General: Holiday Side Dish (potato)

Subject: Holiday Side Dish (potato)
Newsgroups: rec.food.cooking
From: Alan Zelt (alzelt at worldnet.att.net)
Date: Sun, 15 Dec 2002 00:07:02 GMT
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It's been a few years since I have served my mom's Cloiskers. A very interesting dish made with potatoes, flour, onions, bread crumbs and a healthy ( :) ) portion of chicken fat. Some have gone so far as to say it's sort of a Jewish gnocchi. Hey, once a year you can have some (some, not a lot). But one thing is certain, it is great tasting. This will be our potato side with the standing rib roast (small end ribs 10-12). Will also serve up some haricot vertes, steamed and dusted with Vietnamese Cinnamon. Also a great herbed yorkshire pudding. Dessert will be a lemon tart, with a slight twist, using meyer lemons. Vino will be a 1989 Ch.
Lynch Bages.

Cloiskers

Recipe By: Lillian Zelt
Serving Size: 8
Categories: Dinner, Jewish, Vegetables, Potatoes, Side Dish

3 lb potatoes -- boiled an mashed
4 eggs
2 c flour
2 lb onions -- coarsely chopped
3 tbsp Chicken fat(NO SUBSTITUTION)
1/2 c bread crumbs
salt to taste
pepper to taste
paprika to taste

After mashing potatoes, let cool. When cooled, mix with flour, eggs and seasonings. Roll out and pinch off small pieces(slightly bigger than gnocchi, and tapered)Keep board floured so that mixture does not stick. Place in salted, boiling water. When they rise and come to top of pot, remove, rinse in cold water, and drain in colander.

While potatoes are boiling, saute the onions (USE ONLY CHICKEN FAT, or you will be stricken with a severe guilt trip), taking care not to brown them. Add some salt, pepper, and paprika while cooking. Cool onions after cooking.

To assemble, have two greased pyrex casseroles at hand. In each, mix (by hand) potato dumplings, onions, seasonings, and the bread crumbs. Add some additional chicken fat, although the onions should be fairly saturated in its fat.

Bake at 350degrees for 40 minutes or until the tops get crusty.

Suggested Wine: cabernet/Bordeaux
Serving Ideas: serve with prime rib

NOTES: It can honestly be said that I know of no one who died as a direct result of eating this dish, which is usually served along side of a prime rib. But, when I was growing up, no one was conscious of cholesterol.Remember, the 1950's was a kinder, gentler era (well, if one could forget about the monthly A-Bomb drills in school). We just were in blissful ignorance of the consequences. Take my advice, for one time a year, you shouldn't either. I have reviewed this dish for currency of terms; and prepared it twice. Taste and filling are the keys. Do not substitute for any fat less filling!!! I am not certain if nutrition and cholesterol were words that had been invented then. If you choose not to bake both casseroles, one can be placed in freezer for up to two months. Each finger(which my sister and I called sinkers) is quite dense. There were many comments made about using them as real sinkers when reaching for the bottom of Sandy Hook, and the elusive Fluke!

Herbed Yorkshire Pudding

Recipe By: Bon Appetit(Dec 1994)
Serving Size: 10
Categories: Dinner, Meats, Side Dish

2 c all purpose flour
1 tsp salt
1 c milk
1 c water
4 lg eggs
3 tbsp chives or green onions -- minced
2 tbsp fresh tarragon -- minced
1/2 tsp pepper -- ground

Combine flour and salt in medium bowl. Combine milk and water in large glass measuring cup. Gradually add milk mixture to flour, beating until smooth. Add eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition. Stir in herbs and pepper. Cover and refrigerate at least 1 hour(batter can be made 8 hours ahead-re whisk).

While cooking roast beef, spoon off fat occasionally, and reserve.

Heat oven to 450degrees.

Measure 1 tablespoon reserved beef fat into each of ten 1 1/3 cup glass custard dishes. Place dishes on baking sheet. Place in oven and heat until until fat begins to smoke(about 8 minutes).

Divide batter among dishes, allotting about 1/3 cup per dish. Bake puddings for 15 minutes. Reduce oven temperature to 350 degrees and bake until edges of pudding are golden and center is puffed(about 25 minutes). Puddings will sink when removed from oven.

Suggested Wine: A good Pauillac
Serving Ideas: serve with Prime Rib, Haricot Verte and Cloiskers

Tarte Citron Madame Cartet

Recipe By: Patricia Wells, Bistro Cooking
Serving Size: 8
Categories: Desserts, French, Fruit, Tart

2/3 cup freshly squeezed lemon juice (about 4 lemons)
1/2 cup sugar
3 tablespoons crème fraiche or heavy cream
5 large eggs
1 Pâte Sablée shell -- pre-baked and cooled

1. Preheat the oven to 375F

2. In a large mixing bowl, whisk together the lemon juice, sugar, and crème fraiche until well blended. Add the eggs, one at a time, mixing well after each addition.

3. Pour the lemon cream into the prepared tart shell. Bake until firm, 15 to 20 minutes. Remove from oven and place on a rack to cool. Serve at room temperature.

NOTES: Madame Cartet's Lemon Tart
When you walk into the minuscule Paris bistro, Cartet, your eyes land immediately on the desserts, arranged in a tidy row along the bar at the entrance. Without fail, this superb and simple lemon tart is there. I love the golden, yellow color, and the puckery tart flavor. As Marie-Thérèse and Raymond Nouaille, current owners, explained, "Madame Cartet used to make it with four eggs. We make it with five." Either way, I always think of it as a delicious end to a copious and satisfying meal.
From: sackv at uni-duesseldorf.de (Victor Sack)
Date: Sun, 15 Dec 2002 07:11:29 +0100
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Alan Zelt wrote:
> While potatoes are boiling, saute the onions(USE ONLY CHICKEN FAT, or
> you will be stricken with a severe guilt trip), taking care not to brown
> them.

Will the guilt trip also be severe if I use goose fat?
From: Alan Zelt (alzelt at worldnet.att.netFINNFAN)
Date: Sun, 15 Dec 2002 08:21:08 GMT
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Victor Sack wrote:
> Will the guilt trip also be severe if I use goose fat?

No doubt you may get a holiday pass for such a transgression. In the case of my grandmother, who fixed many a goose dinner for her brother, I am certain that she must have poured more than her fair share of said goose fat. In the States, where chicken eating is more common than dining on goose, rendering chicken fat and refrigerating it is more common.

One of the lesson learned from cooking over the years is that sometimes there is no such thing as a substitute. No way can poultry/game fat compare with margarine/butter or canola.
From: C. L. Gifford (saiga at concentric.net)
Date: 15 Dec 2002 11:58:50 GMT
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Victor Sack wrote:
> Will the guilt trip also be severe if I use goose fat?

Ha! I was thinking the same thing Victor. I don't have chicken fat but try to have goose fat on hand.

Charlie