Around the Shabbat Table (13 page)

ADD
the wine and prunes to the skillet and turn the heat up to high, scraping up all the browned bits with a wooden spoon. Cook until the liquid is reduced by half, then transfer the mixture to the Dutch oven.

PREHEAT
the oven to 200°F. Add the potatoes to the Dutch oven, sprinkle the herbs, orange zest, and salt and pepper to taste over all, and combine well. Add 6 cups broth—it should just cover all of the ingredients; if necessary, add a bit more. Bring to a gentle boil and then simmer for 10 minutes. Cover very tightly with foil and the lid. Transfer to the oven and bake undisturbed for at least 8 hours, or overnight.

PREPARE
the lemon-garlic garnish: combine all the ingredients in a small bowl, cover, and refrigerate until ready to serve.

JUST
before serving the cholent, stir in lemon-garlic garnish.

HERBED BEEF CHOLENT WITH ONION GONIFS

yield:
6 TO 8 SERVINGS

“Gonif,” she called, trailing me into the kitchen. Other children stole from the cookie jar. But what cookie could compare with my grandmother's huge, cold matzoh balls, satin-sleek with fat, gleaming like golden goose eggs in the moonlight?

“Stop! There won't be any left for tomorrow. You little gonif, you thief.”

But she was laughing. She always made extra. It was the one food she knew I'd always eat, and she was engaged in a constant struggle to put more weight on me, which would no doubt cure me of the twin maladies, anemia and straight hair.

Reading through a pile of Jewish cookbooks in a secondhand store years later, I was intrigued to learn about a matzoh-ball-type dumpling cooked in a cholent, ironically called a gonif. It seems the dumpling, placed on top of all the savory ingredients, steals their flavors and becomes enriched by them.

In the following cholent, the slow-cooking herbed flanken or short ribs make these oniony gonifs quite rich indeed. I usually include poultry so those who want to cut down on some of the red meat in this very filling dish can do so.

FOR THE ONION GONIFS

4 tablespoons olive oil

1 cup finely chopped onion

Salt and freshly ground black pepper

5 large eggs

1 cup matzoh meal

3 tablespoons finely chopped fresh parsley, preferably flat-leaf

2 teaspoons grated lemon zest

1
¹
⁄
₂
teaspoons baking powder

¹
⁄
₃
cup chicken broth

FOR THE BEANS

2 cups cannellini or great Northern beans (1 pound), or a combination of either with cranberry or kidney beans, washed, picked over, soaked overnight in cold water to cover by at least 2 inches, and drained

3 large carrots, scraped and quartered

1 Turkish bay leaf

1 fresh thyme sprig

1 fresh rosemary sprig

¹
⁄
₂
small onion, peeled

2 large garlic cloves, peeled and smashed

FOR THE HERB PASTE

2 tablespoons coarsely chopped onion

1 tablespoon coarsely chopped garlic

1 tablespoon minced lemon zest

2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice

1 tablespoon chopped fresh rosemary leaves

2 teaspoons minced fresh thyme

2 teaspoons salt

5 peppercorns, crushed

Olive oil

3
¹
⁄
₂
to 4
¹
⁄
₂
pounds flanken or short ribs, cut in pieces

1
¹
⁄
₂
to 2
¹
⁄
₂
pounds turkey thighs or legs (optional)

FOR THE REST OF THE CHOLENT

2 tablespoons olive oil

1
¹
⁄
₂
cups chopped onion

2 parsnips, peeled and quartered

3 tablespoons coarsely chopped garlic

¹
⁄
₂
cup dry red wine

One 16-ounce can Italian plum tomatoes, chopped, and their juices

2 tablespoons chopped fresh rosemary leaves

1 tablespoon chopped fresh thyme

Salt and freshly ground black pepper

6 to 8 small waxy or all-purpose potatoes (about 2 pounds), such as red new potatoes or Yukon gold (if you have access to heirloom varieties: Caribe, Russian Banana, or Yellow Finn would be particularly delicious), scrubbed, unpeeled (unless the peel is thick or unpleasant), and halved

4 cups chicken broth, preferably
homemade
,
Beef Stock
, or good-quality, low-sodium
purchased

Chopped fresh flat-leaf parsley and fresh minced chives, for garnish

START
the gonifs: heat 1 tablespoon of the oil in a 7- to 8-inch skillet, add the onions, and sauté over moderate heat until softened and pale gold, about 5 minutes. Add salt and pepper to taste, and set the skillet aside to cool.

IN
a large bowl, beat the eggs until thick and light. Add the remaining 3 tablespoons oil and beat until smooth. Fold in the matzoh meal, parsley, lemon zest, baking powder, about 1
¹
⁄
₂
teaspoons salt (or to taste), and a generous amount of pepper. When the onions have cooled to room temperature, stir them in, along with the broth. Mix very well, cover the bowl, and refrigerate for at least 1 hour or up to 12 hours.

PREPARE
the beans: put them in a large saucepan together with the carrots, bay leaf, thyme, rosemary, onion, and garlic. Add enough cold water to cover the ingredients by 2 inches. Bring to a gentle boil over medium heat, skimming off the froth as it rises to the top. As soon as it begins to boil, reduce the heat to a simmer, partially cover the saucepan, and cook for about 40 minutes, until the beans are almost tender. Drain the beans. Pick out and discard the herbs, onion, and garlic, but reserve the carrots. Transfer the beans and carrots to a 7- to 8-quart Dutch oven or flameproof casserole.

