The Second Avenue Deli Cookbook (35 page)

Read The Second Avenue Deli Cookbook Online

Authors: Sharon Lebewohl

S
INCE
1979, Yale Law School grads Tim and Nina Zagat have been rating the restaurants of America's major cities. Their books—with reviews based on thousands of visits—have become the bibles of culinary cognoscenti everywhere. Since 1988, the Zagat concept has been expanded to include ratings of hotels, resorts, spas, airlines, and car-rental companies, and their
NYC Restaurants Survey
has become the best-selling book in the Big Apple. We're very proud of the Second Avenue Deli's high Zagat rating. Says Tim Zagat:
I have so many memories of Abe—from our days working together on NY92 (a promotion in conjunction with the Democratic Convention, in which New York City restaurants offered prix-fixe lunches for $19.92) … to his tales of the tribulations involved in setting up a branch of the Second Avenue Deli in Moscow (a passionate plan of Abe's that, due to “red tape,” even in the era of glasnost, never came to fruition). We shared political views and jokes, often simultaneously. Who couldn't love Abe's warm, bearish quality and generosity?
I will always particularly remember working on the $19.92 NYC lunches, in which most of the restaurants participating—places like the Gotham and Le Cirque—normally charged several times that much for a meal. A typical tab at the Second Avenue Deli, of course, was usually much less than $19.92. So how were we to make the Deli's participation look like a bargain? As always, Abe pulled an AYCE out of the hole. We invented the ALL-YOU-CAN-EAT lunch!
Nina Zagat's Omelette au Cointreau
SERVES
2
4 eggs
1 tablespoon granulated sugar
3 tablespoons Cointreau (to taste)
1½ teaspoons butter
Confectioners' sugar
1. In a bowl, beat the eggs, sugar, and Cointreau together until smooth.
2. In a 7- or 8-inch omelette pan, heat the butter over medium-high heat.
3. Pour the egg mixture into the pan, and stir, rapidly and constantly, with a fork (or, if you use a nonstick pan, with a wooden spoon). Try to gently shake the pan at the same time. When the eggs are nearly set, yet a little liquid still remains, stop stirring, and shake the pan for a couple of seconds, making sure that the bottom of the pan is completely covered by the egg mixture. At this point, the eggs should be set, yet still moist. Stop shaking the pan, and allow the bottom of the omelette to firm slightly (4 to 5 seconds).
4. Fold omelette into thirds by lifting the handle and tilting the pan at a 30-degree angle. With the back of a wooden spoon, fold the portion of the omelette nearest you toward the center of the pan. Using the spoon, fold this portion back into the pan, overlapping the first fold. Turn the omelette out onto a serving plate, so that it ends up folded side down. Dust with confectioners' sugar, and serve immediately.
  Recipe inspired by Le Cordon Bleu and adapted by Richard Grausman.

Early morning at the Deli

Cheese Latkes
MAKES
12
TO
15
Chanukah—celebrating the rededication of the Temple after the Maccabees defeated Antiochus and the Syrian army in 165
B.C.E.—
is a joyous occasion, a time for parties … and for latkes. But there's no reason to limit yourself to the traditional potato pancakes. Since Chanukah food is supposed to include dairy as well as fried foods, these cheese blintzlike latkes perfectly fill the bill.
Foods fried in oil (which realistically comprise about 90 percent of Jewish dishes) symbolize the flame that miraculously burned for eight days in the great Temple of Jerusalem with just one small vial of oil. Why dairy? It's kind of a grisly story. Holofernes, the leader of Nebuchadnezzar's Assyrian army, had become enamored of the beautiful widow Judith. She went to his tent and fed him salted cheese, after which he drank several cups of wine to quench his thirst. When he fell asleep, she cut off his head with his own sword, and brought it to Jerusalem to show his soldiers. Terrified, they fled the city. Dairy dishes eaten at Chanukah honor her heroic act.
6 eggs, beaten
15 ounces farmer cheese
1 cup matzo meal
6 tablespoons sugar
1½ teaspoons vanilla
3 tablespoons corn oil
½ teaspoon salt
¾ cup corn oil for frying
Applesauce
Sour cream
1. Place beaten eggs in a large bowl. Add farmer cheese and blend thoroughly. Add matzo meal, sugar, vanilla, 3 tablespoons corn oil, and salt, and mix well.
2. Heat ¾ cup corn oil in a deep skillet until it sizzles. Lower heat, and, using a cooking spoon, spoon batter into the pan, creating pancakes about 3 inches in diameter. Fry for several minutes, turning when the bottom side is golden brown. Turn and fry for another few minutes until the other side is done. Drain on paper towel. Serve with applesauce and/or sour cream.

