Matzoh Ball Soup

I grew up eating matzoh ball soup.  I also grew up with latkes, macaroons, bagels and lox, kasha varnishkes, and those little chocolate covered raspberry gel thingies.  My mothers side of the family is (was) Jewish and while I never went to Hebrew school or went to temple, the food was part of my childhood.  We celebrated all holidays when I was growing up but I always related more to the Christian side and found myself learning in that direction as I got older.  Now that my mom is gone, as well as that side of my family, I don't really celebrate my Jewish roots as much as I should.  This isn't me saying that I'm changing this or making any life altering statements... its just a little insight to me and my background.  I do love the food, though.  There is no comfort food that can bring me back to childhood more than some matzoh ball soup.  I tried making my own once when I was just out of college.  It was good, not great, but I was the only person in my house that would eat it and it was a hell of a lot of work.  It was a long time before I had the urge to try again. 

I never got my mom's recipe before she passed away.  Not that hers was the best ever, but matzoh balls are specific.  My mom made hers like her mom and her grandmom and we like ours the same way because its what we grew up with.  We like them fluffy.  Dense ones are tasty, too, but not what I know.  Its not what I'm looking for when I need more than just soup.  When I need to connect with my childhood and my mom.  When you don't live in the area that you grew up in and you lose the family that you knew, its hard to go back to your childhood and your memories.  I didn't realize that right away.  The year after my mom died, a coworker was making soup for her passover sedar.  We talked a bit about it and she told me that her secret was club soda "to make them fluffy".  One thing that I do remember about my family's method was that it definitely included this.  She was kind enough to bring some in for me.  This was when I learned about food and memories.... I couldn't bring myself to eat the soup.  I was an emotional crazy woman for a day and a half, not realizing why, while this container of soup just sat there in my fridge.  I finally realized what was going on and sat down, alone, to cry and eat my bowl of soup.  It was perfect and made me love, miss, connect, remember.... every feeling on the planet.  All in a bowl of soup. 

I've been wanting to attempt my own version for over a year now.  I've had it in restaurants and its always good, but not what I'm looking for.  For this, I don't want to use a recipe.  I've been searching different recipes, taking little bits from them and using what I already know to create my own.  One that pays tribute to what I remember and one that I can pass along to my children as they get older.  I've gotten pretty good at making soups in the past year and decided to go for it.  I debating blogging about it.  Its a little more information than I usually share on here but I like the idea of tracking the experience and I can use it to recall what I liked and didn't like as I perfect the recipe over the next few years. 

I started with the stock.  Many recipes call for chicken thighs but I always prefer chicken breasts and thought I'd try it for my version.  I cut up 2 onions, 4 celery stalks, and a cup of baby carrots and added some asparagus ends and dill and parsley stems that I had in the freezer.  I added 7 boneless chicken breasts (with the fat still on) and covered with water.  I usually use the crockpot for this kind of thing, but put it on the stovetop on medium.  After about an hour, I skimmed the gook off the top, and let it simmer a little longer.  After about 3 hours, I pulled the chicken breasts out of the water and set them aside to cool.  I strained the veggies through a mesh sieve, squeezing the juice out, and discarded the veggies.  Shredded the chicken, and put the broth and the chicken (separately) in the refrigerator overnight.  The next day, I took the lid off the broth to skim the fat.  In the world of Jewish cooking, this is known as the "shmatlz".  Its key in traditional matzoh balls and you use it in place of the vegetable oil. I was very bummed to find that I had accumulated no schmalt overnight.  So much for boneless, chicken breasts... I used the vegetable oil instead and made a mental note to use split chicken breasts with the skin on next time to help get some fat in the broth while keeping the meat white for the end result. 

Now for the matzoh balls... It seems that Northern Delaware has very few Kosher patrons at the local supermarkets.  A few of the local markets have absolutely no kosher section and some only put out a few items for the holidays.  I lucked out a little with it being close to Passover, but had the damndest time finding matzoh meal.  Instead, I grabbed a box of matzoh ball mix and figured I'd customize it myself.  Actually, I added a box of reduced sodium matzoh ball mix because in my searches many people complained about how salty Maneschevitz was and it was all that ShopRite had.  I decided to try only one box of mix, figuring that 9-12 balls would be good to start with.  I separated 2 eggs, whipping the whites a little, and mixed the egg yolks, whites, 2 Tbsps of vegetable oil, a touch of club soda, and a touch of chopped dill.  Mixed it all up and put it in the fridge for setting.  The recipes that I browsed suggested anywhere from 15 minutes until 2 hours.  I figure the longer, the better, and finished this step nice and early.  My next big decision was how to cook the balls.  I have no dishwasher and always err on the side of less pans.  Some people suggest cooking the balls in water, some say broth gives it more flavor, and some cook theirs right in the soup.  The lazy cook in me wanted to cook mine in the soup to give the balls flavor and have one less pan to wash.  After reading some threads on Chowhound.com, I found that both are fine but cooking in the soup gives it a cloudy, murky quality.  I also want John and Shawn to try the soup and figure they'll be more likely to give it a shot if the broth and soup quality look good, so I decided to cook the balls separately in water, cut with chicken broth for flavor.  I also thought this could be a good option because I could freeze some of the actual soup portion without the matzoh balls for future meals.

On to the soup!  I chopped up about a cup each of carrots and celery and sliced up about 4 or 5 cloves of garlic.  I sauteed the vegetables with a touch of butter for about 5 minutes, then added most of the chicken stock.  I saved about a cup or two to boil the matzoh balls in.  Once everything had come to a boil, I turned it down, and simmered for about an hour.  Halfway through, I took out the matzoh ball mix and rolled out 12 small balls, about an inch around.  I mixed the remaining chicken stock with some water, brought it to a boil, and added the balls to the boiling water.  Covered it all with a lid, turned it down to a simmer, and turned the timer to 35 minutes.  Then I walked away.  You can't ever open the lid while making matzoh balls!!  Its like a crockpot- total party foul.  35 minutes later, I took one out to test one.  At first glance, it looked great.  I cut into the ball and my fork sliced through quickly.  Light and fluffy!  I put the balls in the soup, added some shredded cooked chicken, salt, pepper, and chopped fresh dill, and let it all sit for another few minutes.  Then I scooped out a bowl, let it cool, and dove in. 

Mmmmmm...... light and fluffy matzoh balls.  Exactly like my moms.  The flavor was nice, with the chicken stock and dill coming through.  The broth was great and super flavorful.  I needed to add a touch more salt & pepper, which I expected.  I tend to be a little light handed with seasoning.  Overall.... I loved it!  John didn't care for the dill (or grass, as he called it) but he liked the matzoh balls once he tried one out of my bowl.  He said it tasted like chicken.  Good compliment, as far as I'm concerned!  I'm happy to have this in my reperatoire and look forward to making it many times in my life.