Around the Passover Table by Jayne Cohen Read Free Book Online Page A

tablespoons oil in a medium skillet, and add the sliced onions. (I use sliced onion here because chopped onion can be quite watery, so it doesn’t fry as well and has a tendency to burn when made in small amounts.) Sauté over medium heat, stirring occasionally, until rich golden-brown. Salt and pepper lightly and remove from the heat to cool.
    SCRAPE the sautéed onion and all the oil remaining in the skillet into a wooden bowl, and chop coarsely. Add the eggs and raw onion, and continue to chop until the mixture is well blended but not pasty. Mix in salt and lots of pepper as you chop, or blend in the seasonings afterwards with a fork. (Using a spoon will make the mixture too smooth.) The mixture should hold together loosely; you will probably need to add some of the schmaltz or a bit more oil. Chill well, but remove from the refrigerator at least 15 minutes before serving.

    Chicken Soup with Asparagus and Shiitakes, Served with Roasted Fennel Matzoh Balls
    yield: About 8 servings
    Set in spring, when the earth is renewing and reassembling herself, Passover is celebrated as a sort of second New Year, reflecting the rebirth of the Jews as a free people after the Exodus from Egypt. Children start the season with new clothes, and houses are thoroughly cleaned and freshened up to make way for the new foods and special sets of dishes reserved just for Passover use.
    And just as they delay until Rosh Hashanah their first tastes of the sweet new autumn fruits, so many Jews wait until Passover to savor the tender new vegetables of spring. In this delicious soup, woodsy shiitake mushrooms and early asparagus combine with delicate roasted fennel–flavored matzoh balls in a free-wheeling ode to spring.
    FOR THE ROASTED FENNEL MATZOH BALLS
    2 small to medium fennel bulbs (about 1 pound, weighed with 2 inches of top stalks)
    2 tablespoons olive oil
    1 ⁄ 2 cup chicken broth, preferably homemade or good-quality, low-sodium purchased
    1 tablespoon coarsely chopped garlic
    Salt and freshly ground black pepper
    3 ⁄ 4 teaspoon chopped fresh thyme
    1 ⁄ 4 teaspoon fennel seeds, ground in a spice grinder or with a mortar and pestle (optional)
    2 large eggs
    About 1 ⁄ 2 cup plus 2 tablespoons matzoh meal
    FOR THE SOUP
    7 cups homemade chicken broth (see Classic Chicken Soup or Almost Homemade Soup )
    1 ⁄ 4 pound fresh shiitake mushrooms, stems removed and reserved for another use or discarded, caps wiped clean with a damp paper towel and thinly sliced
    12 to 15 thin asparagus spears, trimmed and cut into 1-inch pieces
    PREPARE the matzoh balls: preheat the oven to 400°F. Cut off the fennel stalks and reserve for another use (excellent for fish broths and stews). If there are some attractive feathery fronds, set aside about 2 tablespoons of them to garnish the soup. Quarter the bulbs and trim away the stems, the bottom hard core, and any tough parts. Choose a shallow baking pan just large enough to fit the fennel in one layer and put in 1 tablespoon of the oil. Add the fennel and toss until well coated. Roast the fennel until pale gold, about 20 minutes, then turn the fennel over and roast for 10 minutes longer. Stir in the broth, garlic, salt and pepper to taste, and 1 ⁄ 2 teaspoon of the thyme. Cover the pan with foil and cook for 35 to 45 minutes longer, or until the fennel is very soft. Remove the foil, stir, and roast for a few more minutes to evaporate most of the liquid. Transfer the fennel and garlic to a food processor and chop coarsely. Add the remaining 1 ⁄ 4 teaspoon of thyme, salt (it will need about 1 teaspoon), pepper to taste, and the fennel seeds, if using. With the machine on, add the remaining 1 tablespoon oil through the feed tube.
    SCRAPE the mixture into a large bowl. You need 1 cup of puree, so nosh on any extra. Whisk in the eggs, one at a time. Add the matzoh meal and stir well. If you can form a lump into a very soft walnut-size ball (the batter will become firmer when you