Amygdalia's Blog

Soup Saturday

I made chicken soup with matzo balls for the first time, yesterday. Well, I made chicken soup for the first time. I’ve made matzo balls many times, during Passover preparations. BUT, I’ve never tried making matzo balls without matzo meal, before. I could NOT find any in the grocery store, and did not feel like tooling all over town to find some. So I bought matzo, and made my own in the food processor.

First, though . . . the soup. I looked through recipe after recipe online, trying to find one that sounded like what I wanted. I had nearly everything I needed, except for a chicken and some herbs.

Chicken soup
1(4 to 5) pound chicken
2 to 3 quarts water
Salt and pepper, to taste
1 parsnip
1 onion, sliced
2 carrots
3 stalks celery
3 parsley sprigs
1 dill sprig

Place chicken in water and season with salt and pepper. Bring to a boil. Skim fat that rises to top with large spoon. Repeat 2 more times or as needed. Add vegetables and herbs. Cover and let simmer for 3 hours.

The recipe worked really well. I added 3 carrots, rather than 2. It might have been a bit sweeter than I wanted, as a result. I’ll try sticking with the recipe, next time. The only problem I had was that the fat did not want to foam for me, which made it tough to skim. As a result, the first servings had a lot of grease on the top. Another recipe said to refrigerate overnight and skim the fat . . . but who’s got time for that when you have someone in the house who needs chicken soup!?

And on to the matzo balls. So I may not have processed the matzo quite enough, or somehow I may have gotten the proportions a little off, but they were too sticky while I was forming them, and when I dropped them into the boiling water, some of them fell apart. On the other hand . . . they were the fluffiest matzo balls I’ve ever had!

If you prefer your maztah balls light and fluffy, this is the recipe for you.  It’s the seltzer that makes the difference.  Originally from the back of a Manichewitz® box, my aunt has been making them this way for years.

Matzo balls
4 eggs
1/2 cup seltzer
1 cup matzah meal
1/3 cup melted shortening (margarine)
1 tsp salt
Dash white pepper

Add seltzer, salt, shortening & pepper to beaten eggs. Mix well. Add matzah meal and stir thoroughly. Place into refrigerator, and let stand 20 minutes. Form into balls & drop into boiling water that had been seasoned with 1 tablespoon of salt.

Cook 45 minutes. Drain with slotted spoon and cool. Place in refrigerator or freezer.  Heat and add to soup before serving.