Living Well
Food
Lightening Up
Latke-Laden Menu
LINDA MOREL
Special to the Jewish News
n
ave you ever noticed how
some people are always
pushing the envelope?
Madonna in pop
music, Martha Stewart in stylish liv-
ing — and now food writer Jayne
Cohen, author of The Gefilte
Variations.
In this innovative kosher cookbook,
Cohen spins recipes like variations on
musical themes. Adding magic to famil-
iar dishes and recipes spawned from her
imagination, she offers readers sumptu-
ous suggestions for entertaining during
the Festival of Lights, which begins at
sundown, Dec. 21.
"There's more to Chanukah cuisine
than latkes," says Cohen, who enjoys
tweaking the taste of traditional foods
and discovering recipes from cultures
outside the American Jewish main-
stream.
"After a while, you get full of pota-
toes," she says, discussing her motiva-
tion for expanding Chanukah's culi-
nary horizons. "You want to come
home to a house that doesn't smell
like fried food for eight days."
Paying homage to the one-day sup-
ply of oil that, according to tradition,
lasted for eight days after the
Maccabees defeated their enemies, her
recipes call for cooking oil,
Chanukah's hallmark ingredient. Yet
these innovative Chanukah dishes are
delicate in flavor and lighter in calo-
ries than potato pancakes. Loyalists
leery to drop latkes will find them
compatible on menus with her tasty
sugge-stions.
One of Cohen's favorite recipes is
fried chicken cutlets, Italian-Jewish
style. Traditional in Italy during the
Festival of Lights, these cutlets are
fried in olive oil and flavored with
cinnamon. Performing without
sugar or honey, the cinnamon acts
in concert with savory garlic and
Linda Morel is a writer for the Jewish
Telegraphic Agency.
WSW
SN:
12/8
2000
102
lemon to produce a fragrant yet
subtle marinade.
"To accentuate the delicacy of the
dish, I dip the chicken in egg after
dusting it lightly with matzah meal,"
she says. "And I fry each batch with a
few pieces of celery, which makes the
chicken beautifully golden and more
flavorful." (Save this recipe for
Passover, too.)
Cohen began stretching tradition
early in life. As a child, she didn't eat
her grandmother's crunchy potato
pancakes with applesauce or sour
cream like everyone else. Instead, she
sprinkled them with sugar. But she
credits her culinary creativity to her
mother, whose passion for spinning
the ordinary into the sublime inspired
her imagination.
"My mother had her own way of
doing things," she says. "On New
Year's Eve, she would dust golden
glitter over her red hair and
Vaseline-glossed eyebrows. No
Donna Reed at home either, there
she potchkeed the mundane into
the marvelous."
A prime example is my mother's
fried cauliflower, a recipe that Cohen
has fine-tuned. It's impossible to settle
for soggy white florets after tasting
her crisp and garlicky bronzed
nuggets.
"My mother always fried up cauli-
flower late at night," Cohen explains.
"Long ago, she had decided it was
the perfect antidote to flagging
appetites, so she would make a batch
after she noticed one of us had eaten
very little at dinner."
Today, Cohen prepares these fla-
vorful nuggets for her daughter, who
claims it wouldn't be Chanukah with-
out them.
Less saturated with oil than pan-
fried food, oven-fried smoked salmon
croquettes are elegant on the table
and foolproof to prepare. Although
her mother gave humble canned
salmon the luxury treatment with
slivers of buttery smoked salmon and
lemon zest, Cohen has gently
reworked the recipe, producing a
slightly caramelized crunch to the
crust.
Because of the holiday's connection
to oil, Cohen is keenly aware of the
fat factor. To offset it, she recom-
mends serving tart salads. "With
Chanukah dishes, you need vegetables
to balance the heaviness of fried
food."
Extending the "lite" theme to
dessert, she ends Chanukah meals
with a platter of fresh seasonal fruit:
pears, assorted apples, clementines,
fresh pineapple, papaya and persim-
mons, if available.
