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Simple Home Cooking

By: Yaffa Fruchter

Published: February 19th, 2012
Latest update: February 20th, 2012

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Welcome back to Simple Home Cooking. Last time we focused on making a large pot of chicken soup. This week, as promised, we will discuss how to use all the cooked vegetables from the soup to create many dishes.

By using the vegetables from the soup for other dishes you benefit from them twice…first the vegetables released taste and nutrients into the soup and second, you now have some delicious ingredients for quick side dishes. That’s the beauty of using so many different vegetables in your chicken soup.

Vegetable Kugel Ingredients 3 eggs 6 cups of mashed vegetables from the soup ½ cup oil Salt, pepper, garlic powder to taste, 3 tbsps flour.

Directions Mix all ingredients together, pour into a greased 9 by 13 pan and bake for an hour on 350◦. Tip: The baking pan should be filled to 2/3 of its full capacity. Variation: Add some leftover chicken or meat pieces.

Cubed Vegetable Soup Cube some of the cooked vegetables and add them back into chicken soup for a fleishig vegetable soup. Season to taste. Variation 1: Same as above but mash all ingredients using an immersion blender. Add salt, pepper and garlic powder to taste. Variation 2: Add a can of drained corn or green beans. Tip: Add in leftover noodles, farfel or quinoa.

Potatoes from the soup can be used to make potato salad, hash browns, mashed potatos, a cooked potato kugel or as filling for burekas.

Potato Salad

Potato salad: Cube 3 potatoes and 3 carrots; add 2 tbsps. mayonnaise, 2 tsps mustard and salt and pepper to taste. Mix well. Potato salad is best served cold.

Variation: Add cubed rutabaga or chayote. (Or be daring and make the salad with just the rutabaga or chayote, leaving out the potatoes.)

Hash browns:Heat 2-3 tbsp of oil for 2 minutes, then add the equivalent of 4 potatoes, cubed. Fry until light brown then turn. Add ½ a cup fried onions to the potatoes and salt and pepper to taste. Cook another two minutes and serve.

Hash Browns

Mashed potatoes: This is a must try, simple and delicious recipe.

Take 5 potatoes, just removed from the soup, and place in a bowl. Add ½ a cup of soup, ¼ cup of oil and salt and pepper to taste. Mix all ingredients together and mash.

Tip: Always use hot potatoes when making mashed potatoes. Once they have cooled off they never achieve a smooth consistency.

Cooked potato kugel: Use the mashed potatoes above. Add to it one egg for every cup of potatoes and a one tbsp of oil, plus salt and pepper to taste. Pour into a greased dish filling to an inch from the top. Sprinkle with bread crumbs and drizzle some oil on top. Bake for one hour on 350.

Bureka filling: Use the mashed potatoes for filling bourekas or any other dough you have available.

This “trick” transforms plain leftovers to a fancy dish. Fill individually or in jellyroll fashion. Put in a greased pan, brush with egg wash and bake 20 minutes for indivuals and one hour for a roll.

Now, what can you do with the rest of the vegetables? Here are some great ideas:

Vegetable loaf: Mash some cooked vegetables and add 1 egg, 4 tbsp of flour, and 1 tbsp of oil for every cup of vegetables. Form into a loaf and bake in a greased pan for an hour on 350◦.

Fried patties: Use the mixture above but form patties and fry on both sides until golden brown. Don’t want to fry, brush with oil and bake on 350◦ for about 30 minutes.

Kohlrabi: Cut julienne style, add some fried onions and seasoning and a delicious side dish is created. And remember that every root vegetable cooked in the soup can be prepared like this – or combined. The possibilities are endless.

Vegetables in tempura batter: Slice cooked root vegetables like carrots, kohlrabi, rutabaga etc., dry on a paper towel and set aside. On a separate plate pour bread crumbs. Now prepare the batter: mix together one cup flour, ½ cup water, 2 eggs, salt and pepper. Dip the vegetable slices into the batter and then into the bread crumbs. Fry until golden brown on both sides. Serve hot.

Tzimes: Combine 4-5 carrots, 2 tbsps sugar, 2 tbsps honey, 1/2 cup pitted prunes, 1/2 cup pineapple chunks and salt in a pot, bring to boil and then remove from heat.

Zucchini with fried onions: Cut zucchini into thick slices. Add parsley flakes, fried onions (1/2 a cup) and seasoning. (optional, add a can of mushrooms, drained.)

Mashed butternut squash:Mash the butternut squash; add salt, pepper, nutmeg and garlic powder. Serve hot.