Jerry Stiller's Chicken Soup with Kreplach

Jerry Stiller's Chicken Soup with Kreplach

For the chicken soup:
1 tender young cleaned hen, weighing about 4 1/2 pounds
3 quarts water
1 small yellow onion, peeled and chopped onion
Handful fresh parsley
2 small ribs celery with leaves
2 carrots, peeled
1 large bay leaf
1 tablespoon salt
4 bruised peppercorns

Wash chicken carefully, trim and discard any excess fat. Cut chicken into fourths; place in large stock pot with water, onion, parsley, celery, carrots, bay leaf, salt and peppercorns.

Bring to simmer; cook uncovered about 3 hours (or until chicken is tender). Skim off scum and fat as it forms. Cool to room temperature. Refrigerate; discard layer of congealed fat that forms on the top.

Reheat soup; correct seasonings. Drop in kreplach, cook about 15 minutes (or until they rise to the top.) Spoon into soup plates dividing chicken and kreplach into six portions.

For the kreplach filling:
1 cup broiled chicken livers
1 hard-cooked egg
1 small peeled onion
Salt and freshly ground pepper to taste
1 teaspoon minced fresh parsley
Generous teaspoon schmaltz

Chop livers, eggs and onion together. Season with salt and pepper to taste. Add minced parsley and enough schmaltz (rendered chicken fat) to hold the mixture together.

For the noodle dough:
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 small eggs, beaten
2 cups all-purpose flour

Mix salt, eggs and half the flour. Mix with fork. Add more flour, mixing well until the dough leaves the sides of the mixing bowl. Turn out on lightly floured board; knead until dough is smooth and elastic. Roll out dough to paper thinness on clean lightly floured cloth. Cut into 3-inch squares. Place about 4 teaspoons of filling in center of each square. Fold over forming triangles. Seal all edges with floured tines of a fork. Makes about 30.