WHILE
the beans are cooking, prepare the herb paste: in a blender or mini food processor, combine the onions, garlic, lemon zest, lemon juice, rosemary, thyme, salt, and peppercorns. Puree, stopping to scrape down the container as necessary, until the mixture is well combined and fairly smooth. Scrape the mixture into a 13 by 9-inch glass baking dish.

TRIM
as much fat as possible from the meat and pat it dry. (You really can't skim the fat from the cooked cholent, unless it is prepared well in advance and refrigerated.) Lightly grease a deep 10- to 12-inch heavy skillet and heat it over medium-high heat until it is hot, but not smoking. Add the flanken or short ribs, in batches, if necessary, so you don't overcrowd the pan, and brown lightly on all sides over medium-high heat. Transfer the meat to the baking dish and smear the herb paste all over. If using the turkey, heat the skillet again (if needed, film it with oil again) over moderately high heat. Add the turkey and lightly brown it on all sides, then transfer it to the baking dish and rub all over with the herb paste.

PREHEAT
the oven to 200°F.

ASSEMBLE
the cholent ingredients: discard any fat in the skillet and heat the 2 tablespoons oil. Add the onions and sauté over moderately high heat until softened and lightly speckled with brown, about 5 minutes. Add the parsnips and garlic, and continue sautéing until dotted bronze around the edges. Add the wine, bring to a boil, and cook, scraping up all the browned bits, for 2 minutes. Stir in the tomatoes and their juices, the rosemary, thyme, and salt and pepper to taste, and bring to a simmer. Cook, stirring, for 2 to 3 minutes, to mingle the flavors. Stir the mixture into the beans in the Dutch oven.

SALT
and pepper the bean mixture to taste, taking into account the saltiness of the broth you are using in the recipe. Add the beef, turkey, if using, and potatoes, burying them in the beans. Add the broth and bring to a slow boil.

LIGHTLY
form the gonif batter into dumplings the size of golf balls. (Don't compress the batter too much or the gonifs will be dense and hard. If you prefer, you can make the gonifs smaller, about the size of walnuts.) When the broth is gently boiling, slide in the gonifs, one at a time. Cover the pot tightly with foil and the lid and transfer it to the oven. Let the cholent cook undisturbed for 8 hours, or overnight.

TO
serve, place two gonifs, two potato halves, beans, and slices of meat and/or poultry in shallow soup bowls. Ladle in some broth. Sprinkle generously with the parsley and chives to freshen the flavors.

GARLICKY LAMB AND LIMA HAMIN WITH LITTLE EGGPLANT BOATS

yield:
6 TO 7 SERVINGS

This Sabbath stew celebrates timeless Sephardi tastes. Nestled on top of limas and rice, garlic-suffused lamb simmers slowly overnight to melt-in-the-mouth tenderness. For added dimension, I cook little meat-stuffed eggplants along with the stew. Sephardim frequently include stuffed zucchinis or other vegetables in their hamins; they are analogues of the
gonifs,
the starchy dumplings Ashkenazim add to their cholents. Like a gonif, these eggplant boats seem to pilfer the fragrant aromas from the stew as they cook to creamy succulence.

The idea for these eggplant boats came from Oded Schwartz's
In Search of Plenty.
For a simpler, but still memorable preparation, make the hamin without them.

3 small-medium eggplants (6 to 8 ounces each)

Coarse salt

2 cups dried large lima beans (about 1 pound), washed, picked over, soaked overnight in cold water to cover by at least 2 inches, and drained

1
¹
⁄
₂
cups long-grain rice, rinsed and drained

6 to 8 small lamb shanks (5 to 6 pounds total)

6 tablespoons olive oil

3 cups chopped onion plus
¹
⁄
₂
cup chopped shallots, or 4 cups chopped onion

Freshly ground black pepper

1 whole head of garlic, separated into cloves and peeled

1
¹
⁄
₂
cups chopped plum tomatoes (about three–quarters of a 28-ounce can, drained, or 1 pound fresh)

Grated zest and juice of 1 lemon

2 teaspoons fresh thyme leaves or
³
⁄
₄
teaspoon dried, crumbled

¹
⁄
₂
pound lean ground beef

6 cups chicken broth, preferably
homemade
;
Beef Stock
; or use good-quality, low-sodium
purchased

CUT
a large, thin lengthwise slice from each eggplant. These will be the lids for the eggplant boats, so reserve them. Scoop out as much eggplant flesh as possible without damaging the peel. (Many people use spoons, melon ballers, or apple corers, but I find they are not sharp enough. A small paring knife is easier to manipulate without tearing the peel.) Put the eggplant flesh in a colander, toss with 2 teaspoons coarse salt, and weight it down with a plate or bowl topped with a heavy object like a can of tomatoes. Let the eggplant drain for about 30 minutes while you prepare everything else.

PLACE
the limas and rice on the bottom of a very large, heavy, flameproof casserole or Dutch oven (7- to 8-quart capacity).