The Artisan Jewish Deli at Home
Page 10
Shred or dice the chicken and place it in a large bowl.
If using plum tomatoes, cut them in half lengthwise, remove the core and seeds, and then cut into ½-inch dice. If using cherry tomatoes, cut them in half, leaving the seeds intact. Add the tomatoes, along with the cucumber, parsley, thyme, pepper, and the remaining ½ teaspoon salt, to the bowl with the chicken. Using a rubber spatula, mix until thoroughly combined. Add the mayonnaise and lemon juice and mix again to thoroughly combine.
Coarsely chop the cracklings. Just before serving, mix the cracklings into the salad, or reserve them and garnish each portion with about 2 tablespoons of the cracklings.
Serve the chicken salad immediately, or cover and refrigerate until ready to serve. The chicken salad can be made up to 3 days in advance.
Autumn Chicken Salad with Roasted Red Peppers
Serves 4
Like the turning leaves on autumn trees, this seasonal chicken salad variation takes on a brilliant reddish hue from an infusion of Ajvar, the Balkan roasted red pepper and eggplant puree. Color also comes from cayenne and more red pepper. The recipe calls for roasted peppers, but finely chopped raw red bell peppers will work, too, especially for those who prefer more crunch. For a milder flavor, omit the cayenne.
1 pound boneless, skinless chicken breasts, trimmed of fat
2 tablespoons plus ½ teaspoon kosher salt
2 Roasted Red Peppers, coarsely chopped
1 clove garlic, minced
¼ teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
¼ teaspoon cayenne pepper (optional)
2 tablespoons mayonnaise
2 tablespoons Ajvar
Place the chicken breasts in a medium saucepan and add enough cold water to cover the chicken by 2 inches. Add 2 tablespoons of the salt. Bring to a boil over high heat. Decrease the heat to medium-low and simmer the chicken until it reaches an internal temperature of 160°F on an instant-read thermometer and is no longer pink inside, about 10 minutes. Drain and rinse the cooked chicken breasts under cold water until cool to the touch, then pat dry with paper towels.
Shred or dice the chicken and place it in a large bowl. Add the peppers, garlic, the remaining ½ teaspoon salt, the black pepper, and cayenne, if using, along with the mayonnaise and ajvar. Using a rubber spatula, mix thoroughly to combine.
Serve immediately, or cover and refrigerate until ready to serve. The chicken salad can be made up to 3 days in advance.
Winter Chicken Salad with Apple, Cranberry, and Preserved Walnuts
Serves 4
Preserved walnuts, jarred and packed in sweet syrup, are the magic ingredient here. They can often be found in Russian markets along with the jams and jellies. You can substitute candied walnuts, and the syrup used for candying, if you strike out. Tart, chewy dried cranberries, aromatic caraway seeds, and chopped apple are the other keys to this unusual seasonal dish.
1 pound boneless, skinless chicken breasts, trimmed of fat
2 tablespoons plus ½ teaspoon kosher salt
1 medium-firm apple (such as Jonagold, Honeycrisp, or McIntosh)
Finely grated zest and juice of 1 small lemon
½ cup dried cranberries
6 preserved walnuts, finely chopped
3 tablespoons mayonnaise
1 tablespoon preserved walnut syrup
1 teaspoon caraway seeds
⅛ teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
Place the chicken breasts in a medium saucepan and add enough cold water to cover the chicken by 2 inches. Add 2 tablespoons of the salt. Bring to a boil over high heat. Decrease the heat to medium-low and simmer the chicken until it reaches an internal temperature of 160°F on an instant-read thermometer and is no longer pink inside, about 10 minutes. Drain and rinse the cooked chicken breasts under cold water until cool to the touch, then pat dry with paper towels.
Shred or dice the chicken and place it in a large bowl.
Cut the apple in half, remove the core, and cut the apple into ¼-inch dice. Immediately toss the apple with the lemon juice and zest to keep it from browning. Add the apple, along with the juice and zest, to the chicken in the bowl. Add the dried cranberries and walnuts.
