I should mention that the request wasn't for any old matzoh ball soup. It was for his mother's recipe. The request every woman dreads: Please live up to my infallible Mother's famous signature dish. I felt destined to fail. As I began the recipe, he said "I don't know about this.... you have 29 years of Debbie's Matzoh Magic to live up to." Great.
She had graciously sent her recipe, but unfortunately we went shopping without it in hand, and guessed at a few ingredients. Right away I realized I couldn't follow it exactly. First of all, I had bought boneless chicken thighs instead of a whole chicken. Second, her recipe only called for water and no stock (the whole chicken would soon turn the water into stock). But without the chicken innards, I knew a flavorful broth would require a boxed stock. Cheating? Maybe. But nothing is worse than bland soup.
I also browned the chicken thighs first, my own little additional step in the recipe. Then, I covered the thighs with half water/half stock, and added heaps of chopped carrots, celery, and onion. Then it was let to simmmmmmmmmmmmmer... for about two hours.
In the meantime, I began to make my first matzoh balls. I bought whole-wheat matzoh meal, partly because it's healthier, and partly because that's all the store had in stock. In the middle of February, without any matzoh-mongering holidays in the near future or recent past, I guess it isn't a top-seller? The recipe distinctly said that I should mix the matzoh balls in "a non-metal bowl". This perplexed me. Why a non-metal bowl? I googled it. Apparently there is some debate over whether yeast reacts with metal, giving dough a funny taste. However, I'm pretty sure that the whole point of matzoh meal is that there is no yeast, as it's ground-up unleavened bread made of flour and water. But regardless, I didn't want to monkey with the rules, and so I pulled out my Grandma Marie's orange milkglass mixing bowl circa 1935. It's such a classic.
I mixed eggs, water, oil, baking powder, salt, pepper and matzoh meal until it became a glue-like paste. After a good chill in the fridge, I shaped the paste into ping-pong sized balls and dropped them into boiling water to cook on low for 30 minutes.
By now, the soup smelled delicious. The chicken had completely broken apart into strings and small chunks, and the veggies were perfectly tender. I ladled the soup out first, then placed 1-2 cooked matzoh balls in each bowl, as per the recipe's instructions. I wondered if I could have just plopped the cooked matzoh balls right into the soup all at once, but it was insisted upon that the two items needed to be stored separately until they were to be consumed. Because that's the way it has to be, and always has been, forever.
Results: It was delicious!! I can't pretend this was some great feat. It was chicken soup and some dough balls. And my slight adjustments were (surprisingly) noted as welcome changes, as they made the soup slightly healthier by way of whole wheat and less chicken fat.
My opinion of matzoh balls remains the same: meh. But I was just relieved that I didn't mess up 29 years of magic.
Status: Success!
I also browned the chicken thighs first, my own little additional step in the recipe. Then, I covered the thighs with half water/half stock, and added heaps of chopped carrots, celery, and onion. Then it was let to simmmmmmmmmmmmmer... for about two hours.
In the meantime, I began to make my first matzoh balls. I bought whole-wheat matzoh meal, partly because it's healthier, and partly because that's all the store had in stock. In the middle of February, without any matzoh-mongering holidays in the near future or recent past, I guess it isn't a top-seller? The recipe distinctly said that I should mix the matzoh balls in "a non-metal bowl". This perplexed me. Why a non-metal bowl? I googled it. Apparently there is some debate over whether yeast reacts with metal, giving dough a funny taste. However, I'm pretty sure that the whole point of matzoh meal is that there is no yeast, as it's ground-up unleavened bread made of flour and water. But regardless, I didn't want to monkey with the rules, and so I pulled out my Grandma Marie's orange milkglass mixing bowl circa 1935. It's such a classic.
I mixed eggs, water, oil, baking powder, salt, pepper and matzoh meal until it became a glue-like paste. After a good chill in the fridge, I shaped the paste into ping-pong sized balls and dropped them into boiling water to cook on low for 30 minutes.
By now, the soup smelled delicious. The chicken had completely broken apart into strings and small chunks, and the veggies were perfectly tender. I ladled the soup out first, then placed 1-2 cooked matzoh balls in each bowl, as per the recipe's instructions. I wondered if I could have just plopped the cooked matzoh balls right into the soup all at once, but it was insisted upon that the two items needed to be stored separately until they were to be consumed. Because that's the way it has to be, and always has been, forever.
Results: It was delicious!! I can't pretend this was some great feat. It was chicken soup and some dough balls. And my slight adjustments were (surprisingly) noted as welcome changes, as they made the soup slightly healthier by way of whole wheat and less chicken fat.
My opinion of matzoh balls remains the same: meh. But I was just relieved that I didn't mess up 29 years of magic.
Status: Success!
No comments:
Post a Comment