Winners of cook-offs are an exclusive lot, wouldn’t you agree? Sacred Beast has the first-place hardware for matzo ball soup at this year’s Wise Temple chicken soup cook-off. That’s part of the story. Winning was gratifying, no question, for Jeromy Lieb, owner/operator/chef at Sacred Beast. He said so, along with saying there were plenty of others vying for winning status at the annual Jewish event. But the winning recipe was the result of changes Lieb recently made to his matzo ball soup.
The Parisian-style gnocchi in marinara sauce
“It used to be just matzo balls, veggies and broth,” he said, speaking of Sacred Beast’s soup offering prior to changing his recipe. Formerly, this was a smaller bowl of soup, and not a meal, proportionally at least. Now, the bowl is larger, like those used in Asian eateries for noodle bowl meals, and the content is heartier. “We added chicken and more veggies and more broth and made it an entrée. We’re getting more orders for the soup than ever.”
The entrée sized bowl of matzo ball soup
We tried the soup, and it’s a meal — tasty broth, chunks of chicken, lots of veggies and a matzo ball just a bit smaller than a baseball. For me, the clear broth (not cloudy, which is a sign of good cooking process), and the chunky veggies and chicken are the stars of the new version. Lieb said that the chicken is oven-roasted thighs pulled from the bone, and the veggies/herbs include carrots, parsnips, celery leaves, and dill, seasoned with salt and pepper. “Pretty simple,” says Lieb; pretty tasty, says I.
The fried chicken schnitzel with tonnato sauce
Next on our taste tour was the fried chicken. Before you conjure up a pile of Southern-style chicken parts, think Austria, where wiener schnitzel came into its own in the 1840s. “It’s a fried chicken breast. We pound it (thin) and then put it in gluten-free flour and corn flakes that we crush up and then we fry it. It’s delicious!” He’s right, very tasty, and the deeply brown chicken, cut into easy-to-eat strips is remarkably moist and crunchy at the same time. This dish features an array of good stuff to complement the chicken, including green beans, spears of cucumber, radishes, tiny potato halves, hearts of palm, cherry tomatoes, and a 7-and-a-half-minute mullet egg. But the pièce de résistance is the tonnato sauce, an Italian derivation made from tuna, mayonnaise, lemon juice, salt, and pepper. “It’s wonderful!” Lieb stated, and he’s on the money with that assessment. The fried chicken schnitzel is a fun dish to eat and would be a great dish to share as well.
Next, we were treated to Parisian gnocchi, distinguished from the Italian version by the absence of potatoes as its base. Instead of potatoes, Parisian gnocchi is made from a classic French pate a choux. Pate a choux is a flour-based pastry dough used in making delicacies such as Bavarian creampuffs and chocolate éclairs. “It’s a simple recipe; flour, eggs, and water. I cook the flour and water together, and then add whole eggs, slowly, one at a time, into the mixer until it is a base for the gnocchi. Then I put it in a piping bag and make the shapes, pipe it (into hot water) and poach it.”
The chicken cook-off trophy
The gnocchi are served in Sacred Beast’s house-made marinara sauce, a rich tomato base, with basil, garlic, onion, and peppers producing the flavor. The sauced dish is served with a topping of grated parmigiano Reggiano cheese, capped with a sprig of fresh basil. We loved every forkful!
Sacred Beast has embarked on a $15 lunch special three days per week, Tuesdays, Wednesdays, and Fridays. On Tuesday, it’s a burger and fries. Wednesday, the aforementioned matzo ball soup, along with hash brown potatoes. And Friday, the bill of fare is pancakes and eggs. A soft drink or tea comes with each day’s special.
See you at Sacred Beast!
