Name: Golden Gefilte Fish with Golden Horseradish
Yield: Yield: about 12 Servings
Cuisine: United States
Ingredients: ½ cup packed fresh challah pieces (crusts removed) or, for Passover, egg or plain matzoh, moistened with white wine or water; soft lettuce, Belgian endive, or radicchio leaves, for lining plates; Golden Horseradish, Classic Horseradish, White or Red, or prepared beet horseradish; very finely minced flat-leaf parsley or chives; Mild oil, for greasing the custard cups; 3 pounds skinless fish fillets (stray bones removed), rinsed to remove any scales, patted dry, and cut into 1-inch pieces or ground by the fishmonger (see Cook’s Note); ½ cup ice water; ¼ teaspoon packed saffron threads, crushed and dissolved in 2 tablespoons hot water; 2 tablespoons mild olive oil or vegetable oil, such as avocado or sunflower; 4 large eggs; 2 pinches of sugar; 4 large carrots, scraped and quartered; About 3 pounds fish bones, skin, and heads; 2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice; 2 celery stalks, including leaves, quartered; 2 large onions, peeled and quartered; ½ cup carrot, scraped and diced; Salt and freshly ground black pepper; 1 large garlic clove, peeled; 3 cups chopped onion; Salt; 3 or 4 parsley sprigs; Sugar (optional); 2 parsnips, peeled and quartered (they add a subtle whisper of sweetness; optional); 1 medium carrot, scraped

Preparation info

Yield: about
12
Servings

Difficulty
Complex

Appears in

Jewish Holiday Cooking

By Jayne Cohen

Published 2008

About

My father’s mother baked whitefish smothered with chopped tomatoes, onions, and peppers, and served it cold for Sabbath meals. The only fish I remember my maternal grandmother making was canned tuna, mixed with hard-boiled eggs and onions.

So I’ve had to invent my own family recipe for gefilte fish– for many, the defining dish of Ashkenazi cuisine. I’ve eaten some very good versions at dairy restaurants, and tasted even more delicious ones in the evocative prose of Yiddish writers.