Chicken Noodle Soup
Recipes from the Root Cellar
270 Fresh Ways to Enjoy Winter Vegetables
by Andrea Chesman

Serves 6

12 cups chicken broth (see homemade recipe below)
2 cups peeled and finely diced mixed celery root and carrots
2 cups chopped or shredded cooked chicken
6 ounces egg noodles (about 4 cups)
2 cups very thinly sliced kale (remove and discard tough stems)
Salt and freshly ground pepper

1.  Bring the broth to a boil in a large soup pot. Add the celery root and carrots and simmer until tender, about 20 minutes.

2. Add the chicken, noodles, and kale. Stir well and simmer until the noodles are tender, 15 to 20 minutes.

3. Season with salt and pepper. Serve hot.

Kitchen Note: Kale in soup gets less and less delightful each time it is reheated. If you expect to have leftovers, you can cook the kale in a little broth and add it to individual servings.

Chicken Broth

Makes 2-3 quarts

3-4 pounds chicken parts
1 large onion, chopped
1 celery root, peeled and chopped
4 garlic cloves
4 quarts water
Salt

1. Combine the chicken, onion, celery root, and garlic in a large soup pot. Add the water. Bring almost to a boil, then immediately reduce the heat and simmer gently, partially covered, for 2 hours.  Do not allow the broth to boil.

2. Strain and discard the vegetables. Remove the meat from the bones and save the meat for another use, such as chicken salad.

3. Chill the broth for several hours. Skim off the fat that rises to the top and hardens.

4. Season with salt, or leave unsalted to use as a base for soup and grain dishes. Use immediately, or refrigerate. The broth will keep for about 3 days in the refrigerator or 4 to 6 months in the freezer.

Kitchen Note: Boiling doesn’t ruin a broth—it just makes it cloudy.

New Years Eve–it’s an evening filled with the sound of champagne corks popping and the clinking of glasses in sparkling toasts. Sparkling wine is often great on it’s own, but with a few extra ingredients you can create a new flavor without losing the bubbles and fizz necessary to a New Year’s toast.

Blood Orange Sparkler
From Raising the Bar (Artisan) by Nick Mautone

Blood oranges are a seasonal treat: look for them from December to May. They are grown throughout the Mediterranean as well as in California.

Planning ahead: Chill the sparkling wine for at least 30 minutes before making the cocktails

Ingredients:
1 blood orange
3 teaspoons sugar
3 teaspoons sweet vermouth
One 750-milliliter bottle sparkling wine, chilled
Blood orange slices for garnish
Glassware: Wineglasses

1. Using a sharp knife, cut off and discard the ends of the blood orange. Stand it upright on a cutting board and slice the rind and white pith off the fruit using a gentle downward sawing motion, cutting away as little of the flesh as possible. Discard the rinds.

2. Cut the fruit crosswise into 1/2-inch slices. Divide the slices evenly among the 6 wineglasses.

3. Sprinkle 1/2 teaspoon sugar into each glass and muddle to extract the orange juice. Add 1/2 teaspoon vermouth to each glass and stir.

4. Divide the sparkling wine among the glasses, stir, garnish with blood orange slices, and serve.

Watch Anne Byrn today on Good Morning America with cakes from her latest book, The Cake Mix Doctor Bakes Gluten-Free. Today she’ll share an amazing gluten-free take on a chocolate pound cake–visit her website (CakeMixDoctor.com) for the recipe.

Old-Fashioned Chocolate Pound Cake with Peppermint Drizzle

I’m very lucky–other family members host our big gatherings, so when it comes to holiday cooking, all I have to make is dessert.

In researching options for this holiday season, a recipe for Pumpkin Cobbler caught my eye on KitchenScoop.com, the website of Desperation Dinners authors Alicia Ross and Beverly Mills. I decided to make it this past Thanksgiving.

The now-famous "magical cobbler"

While assembling the cobbler according to the recipe instructions, I was very confused. Why did the recipe say to place the crust mixture on the bottom, then read “The crust will not cover cobbler completely, but this is fine.” How would it cover the top at all if it was on the bottom?

The short answer? Because it’s magical! During the baking process, I peeked into the oven to discover the crust wrapped around the edges of the dish to envelop the top AND the bottom of the pumpkin mixture in a delicious, buttery crust!

