Jewish Cooking Boot Camp: The Modern Girl's Guide to Cooking Like a Jewish Grandmother (9 page)

1. Clean the chicken (see "Cleaning a Chicken," page 23) and place it in an 8-quart soup pot.

2. Add all the other ingredients except the noodles and cover completely with water. Bring
to a gentle boil and simmer for 3 to 3%z hours, until the soup turns yellow and the chicken
starts to fall apart.

3. When everything is thoroughly cooked, remove the chicken, parsley, onion, and celery.
Leave the carrots in the soup.

4. When ready to serve, boil the egg noodles, following the instructions on the package.
Drain and add the noodles to the soup.

You can make the soup a day ahead of time and refrigerate it. When cold, the fat will form
on top of the soup and you can remove it, thus making a "fat-free" chicken soup.

An old steakhouse favorite, this salad is truly as easy as it looks. It's a great alternative to the
traditional salad, not only on holidays but any night of the week.

1. Slice the tomatoes and mozzarella. (The thickness is a personal preference; just don't
make the slices too thin.)

2. Arrange on a serving platter, alternating slices of tomato and mozzarella.

3. Drizzle the salad with olive oil.

4. Season with salt and pepper to taste and sprinkle lightly with basil.

* You can make the salad 1 to 2 hours before serving.

This is a great holiday dish, as you can make it earlier in the day or even a day ahead of time
and just warm it on low heat in the beef broth. Although a meat dish, it is not a heavy meal,
and when fasting the next day, you don't want to stuff yourself the night before.

1. For the stuffing, bring the chicken broth to a boil and add 3 tablespoons margarine.
When the margarine is melted, add the bread cubes and mix well.

2. In a small pan heat 1 tablespoon margarine and saute the chopped onions and celery.

3. Combine the sauteed mixture with the bread cubes. Season with salt and pepper.

4. Score the flank steaks diagonally. Heap the stuffing mixture lengthwise down the center of the steaks. Fold in the edges of each steak and tie with string or white thread so it
will stay closed.

5. In a large (10- or 12-inch) lidded skillet, brown the stuffed steaks in hot oil.

6. Pour %2 cup beef broth over the browned steaks. Cover and cook over low heat about 1%2
hours or until the steaks are tender.

7. To serve, cut the stuffed steaks into slices, place on a platter, and garnish with parsley.

8. Add some extra beef broth to whatever juices are left in the pan and bring it all to a boil.
Serve this as gravy on the side.

The Fast and the Famished

It may be tradition, but that doesn't mean fasting for twenty-five hours is easy. We've
compiled a few tips to help make an easy fast.

Start early: For a week before the fast, reduce your intake of caffeine, sugar, or other
foods that you eat habitually.

Drink up: Drink plenty of water in the days leading up to the fast to prevent
dehydration.

Don't push yourself Jewish law forbids fasting if it puts your health in danger, specifically mentioning the elderly, ill, and those who have just given birth.

Focus on the holiday: Yom Kippur is a solemn holiday and a good time for prayer and
reflection.

Don't overeat the night before: A normal-sized meal will keep you feeling full rather
than uncomfortable.

This mold has a long and comic history in our family. For years it was the butt of every
holiday joke, then ceremoniously gobbled up the minute it appeared on the table. After a while
Roz began to get creative, finding molds in various shapes and patterns to delight her children and
nephews ... and inspire new ways to mock her dish. To this day it never fails to get a laugh.
And yes, Eric, Jeff, and David-Andrea in all her kitchen klutz glory dropped the mold on the
floor when she was twelve and has never lived it down.

1. In a medium bowl, dissolve the Jell-O mix in boiling water.

2. After the Jell-O is completely dissolved, add the ice water and mix well.

3. Put the mixture in the refrigerator for about 45 minutes, just until it starts to set (check
after 30 minutes).

4. With a hand beater on low, add the cranberry sauce, then the thawed package of raspberries. Beat in the sour cream.

5. Pour the mixture into a mold of your choice, and chill until set. The salad needs at least
5 hours to firm up nicely.

6. To serve, cover a platter with romaine, Bibb, or endive lettuce. Set the salad in the mold
upside-down centered on the lettuce-covered platter and remove the mold.

7. Garnish with fresh raspberries.

Molds are easy to find and come in a variety of fun holiday-themed shapes, so feel free to be
creative.

* We spray the mold with cooking spray so the Jell-O mixture slides out nicely.

Leah was Roz's grandmother and Edith's mother, and the originator of many of the baking recipes
we still use. She would spend hours making kichala but never used a recipe. In fact, when Roz and
Edith requested that she hand it over, she had nothing to even give them. Eventually she did her
best to verbally pass the basics on to Edith, who then fine-tuned it to the recipe you see below.

1. Put into an 8-quart pot in this order the flour, the yeast, and %3 cup sugar. Do not mix
together yet.

2. In a 2-quart pot place the butter, 3/ cup sugar, and buttermilk. Heat on low until the butter is melted and the liquid is hot to the touch, then pour the melted butter mixture over
the dry flour mixture in the other pot. Stir with a wooden spoon.

3. Add the beaten eggs and stir until you can form a ball, adding flour from the ninth cup of
flour set aside for this purpose.

4. Use your hands to knead and fold over the dough in the pot. When the dough separates
from the sides of the pot, it is ready.

5. Rub the teaspoon of oil in the palm of your hands and then wipe lightly all over the ball
of dough, which is still in the pot.

6. Cover the pot with a dish towel and leave the dough in a warm place to rise, about 40
minutes.

7. After 40 minutes, punch down the dough and fold it over a few times to reform a ball.
Cover again for 30 minutes The dough is now ready to bake.