In a small bowl, combine the mayonnaise, walnut syrup, the remaining ½ teaspoon salt, the caraway seeds, and pepper. Using a rubber spatula, fold the mayonnaise dressing into the chicken mixture and mix thoroughly to combine.
Serve immediately, or cover and refrigerate until ready to serve. The chicken salad can be made up to 3 days in advance.
Cucumber Salad with Sour Cream–Dill Dressing or Zuke’s Ranch Dressing
Serves 6
The trick to keeping a cucumber salad from becoming too watery is to use salt to extract excess liquid from the cucumbers. That’s why this recipe calls for combining salt with the sliced cukes and letting the mixture sit for at least an hour before making the salad. Pickling salt is preferred because it contains no additives. You may substitute kosher salt, but double the quantity because it is much lighter by volume. There’s a choice of dressings for this salad, each with its own charms: a sour cream–dill version balanced with vinegar and the Zukin family’s home-style ranch dressing—laden with fresh herbs—that Nick grew up with.
2 large cucumbers, trimmed, peeled, and cut into ⅛-inch-thick slices (about 4 cups)
1 teaspoon pickling salt
Sour Cream–Dill Dressing or Zuke’s Ranch Dressing (recipes follow)
Toss the cucumbers with the pickling salt in a salad spinner or colander set over a large bowl. Refrigerate for at least 1 hour or overnight. Dry the cucumbers in the salad spinner or turn them out onto a work surface lined with paper towels and pat dry. Place the cucumbers in a large bowl and toss with the dressing of your choice. Cover and refrigerate for at least 1 hour before serving.
Sour Cream–Dill Dressing
½ large white onion, cut crosswise into thin slices (about 1¼ cups)
1 cup white vinegar
1 cup granulated sugar
½ cup sour cream
1 tablespoon whole milk
1 tablespoon finely chopped fresh dill
Combine the onion, vinegar, sugar, and 1 cup water in a small saucepan. Place over high heat and bring to a boil. Boil for 1 minute, stirring constantly. Remove from the heat and let cool to room temperature. Drain the onion, reserving the boiled vinegar mixture.
In a large bowl, whisk together the sour cream, milk, and dill, along with 1 tablespoon of the boiled vinegar mixture. Fold in the onion. Taste and add more salt, if desired. Cover and refrigerate until ready to toss with the cucumbers.
Zuke’s Ranch Dressing
½ cup mayonnaise
½ cup buttermilk
1 clove garlic, very finely chopped
½ teaspoon very finely chopped serrano chile (optional)
2 tablespoons finely chopped fresh dill
1 tablespoon finely chopped fresh flat-leaf parsley
1 tablespoon snipped fresh chives
1 tablespoon fresh thyme leaves (optional)
¼ teaspoon kosher salt
⅛ teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
In a medium bowl, whisk together the mayonnaise, buttermilk, garlic, chile, if using, dill, parsley, chives, thyme, if using, salt, and pepper. Cover and refrigerate for at least 1 hour to allow the flavors to meld, then toss with the cucumbers. Taste and add more salt, if desired.
Deli Chopped Salad with Russian Dressing
Serves 4
The “chef’s salad” is a mainstream lunch-hour throwback in which the salad greens play a secondary role to the smorgasbord of meats, cheese, hard-boiled egg, and dressing piled on top. This family-size recipe revamps the classic, relying on ingredients typically associated with Jewish delicatessen dining: pastrami, kosher salami, Russian dressing, and bagel chips that stand in for
croutons. For an attractive presentation, chop up the toppings and artfully arrange them over the lettuce in each individual salad bowl. If appearance is less important, everything can be tossed together before serving.
4 hearts of romaine lettuce, coarsely chopped
1 cup Russian Dressing
1 cup Spicy Pickle Relish
1 cup chopped Home-Oven Pastrami or Backyard Barbecue Pastrami
1 cup chopped kosher salami
1 cup chopped roast turkey
1 cup chopped Swiss cheese
4 hard-boiled eggs, chopped
40 Bagel Chips
Combine the romaine, Russian dressing, and pickle relish in a very large bowl. Using tongs, toss the romaine with the dressing until the lettuce is evenly coated. Divide the salad among large salad bowls. Add ¼ cup each of the pastrami, salami, turkey, and Swiss cheese to each bowl, arranging it in an attractive semicircle along the inside rim of the bowl. Dividing it evenly, arrange a portion of the chopped eggs along the inside rim. Scatter 10 bagel chips over the top of each salad. Serve immediately.