The dish was a hit at Thanksgiving dinner. Now my whole family is calling it the “magical crust dessert,” and everyone wants to help bake it so they can see the “magic.” A holiday dish everyone is fighting to help make? That is definitely something to be thankful for!

Click here for the Pumpkin Cobbler recipe on KitchenScoop.com

These aren’t cookies you can bang out in an hour or two. They take the better part of a day (you may even want to make the dough the night before), a bit of patience, and some quality time with the rolling pin. But in the end, they are worth it: light and flaky, tangy from the cream cheese, crunchy from the caramelized sugar, and with a hint of exotic cardamom to put them over the top. They will make an elegant addition to a holiday cookie platter.

CARDAMOM CARAMEL PALMIERS

Photo by Sarah Kiino

From Chewy Gooey Crispy Crunchy Melt-in-Your-Mouth Cookies by Alice Medrich

INGREDIENTS

For the Dough:
2 ½ cups (11.25 ounces) unbleached all-purpose flour
2 tablespoons sugar
¼ teaspoon salt
½ pound (2 sticks) unsalted butter, cold
8 ounces cream cheese, cold

For the Filling:
1 cup (7 ounces) sugar
1 teaspoon ground cardamom
2 pinches salt

EQUIPMENT
Cookie sheets, ungreased or lined with foil, dull side up
Stand mixer with paddle attachment or food processor

If Using a Stand Mixer to Make the Dough

1. Combine the flour, sugar, and salt in the mixer bowl. Using the paddle attachment, mix briefly to distribute the ingredients. Cut each stick of butter into eight pieces and add them to the bowl. Mix on low speed until most of the mixture resembles very coarse bread crumbs with a few larger pieces the size of hazelnuts. Cut the cream cheese into 1-inch cubes and add them to the bowl. Mix on medium-low speed until the mixture is damp and shaggy looking and holds together when pressed with your fingers, 30 to 60 seconds. Dump the dough onto the work surface, scraping the bowl. Knead two or three times to incorporate any loose pieces. There should be large streaks of cream cheese.

If Using a Food Processor to Make the Dough

1. Combine the flour, sugar, and salt in a food processor and pulse a few times to mix. Cut the butter into ¾-inch cubes and add to the flour mixture. Pulse until the butter pieces range in size from coarse bread crumbs to hazelnuts. Cut the cream cheese into 1-inch cubes and add to the mixture. Pulse until the dough looks damp and shaggy and holds together when pressed with your fingers. Dump the dough onto the work surface, scraping the bowl. Knead two or three times to incorporate any loose pieces. There should be large streaks of cream cheese.

2. Divide the dough into 2 equal pieces and shape each into a 4-by-5-inch rectangular patty about 1-inch thick. Wrap and chill the dough until firm, at least 2 hours and up to 3 days.

3. Remove the dough from the refrigerator. If necessary, let the dough sit at room temperature until pliable enough to roll, but not too soft.

To Make the Filling

Mix the sugar with the cardamom. Transfer 2 tablespoons of the mixture to a small cup and mix thoroughly with the salt. Set aside. Divide the remaining cardamom sugar equally between 2 bowls; you will use one bowl for each piece of dough you roll out.

To Make the Cookies

1. Sprinkle the work surface liberally with some of the cardamom sugar from one of the bowls. Set 1 piece of the dough on the sugared surface and sprinkle it with more cardamom sugar. Turn the dough frequently and resugar it and the work surface liberally as you roll the dough into a 24-by-8-inch rectangle that’s less than 1/8 inch thick. Use the cardamom sugar generously to prevent sticking and to ensure that the cookies will caramelize properly in the oven. Trim the edges of the rectangle evenly.

2. Mark the center of the dough with a small indentation. Starting at one short edge, fold about 2 ½ inches of dough almost one-third of the distance to the center mark. Without stretching or pulling, loosely fold the dough over two more times, leaving a scant ¼ -inch space at the center mark. Likewise, fold the other end of the dough toward the center 3 times, leaving a tiny space at the center. The dough should now resemble a tall, narrow open book. Fold one side of the dough over the other side, as if closing the book. You should have an 8-layer strip of dough about 2 ½ inches wide and 8 inches long.