Coming by her originality honest-
ly, Cohen treasures memories of her
mother, who is now deceased.
"When sore throats stole our
appetites at breakfast, she served us
steaming oatmeal with a scoop of cof-
fee ice cream," she says. "I miss her a
lot, especially at this time of year."
FRIED CHICKEN CUTLETS,
ITALIAN-JEWISH STYLE
1 /4 t. ground cinnamon
4 large garlic cloves, finely chopped
3 T. fresh lemon juice
1 T. olive oil, plus additional oil
for frying
Salt and pepper
1 1 /2 pounds skinless, boneless
chicken cutlets
About 1 c. matzah meal
2 large eggs
2-3 celery stalks, washed, dried well
and cut into 4-inch lengths
Lemon wedges
Fresh parsley sprigs, for garnish
1. In a large mixing bowl, whisk
together the cinnamon, garlic, lemon
juice, olive oil and salt and pepper.
Add the chicken and toss to coat
thoroughly.
Cover and marinate for 2-3 hours
in the refrigerator, turning chicken
occasionally.
2. Set up a work station near the
stove. Spread matzah meal on a
plate and season it with 1 tsp. salt
and 1/8 tsp. pepper. Next to it, in a
pie pan, beat the eggs with a few
drops of water until well blended
and smooth.
3. Dredge the cutlets well with
matzah meal, rubbing it lightly into
the chicken. Make sure each cutlet is
covered all over with meal. If neces-
sary, add more meal, and seasoning
too.
4. Heat about 1 /2 c. olive oil in a
10-12 inch heavy skillet over medi-
um-high heat, until hot but not
smoking. Shake a cutlet to remove
excess meal, then coat it thoroughly
with the egg, and slip it into the hot
oil. Repeating the process, add more
chicken. Do not crowd the pan. Place
a few pieces of celery in between the
cutlets as they fry
5. Using two spatulas, carefully
turn the chicken when it is light gold-
en, 2-3 minutes. Saute the other side
for 2-3 minutes longer, or until
cooked through. Turn celery when
turning chicken.
6. Drain cutlets on paper towels.
Discard celery. Transfer cutlets to an
oven-proof platter. Warm in a 200-
degree oven, until remaining pieces
are done. Remove platter from oven.
Garnish with lemon wedges and pars-
ley. Serve immediately.
Yield: 4-6 servings
MY MOTHER'S FRIED
CAULIFLOWER
1 medium head of cauliflower
Salt
About 1 1 /2 c. matzah meal
1 T. dried oregano
1 T. grated lemon zest
2-3 t. minced garlic
Freshly ground black pepper
2 large eggs
2 T. fresh lemon juice
Olive oil for frying
Lemon wedges
1. Break cauliflower into small flo-
rets and place in a large, heat-proof
bowl. Sprinkle with 1 t. of salt.
Bring a large pot of water to a rapid
boil and pour over the cauliflower,
covering it by at least an inch.
Cover bowl and allow cauliflower to
steep in water for 5-8 minutes. Stir
around so all of the pieces are
sloshed by water. If the florets test
fork-tender (but before they become
soft), drain them well. If not, let
them steep a few more minutes.
2. In a bowl, stir together the
matzah meal, oregano, lemon zest,
garlic and plenty of salt and pepper.
Divide the mixture in two, spreading
half out on a plate and setting the
other half aside. Beat the eggs well
with lemon juice in a pie pan.
3. Taking one floret at a time, dip
it into the beaten egg, coating well on
all sides. Let the excess egg drip back
into bowl. Dredge florets all over with
meal. When the meal mixture gets
lumpy with egg bits, discard and
replace with the reserved mixture. Pat
coated florets firmly so the meal
adheres. Place them on a rack. Let
stand for 15 minutes.
4. Heat 1 /2 inch of oil in a heavy
10-12 inch skillet over medium-high
heat, until hot but not smoking.