Winter Holidays! The Hanukkah Feast !

The first of the Winter Holidays is Hanukkah, this year being celebrated from December 6th through the 14th. This eight day festival of light celebrates the triumph of light over dark, of purity over adulteration and of spirituality over materiality. (Chabad.org) The menorah, pictured above, holds 9 candles, one for each night and the ninth is to light the others. It's a time to celebrate with family and friends, for laughter and gift giving!

The mealtime traditions for this holy occasion often contains Herbed Roast Chicken or a delicious Slow Braised Beef Brisket with au jus, Savory Potato Latkes served with sour cream and applesauce, Long Cooked Green Beans (aka Southern style without the bacon), a festive loaf of buttery rich Challah Bread, and with a nice Apple Cake with Caramel Glaze for dessert! We'd best get cooking!!

I always try to make sure to find time to brine when roasting any sort of whole poultry! The dry heat of the oven can take its toll on the delicate chicken breast! I say an ounce of prevention is worth a ton of cure!!! Cure = Gravy, for the uninitiated! I like gravy, but I like moist chicken breast, too!

Take your chicken from its wrapper, rinse it off and remove the neck and giblets. We'll use those for the stock for the gravy. For the brine, put 3 cups of water in a saucepan with 1/2 cup of Kosher salt, 1/2 cup of sugar, a teaspoon of whole peppercorns, a couple sprigs of thyme and rosemary, and one lemon, cut in quarters. Heat and stir just long enough to dissolve the sugar and salt. Add ice to cool. Place a marinating bag into a large bowl. Add the chicken and the cooled brining solution. Close the bag and let the chicken sit in the refrigerator overnight. The next morning, take out the chicken, rinse well and pat dry. Set it on a plate, uncovered, and allow it to sit in the refrigerator for several hours to dry out the skin. This makes for a wonderful crispy skin! Just glorious!!

To ready the chicken for baking, we'll quarter an onion and a lemon...shove them into the chicken's cavity. Follow with a couple sprigs of thyme and rosemary! Rub the outside and up under the breast skin generously with softened butter. Season generously with Kosher salt and freshly cracked black pepper. Tie the legs together and tuck the wings neatly behind its back.

We're ready to roast! Place the chicken on a rack in your roasting pan. Cut an onion into wedges and two stalks of celery into 3 inch pieces. Add these to the bottom of the roasting pan along with 2 cups of water with 2 teaspoons of chicken base. I like to use the Knorr brand Chicken Bouillon. Have your oven preheated to 350. Place the roaster, uncovered, on the middle rack. You can estimate about 20 minutes per pound of chicken, but I prefer to use a thermometer with an alarm...just poke the probe into the thick part of the thigh, being careful to not touch the bone. Set the alarm for 150. While this is happening, put the giblets and neck in a medium saucepan with a carrot and stalk of celery, cut into chunks, a small onion, quartered and 4 cups of water with 4 teaspoons of chicken base. Bring to boil, reduce to simmer and cook for about an hour. Strain and skim the broth.

Save the fat...it's liquid gold! It's called 'schmaltz', and can be found in any good Jewish grocery store!!

When you start to smell the chicken cooking, and the skin begins to crisp, begin the basting process...repeat every 20 minutes or so. When the thermometer goes off, check the breast of the chicken. If it's getting too dark, cover just the breast with foil. It generally takes the thighs getting up to 175 before they're ready. Reset the alarm for 165. When that timer goes off, take the chicken out and set it on a cutting board to rest. Cover it losely with foil and let the residual heat finish the roasting process. It'll come up to 170 to 175 while it sits. Just leave the probe inside the chicken, it'll loose its juice if you pull it out now! Gently and carefully use tongs to remove the lemon, onion and herbs from the chicken's cavity. Pour out any excess juices inside the chicken. While the chicken is resting, strain out the broth left behind. You'll want to skim the fat and add it to the fat you skimmed from the stock. Deglaze the yummy bits from the bottom of the pan with a cup of the chicken stock. Add it back to the rest of the stock. Look at how rich that is!!! Into a saucepan, place 3 tablespoons of fat that we've reserved. Heat it over medium and add in 3 tablespoons of flour. Whisk to mix, and cook out for a couple of minutes...this gets rids of the raw flour flavor. Slowly whisk in our chicken stock, letting it thicken before adding more. When it gets to your perfect consistency, taste! Add pepper to suit your tastebuds, extra salt if it needs it...and put it in a nice gravy boat to serve with the glorious chicken! You should end up with about 3 cups of rich gravy!

