April 1, 2009 | 8:52 pm

The Final Competition

Posted by Orit Arfa

Whose matzah ball soup will be anointed “The Chosen Dish”?

Michelle Chaim?

Hilit Gilat?

Katsuji Tanabe?

WATCH ALL EPISODES AND MEET EACH CHEF HERE.

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April 1, 2009 | 7:34 pm

The Quest for the Chosen Matzah Ball Soup

Posted by Orit Arfa

The explosion of food competitions, from “Iron Chef” to “Top Chef,” inspired me to wonder what a Jewish food competition might offer. This led me to conceive “The Chosen Dish,” an online kosher cooking competition produced in conjunction with jewishjournal.com. more

Go back to Chosen Dish home
Click here for Michelle’s Offering
Click here for Hilit’s Offering
Click here for Katsuji’s Offering
Click here for the final showdown

Orit Arfa (top left) and VideoJew Jay Firestone stand with judges Andrew Cooper (bottom left), Judy Zeidler and Todd Aarons.

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March 31, 2009 | 9:24 pm

Michelle’s Offering

Posted by Orit Arfa

Go back to Chosen Dish home
Click here for Hilit’s Offering
Click here for Katsuji’s Offering
Click here for the final showdown

Michelle Chaim

Name: Michelle Chaim
Dish: Garlic and Herb Matzah Ball Soup
Hometown: Los Angeles, CA
Occupation: Full-time mom
Years in the professional kitchen: None
Years in the home kitchen: 23 years
Favorite food to make: I don’t have a favorite. I love to try new recipes, especially ones from my favorite pro cooks/chefs. My top three are Ina Garten (Barefoot Contessa), Rachael Ray & Giada De Laurentiis.
Favorite food to eat: Anything sweet!
Most memorable matzah ball experience: Competing in The Chosen Dish!

Michelle’s Recipe

THE SOUP

2 (1 pound) bone-in skin on split
    chicken breasts
1 large yellow onion, unpeeled
    and quartered
6 carrots, 3 unpeeled and halved;
    3 peeled and sliced
6 stalks celery, 3 cut into thirds;
    3 sliced
1 large green pepper, seeded and
    cut in half, optional
10 – 15 crimini mushrooms, stemmed
    and sliced
10 sprigs fresh parsley
10 sprigs fresh dill
1 head garlic, unpeeled and cut in 1/2 crosswise
1 tbsp kosher salt
1 tsp whole black peppercorns

Place the chickens, onions, 3 carrots, 3 celery, green pepper, parsley, dill, garlic, and seasonings in a 5 to 6-quart stockpot. Add enough water to cover ingredients and bring to a boil. Simmer uncovered for 4 hours. (While you wait for the soup you can begin making the matzah balls.) Strain the entire contents of the pot through a colander and discard the solids. Add the remaining carrots, celery and mushrooms and simmer for an additional 30 minutes.

THE MATZAH BALLS

1 cup matzah meal
3 large eggs
¼ cup oil (canola)
¼ cup seltzer
1 tbsp chives, finely chopped
1 tbsp dill, finely chopped
1 tsp mint, finely chopped
1 garlic clove, grated
1 ½ tsp kosher salt
½ tsp pepper

Michelle’s soup

Beat eggs. Add seltzer, oil, salt and pepper. Mix well. Add chives, dill, mint and garlic. Mix. Add matzah meal and stir thoroughly. Refrigerate for ½ to 1 hour. Partially fill a large pot with water and bring to a boil. Moisten palms with cold water. Form mixture into balls about ½” diameter. Drop matzah balls into boiling water. When all the matzah balls are in the pot, reduce heat to low. Simmer covered for about 30 minutes or until done. Remove with slotted spoon to a large bowl. To serve, ladle about 1 cup soup with 3 matzah balls and garnish with a sprig of dill.

