Our usual MO for New Year’s Eve is getting together with friends to see an early movie, perhaps a light bite afterward and then back to one of our homes to see the new year in with champagne and dessert. As we started to make plans, we realized that New Year’s Eve and Shabbat coincide. A fine opportunity to make a special Friday night dinner, remember the past year’s highlights with photos or slides, and express good wishes for the future. After candlelighting, a dressed-up dinner using elegant ingredients like smoked salmon, caviar and champagne makes the perfect menu for the final Shabbat of 2004.
Smoked Salmon Salad with Caviar | Serves 6
6 Tbs. olive oil
3 Tbs. balsamic vinegar
6 cups baby greens
6 oz. thinly sliced smoked salmon
1 1/2 Tbs. drained capers
1/2 small red onion, thinly sliced
16 red cherry tomatoes
16 yellow pear or cherry tomatoes
black or red caviar for garnish
Whisk oil and vinegar in small bowl to blend well. Season with salt and pepper.
Place greens in large bowl. Toss with enough dressing to coat lightly. Divide greens among 4 plates. Arrange smoked salmon slices over greens on each plate, dividing equally. Drizzle more dressing over salmon. Sprinkle salmon with capers. Garnish salads with red onion and red and yellow tomatoes. Sprinkle with caviar.
Chicken Breasts Stuffed with Fennel, Apple and Raisins | Serves 6
Stuffing:
1 green apple, cored and diced
3 Tbs. unsalted margarine
1 tsp. fennel seeds
1 medium onion, chopped
1 small fennel, trimmed, cored and coarsely chopped
1/2 cup coarse fresh breadcrumbs
1/4 cup chopped fresh flat-leaf parsley
3 Tbs. golden raisins
1/2 tsp. salt
1/4 tsp. black pepper
Chicken and Sauce:
6 skinless boneless chicken breast halves
1 1/2 Tbs. vegetable oil
2 tsp. all-purpose flour
1 cup unfiltered apple cider
1 cup chicken broth
For stuffing, peel and core apple and cut into 1/4-inch dice. Melt margarine in a 12-inch heavy skillet and sauté fennel seeds, stirring 1 minute. Add onion and sauté, stirring, until softened, about 6 minutes. Add apple and fennel and sauté, stirring occasionally, until crisp-tender, about 4 minutes. Remove from heat and stir in remaining stuffing ingredients. Cool stuffing completely and then stuff chicken.
Preheat oven to 425 degrees. Pat chicken dry and arrange, skinned sides down, on a work surface. If it’s still attached, remove tender (fillet strip on side where breastbone was) from each breast half and reserve for another use.
Cut a pocket in each breast half. Open incision with your fingers to create a 1-inch-wide gap. Pack one sixth of stuffing into each pocket.
Season chicken with salt. Heat oil in a 12-inch heavy skillet over moderately high heat until hot but not smoking. Brown chicken in 2 batches, about 2 minutes on each side, transferring to a small roasting pan as browned (reserve skillet).
Roast chicken in middle of oven until just cooked through, 14 to 16 minutes.
While chicken is roasting, make a roux, stirring flour into fat remaining in skillet. Continue stirring, cooking over moderately low heat 1 minute. Whisk in cider and broth and bring to a boil, whisking occasionally until thickened and reduced to about 1 cup, about 8 minutes. Let chicken stand 5 minutes, then cut each breast half diagonally into thirds. Add any juices from roasting pan to sauce and salt and pepper to taste and spoon over chicken.
Louise Fiszer is a Palo Alto cooking teacher, author and the co-author of “Jewish Holiday Cooking.” Her columns alternate with those of Rebecca Ets-Hokin. Questions and recipe ideas can be sent to j. or to [email protected].