Alternatively, you can combine all of the ingredients in one large bowl and toss with the dressing, but if you are not serving the salad immediately, reserve the bagel chips until serving time.
Creamy Cabbage Slaw
Serves 4
Nick just can’t keep himself from tinkering with the recipes for traditional deli favorites—typically improving them in the process. To the standard cabbage-carrot-mayonnaise coleslaw trinity, this updated version adds cornichons, olives, pickled pepper, parsley, and black pepper. Once you taste it, the only question is whether you can ever go back to your old school slaw.
½ head green cabbage, cored and shredded (about 6 cups)
2 teaspoons kosher salt
1 carrot, coarsely grated
3 cornichons, finely chopped
2 garlic-stuffed green olives, finely chopped
1 small pickled pepper (such as banana wax pepper, sport pepper, or pepperoncini), stem removed and finely chopped
2 tablespoons chopped fresh flat-leaf parsley
3 tablespoons mayonnaise
⅛ teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
Place the cabbage in a salad spinner or a colander set over a large bowl. Toss the cabbage with the salt. Refrigerate for at least 1 hour or overnight. Rinse the cabbage under cool running water and then dry in a salad spinner or by turning out the cabbage onto a work surface lined with paper towels and patting the cabbage dry.
In a large bowl, toss together the cabbage, carrot, cornichons, olives, pickled pepper, parsley, mayonnaise, and black pepper until thoroughly combined. Taste and adjust the seasoning, adding more salt if desired. Cover and refrigerate for at least 30 minutes before serving to allow the flavors to meld.
Honey–Sweet Apple–Cabbage Slaw
Serves 4
Though slaw is an adaptation of the Dutch word for “salad,” the cabbage that is the foundation for most slaws was as cheap and plentiful in the Jewish shtetls of nineteenth-century Slavic Europe as it is in American backyard gardens today. This crunchy cabbage salad is enhanced by the addition of Granny Smith apples, though you can use any super-crispy seasonal apple variety. The honey-vinegar dressing adds a pleasantly sweet tang to the slaw.
½ head green or red cabbage, cored and shredded (about 6 cups)
2 teaspoons kosher salt
2 Granny Smith apples, halved and cut into matchsticks about ¼ inch thick
Juice of 1 lemon
¼ cup honey
4 teaspoons cider vinegar
½ teaspoon prepared horseradish
¼ cup mayonnaise, or as needed
Place the cabbage in a salad spinner or a colander set over a large bowl. Toss the cabbage with the salt. Refrigerate for at least 1 hour or overnight. Rinse the cabbage under cool running water and then dry in a salad spinner or by turning out the cabbage onto a work surface lined with paper towels and patting the cabbage dry.
In a large bowl, toss together the cabbage, apples, and lemon juice.
In a small bowl, whisk together the honey, vinegar, and horseradish and pour over the slaw. Mix until the slaw is evenly coated with the dressing. Add half the mayonnaise and mix it into the slaw. If not sufficiently dressed, add more of the mayonnaise, 1 tablespoon at a time, mixing after each addition. Taste and adjust the seasoning, adding more salt if desired. Cover and refrigerate for at least 1 hour to allow the flavors to meld. The cabbage slaw can be made up to 2 days in advance.
Zuke’s “Diet” Salad
Serves 4
In the “Big Salad” episode of Seinfeld, Elaine describes “a salad, only bigger, with lots of stuff in it” as a popular staple at diners and chain restaurants. In tribute to the Big Salad, Kenny & Zuke’s serves artisan-quality versions of these upsized lettuce-plus assemblages using freshly made dressings, house-cured meats, and anything else in the deli pantry that tastes good. Zuke’s “Diet” started as an inside joke that referred to a salad that may have been slightly less caloric than a Reuben sandwich but that was still unlikely to win approval from any organized weight-loss program. Nick created it for his own consumption at the deli. Customers asked about it, so Zuke’s “Diet” Salad was added to the Kenny & Zuke’s menu. Now anyone can make one.