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March 31, 2009 | 9:18 pm

Katsuji’s Offering

Posted by Orit Arfa

Go back to Chosen Dish home
Click here for Michelle’s Offering
Click here for Hilit’s Offering
Click here for the final showdown

Katsuji Tanabe

Name: Katsuji Tanabe
Dish: Tuna Thai Tempura Matzah Ball Soup
Hometown: Mexico City, Mexico
Occupation: Executive Chef, Shiloh’s Steakhouse
Years in the professional kitchen: 9
Years in the home kitchen: None
Favorite food to make: Seafood, mostly unkosher kinds (but not at Shiloh’s!)
Favorite food to eat: Rice and rice based dishes
Most memorable matzah ball experience: The first time I tasted a traditional matzah ball soup was at the competition of The Chosen Dish—Hilit’s recipe. For my first experience as a matzah ball soup, the ball was very good!

Katsuji’s Recipe

THE SOUP
Step 1:

1 quart fish stock (halibut recommended)
2 carrots, chopped
1 small onion, chopped
1 celery stalk, chopped
5 Kaffir lime leaves
5 curry leaves
5 cloves garlic, chopped
¼ cup chopped ginger
¼ cup chopped galangal
Spice mix:  1 tsp cumin seeds; 1 tsp anise seeds; ½ tsp whole cloves; 1 tsp fenugreek; 1 tsp grana masala; ½ tsp allspice; 1 tsp fennel seeds; 1 tsp whole mustard seeds; 1 tsp turmeric

Steps 2&3:

1 quart vegetable stock
1 carrot, cubed
1 potato, cubed
1 bunch cilantro, chopped
1 small can of coconut milk
Salt and pepper to taste
Fresh lime juice

Step 1: Combine the fish stalk with all the carrots, onion, celery, herbs and spice mix. Simmer for 25 minutes.

Steps 2&3: In another pot, combine carrots, potatoes and cilantro in vegetable broth and cook until tender. Strain vegetable broth mix and stir into fish stock broth. Simmer for an additional 25 minutes. Strain the fish-stock mixture and add one tablespoon of the vegetable remains back into the broth. Add the coconut milk and boil for 15-20 minutes for a flavorful broth, then add the carrots and potatoes previously cooked in the vegetable broth.

Katsuji’s soup

THE MATZAH BALLS

4 oz white sea bass
1 egg
Mocha mix
1 tbs mustard
1 tbs chopped garlic
4 tbs mayo
5 oz fresh ahi tuni, cubed
Peanut oil
Salt and pepper to taste

Tempura batter

½ box matzah meal, blended until fine
½ box whole matzah meal
2 egg yolks

Process the fish, eggs, mustard, garlic and mayonnaise in a food processor. Slowly stir in mocha mix until you get thick mayonnaise consistency. In a separate bowl, combine the fine and regular matzah meal, then add two egg yolks and sparkling water until loose pancake batter develops.  Chill.

Season tuna with salt and pepper, then roll tuna in the mayonnaise batter, and coat it in the fine matzah meal. Roll into tempura batter until balls form and fry in peanut oil 375 degrees F until golden brown in peanut oil. Repeat the process. Once fried, add to soup and serve it. Garnish with fresh cilantro and wedge of lime.

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March 31, 2009 | 9:06 pm

Hilit’s Offering

Posted by Orit Arfa

Go back to Chosen Dish home
Click here for Michelle’s Offering
Click here for Katsuji’s Offering
Click here for the final showdown

Hilit Gilat

Name: Hilit Gilat
Dish: Beef and Chicken Matzah Ball Consomme
Hometown: Originally, Givatayim, Israel; currently Irvine, CA, USA
Occupation Head Chef, B-SHOOL catering
Years in the professional kitchen: 3
Years in the home kitchen: 17
Favorite food to make: Any comfort food
Favorite food to eat: Chocolate, and also chocolate.
Most memorable matzah ball experience: Six years ago, I spent Yom Kippur with my husband Saar and his family. I am so crazy about matzah balls, that I asked my mother-in-law to make them for the meal before the fast. I stood next to her watching her make them. She kept pushing me away because I was eating her matzah balls faster than she was making them. I had some before the meal. I had some during the meal. And as I was fasting I could only think about the matzah balls I would eat once the fast ended. Needless to say, I had some more after the fast. All in all, I devoured about 40 matzah balls within a 24-hour period! I could not touch them again until the following year’s Passover…