Next!!! The Holiday Braised Beef Brisket!!!

We're going to just use the brisket flat for this application. If you've got a large group, you might need a whole brisket. We can usually find a nice 5 to 6 pound flat cut of the brisket, which will serve 10 to 15 people...depending on appetitie, of course!

I do a Dijon mustard massage on my brisket...it's been my secret weapon to a delicious savory brisket that needs no bbq sauce! Then I coat it liberally with either my Garden Gate Brisket Rub or Chicago Steak Seasoning by Weber or Montreal Steak Seasoning by McCormick. Open up a Reynold's Bake In Bag, add one large sliced onion and gingerly place the brisket on the bed of onions. Add a cup of beef broth with a dash of Worcestershire sauce mixed in. Seal. Bake in a 325 oven for 3 hours, or until the brisket has reached 180 degrees.

Let the brisket rest in its cozy bag of au jus for at least an hour. Over a large bowl or measuring cup, poke a good size hole in a corner of the bag and let the au jus drain out. Strain the au jus and set aside. If it's overly seasoned for your taste, add in some extra plain beef stock. Cut the bag open and release the beast!

Using an electric knife, cut the brisket into nice,1/3" to 1/2" thick slices. The longer the brisket has rested, the easier it will be to slice.

Got to LOVE that bark!! It's magnificent! YUM!

Time for Sides!!! These slow cooking main items really give you the opportunity for a rush-free Holiday! There's plenty of time to tie the rest of the meal together!! And, of course, the dessert, our Apple Cake with Caramel Glaze was done yesterday!!

So, let's talk Latkes!! Potato Latkes, aka Potato Pancakes, are a delicious, fried, savory potato hash-cake, if you will. We too readily associate the word, 'pancake' with the sweet, and it really has nothing to do with pancakes, as we know the breakfast item.

These are uber-delicious!!! I used to eat them every Friday, as a child! So very crunchy and textured on the outside, and moist and tender on the inside!! I use the box grater, like Mama always did, unless I'm prepping for a large group. The grate just isn't the same, giving a coarser texture...it's still good, mind you! It's just not Mom's!! Call me a purist! LOLOL! Here's how it goes!

Start with 5 nice sized russet potatoes, peel and grate them on the large holed side of the box grater. I like to line the bowl with several sheets of paper toweling, to absorb the excess water from the potatoes. We want the starch, just not the water. Then, set the shredded potatoes in a fine mesh strainer over a bowl, to drain.

While these are releasing their water, grate one medium onion, using the small holed side of the grater, or a fine microplane. We really want the flavor and juice more than the actual crunchy texture. Put them in with the potatoes that are draining.

When the excess moisture has been released transfer the potatoes and onion to a large mixing bowl. Mix in one large beaten egg and a couple of tablespoons of flour, several good pinches of salt and some freshly ground black pepper, to taste. Stir to mix thoroughly.

Meanwhile, heat up a cast iron skillet with 1/4 cup of canola or corn oil over medium heat, until it's hot. Use a wooden handled spoon to test...if the bubbles surround the handle, it's hot!

Depending on the size of Latkes you want, spoon an eigth to a quarter cup portions of the potato mixture into the hot oil in the pan and cook on the first side until you can see the edges on the bottom becoming nice and golden brown. Gently give a peek!

