So Rosh Hashanah dinner, interrupted by the sad news of the death of a great and brilliant Jewish woman.
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Really one of my best chicken soups ever. Using my favorite bird, poulet rouge, a couple of backs, a few wings, necks, etc. etc. And then poaching 2 thighs in the stock prior to service upped the chicken-y flavor even more. The matzoh balls are cooked in salted, boiling water early in the day, then added to the soup for like 10 minutes before plating. Just great - Significant Eater said she could just have this for dinner. Multiple servings, that is.
The potato kugel also came out very nice. I squeezed the living hell out of the potatoes and onions after they were grated, and used the potato starch gathered from that, with some additional. Since I only had a schtickle of chicken fat available, the schmaltz was mostly duck fat that was collected from a batch of confit. Oh - that didn't hurt one bit here, nor in those matzoh balls.
The dish which causes even Talmudic scholars to wonder what all the fuss is about (some might get the reference). But lemme say, for a dish that we don't like, this one came out okay. No prunes, just dried apricots, raisins, cranberries, and sour cherries. Sweet potatoes, carrots and onions were the fresh veg. And in lieu of orange juice (which many recipes call for and I didn't have), I used riesling and stock, with a tiny bit of brown sugar. No honey was harmed in the making of this tsimmes. I liked it more than she, but still - it worked.
Brisket, its gravy, and kugel. We drank a Cabernet from our wedding year.
