The Second Avenue Deli Cookbook (7 page)

Note:
Boil chicken in water for 30 minutes with a few chunks of onion, carrot, and celery. One very large chicken will yield about 4 cups of meat. If you prefer only white meat in your chicken salad, use breasts only. When cooled, carefully remove chicken from the frame, chop it into pieces not bigger than ½ inch, and place pieces in a large bowl. Be sure not to toss any skin or bone in the bowl. For best results, pulse diced chicken a few times in your food processor to create a shredded texture.

Variation:
For a variation on this salad, add 1 tablespoon dried tarragon, ½ cup golden raisins (sauté them very briefly in oil to bring out extra flavor; then let them cool to room temperature), and, just prior to serving, ½ cup peeled and cored McIntosh apple, diced into ½-inch pieces. Mix everything in thoroughly.

Note:
If you don't have schmaltz, use corn oil throughout, skipping the added schmaltz in step 3.

Note:
To render onions, scallions, garlic, and parsley sufficiently fine, it's best to chop them first by hand, then pulse a few times in a food processor.

P
ATRICK
C
LARK
began his culinary career at age nine, visiting the kitchens of famous New York restaurants (such as The Four Seasons) with his father, also a chef. After formal training in the United States and Great Britain, and a stint in France with Michel Guérard, creator of
cuisine minceur,
he developed his own culinary style of French-nuanced contemporary-American cooking. Having garnered critical raves at New York celebrity haunts like The Odeon and Café Luxembourg, he went on to launch his own restaurant, the highly acclaimed Metro, in 1988. He was later lured to the plush and prestigious Hay-Adams Hotel in the nation's capital, where he attracted the notice of the Clintons, who asked him to move across the street and serve as White House chef. But the bright lights of Central Park's Tavern on the Green beckoned. Clark became the Tavern's executive chef in May 1995.
^*

I grew up in Brooklyn, in a Jewish neighborhood, where I regularly ate corned beef, pastrami, noodle kugel, kasha knishes, and, of course, countless Hebrew National franks. I even had a Jewish girlfriend whose mom made great matzo ball soup and invited me to Seders. But my passion was cheesecake. While other boys squandered their allowances on baseball cards, I saved mine to buy cream cheese, and I spent many hours in the kitchen trying to create a cheesecake beyond compare. By the time I was seventeen, I had perfected my recipe; it's one I still use today.

I've always loved the Second Avenue Deli, which is the only place I go when I crave pastrami on rye with mustard and sour pickles. (I might find plausible mustard and pickles elsewhere, but never the same quality of pastrami!) Years ago, Abe Lebewohl came to my restaurant, Metro, and introduced himself. After that, we frequently saw each other at the Deli and at food events and became friendly. He always took a lively interest in my career and showed a lot of enthusiasm about my coming to Tavern on the Green, stopping by often to sample my new menus.

1. Heat ¼ cup olive oil in a large stockpot. Add onion, and season lightly with salt and pepper. Cook until onion is translucent. Stir in garlic.

2. Add tomato juice, and bring to a boil. Stir in couscous. Remove pot from heat, cover, and let stand for 5 to 7 minutes.

3. Transfer to a bowl, and fluff couscous with a fork. Season with salt, pepper, sherry wine vinegar, and olive oil to taste (do a little at a time until you're pleased, but don't let it get soupy or soggy). Stir in olives and oregano. Serve at room temperature.