Practical, tasty and filling, an all-in-one stew filled with veggies and some meat is perfect for serving in the succa.
By FAYE LEVYbeef soup 88(photo credit: )
I love the Succot tradition of celebrating the harvest by enhancing the holiday menu with a lavish selection of vegetables and fruit. For the centerpiece of the Succot table, I find that the ideal main course is a stew with plenty of produce.
A stew of meat or chicken with veggies is practically a meal in one dish. If you choose a colorful selection of vegetables, like the carrots, zucchini, peppers and tomatoes in the cumin-scented chicken and chickpea stew below, the food will be naturally festive and beautiful, fitting for a special occasion dinner.
Stews are practical and perfect for carrying to the succa. It's so much easier to bring a stew to the succa in an attractive casserole dish or stew pan than to carry a platter with a cooked meat or chicken main course and separate plates of side dishes. Serving is much simpler too; all you need is a shallow ladle or a big spoon.
Stews are easy to prepare in advance, so they are ready when you want them. Because they reheat beautifully, you can prepare enough for more than one meal, which simplifies menu planning.
Chicken is a good pick for the entree's protein element because it's popular and relatively healthful. Besides, one of the best things about chicken is the delicious flavor it imparts to any sauce in which it cooks, as well as to the vegetables that cook along with it.
I prefer entrees with a generous ratio of vegetables to meat. This style of stew is in keeping with Mediterranean and Middle Eastern traditions, which stemmed from frugality but which we now know gives a more healthful result. There are so many classic stews from our region, from lamb stewed with okra and onions, to beef with tomatoes, garlic and eggplant, to chicken braised with peas, tomatoes and rice.
Basically, you can add any vegetables you like to a stew. If you want to prevent their texture from becoming mushy, add them toward the end of the stew's cooking time. In the case of green vegetables, like green beans and zucchini, cook them separately in water if you'd like them to retain their bright green color, and heat them gently in the stew just before serving it.
You might like to serve the following Middle Eastern-style stews with rice pilaf or bulgur wheat to go with their flavorful sauces.
To keep serving simpler, you can simply accompany them with holiday halla or any fresh, good-quality bread. Then all you need to complete the meal is a salad, and for dessert, a selection of beautiful seasonal fruit and perhaps a slice of cake.
CHICKEN AND CHICKPEA STEW IN TOMATO PEPPER SAUCE
To make this stew more colorful, I add green and yellow squash and carrots to the traditional meat-and-chickpea formula. Old-fashioned versions of this entree call for lamb, but today many prepare it with chicken.
The chickpeas provide good flavor and virtually fat-free protein. Indeed, if you'd like to turn this stew into a vegetarian main course, simply omit the chicken and double the chickpeas.
Makes 4 to 6 servings
4 11â„2 cups dried chickpeas (garbanzo beans), rinsed and sorted, or two 400-gr. cans, drained
4 680 gr. to 900 gr. chicken pieces
4 Salt and freshly ground pepper
4 11â„2 to 2 Tbsp. olive oil
4 2 large onions, chopped
4 2 large garlic cloves, minced
4 450 gr. ripe tomatoes, peeled, seeded and chopped, or a 400-gr. can tomatoes, drained and chopped
4 1 tsp. ground cumin
4 2 tsp. paprika
4 11â„2 to 2 cups chicken broth or water
4 1 large thyme sprig or 1 tsp. dried
4 1 green bell pepper, cut in 21â„2-cm. dice
4 225 gr. carrots, diagonally sliced about 1-cm. thick
4 225 gr. zucchini, halved lengthwise, sliced about 1 cm. thick
4 225 gr. yellow zucchini or yellow crookneck squash, halved lengthwise, sliced about 1 cm. thick
4 1 Tbsp. tomato paste (optional)
4 Cayenne pepper to taste
Put chickpeas in a large saucepan and add 5 cups fresh water. Bring to boil. Cover and simmer over low heat about 1 hour and 15 minutes or until tender.
Sprinkle chicken with salt and pepper. Heat oil in a shallow stew pan over medium-low heat. Add chicken pieces and brown them lightly for about 5 minutes; remove from pan.
Add onions to pan and cook over medium heat about 7 minutes or until golden. Stir in garlic, then tomatoes, cumin and paprika. Return chicken pieces to pan and heat until tomatoes are bubbling. Add 11â„2 cups broth and thyme and bring to a boil. Cover and cook over low heat for 15 minutes.
Add green pepper and carrots to pan of chicken, cover and cook for 15 minutes, adding broth if sauce becomes too thick. Add green and yellow squash and chickpeas.
Cover and cook for 10 to 15 minutes or until chicken and vegetables are tender. Discard thyme sprig. Stir in tomato paste and return to a simmer. Season to taste with salt, pepper and cayenne. Serve hot.
ONION-BRAISED CHICKEN WITH BUTTERNUT SQUASH AND LEMON
Throughout the Mideast, lemon and onions are favorite flavorings for chicken. In the eastern Mediterranean, nutmeg is sometimes used, too. I like to combine these flavorings with butternut squash in this savory chicken entree, in which the delicate sweetness of the stewed onions and the squash balance the lemon's tartness. Freshen the flavor with an extra squeeze of lemon juice at serving time.
Makes 4 servings
4 Generous 1 kg. chicken pieces
4 Salt and freshly ground pepper
4 2 Tbsp. olive oil
4 3 large onions, halved and sliced thin
4 2 large garlic clove, chopped
4 1 cup chicken broth
4 2 to 21â„2 cups diced of butternut squash (dalorit) (about 2.5-cm cubes)
4 Freshly grated nutmeg to taste
4 1 Tbsp. lemon juice, or to taste
4 1 Tbsp. chopped Italian parsley (optional)
4 Lemon wedges (for serving)
Sprinkle chicken pieces with salt and pepper on both sides. Heat oil in a stew pan. Lightly brown chicken pieces in 2 batches in skillet over medium heat. Remove with tongs to a plate. Add onions and cook over medium-low heat for 10 minutes or until softened. Return chicken to pan and add any juices from plate. Add garlic and broth. Cover and simmer for 10 minutes. Add squash, sprinkle it with nutmeg and bring to a simmer. Cover and cook, turning chicken pieces once or twice, for 20 to 25 minutes or until chicken and squash are tender.
Remove chicken and squash pieces from pan but leave in onion. Skim fat from cooking liquid. Stir in lemon juice and add a little more nutmeg. Taste sauce and adjust seasoning. Return chicken and squash to pan. Cover and warm over low heat for about 3 minutes. Sprinkle with parsley and serve hot, with lemon wedges.n
Faye Levy is the author of Feast from the Mideast and Healthy Cooking for the Jewish Home.
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