3. Sprinkle the remaining cardamom sugar under and on top of the dough. Roll gently from one end of the dough to the other to compress the layers and lengthen the strip to about 9 inches. Wrap the dough loosely in wax paper (not plastic wrap, which might cause moisture to form on the outside of the dough and will dissolve the sugar). Refrigerate the dough for at least 30 minutes and up to 4 hours. Meanwhile, repeat with the second piece of dough and the second bowl of cardamom sugar.

4. Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F. Position racks in the upper and lower thirds of the oven.

5. Remove 1 piece of dough from the refrigerator, unwrap it, and use a sharp knife to trim the ends evenly. Cut 1/3-inch slices (I mark the dough at 1-inch intervals and cut 3 slices from each inch) and arrange them 1 ½ inches apart on the ungreased or lined cookie sheets. Bake for 8 to 10 minutes, until the undersides are deep golden brown. Rotate the pans from top to bottom and from front to back halfway through the baking time to ensure even baking.

6. Remove the pans from the oven. Turn the cookies over. Sprinkle each one with a pinch or two of the salted cardamom sugar, reserving half the sugar for the second round of baking. Return the sheets to the oven and bake for another 3 to 5 minutes, until the cookies are deep golden brown. Rotate the pans and watch the cookies carefully at this stage to prevent burning. If the cookies brown at different rates, remove the dark ones and let the lighter ones continue to bake. For lined pans, set the pans or just the liners on racks to cool; for unlined pans, use a metal spatula to transfer the cookies to racks. Making sure the cookie sheets are completely cool, repeat with the second piece of dough. Cool the cookies completely before storing. May be kept in an airtight container for up to 4 days.

Those with gluten intolerance can enjoy the cinnamon goodness of Snickerdoodles too with Anne Byrn’s The Cake Mix Doctor Bakes Gluten-Free.  Try this easy-to-follow recipe:

Snickerdoodle Cookies (Gluten Free)
From The Cake Mix Doctor Bakes Gluten-Free by Anne Byrn

1 package (15 ounces) yellow gluten-free cake mix
1/4 cup lightly packed light brown sugar
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
8 tablespoons butter (1 stick), cut into tablespoons
1 large egg
1 tablespoon pure vanilla extract
1 tablespoon cinnamon sugar (see below)

1. Place a rack in the center of the oven and preheat the oven to 375˚F. Set aside 2 ungreased baking sheets.

2. Place the cake mix, brown sugar, and cinnamon in the bowl of a food processor fitted with a steel blade and pulse once to combine. Add the butter to the processor and pulse until the mixture is crumbly, 15 to 20 pulses. Add the egg and vanilla and pulse until the dough comes together in a large ball, 10 pulses.

3. Scoop the cookie dough into 1-inch balls and arrange 12 balls on each baking sheet, 2 to 3 inches apart. Sprinkle the top of each ball of dough with a little of the cinnamon sugar. If you want crisp 3-inch cookies, press down on the balls with the bottom of a small glass to flatten them. If you prefer chewy 2 1/2-inch cookies, do not flatten the balls of dough.

4. Place the baking sheets in the oven and bake the cookies until golden brown, 8 to 12 minutes. Using a metal spatula, immediately transfer the cookies to wire racks to cool completely, 15 minutes.

Keep it fresh! Store the cookies in a cookie jar or tin at room temperature for up to a week. Freeze the cookies, wrapped in aluminum foil or in a resealable plastic bag for one month. Let the cookies thaw on the kitchen counter overnight before serving.

Cinnamon Sugar:

To make your own cinnamon sugar, stir 1 tablespoon of ground cinnamon into 1/4 cup of granulated sugar.  Spoon the mixture into a clean spice jar with a shaker lid and store it with your spices.

For more cake and cookie recipes this holiday season, visit CakeMixDoctor.com.

The holiday season is here and for some that means intense cookie making.  Fortunately, Chewy Gooey Crispy Crunchy Melt-in-Your-Mouth Cookies by Alice Medrich has arrived and it’s one of those books that inspires you to go on a baking spree. It has everything from biscotti to macaroons to shortbread to classic chocolate chip cookies.  I already made the Snicker Doodles, which seem holiday-ish to me with the cinnamon sugar coating (which pairs rather nicely with eggnog).  And yes, they really were “melt-in-my-mouth” delicious…

Snicker Doodles

From Chewy Gooey Crispy Crunchy Melt-in-Your-Mouth Cookies by Alice Medrich

(Makes about sixty 2 1/2-in. cookies)

