Who's Cooking: Laurel Klein, Seaford

LAUREL KLEIN

Laurel Klein, a stay-at-home mom, lives in Seaford with her husband, Adam, and 5-year-old daughter, Jamie.

How did you learn to cook?

I learned a lot from my mom, Joyce Factor. She worked part time the whole time I was growing up, but always cooked. I always have my mom's chicken soup in my freezer. I make it with whatever chicken parts are on sale — legs, wings — but her secret is adding a few spoonfuls of teriyaki sauce to the broth while it cooks.

What's your secret to always having dinner on hand?

That's another thing I learned from my mother: Make ahead and freeze. I'll make a big batch of meatballs and freeze them. Then I bake them off when I need them — they come out as good as when you fry them. and it's less messy. This time of year we go apple picking. I'll make lots of apple sauce and freeze it.

Do you bake a lot?

I love to make rugelach and cookies. And cookies are really easy to make in advance, too. I'll make a big batch of dough, scoop it out onto a baking pan as if I'm putting it in the oven, but freeze it. When the balls are frozen, put them into a freezer bag and write on the bag the temperature and time they need to bake.

Do you ever cook on the fly?

Sure. I love to improvise in the kitchen. We often have "meatless nights" where I'll take whatever vegetables I have on hand, saute them with lots of onions and garlic, serve it with spaghetti.

Where do you eat out?

We like The Orient in Bethpage for Chinese. They make really good egg rolls. When I was growing up, every Chinese restaurant seemed to make good egg rolls but now most of them just stuff them with lots of cabbage.

CHICKEN SOUP WITH AN ASIAN TWIST

To make the broth:

1½ to 2 pounds chicken parts, preferably bone-in legs, thighs or wings, or combination

2 large carrots, peeled and cut into chunks

2 to 3 ribs celery, cut into chunks

1 large onion, peeled and cut in half

3 cloves garlic, peeled and cut in half

2 teaspoons whole black peppercorns, cracked

2 tablespoons kosher salt (or 1 teaspoon table salt)

3 to 5 fronds fresh dill

¼ cup prepared teriyaki sauce

To finish the soup:

1 large carrot, peeled and diced

1 large rib celery, diced

1 small onion, diced

1 frond fresh dill, chopped

1. Place all broth ingredients in a large pot and cover with 4 quarts of water. Place over high heat and when water boils, lower to a simmer. Skim off any foam, cover and simmer for an hour.

2. After an hour, remove chicken, keeping broth covered and simmering. When chicken pieces are cool enough to handle, remove meat and reserve (for serving in the soup or for another use), return bones and skin to broth and simmer, covered, another 1 to 1½ hours.

3. Strain soup through a fine sieve, pressing vegetables and chicken scraps to get every bit of broth out. Discard scraps and chill strained soup in refrigerator for several hours or overnight. When chilled, scrape congealed fat from top.

4. At this point, you can freeze broth for later use. To serve immediately, place it in pot with diced carrots, celery and onion. Simmer until vegetables are tender, about 20 minutes. If you want to add some of the reserved chicken, do so at the end so that it has a chance to just heat through. Taste for salt and pepper, add the chopped fresh dill, and serve. Makes 8 servings.