See how you can see the color on the bottom, just peeking out?? That's how you know it's time to flip. You really just want one flip per cake! Nice and golden brown...the medium heat ensures that they cook through. Like this!

Take them out when they're golden brown, crispy delicious on both sides and lay them out on a draining rack or on paper toweling. Finish with a sprinkling of Kosher salt. These are served with sour cream and applesauce on the side. Yum!! I'll eat these for a meal all by themselves!!

Another side, this one a veggie!

Enter, Slow Cooked Green Beans with Mushrooms! Start with 2 pounds of fresh green beans, cleaned, trimmed and cut into 2 inch pieces. Slice an 8 oz. package of cremini or button mushrooms. While you're bringing a big pot of salted water to a boil for the green beans, go ahead and saute the mushrooms in a couple of tablespoons of butter mixed with a tablespoon of canola or corn oil. Add some fresh thyme, or dried, if you don't have fresh! Thyme and mushrooms go together famously! Let them cook down gently, and hold off on salting until they're golden delicious. When the water is boiling, add a half teaspoon of baking soda, to help keep the green in the green beans. We're cooking these for a bit longer than usual, and they'll need help to retain that fresh green color. Cook until they're nice and tender, or to your family's liking. Drain well, toss in with the mushrooms and stir to coat well. Delishiousness!! Taste and re-season as needed!

Okay...no Jewish Holiday Feast is complete without the traditional Challah bread!!

I make a totally delicious Challah Braid Loaf! Challah is a buttery, egg rich, braided loaf that is traditional at special feast occasions!! Order yours now!! Hanukkah Special pricing!!

$ 10/ 2# loaf...this is wonderful!! Just click on the Challah loaf to take yourself to the Bakery!!

That's one less item for you to have to worry about, isn't it?? On to dessert!!

The Apple Bundt Cake with Caramel Glaze is a wonderful end to this delightful meal!! We make this easier by starting with a box mix...a simple yellow cake, at that! Start by well greasing a bundt pan, and coating it with flour. Make sure to thoroughly coat it...we don't want the cake to stick!! Peel and dice 2 nice sized apples, your favorite...Delicous, Granny Smith, Gala, what have you! Whatever amount of oil the mix calls for, melt the same amount of butter in a medium skillet. Add the diced apples with a teaspoon of cinnamon, a 1/4 teaspoon of nutmeg and just a nice pinch of ground cloves. Now, to doctor up the cake mix! No one will ever know!! Place the mix in your mixing bowl. Instead of 3 eggs, add 4. Instead of the oil, use the melted and cooled butter with the apples. Instead of water, use milk. Toss in a nice handful of chopped pecans and dried cranberries. Pour into the bundt pan, spread to level out. Bake at 350 for 75 to 90 minutes, until a toothpick inserted comes out cleanly. When it's done, cool in the pan, on a rack, for 15 minutes. Carefully turn the cake out onto the serving platter. Set pieces of parchment or foil under the cake around the sides, to catch any extra glaze. We're getting ready to pour it on!!!

For the glaze, melt a stick of butter with a cup of brown sugar over medium heat. Bring to a boil, about 2 minutes. Add 1/4 cup of whole milk, stir and bring back to a boil. Add in 2 cups of sifted confectioners sugar, 1 teaspoon of vanilla extract and beat with a wooden spoon. Gotta act fast, now! Drizzle the glaze over the cake, letting it rain down the sides. And the middle...oh, so yum!

When the glaze has set, run a knife around the parchment and the bottom of the cake, to release the candy seal!!! Pull out the parchment! It's just beautiful!!! P.S. If you don't have time, I can make this for you. Hanukkah Special pricing $ 15 !! Oy, Vey! What a bargain!!

And, that, folks, is our simple Jewish Hanukkah Dinner!!! Have a wonderful Holiday!

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