In Jewish Holiday Cooking, Jayne Cohen shares a wide-ranging collection of traditional Jewish recipes, as well as inventive new creations and contemporary variations on the classic dishes. The book is organized around the major Jewish holidays and includes nearly 300 recipes and variations, plus suggested menus tailored to each occasion, all conforming to kosher dietary laws.
Inspired by the unabashed charms of homey mashed potatoes, generations of Eastern European Jewish cooks recast them in infinite incarnations. They reappeared as chremslach (crispy fried balls) or mixed with golden onions as savory fillings for knishes, blintzes, and kreplach.
My kreplach, with a voluptuous stuffing of buttery potatoes and burnished onions, fall somewhere between boiled and fried--prepared, in other words, like Chinese pot sticker dumplings. They make a sensational appetizer, brunch, or dairy side dish.
Yield: 4 to 6 servings
About 1 pound potatoes, preferably russet (baking) or Yukon gold, peeled and cut into large cubes (3 cups)
1 large garlic clove, peeled
Salt
2 cups coarsely chopped onion (1/2 pound)
3 tablespoons unsalted butter
1 tablespoon mild olive, avocado, or canola oil, plus additional for frying
2 tablespoons snipped fresh dill, plus additional for garnish
Freshly ground black pepper
24 wonton wrappers (have some extra in case of tearing)
Flour for dusting
Accompaniments: chopped scallions and sour cream, rich Greek-style yogurt or labneh
Put the potatoes, garlic, and 2 teaspoons salt in a medium-large saucepan. Add 2 quarts of cold water and bring to a boil. Cook, partially covered, until the potatoes are tender, 15 to 20 minutes. Drain the potatoes, reserving about 1/2 cup cooking liquid. Don’t wash out the saucepan.
While the potatoes are cooking, in a 9- to 10-inch heavy skillet, saute the onions in 2 tablespoons butter and 1 tablespoon oil over medium heat, lifting and tossing them, until they are speckled gold and brown, about 15 minutes.
Mash the potatoes until smooth (unlike knishes, kreplach are too small for a few homey little lumps), using your favorite tool--food mill, ricer, potato masher, or electric mixer; just don’t use a blender or food processor, which would make a gluey mess. Return the potatoes to the saucepan. With the heat on very low, beat in the fried onion and all of the cooking fat, the remaining 1 tablespoon of butter, and the dill. Season well with lots of salt and pepper. If necessary, whisk in enough reserved potato water to make the mixture creamy and fluffy. Let cool, then refrigerate until cold.
Have a small bowl of water at hand. Place a wonton wrapper on a lightly floured surface, leaving the remaining wonton wrappers covered with a damp dish towel. Mound 1 tablespoon of filling in the center of the wrapper. Dip your finger in the water and lightly moisten the surface of the wrapper all around the filling. Now bring up the sides of the wrapper, pleating the edges as necessary, so that they completely surround the filling. The finished krepl should resemble a little open sack made of pasta, encasing the potato stuffing. The stuffing should be visible close to or at the top of the sack. Continue making more kreplach, using the remaining filling and wrappers.
Heat 1/4 inch of oil in a 10- to 12-inch heavy lidded skillet until hot, but not smoking. Add as many filled wonton sacks as will fit comfortably without crowding the pan. As you place each sack in the skillet, lightly tamp down the bottom so that it sits flat. Cook over medium heat until the bottom surfaces of the wontons are crisp and golden, 4 to 5 minutes. Standing back to avoid being splattered, add 1/3 cup water to the pan, cover tightly, and let the wontons steam until they are fully cooked, about 2 more minutes. The sides should be springy to the touch. Remove the lid, increase the heat, and cook for another minute, until the water evaporates and the wontons are crispy again on the bottom. Cook the remaining wontons in the same way.
Serve immediately, sprinkled with chopped scallions and dill, and accompanied by sour cream, yogurt or labneh.