Hilit’s Recipe

THE STOCK

8 chicken wings, cleaned well
3 chicken drumsticks, cleaned well
2 chicken thighs with skin, cleaned well
4 large pieces of ox tail
6 beef short rib bones, with meat
2 whole onions, peeled
1 leek (white part only)
1 celery root, cut in half
2 parsley root (parsnip), whole
1/2 butternut squash, halved, peeled, and cleaned
1 large bouquet garni (bundle of Italian parsley, cilantro, thyme, dill, celery leaves, fresh bay leaf) tied together with a string, rubber band, or in a Muslin cloth (can be found in specialty stores)
4 qt. boiling water
2-3 drops Tabasco sauce
Salt and whole peppercorns, to taste

In stock pot, put chicken and beef parts and bring to boil over high heat. Remove foam that forms on top. Add rest of stock ingredients, and bring again to a boil. Reduce flame to minimum and let simmer for 2 hours. Remove bouquet garni, and cook for 2 more hours. Filter liquid through very fine strainer and discard ingredients. Place muslin or other fine weaved cloth over clean pot and strain again.

Hilit’s soup

THE CONSOMME
(Rule of thumb: for each quart of stock, 3.5 oz vegetables and 7 oz chicken/beef, 2 egg whites, 1 tbsp lemon juice)

2 lbs chicken and beef, cut into very small pieces (chicken breast, short ribs)
1 lbs vegetables, cut into very small pieces (onions, carrots, celery stalks)
4 tbsp fresh lemon juice
8 egg whites
4 qt. stock (see recipe, above)

Clarification process: In a bowl, beat egg whites. Add vegetables, chicken and beef. Mix in lemon juice. In a large pot warm stock but not to a boil. Add mix to stock and bring to a boil, stirring constantly. When egg whites harden and form gray layer on top, stop stirring and create hole in the center. Lower flame and cook on minimum boil for 30 minutes. Line strainer with muslin or other fine weaved cloth. Using ladle, transfer clear liquid without top layer through strainer into clean pot. (The consommé can be prepared ahead and refrigerated for 2-3 days, or frozen for up to a month.)

THE ROOT VEGETABLE SOUP

4 carrots, peeled and sliced diagonally into rings
2 zucchinis, cleaned, unpeeled, and sliced diagonally into rings
3-4 celery stalks (no leaves), cleaned and sliced diagonally into pieces
7 shallots, peeled and cleaned
4-5 Jerusalem artichokes (also called sunroot or sunchoke or earth apple or topinambur), when in season, peeled and sliced diagonally
1/2 butternut squash, cut into cubes
4 qt. consommé, prepared ahead of time (see recipe, above)
Salt and white pepper, to taste

In large pot place all ingredients except zucchinis, and bring to boil over high heat. When boiled, reduce heat to minimum and cook roughly 40 minutes. Cook vegetables to tender texture, but not too soft. Add zucchinis and cook roughly 15 more minutes. Season with salt and white pepper.

THE MATZAH BALLS

1.5 cups matzah flour
2.5 oz (about 1/3 cup) margarine
1 tsp salt
1.5 cups boiling water
3 eggs
1 large onion, diced, and sautéed till brown and crispy
1 truffle, finely chopped

In mixing bowl, put flour, margarine, salt, and boiling water. Stir well. Let stand for 10 minutes. Add eggs and mix well. Let stand for 30 minutes. Add sautéed onion and truffles and mix well. In large pot, boil water with 2 tbsp of salt. In a separate bowl, place some warm water with a little canola oil for wetting hands when making balls. With wet and oiled hands make small ball (size of a ping pong ball) and place in boiling water pot. Repeat with wet and oiled hands for all balls. Lower flame to medium-low heat, cover pot, and cook balls for 15-20 minutes. Remove balls and place on flat tray (do not stack!) In deep soup bowl, pour 2 ladles of consommé with some root vegetables and 2 matzah balls. Garnish with chopped cilantro and serve very hot.