Dressing
4 cloves garlic, peeled
½ cup whole milk
¼ cup sour cream
¼ cup mayonnaise
1 teaspoon white vinegar
2 teaspoons freshly squeezed lemon juice
Pinch of cayenne pepper
4 ounces blue cheese, crumbled
Kosher salt
Salad
4 hearts of romaine lettuce, coarsely chopped
2 cups Classic Chicken Salad
1 large cucumber, trimmed and thinly sliced (about 60 slices)
1 cup Pickled Red Onions
4 hard-boiled eggs, thinly sliced
40 Bagel Chips
To make the dressing, cook the garlic in a small pan of boiling water, or in a microwave-safe bowl half filled with water on medium power, for 30 seconds to mute the harsh garlic flavor. Drain the garlic and place it in a blender along with the milk, sour cream, mayonnaise, vinegar, lemon juice, and cayenne. Blend until smooth, about 30 seconds. Transfer the dressing to a small bowl, and then stir in the crumbled blue cheese. Taste and adjust the seasoning, adding salt if desired. Cover and refrigerate for at least 1 hour to allow the flavors to meld. The dressing can be made up to 3 days in advance.
To make the salad, put the romaine in a very large bowl. Pour the dressing over the top, and use tongs to toss the salad until the lettuce is evenly coated. Divide the salad evenly among large bowls. Arrange ½ cup chicken salad, about 15 cucumber slices, ¼ cup pickled red onions, 1 sliced egg, and 10 bagel chips in an attractive semicircle around the inside rim of each bowl. Serve immediately.
Deli Health Salad
Serves 4
It’s not your typical salad and, even with its foundation of shredded cabbage, it’s not quite a slaw either. But it definitely makes a light and nourishing first course that’s filled with crunchy garden vegetables. The low-fat dressing is a simple combination of dill, cider vinegar, sugar, vegetable oil, and mustard. It’s a breeze to make and, according to one of our testers, a “go-to dish” for healthy eating.
½ head green cabbage, cored and shredded (about 6 cups)
3 teaspoons kosher salt
1 carrot, coarsely grated (about 1 cup)
½ English cucumber, halved lengthwise and thinly sliced (about 1 cup)
4 celery stalks with leaves, stalks cut crosswise into thin slices (about 1 cup) and leaves coarsely chopped
1 tablespoon finely chopped fresh dill
½ cup cider vinegar
¼ cup granulated s
ugar
¼ cup vegetable oil
1 tablespoon whole-grain or stone-ground mustard
Place the cabbage in a salad spinner or a colander set over a large bowl. Toss the cabbage with 2 teaspoons of the salt. Refrigerate for at least 1 hour or overnight. Rinse the cabbage under cool running water and then dry in a salad spinner or by turning out the cabbage onto a work surface lined with paper towels and patting the cabbage dry.
In a large bowl, toss together the cabbage, carrot, cucumber, sliced celery and leaves, dill, and the remaining 1 teaspoon salt.
In a small saucepan, combine the vinegar and sugar. Bring to a boil over high heat, whisking until the sugar is dissolved. Remove from the heat, and whisk in the oil and mustard. Pour the dressing over the salad and mix until thoroughly combined. Cover and refrigerate for at least 30 minutes to allow the flavors to meld.
Chapter 4
Breakfast is the favorite meal of the day for many deli fanatics. It’s the ideal time to consume the sort of hearty dishes that offer the energy to jump-start an ambitious afternoon of yard chores—or the caloric shock to send you back home for a lazy day on the couch. The foundation of most morning meals: eggs, dairy, and, in the long-standing Jewish deli tradition, smoked and other types of cured fish.
At Kenny & Zuke’s and the other modern artisan delis we have visited, eager guests descend in droves and wait in line for a weekend brunch that routinely stretches from midmorning to late afternoon. Instead of braving the wait to eat brunch at a city deli, why not make your morning meal at home? A deli brunch is easily within reach of home cooks of all experience levels.