1,000 Jewish Recipes (206 page)
Read 1,000 Jewish Recipes Online
Authors: Faye Levy
4.
Add remaining oil if pan is dry and heat it. Add onion and sauté over medium-low heat, stirring often, 7 minutes or until beginning to brown. Add cabbage, salt, and pepper and cook over low heat, stirring, 3 minutes. Return chicken pieces to pan and add juices from plate. Add carrots, sugar if using, and 1 cup stock.
5.
Cover and cook over low heat 20 minutes or until chicken breasts are just tender. Transfer breasts with tongs to a plate. Add remaining stock if pan appears dry. Cover and cook remaining chicken 10 more minutes or until tender. Transfer chicken to plate.
6.
Check carrots; if they are not yet tender, cover and cook 5 to 10 minutes longer. Taste cabbage mixture and adjust seasoning. Return chicken pieces to pan, cover, and heat through. Serve hot, sprinkled with chopped parsley.
Braising chicken in a sauce that combines saffron with cinnamon, nutmeg, and honey might sound surprising but this is a delicious, spectacular dish. It is one of our favorites for Rosh Hashanah. The traditional way to prepare the almonds is to sauté them, but I toast them in the oven instead. Some people sprinkle the chicken with toasted sesame seeds as well.
3 pounds chicken pieces, patted dry
2 medium onions, minced
Salt and freshly ground pepper, to taste
1 cup chicken stock, broth, or water
A large pinch of saffron threads (about
1
â
8
teaspoon)
One 2-inch cinnamon stick
1
1
â
3
cups moist pitted prunes
2 tablespoons honey
Freshly grated nutmeg to taste
2 cups water
1 tablespoon vegetable oil
One 10-ounce package couscous (1
2
â
3
cups)
1
â
2
cup whole blanched almonds, toasted
1.
Combine chicken, onions, salt, and pepper in a heavy stew pan. Cover and cook over low heat, turn- ing chicken over occasionally, 5 minutes. Add stock, saffron, and cinnamon stick; push it into liquid. Bring to a boil. Cover and simmer over low heat, turning pieces occasionally, about 35 minutes or until breast pieces are tender when pierced with a knife. Transfer them to a plate. Cook remaining chicken, covered, 10 more minutes or until tender. Transfer chicken to plate.
2.
Add prunes and honey to sauce and cook uncovered over medium heat 15 minutes or until prunes are just tender. Transfer prunes to a heated bowl, leaving most of onions in casserole. Cover prunes.
3.
Discard cinnamon stick. Cook sauce over medium heat, stirring occasionally, about 5 minutes to thicken it slightly. Add nutmeg. Adjust seasoning.
4.
Return chicken to stew pan and turn to coat pieces with sauce. Cover and heat over low heat 5 minutes.
5.
Combine 2 cups water, oil, and a pinch of salt and pepper in a medium saucepan. Bring to a boil. Stir in couscous, remove from heat, and cover. Let stand 5 minutes.
6.
Fluff couscous with a fork and mound it on a heated platter. Arrange chicken around couscous and spoon sauce and prunes over chicken. Garnish with almonds.
When chicken cooks with plenty of onions, the flavor combination is sensational. I learned this dish from Paule Tourdjman, a Moroccan friend of mine in Paris. She likes to serve it for Shabbat with couscous, and this is indeed a wonderful way to enjoy it, as the couscous absorbs the savory sauce.
2
1
â
2
pounds chicken thighs, patted dry
Salt and freshly ground pepper, to taste
1
1
â
2
teaspoons ground cumin
1 teaspoon paprika
2 tablespoons olive oil
1
1
â
2
pounds onions (about 3 large), halved and thinly sliced
1 cup chicken stock
2 large cloves garlic, chopped
1
â
4
teaspoon hot red pepper flakes
1
â
2
cup green olives, pitted
1 tablespoon strained fresh lemon juice, or to taste
2 tablespoons chopped fresh Italian parsley
1.
Sprinkle chicken pieces with pepper on both sides. Mix 1 teaspoon cumin with
1
â
2
teaspoon paprika and sprinkle over chicken. Rub spices into chicken pieces.
2.
Heat oil in large deep sauté pan. Add half the chicken thighs and lightly brown them over medium heat about 2 minutes per side. Remove to a plate. Brown remaining chicken pieces and remove.
3.
Add onions to pan. Cook over medium-low heat, stirring often, about 15 minutes or until onions soften. If pan appears to be getting too dry, cover onions as they cook.
4.