Vegetable Latkes
MAKES ABOUT
20
1 cup matzo meal
2 teaspoons salt
2 tablespoons sugar
6 eggs
1½ cups water
¾ cup grated onion
1 cup peeled and very finely chopped zucchini
1 cup very finely chopped broccoli
¾ cup very finely chopped spinach
¾ cup peeled and very finely chopped carrot
3 finely chopped scallions (not including bulbs)
¾ cup corn oil for frying
Sour cream
1. In a large bowl, combine matzo meal, salt, and sugar. Set aside.
2. Separate egg whites and yolks. Beat egg yolks, and combine with water. Add the yolk mixture to the matzo meal mixture, and let it stand for 30 minutes.
3. Beat egg whites with an electric mixer until they are stiff, and fold them into the matzo meal mixture. Add grated onion, zucchini, broccoli, spinach, carrots, scallions, and sun-dried tomatoes if you're using them.
4. Heat corn oil until it sizzles in a deep skillet. Lower heat, and, using a cooking spoon, spoon batter into the pan, creating thin pancakes 3 to 4 inches in diameter. Fry for several minutes, turning when the pancake is firm and the bottom side is golden brown. Turn and fry for another few minutes until the other side is done. Drain on paper towel. Serve with sour cream.
Notes:
Use your food processor to chop zucchini, broccoli, carrots, and scallions to correct size (⅛-inch pebbles), to grate onions, and to finely chop spinach.
For a little extra color and tang, throw in 5 or 6 finely chopped sun-dried tomatoes (drain them first thoroughly if they're in oil).
Note:
Occasionally stir mixture left in the bowl during the process of spooning latkes into the pan.

W
AYNE
H
ARLEY
B
RACHMAN
, executive pastry chef at Manhattan's Mesa Grill, Bolo, and Mesa City, started out as a member of a punk rock band and a performance artist. Then he fell in love with the art of pastry. “My idea,” he says, “was to turn all our childhood dessert fantasies into sophisticated restaurant desserts.” Hence, his haute versions of chocolate ice cream sandwiches and chocolate-peanut-graham cake with homemade roasted marshmallows! After stints at two famed New York restaurants—The Odeon and Arizona 206—Brachman joined Bobby Flay at Mesa Grill (see
Bobby's yellow corn pancake
recipe). He is the author of a southwestern-baking cookbook called
Cakes and Cowpokes.
I grew up in New York, where, as a child, I enjoyed the dubious distinction of being able to eat more halvah at a sitting than any of my friends (I initiated and won contests). When I moved to the East Village in 1968, I began patronizing the Second Avenue Deli, but since my family never ate corned beef (I thought of it as watered-down pastrami and almost
goyische
), I never ordered it. It wasn't until a friend in Massachusetts invited me to a bris and delegated me to bring proper food from New York—smoked fish from Russ & Daughters, oven-fresh bagels and bialys from Kossar's, pickles from Guss, and corned beef from the Second Avenue Deli—that I got turned on to corned beef. I began nibbling it at the bris, and I've never looked back, though the Deli is the only place in the universe I'll order it.
I knew Abe first as a Deli customer, but in recent years we'd frequently chat at culinary events. He often lunched at Mesa Grill, where, despite his half-hearted and totally unbelievable protests that he was dieting, I always plied him with desserts.
Wayne Harley Brachman's Matzo Farfel Pancakes
SERVES
6
6 cups matzo farfel
¾ cup boiling water
6 large eggs
1 teaspoon coarsely ground black pepper
1 tablespoon unsalted butter
1 tablespoon canola or vegetable oil
Maple syrup
Blueberries, strawberries, or peaches
1. Place matzo farfel in a medium bowl, and pour the boiling water over it. Toss to moisten, and drain off any excess water.
2. In a small bowl, whisk together eggs and pepper. Pour the egg mixture over the matzo farfel, and mix until combined.
3. Heat the butter and oil over medium-high heat in a nonstick pan. Spoon approximately ½ cup of the batter per pancake into the pan. Fry on both sides until golden brown. Serve with warm maple syrup and fresh blueberries, strawberries, or peaches.

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