Around the Shabbat Table by Jayne Cohen

Author:Jayne Cohen
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
Published: 2012-06-13T16:00:00+00:00

SEPHARDI-STYLE STUFFED MEATBALLS WITH CELERY ROOT AND CARROTS

yield: ABOUT 4 SERVINGS

In both Sephardi and Italian-Jewish cooking, there is a wealth of recipes for ground meat or poultry cooked with vegetables. Most familiar, of course, are meat-stuffed vegetables, baked or braised; meat is also mounded between vegetable slices, then breaded and fried, or prepared as in this recipe, combined with chopped vegetables, formed into meatballs, fried, and then braised.

I’ve cooked these meatballs over braised celery root and carrots, a favorite Sephardi combination. If you can’t find celery root—or if the knotted bulb appears too daunting—substitute fennel or celery, perhaps intensifying their flavors with a generous pinch of crushed fennel or celery seeds.

And instead of the green olives or roasted red peppers I’ve combined with the meat here, you can experiment with other cooked vegetables as well, such as chopped spinach, fried eggplant, or braised fennel. Adding vegetables to the meatballs both flavors and lightens them, making this method a particularly good choice when you are using ground chicken or turkey.

1 thick slice challah (about 1 inch) or good-quality white bread, crusts removed

21⁄2 cups chicken broth, preferably homemade, or good-quality, low-sodium purchased

1 tablespoon chopped garlic, plus 2 teaspoons minced

5 tablespoons chopped fresh parsley

1 large egg

1 pound ground chicken, turkey, or beef

1 cup pitted green olives, chopped (use good-quality brine- or oil-cured), or 1⁄2 cup minced roasted red pepper

Salt and freshly ground black pepper

11⁄2 pounds celery root (also called celeriac)

1 pound carrots, scraped

Olive oil, for frying

Juice of 2 lemons

1 teaspoon grated lemon zest

TEAR the bread into 2-inch pieces and put it into a small saucepan. Add 1⁄2 cup of the broth and cook over medium heat until the bread has absorbed all the liquid. Transfer the mixture to a food processor, together with the chopped garlic, 2 tablespoons of the parsley, and the egg and then process until well combined. Put the meat in a large bowl and add the pureed bread mixture, the olives or red peppers, and salt and pepper to taste. Knead with your hands until the ingredients are thoroughly amalgamated. If you have time, refrigerate for at least 30 minutes to let the flavors blend.

PREPARE the vegetables: peel and trim the celery root and cut it into large cubes—you’ll have 31⁄2 to 4 cups. (To facilitate the peeling, cut it into large pieces first, then trim and peel.) Cut the carrots into pieces roughly, the same size as the celery root—you’ll have about 2 cups.

WETTING your hands as needed, form the meat into walnut-size balls. Heat about 1⁄4 inch of oil in a large, heavy, deep-sided skillet or sauté pan until hot but not smoking. Add the meatballs and sauté in batches until lightly browned on all sides but not cooked through. (This is the one-pot method. If time is a problem or you don’t have a deep-sided sauté pan, fry the meatballs in a regular skillet and braise the vegetables at the same time in a Dutch oven or heavy casserole.) Transfer the meatballs to a platter as they are done.

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