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March 30, 2009 | 11:59 am

The Making of ‘The Chosen Dish’ - a JewishJournal.com Webseries

Posted by Orit Arfa

Director Jay Firestone prepares
the judges during the
filming of "The Chosen Dish."

Prior to becoming a food writer and restaurant reviewer for The Jerusalem Post, I always thought of kosher food as limited and bland. But Israel demands competitive kosher cuisine — hotels generally adhere to kashrut laws; corporate lunch meetings must often accommodate observant clientele alongside secular counterparts who’d prefer a Tel Aviv bistro serving sautéed shrimp. This is true even though, at the same time, at the heart of Israeli culture are Jews who, no matter how much they like to think of themselves as the new Hebrews, still fondly recall their grandmother’s traditional kosher Jewish specialties.

In America, however, kosher restaurants seem stuck. The smaller size of their target clientele and the expense of sustaining kosher standards — with the high cost of meat and on-site kosher supervision — can lead to compromises in creativity. And because FFBs (the acronym for “Frum (religious) From Birth”) usually have limited basis for comparison, they don’t know how much better a steak grilled to perfection with butter really tastes. Though Jewish cooks often create culinary wonders in their own kitchens, sadly, the high standards of homemade food have yet to become the norm in the common kosher marketplace.

The explosion of food competitions, from “Iron Chef” to “Top Chef,” inspired me to wonder what a Jewish food competition might offer. This led me to conceive “The Chosen Dish,” an online kosher cooking competition produced in conjunction with jewishjournal.com. And what better way to launch a program challenging chefs and home cooks to redeem kosher foods from their unsavory stigma than by having them recreate the iconic Jewish food: matzah ball soup.

Together with The Journal’s VideoJew Jay Firestone, I visited the kitchens of two local chefs and one home cook who agreed to step up to the seder plate with their own recipes.

Mexican Japanese Katsuji Tanabe, executive chef of Shiloh’s kosher steakhouse, had no tradition to fall back on — he only recently discovered his Mexican mother’s Jewish roots; her ancestors left Spain during the Inquisition, only to assimilate later. Caterer Hilit Gilat from Israel created matzah balls inspired by her mother-in-law, served in an elaborately prepared beef and chicken consommé. Michelle Chaim adapted her mother’s recipe to create a homey herb-and-garlic-infused matzah ball soup. For the final taste test, we gathered them at the state-of-the-art kosher kitchen at the beautiful Four Seasons Hotel Westlake Village, where “The Chosen Dish” was determined by a panel of judges.

But I’d rather you watch the chefs at work rather than read about them. Check out the series on www.jewishjournal.com/thechosendish on April 1 for your Passover viewing pleasure and find out whose matzah ball soup will be “The Chosen Dish.”

Participants of The Chosen Dish were asked to abide by the Ten Commandments of The Chosen Dish. The rest was left to divine inspiration.

1.  This is The Chosen Dish who has commanded you to make matzah ball soup.

2.  You shall have no unkosher food before us

3.  You shall not make for yourself a matzah ball from a package

4.  Thou shall honor thy judges and hosts

5.  Observe the Passover seder by making enough food to feed a family of six and two guests

6.  Thou shall not kill your dish by overcooking it

7.  Thou shall not commit adulteration of your soup

8.  Thou shall not steal your mother’s recipe, only adapt it

9.  Thou shall not bear false witness against your competitors’ dish

10.  Thou shall not covet the other chef’s matzah ball

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