegetables, liquid, and bouquet garni separately.
3. In a 9- to 10-quart heavy roasting pan or Dutch oven, heat 2 tablespoons of the oil over moderate heat until hot but not smoking, and brown shanks on all sides in batches. Transfer to a plate. Add reserved vegetables, and cook in the oil remaining in pan for 5 minutes, stirring occasionally. Add vegetables to plate with shanks.
4. Add matzo meal to roasting pan, cook over moderately low heat, stirring, for 3 minutes or until smooth. Whisk in the reserved marinade liquid, and add reserved shanks and vegetables, bouquet garni, and tomatoes. Bring mixture to a boil, and simmer, uncovered, 20 minutes or until liquid is reduced by half. Add water. Braise, covered, in middle of oven for 3 hours, or until lamb is tender.
5. While shanks are braising, peel and core apples, and cut into ⅛-inch-thick slices. In a large, heavy skillet, heat remaining tablespoon of oil over moderate heat until hot but not smoking, and cook apples, stirring, for 2 minutes. Add orange juice, and simmer, covered, for 20 minutes. Keep apple mixture warm.
6. Arrange shanks around edge of a large platter, and spoon apple mixture into center. Keep shanks and apple mixture warm.
7. Bring braising liquid to a boil, skimming any fat that rises to surface. Discard bouquet garni. Add dried fruits and mint, and simmer sauce 5 minutes or until fruits are softened. Season sauce with salt and pepper, and spoon over shanks. Serve any remaining sauce separately.

C
OMEDIAN
P
AUL
R
EISER'S MOTHER
, Helen, and her husband, Sam, met the Lebewohls when their children all attended the same school, the East Side Hebrew Institute. Over the years, they became close friends. One night, the Reisers took Abe and his wife, Eleanor, to Le Petit Auberge, a favorite haunt near their home in Fort Lee, New Jersey. Since the Reisers knew Abe was always on the lookout for new dishes for the Deli, they especially wanted him to try the
spécialité de la maison,
a classic French cassoulet. Everyone watched as Abe took a bite, rolled it around his tongue, and declared, “It's nothing more than cholent.”

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