Sunday, March 21, 2010

Sundays with Marlena Spieler-- Putting the schnit back in Schnitzel

Salt, pepper, and lemon juice on the pounded-out chicken breasts
The dredging station..I just do the egg and then the flour/matzo meal blend.
After dredging, I put them on a rack, over a cookie sheet, and let them set up for 15 min.
I fry in a blend of olive and canola oil...be sure to drain on and blot with paper towels after!
I simply served with a small red baker with sour cream and Marlena's sweet and sour cuke salad...which I think Eileen is making or has already made. It is perfect with this. Sweet and sour red cabbage would be great too!


Schnitzel was originally made using veal and pork. Apparently Jewish folk appreciate the turkey variety. I love schnitzel..any way, any how. I decided to use chicken though..because I had these fabulous chicken breasts from Corti Brothers. Here is the recipe:

Ingredients: Serves Four

4 boneless turkey or chicken breast fillets, pounded to about 1/4 " thick each
juice of one lemon..or maybe a bit more :)
2 chopped garlic cloves
6 TBS all purpose flour
1/2 cup matzo meal
1 tsp paprika (I used hot paprika)
1 TBS water
2 eggs..blended lightly
a mixture of canola and olive oil for shallow frying (see photo)
salt and freshly ground black pepper (for the dredge and for on top of the uncooked meat)
lemon wedges to serve (lemon makes all the difference squeezed over top)

1. Lay each fillet between wax paper or inside of a large ziplock bag and pound to flatten. Use a rolling pin or the smooth end of a meat mallet. If the chicken falls apart..."glue" it back on with a tap or two.

2. Sprinkle salt, pepper, and lemon juice over the pounded fillets.

3. Arrange two shallow dishes for dredging. One with the blended eggs and one with the mixture of flour and matzo meal...I also added the hot paprika to this mixture. (my DIL gave me that dredging set, which includes three, ...came from Pampered Chef).

4. Dip each fillet into the eggs and then over to the dredge. You'll have to work quickly..make sure to press the dredging mixture into the fillet.

5. Then put fillet's on a drying rack..to kind of "set up" before frying. Not for too long.

6. Heat pan with oil mixture...when you can see little bubbles on the bottom, you are ready to fry! Be very careful when adding fillet's to hot oil. As they fried, I used a spatula to sort of push the hot oil on top of the meat..so it cooked the top almost as it cooked the bottom. The color should be golden brown...not dark brown! Watch the heat. A heavy cast iron pan would be perfect for this. Again...hot oil so be careful. It doesn't take long to cook at all.

7. Be sure to put a clean towel or paper towels down on surface and lay cooked fillet on top...then blot to get most of the oil off. You will probably have to cook one or two at a time. You can leave the prepared schnitzel in the oven on 175 degrees until the others are done.

Enjoy! Be sure and check out the Jewish Cooking project blogger's out to see what they cooked for Sunday with Marlena.... Just the Two of us and Sacramento Spice. I know it will be delish.

Sunday, March 14, 2010

Sundays with Marlena Spieler-Green Calcutta Curry with Chicken

I got some fantastic chicken breasts at Corti Brothers today. Perfect for this dish
I had coconut milk but forgot to buy fresh pineapple so canned did the job just fine.
I used some pita bread to dip into this fragrant, herbalicious and spicy sauce. Basmati rice would be great with it as well.
The chicken was tender...the dish was fresh. I like it "hot" so added more peppers.


Isn't this an Indian dish? There are Jews in India. They were a wondering people.


Ingredients: Serves 4

4 chopped garlic cloves
1 tsp chopped fresh ginger
2 or 3 chopped fresh chilies (I used jalapeno)
1/2 bunch freshly chopped cilantro (save some for garnish)
1 chopped onion
1 lemon..juice of
1/2 tsp of ground cumin
1/2 tsp of curry powder
2 pinches of ground clove
a pinch of cinnamon
lg pinch of ground coriander
1 large skinned chicken breast, cut into bite sized pieces (or 2 smaller ones)
2 TBS vegetable oil
1 cup chicken stock
1 cup coconut milk
1 TBS sugar
1/4 pineapple, peeled and chopped (or use a small can already chopped..and drained)
2-3 sprigs of fresh mint, sliced thinly
salt to taste


Puree the garlic, ginger, chillies, fresh cilantro, onion, lemon juice, curry powder, cumin, clove, ground coriander, and salt using a food processor.

Toss the chicken with about 2 TBS of this mixture and set the chicken aside.

Heat oil in pan and add remaining spice mixture and mix till if forms a paste...on med. high.

Stir the stock, cinnamon, coconut milk and sugar to the pan..bring to boil then reduce to simmer.

Stir the chicken into the sauce and cook for 2 minutes. Stir in the mint and the juice of 1/4 of a lemon. Taste...add more salt, lemon, or mint if needed. **you could also cut up half a banana and stir that into the sauce until it melts. the recipe also called for golden raisins but we don't like those so left them out.

Be sure to check out what my fellow blogger buddies have cooked up from Marlena's Jewish Cooking today. Eileen at Just the Two of Us and Shankari at Sacramento Spice.

Friday, March 12, 2010

Sunday, March 07, 2010

Sundays with Marlena Spieler-The Menu

Chocolate Babka
Linzertorte with housemade ice cream
So they left out the Z-Koont is a good name too.
The Menu
House made pickles!
Zchug, sweet/sour cucumber salad with flatbread and baba ghanoush
Matzo Ball Soup
Brik A'louef with stuffed courgettes and housemade harissa. It was served standing up between the courgettes! You try cooking an egg over easy that you cannot see! The salmon inside was also delightful. Thanks Gayle!!
Brisket with cabbage and kishke...perfect!


Photo's of the "Jewish Menu" from Oak Cafe at American River College's Culinary Arts Program courtesy of Judith R. Scott.

Last week, my adaptation of Marlena Spieler's recipes were featured. My husband and I...with his parents went to lunch there on Friday. It was a fantastic and delicious presentation. The students "kicked ass" on the menu. So very gourmet! Yes....Gourmet Jewish Food! My thanks to Teresa Urkofsky for asking me to present a menu. I was verklempt! From so much pleasure, one could plotz! {the desserts were inspired by Clarrisa Hyman}

Check out my blogger pals for their take on Jewish Cooking this week! Go to Just the Two of Us and Sacramento Spice.