3 cups (13.5 ounces) unbleached all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons cream of tartar
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 pound (2 sticks) unsalted butter, softened
1 1/2 cups (10.5 ounces) plus 2 tablespoons sugar
2 large eggs
2 teaspoons ground cinnamon

1. Preheat the oven to 400˚F. Position racks in the upper and lower thirds of the oven.

2. Combine the flour, cream of tartar, baking soda, and salt in a bowl and mix thoroughly with a whisk or fork.

3. In a medium mixing bowl with an electric mixer, beat the butter with the 1 1/2 cups sugar until smooth and creamy. Beat in the eggs just until blended. Add the flour mixture and stir or beat on low speed just until incorporated. Gather the dough into a ball and wrap in plastic wrap.  Refrigerate until firm, at least 30 minutes.

4. Mix the remaining 2 tablespoons sugar and cinnamon in a small bowl. Form level tablespoons of dough into 1-inch balls. Roll the balls in the cinnamon sugar and place 2 inches apart on the lined or greased cookie sheets.

5. Bake for 10 to 12 minutes, until the cookies puff and begin to settle down. Rotate the cookie sheets from top to bottom and from front to back halfway through the baking time to ensure even baking. For lined pans, set the pans or just the liners on racks to cool; for unlined pans, use a metal spatula to transfer the cookies to racks. Cool the cookies completely before stacking or storing. May be kept in an airtight container for several days.

Upgrades: For Nutmeg Snicker Doodles, substitute 1 teaspoon lightly packed freshly grated nutmeg for the cinnamon.

In Jessica Harper’s newest video, she sends her “less crabby second cousins” on a mission to find the perfect cookie recipe for her annual cookie swap. The result: Almond Yule Logs. Cookie crisis solved!

Visit Jessica Harper’s website at thecrabbycook.com

Another delicious latke recipe from Judy Bart Kancigor’s Cooking Jewish. Click here for more Hanukkah posts.

MALAYSIAN LATKES
From Cooking Jewish: 532 Great Recipes from the Rabinowitz Family (Workman) by Judy Bart Kancigor

1/2 cup chopped unsalted cashews or peanuts
1/4 cup chopped mint or flat-leaf parsley, or a combination
1/4 cup finely chopped red bell pepper
2 tablespoons finely chopped jalapeño pepper, seeded and deveined
2 teaspoons grated fresh ginger
1 1/2 to 2 teaspoons kosher (coarse) salt, or to taste
1 teaspoon curry powder
2 large eggs, beaten
2 large baking potatoes (12 ounces each), cut into wedges
1 medium-size onion, coarsely chopped
1/4 cup all-purpose flour
Vegetable oil, for frying
Cucumber Dip with Yogurt Sauce (recipe below)

1. Combine the cashews, mint, bell pepper, jalapeño, ginger, salt, curry powder, and eggs in a large bowl, and mix well. Set it aside.

2. Shred the potatoes and onion together in a food processor fitted with the shredding disk. Squeeze between several changes of paper towels to release as much liquid as possible. Add the potato/onion mixture to the egg mixture, and combine well. Stir in the flour.

3. Pour enough oil into a large, heavy skillet to cover the bottom, and heat it over medium-high heat. When the oil is quite hot but not smoking, add a scant 1/4 cup batter per latke and flatten them with a fork. Fry only as many latkes as will fit in the skillet without crowding. Cook until crisp and brown, 2 to 3 minutes on each side. Transfer the latkes to paper towels to drain. Keep the latkes warm while frying the remainder.

4. Serve immediately, with the Cucumber dip. Makes about 16.

(Cacik) Cucumber Dip with Minty Yogurt Sauce

1 English (hothouse) cucumber
Kosher (coarse) salt
2 cups plain yogurt
1 to 2 teaspoons crushed garlic
2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
1 teaspoon toasted cumin seeds

1. Grate the cucumber coarsely into a colander. Sprinkle generously with salt, and allow to stand for 15 to 20 minutes. Then rinse off the salt and let drain.

2. Combine the yogurt, garlic, olive oil, cumin seeds, and salt to taste in a bowl, and whisk until smooth and creamy.

3. Pat the cucumbers dry, and combine them with the yogurt sauce. Taste and adjust the salt. Cover, and chill for at least 1 hour.

