Shabbos descends with alarming (and thrilling) speed in the winter. With candle-lighting as early as 4:30 p.m., not only do you need delicious food that will keep your children full and warm through bedtime, but the meal also needs to be cooked in advance, or require very little prep time, so as to insure that the cook can welcome Shabbos in a calm, happy, and mindful state.
Winter Shabbos meals practically demand the right soup, and below is a recipe for a heart-warming chicken soup that will get your meal started off right. Chicken soup is delicious, has been proven to fight the common cold (when the broth is made from the bones), and is the only soup one of my children will eat. This soup can be made in advance and frozen, or put up on Thursday night. (If you decide to freeze it in advance, remove the vegetables and freeze them separately.)
One of the loveliest aspects of Shabbos in the winter is spending quality time with older children after the seuda. I enjoy preparing a special dish (or having the older children prepare it themselves) and passing it around while discussing the parsha or the week’s events. I have chosen popcorn (healthy!) with chocolate, pretzels, and peanuts (not as healthy, but totally yummy).
Chicken Soup
4 quarts of stock (use the potato stock from the mashed potatoes, recipe below)
chicken (if you have any leftover chicken from last Shabbos — shred, freeze, and place it into your soup this Shabbos — or shred the chicken from the wings or whatever parts of the chicken your family doesn’t normally eat)
2 carrots, sliced
1 celery stalk, diced
1 onion, diced
2 tsp. salt, or to taste
1 tsp. pepper
1 T. dried parsley
Boil stock, chicken, carrots, celery, onion, salt, pepper, and parsley. If you are using raw chicken, cook at a boil for 30 minutes. Voila — you have delicious and easy soup.
Rotisserie Chicken Made in the Oven
1 whole chicken (or more, depending how many people you are feeding)
1 T. salad dressing spices (or Old Bay Seasoning, or a combination of parsley, rosemary, and thyme)
1 tsp. salt
1/4 tsp. pepper
1 lemon, sliced
Preheat oven to 350 F. Place the whole chicken on a roasting rack (or a cookie cooling rack, or a V rack if you have it) in a disposable pan. (If you’re doing one chicken, it can be in a 9x13-inch pan. If you’re doing more than that, you can put them into an 18x13-inch pan.) If you’re using a nondisposable pan, line it with foil first, because otherwise it’s very hard to clean. Put the rack in the pan and put the chicken breast side up (the wings are down). Put the sliced lemon in the cavity (this makes the chicken very juicy). Mix the salt, pepper, and salad dressing spices together, and then rub three-quarters of them on top, some under the skin and some inside the cavity. Bake for 2 hours. If you have an oven thermometer, you can check your chicken’s inside temperature: 165 F is ideal.
Take the chicken out of the oven, remove the lemon slices and discard, and let rest for about 15 minutes before serving. (If you are transferring to a hot plate, transfer now, and take it off the hot plate about 10 minutes before serving.)
Mashed Potatoes
The industry standard amount of potatoes per person is 4 ounces. However, that doesn’t hold true for mashed potatoes, because everyone loves them! I don’t know why, but there’s something about mashed potatoes (especially garlic mashed potatoes) that leads people to heap second and third servings onto their plates.
To make a very creamy mashed potatoes, I suggest using Yukon Gold potatoes. (If you already have potatoes, you can use whatever you have. But if you’re shopping and all things are equal, pick Yukon Gold; it has an excellent texture when mashed.) The potatoes can be made Thursday night, or at least the potatoes can be boiled on Thursday night to make Friday preparations easier.
3 pounds Yukon Gold potatoes, washed well (this is so you can use the cooking water for stock afterwards)
1 tsp. salt
1/2 c. almond milk (I don’t recommend Rich’s whip for mashed potatoes, since it contains sugar)
1/4 c. margarine
2 tsp. salt
1/2 tsp. pepper
Put the potatoes in a pot and cover with water. Bring to a boil, and cook for about 1 to 1.5 hours. If you want to reduce the boiling time, you can peel and cut the potatoes before placing them in the pot, but I find it faster to boil them first and then afterwards remove the skin. After boiling, pour the stock into your soup pot (or refrigerate until you are ready to make soup).
Let the potatoes cool enough so you can handle them and then remove the skin (this is a great activity for younger children). Add margarine (if the potatoes are still slightly warm, the margarine will melt). Then add the rest of the ingredients. (Some people like to boil the almond milk and margarine, but I just find it an extra step. If the potatoes are cold, however, then melting the margarine is useful.) If you have a potato masher, mash away — I also find this a good activity for any kitchen helpers I might have.
Sautéed Vegetables
1 T. oil
1 onion, julienned
3 zucchinis, julienned to about the same size as the onion
1 tsp. salt
1/4 tsp. pepper
In a sauté pan, heat the oil. Add the onion and sauté until translucent. Add the zucchini, salt, and pepper and continuing sautéing for about 10–12 minutes until the zucchini is brown.
Homemade Chocolate, Pretzel, and Peanut Popcorn
10 c. popcorn (if you can make your own, go ahead, otherwise buy some)
1 c. roasted peanuts (or honey-roasted peanuts, roasted pecans, or whatever nut you prefer)
2 c. broken pretzel sticks (or miniature pretzels)
4 ounces white candy coating (I find the Wilton white candy coating tastes better than the parve white chocolate chips), coarsely chopped
4 ounces chocolate chips
On a foil-lined cookie sheet, combine the popcorn, peanuts (or other nuts), and pretzel sticks. Melt the white candy coating in a double boiler or in the microwave (if you are risk-taker like I am, you can just put it on a pot with low heat and constantly stir, but NO MATTER WHAT do not leave the stove or the chocolate might burn). When melted, drizzle over the popcorn mixture (you can drizzle with a spoon, or you can put the white chocolate into a ziplock bag, snip a small hole off one of the corners and drizzle from the bag). Melt the dark chocolate the same way. (Either in the same pot, or you can melt both white and dark chocolates in separate bowls in the microwave 10 seconds at a time until melted. Don’t put them in the same bowl, or you won’t have 2 colors of chocolate to drizzle.) Put the cookie sheet in a cool place until the chocolate is set. Then place the popcorn in ziplock bags to be enjoyed at your leisure.
Bracha Shor is the owner and executive chef of Sweet and Good Catering. She can be reached at bshor@sweetandgoodcatering.com or 410-900-6640. Questions and comments are welcome.