Return chicken to pan and add any juices from plate. Add stock, garlic, pepper flakes, remaining
1
â
2
teaspoon cumin, and remaining
1
â
2
teaspoon paprika. Cover and simmer, turning pieces once or twice, 30 minutes. Add olives, cover and simmer 5 to 10 minutes or until chicken is tender. Add lemon juice. Taste sauce and adjust seasoning. Serve hot, sprinkled with parsley.
When I was a student at La Varenne Cooking School in Paris, I learned about a classic French country dish of cooked meats in broth called
potée
, which somewhat resembles New England "boiled dinner." Usually it has large chunks of pork and sausages poached with herbs and a variety of vegetablesâcarrots, turnips, cabbage, potatoes, and sometimes leeks.
There are different versions of potée from diverse French provinces:
potée savoyarde
from the Alpine area of Savoie, to which fresh chestnuts lend their delicate sweetness; potée from the region of Champagne, made flavorful with lots of leeks; and the substantial potée of Auvergne in central France, in which white beans cook with the meats and other vegetables. In springtime cooks from Lorraine add fresh green beans and peas to their potée.
In my kitchen I make kosher potée by using chicken breasts and ready-to-eat chicken frankfurters; this also drastically cuts the cooking time and keeps the dish lean. I always add the customary French flavorings of fresh thyme sprigs, bay leaves, and onion. If you like, serve the potée French style in two coursesâ first the broth with crusty country bread, then a large platter of the meats and vegetables accompanied by hot Dijon mustard.
1
3
â
4
cups chicken broth
6 cups water
1 large onion, cut into large dice
1 bay leaf
4 sprigs fresh thyme or 1 teaspoon dried thyme
1 medium turnip, peeled and cut into 8 wedges
4 medium potatoes, quartered
4 large carrots, scrubbed and cut into 1-inch lengths
2 ribs celery, cut into 1-inch lengths
1
â
2
small cabbage, cored and cut into 4 wedges
4 chicken breast halves, with bones, skin removed
Salt and freshly ground pepper, to taste
8 ounces low-fat chicken or turkey frankfurters
1.
Combine chicken broth, water, onion, bay leaf, and thyme sprigs in a stew pan or Dutch oven. Bring to a boil. Add turnip, potatoes, carrots, and celery. Return to a boil. Add cabbage, chicken, salt, and pepper. Bring to a simmer. Cover and cook over medium-low heat, so that liquid simmers, 20 minutes. Add frankfurters and cook 5 to 10 minutes or until chicken and vegetables are tender. Discard bay leaf and thyme sprigs. Skim fat from soup. Adjust seasoning.
2.
To serve in two courses, remove a few of the veg-etables from broth and dice. Then, remove chicken pieces, frankfurters, and remaining vegetables to a platter. As a first course, serve broth with diced vegetables. As a main course, serve poultry and whole vegetables in deep plates with a little broth spooned over the top to moisten the dish. To serve as one course, you may want to take the chicken off the bone and slice the frankfurters beforehand.
Cooking chicken with walnuts and pomegranate paste is typical of both Persian (now Iran) and Georgian (south of Russia) cuisine. At first the flavors might seem very exotic but the combination makes perfect sense. From the walnuts, the sauce gains a creamy quality without any dairy products. The pomegranate paste gives a sweet and sour taste. The sauce is slightly pink but the dish is not colorful. You can perk up the color by sprinkling chopped parsley or by scattering fresh pomegranate seeds when the fruit is in season.
You can find pomegranate paste at Middle Eastern and Greek grocery stores. Sometimes it is labeled pomegranate molasses or pomegranate concentrate. Be sure that the walnuts are very fresh.
Duck is the traditional choice of Jews from Iran and many families cook meatballs this way. I prefer leaner chicken breasts in the rich sauce. Serve this dish with a generous mound of basmati rice.
2 cups walnuts
2 tablespoons vegetable oil
2
1
â
2
pounds chicken breasts with skin and bones, patted dry
1 large onion, halved and thinly sliced
1
â
3
to
1
â
2
cup pomegranate paste, molasses, or concentrate
1 cup water
1
â
2
teaspoon ground allspice
Salt and freshly ground pepper, to taste
1 tablespoon tomato paste (optional)
1 to 2 teaspoons sugar (optional)
1 to 2 teaspoons strained fresh lemon juice (optional)
1.
Finely grind walnuts in food processor with brief pulses.
2.
Heat oil in a wide casserole or Dutch oven. Add chicken in batches and sauté over medium-high heat until brown. Remove chicken to a plate. Discard all but 2 tablespoons oil from pan.