Hanukkah starts early this year, but Judy Bart Kancigor, author of Cooking Jewish, is always ready with a creative and delicious recipes! She’s back again with her menu for this year’s Hanukkah party.

We’re still nibbling on leftover turkey, and here comes Hanukkah already! This year our Chavurah (a group of friends that meets monthly for dining and dishing) is having a Hanukkah tapas party. What a great idea!

Ever notice that the hors d’oevres are more fun than the meal? A meal of hors d’oevres – what a concept! I am in charge of the latkes, so I’m making minis: my Crispy, Crunchy Potato Latkes with Aunt Hilda’s Cherry Chili Dipping Sauce (below) and, for something really different, Malaysian Latkes accompanied by Cucumber Dip with Minty Yogurt Sauce.

I’ll do a few the low-fat way too for the die-hards and…okay, okay, I’ll bring some applesauce and sour cream for the traditionalists. Happy Hanukkah!

Judy Bart Kancigor

CRISPY, CRUNCHY POTATO LATKES WITH AUNT HILDA’S CHERRY CHILI DIPPING SAUCE

From Cooking Jewish: 532 Great Recipes from the Rabinowitz Family (Workman) by Judy Bart Kancigor

2 pounds baking potatoes
2 large eggs
1/2 medium-size onion, coarsely chopped
1/2 medium-size firm apple, peeled and coarsely chopped
1 1/2 teaspoons kosher (coarse) salt, or to taste
1/8 teaspoon white pepper
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 to 1/2 cup all-purpose flour or matzah meal
Peanut or canola oil, for frying
Aunt Hilda’s Cherry Chili Dipping Sauce, for serving

1. Peel the potatoes and cut them into 1-inch cubes. To keep them white and release some of the starch, submerge them in a bowl of water while you’re preparing the remaining ingredients.

2. Place the eggs in a blender. Add the onion, apple, salt, white pepper and baking powder. Drain the potatoes and squeeze them dry in paper towels. Add enough of the potatoes to fill the blender (all 2 pounds may not fit). Turn on the blender, and pushing down on the sides with a rubber spatula (careful you don’t blend the spatula — there is no rubber in this recipe), blend until the potatoes just move around. Add the remaining potatoes as you’re blending, but do not over-process or make it too smooth. The texture should resemble applesauce. (This takes about 6 seconds in my Osterizer.)

3. Transfer the batter to a large bowl and add the flour. The batter should be flowing, but not too thin.

4. Now for the real secret of my very crisp latkes: Pour enough oil into a large skillet to coat the bottom. Heat the oil over medium-high heat until it is quite hot but not smoking. Use a serving spoon to scoop up the batter (about 2 tablespoons per scoop), hold the spoon about 8 inches above the pan, and spill it all at once. Splat! Remove your hand quickly so you don’t burn yourself. (Like tennis, it’s all in the wrist.) The batter will splatter, forming holes … the better to hold the dipping sauce. Repeat with as many as will fit in the skillet without crowding. Cook until browned, about 1 minute. Then flip them over and cook the other side for 1 minute.

5. Drain the latkes well on paper towels, and keep them warm while you cook the remainder, adding more oil as needed.

6. Serve immediately, with Aunt Hilda’s Cherry Chili Dipping Sauce.

Note: If you want to make the batter ahead, to cook later or the next day, prepare it through Step 2 (do not add the flour), and pour the mixture into a tight-fitting glass jar (do not use plastic ware). Tap the jar on the counter to release any air bubbles, cover the batter well with a thick layer of flour, and refrigerate for up to 24 hours. When you are ready to use it, remove and discard the flour with the black layer that has formed beneath it. Transfer the batter to a large bowl, stir in the flour, and proceed with Step 4 using fresh flour.

Makes about 3 dozen latkes.

Aunt Hilda’s Cherry Chili Dipping Sauce (without the chicken!)

1 can (16 1/2 ounces) pitted black cherries, undrained
3/4 cup raisins
1 cup dry sherry or white wine
2 bottles (12 ounces each) chili sauce, such as Heinz
1/3 cup (packed) dark brown sugar

Slice the cherries and combine them with their liquid, the raisins, sherry, chili sauce, and brown sugar in a medium saucepan. Reduce this mixture over medium-high heat until it’s as thick as you like it, about 20 minutes.

For more Hanukkah recipes, visit cookingjewish.com or read Judy’s blog post from last year.