Mother’s Chicken Escarole Soup with Matzo Balls

July 16, 2012

Author: Joan Nathan

My ninety-eight year old plus mother loves order and hates chaos. She is precise and unwavering about everything – the way she runs her family, her house, her kitchen. And for her, there is only one way to prepare for holidays: she cooks a week, two weeks, sometimes a month ahead, freezing the rugelach, the chicken, the plum pies, but never, never the matzo balls.

Just before she turned 90, my mother switched from using a whole chicken, to chicken legs in her chicken soup because she finds more flavor in the legs, and besides, the legs are often on special in her supermarket. From an Italian restaurant in Providence, she learned to swirl in escarole at the last minute, before she adds her matzo balls.

Ingredients:

6 whole chicken legs

20 Cups water

2 celery stalks sliced into 2 inch chunks

2 whole carrots cut into 2 inch chunks

1 large onion peeled and quartered

1 parsnip cut into 2 inch chunks

2 Tablespoons chopped fresh dill

2 Tablespoons chopped fresh flat leaf parsley

Salt and freshly ground pepper to taste

8 Ounces escarole

Matzo Balls

3 Tablespoons chicken fat or vegetable oil

6 Large eggs, separated well beated

1 teaspoon salt

1/4 teaspoon grated nutmeg

1 3/4 Cup(s)s matzo meal

1 tablespoon chopped fresh flat leaf parsley

12 Cup(s)s water

Preparation:

To Make the Soup:

1. Put the water in a soup pot, add the chicken legs and bring the water to a boil Simmer slowly for 2 hours, uncovered, skimming off the fat and foam as they rise to the top of the soup.

2. After 2 hours, add the celery, carrots, onion, parsnip, dill and parsley. Continue cooking slowly, uncovered, for another hour.

3. Set a strainer over a large bowl and strain the soup. Season it to taste with salt and pepper. Refrigerate the soup, covered, overnight.

4. The next day peel off the layer of fat that has formed on the soup’s surface. Bring the soup to a boil in a large pot (or freeze it for another day). Before serving, swirl in the escarole and add the matzo balls (recipe follows), cooking for a few minutes.

To Make the Matzo Balls:

1. In a medium bowl, mix the chicken fat or vegetable oil with the eggs, salt, nutmeg, matzo meal and parsley. Refrigerate for a few hours or overnight.

2. Bring the water to a boil in a large pot. Take the matzo mix out of the refrigerator and, after dipping your hands into a bowl of cold water, gently form balls the size of large walnuts. Add salt to the water, and drop in the balls. Simmer slowly, covered, for about 20 minutes, remove from water with a slotted spoon, and add to the soup.

Shiitake Mushroom and Barley Soup

December 26, 2012

Author: Akasha Richmond

Akasha is a self-trained chef and artisan-style baker who has been cater­ing events in Los Angeles and other parts of the coun­try for over twenty years. She began her pro­fes­sional career at the Golden Temple, a now defunct but once pop­u­lar veg­e­tar­ian restau­rant in Los Angeles. It was in this kitchen that Akasha dis­cov­ered her pas­sion for mak­ing deli­cious dishes with good-for-you ingre­di­ents. After the Golden Temple she became Michael Jackson’s per­sonal and con­cert tour chef. AKASHA is her first restau­rant ven­ture, the result of a vision she has had for many years.

Her cook­book HOLLYWOOD DISH includes tales of Hollywood’s 100-year pas­sion for organic foods and healthy lifestyles and sto­ries of her favorite cook­ing expe­ri­ences: mak­ing hol­i­day din­ners for Billy Bob Thornton, cater­ing par­ties for Pierce Brosnan, pro­duc­ing events at the Sundance Film Festival, and work­ing as a pri­vate chef for Barbra Streisand.

She lends her time and exper­tise to groups such as Share Our Strength, Environmental Media Association, Common Threads and Pediatric Aids. She has appeared on The Food Network (The Best Thing I Ever Ate), Access Hollywood, Entertainment Tonight, Planet Green, and nation­wide news programs.

Ingredients:

2 cups water

2 ounces dried porcini or other dried mushroom

1 tablespoon butter or olive oil

1 large onion, finely chopped

1 large or 2 small shallots, finely chopped

2 leeks, pale green and white parts only, cleaned, and finely chopped

8 ounces shiitake mushrooms, stems wiped clean, trimmed and sliced

2 quarts chicken or vegetable stock

2 celery ribs, finely chopped

1 large carrot, diced

1 large parsnip, diced

1/2 cup whole barley

1 bay leaf

1 teaspoon fresh thyme leaves

Kosher salt to taste

Freshly ground black pepper to taste

Chopped flat leaf parsley, for garnish

Preparation:

Bring the water to a boil in a 1-quart saucepan. Add the porcini mushrooms, turn off the heat and cover.

Let sit for 20 minutes or until the mushrooms are soft. Drain, reserving the liquid, and finely chop the mushrooms.

Heat the butter in a large stockpot over medium-high heat. Add the onion, shallots, and salt. Cook for

about 5 minutes or until the onions are translucent and fragrant. Lower the heat to medium, add the

leeks, and cook for another 3 minutes. Add the shiitakes and the soaked porcini and cook another 5-8

minutes, stirring often, until the mushrooms are well cooked.

Add the stock, celery, carrots, parsnips, barley, bay leaf, and thyme. Bring to a boil, and then reduce to a simmer. Cook for one hour or until the barley is tender. Season with salt and pepper to taste. Garnish with the chopped parsley.

Pressure Cooker Stew for Sukkot: Oxtail Soup

April 9, 2013

Author: Kitchen Tested

Originally published in Kitchen Tested.

Ingredients:

2 lbs. beef oxtail

6-8 marrow bones

1 package frozen mixed vegetables

2 large carrots, chopped

2 stalks celery, chopped

1 parsnip, chopped

1 turnip, chopped

1 onion, chopped

1 bunch fresh parsley

1 bunch fresh dill

1/2 cup barley

1/4 cup split peas

1/4 cup elbow macaroni

2 potatoes

2 Tbsp onion soup mix

2 tsp salt

1 tsp sugar

Preparation:

In a pressure cooker, place the frozen mixed vegetables, carrots, celery, parsnip, turnip, onion, parsley and dill.

Rinse the barley and split peas and add to the pressure cooker.

Add all remaining ingredients and cover with water. Close the pressure cooker.

Bring water to a boil (should take around 20 minutes) then cook for 15 minutes.

Note: if you don’t have a pressure cooker, you can make this soup in a regular pot. Just boil the soup for 1-2 hours.

Grandma Fela's Real Jewish Chicken Soup

June 16, 2014

Author: Linda Cohn

Grandma showed me this recipe directly. The real Jewish penicillin is the marrow bone. It’s what makes you better when you’re sick. Watcher her with her spoon with small holes skim off the froth and discard.

Ingredients:

Onion (whole), discard after water

Celery, chopped

Parsnip, whole, discard after

Chicken, Kosher

Carrots, chopped

Bone marrow, Kosher

Salt and pepper

Pinch of sugar at the end

Preparation:

Put all ingredients in boiling water for 20 minutes.

Boil, then simmer for 40 minutes.

Take off froth and discard

For serving w/ Matzah Balls next day

(Separate broth into pitcher) and skim off schmaltz – discard and put rest of ingredients back in.