Daniel Goldwater
Chef CMRJ
Jerusalem
Israel
To everything there is a Season
Here we go again, as King Solomon wrote in Ecclesiastes almost three thousand years ago “To everything there is a season….” As it’s bitterly cold down there in the Antipodes, tis the season for Zuppa, Soup, Marak (Hebrew for Soup) to warm your cockles and Kishkas.
In this post, we are going to do some simple, but very tasty soups to spoon down while gathering around the hearth if you still have one.
The soups are all connected to the region in some loose fashion.
Chicken Soup (the Jewish antibiotic)
The “apparent” health craze that swept out of the shtetl’s of Eastern Europe in the late nineteenth century is another example of poor mans foods, like Bagels and Gefilte fish that have become very artsy in contemporary times.
Chicken Soup is really just Chicken Stock, where you boil basic root vegetables with whatever chicken you can find. The result is a liquid rich in flavour, protein and minerals that ends up looking like dishwater with a nice arrangement of chicken, carrot and celery bits at the bottom of the soup plate. It is however delicious and as you spoon/slurp it down, for a moment you feel as if you are imbibing Grandmothers elixir of pure health.
Now Chicken Soup gets a significant bump when it’s served almost without exception, at every Jewish “festive feast”, with the embellishment of a small culinary invention called a Matzah Ball (Kneidlach in Yiddish). The Matzah Ball while only a ball of “breadcrumbs”(Matzah meal), eggs and baking powder was a brilliant but cheap Carb/aesthetic addition transforming the dish from the mundane to silver service.
Ingredients
1.5 kg Chicken thighs or legs(excess fat removed)
Peeled carrots whole
Celery Stalks whole or halved
Small bunch Parsley
One whole onion peeled
A few teeth of Garlic
Tap Water
Method
Good sized saucepan 3/4 full of water at least 2.5-3 litres, place chicken inside, place on the gas, bring to a boil and reduce heat. A fatty froth will collect on the surface which must be removed periodically as it forms. After first lot of froth is removed add everything else. Cook until carrots are ready. Leave to cool slightly using a colander or large sieve remove the contents. Cut the carrots and Celery break up the chicken into bite size pieces and return to the broth. Add more water and put on the fire for another good sixty minutes of cooking.
I haven’t given a recipe for Matzah Balls, as we live in a calorie counting conscious culture and as I no longer serve my Chicken Soup with Matzah Balls for that reason (how much can one eat?) But if you want to try your hand at it look up Claudia Roden the go to source for everything Jewish and cooking.
Fresh vegetable soups
Fresh vegetable soups are really only an essence of themselves. Rich in their own flavours, all we can do is tweak them with a good soffritto (mix of onion, carrot, celery with additions of garlic, leek, parsley) lemon zest, a teaspoon of this spice or that to try and create some “original” persona, but beyond the quality of the vegetable itself, its only makeup. Stocks will add some depth in flavour, but with a good soffritto there is no real need for stock. Here are two very simple soups that are guaranteed to warm your cockles in the depths of winter.
Carrot and spicy Harisa Soup
This Carrot Soup with the addition of ginger and spicy Harisa ( a hot pepper paste originating in the Mahgreb of North Africa) has a fresh, light zesty feel with a beautiful bright orange colour and a crunchy nuttiness with a garnish of dry toasted pine nuts for serving.
Ingredients
Fresh peeled and topped diced Carrots 2 kg
Onion peeled and diced
Three good sticks of Celery
Four Garlic teeth
A couple of leaves of Sage
One large Lemon zest plus juice
A good thumb of peeled and grated Ginger
Harisa to taste, start with one teaspoon and add to your desired ‘heat’.
Cumin 1/2 teaspoon
Salt, Pepper
Small handful of toasted pine nuts
Method
A dash of vegetable oil in pot, heat to medium and add onion, 3 garlic teeth, sage, toss for a minute, reduce heat add celery and diced carrots and grated ginger. Stir for a couple of minutes, then add water until the carrots are covered by a couple of centimetre’s, add cumin, cook until carrots are soft, add harisa to taste, remove from heat, salt and pepper to taste. Let cool a bit. When grinding, I remove some of the liquid so I can control the consistency, if too thick the liquid can be added back. When grinding add the lemon zest and if needed a little juice, serve with a small bunch of pine nuts at the centre of the plate.
Fresh Pea Soup
Fresh Pea Soup is tasty, attractive, light and full of protein. Finished, with lemon and possibly a touch of fresh mint it aspires to greater heights.
Ingredients
Fresh frozen peas 800 grams
1 onion peeled and chopped
1 carrot peeled and diced
3 stalks of Celery
3 teeth of Garlic
Cumin 1/2 a teaspoon
Salt and Pepper
1.5 litres of water or enough to cover the peas by a centimetre
Zest and juice of 1 lemon
Small handful of washed fresh mint leaves
Attractive mint leaves for garnish
Method
Dash of vegetable oil in pot at medium heat, add onions, sauté for a couple of minutes, add garlic, carrot, celery and reduce heat, stir for a couple of minutes, add peas, cumin and water and cook until carrots are soft around twenty minutes. Remove from the gas top and remove some of the liquid, start grinding, add zest (lemon juice if needed) and mint leaves, add liquids back if needed. Taste for salt and pepper. Serve with a mint leaf as garnish. This bright green, light and fresh soup is one of my favourites.
Well I hope cockles and Kishkas are warmed.
Next week baked Salmon in a marinade of wine, lemon, garlic and thyme, accompanied with a brunoise of potato, sweet potato and Jerusalem artichoke.