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The Ten Most Recent Comments By delicata

Matzo Ball Soup, Help a non-Jewish girl out!

My family recipe which was passed down from my Great Great Aunt Ida uses whole matzo. They are the most elegant matzo balls you will ever taste. Very different from the leaden golf ball sized ones you get at the deli.
The recipe is as follows:

Great Great Aunt Ida's Matzo Balls

12 matzo soaked in water until moist and then sqeezed out w/ tea towels
12 tbsp chicken fat aka shmaltz (sold at kosher groceries) *
1 1/2 cup finely chopped onion
2 tsp salt
1 1/2 tsp pepper
1 tsp fresh grated ginger
2 tbsp chopped parsley
4 eggs, lightly beaten
matzo meal as needed

heat chicken fat over medium high heat
Fry onions in fat until golden brown
add matzo and seasonings
fry until the matzo is dried out and beginning to brown
remove from pan and let cool a bit
taste for seasoning - add more salt and pepper if needed, but not more ginger. ginger flavor should be subtle
add eggs and parsley and mix with hands until eggs are incoporated
shape into walnut sized balls, using matzo meal only if necessary to form the balls
refrigerate for at least an hour and up to overnight

boil chicken broth and add matzo balls. when they float to the top they are done.

* you can use butter if you can't find shmaltz. I usually only use 8 tbsp of either butter or shmaltz.

delicata at 4:18PM on 02/14/08

From Required Eating

My Seven Go-To Foods for the New Year: What Are Yours?

-microwave 1/2 butternut squash for 6 minutes than drizzle with olive oil and and a little grated parm
-a poached egg on top of a piece of thinly sliced, toasted, cranberry walnut bread from trader joe's
-1/2 cup lowfat yogurt with a spoonful of maple syrup or good fruit preserves and some ground flax seeds sprinkled on top
-smoothie made with lowfat vanilla banana yogurt, frozen blueberries, frozed blackberries and frozen mango (thow in some ground flax fo a little extra fiber if you are so inclined)
-handful of walnuts
-apples with cashew nut butter
- 1 serving of pretzels with a little mustard for dipping

delicata at 1:52PM on 01/02/08

From Required Eating

Seriously Delicious Holiday Giveaway: Garrison Confections' Garrison Big Box

i go both ways

delicata at 9:06PM on 12/31/07

From Required Eating

Cook the Book: 'The Food You Crave'

roasted squash drizzled with olive oil and dusted with grated parmesan

delicata at 9:03PM on 12/31/07

Responses to Comments by delicata

From Talk

Matzo Ball Soup, Help a non-Jewish girl out!

Go out and buy Croyden House Matzo Ball Soup Mix and follow the directions. That's Croyden House, not Manischewitz, not Streich's...you can't go wrong. The flavour is the best and the Matzo balls are always fluffy. Runs about $ 2.50 USD a package............

katgng at 12:28AM on 04/22/08

From Talk

Matzo Ball Soup, Help a non-Jewish girl out!

@ Hillary - for sure! always boil matzoh balls in the soup! they taste better, and who wants to wash another soup pot?

supposedly the trick to light and fluffy matzoh balls is seltzer? does anyone know anything about this?

redhead at 12:20PM on 02/16/08

From Talk

Matzo Ball Soup, Help a non-Jewish girl out!

You're such a great girlfriend! I think it's so nice that you're trying to make him matzo ball soup.

A piece of advice I have is to make the matzo balls IN the soup, not in separate water. Make them up from the matzo meal (Manischewitz sells a good matzo meal for matzo balls) and then let them cook in the soup broth. That way they take in flavor and they're fluffy! Shhh...it's my mom's secret :)

Hillary
Chew on That

Chew on That at 5:24PM on 02/15/08

From Talk

Matzo Ball Soup, Help a non-Jewish girl out!

i like to add grated onion, ginger, nutmeg, and parsley to mine...

cybercita at 8:38PM on 02/14/08

From Talk

Matzo Ball Soup, Help a non-Jewish girl out!

I'm of the "I like hard matzoh balls" camp, actually. To me, if they're fluffy, they're annoying. Therefore, I use the recipe on the package, then add extra matzoh meal before sticking them in the fridge.

However, what I do to make them tasty is this: add in an awful lot of celery salt, a good handful of marjoram that I crush right in my palm, before dumping those in the eggs, and a little basil, treated the same way. If you want them to be REALLY good, instead of using water to add to the batter/dough, use chicken soup. (BTW, if you use bouillon, I advise Carmel's brand of chicken bouillon, it's like having Bubbe's soup, if not quite as good.)

I also roll them into balls with my hands, to add to the density.

ErisianSaint at 8:28PM on 02/14/08

From Talk

Matzo Ball Soup, Help a non-Jewish girl out!

This is no fail...tried and true....the matzo balls are so easy it defies belief and delicious....
for the soup...
1 3+ pound chicken (or 5 lbs of chicken parts or backs and necks)

2 or 3 large onions

5 stalks of celery (use the leaves too if you have them)

8 carrots (I use the whole 1 lb bag of organic carrots)

1 parsnip

1 small turnip (optional)

1 or 2 small zucchini

1 bunch of Italian parsley

1 bunch of dill

3 whole cloves of garlic

Salt to taste

Wash chicken in cold water and place in a large pot. Peel onions and place whole in pot. Wash celery and cut stalks in half and place in pot. Peel carrots wash and place whole in pot. Peel parsnip, wash, cut into pieces and place in pot. Wash zucchini and cut into 4 pieces and place in pot. Peel garlic and place in pot. Cover all the ingredients in the pot with cold water. There should only be about an inch of water above all the ingredients. Do not use too much water!!!

Bring the soup to a boil and skim any foam off the top. Wash the parsley and the dill and place on top of the soup. Cover the pot but leave the cover slightly askew. Add salt to taste. Simmer for about three hours. Remove the chicken and veggies from the soup. Strain the soup through a strainer. Slice the carrots and add to the soup. You can use the cooked chicken for something else or shred the meat and add it to the soup. Serve with cooked small noodles such as orzo or egg barley. This soup will cure colds, flu, and just about anything that ails you.
Keep the noodles separate from the soup or else they will "suck"up all the broth. Put a portion of noodles in the bowl and then ladle soup over top. This soup is also great with Matzo balls.

I always used a Joan Nathan recipe for Matzo Balls and I was very happy.
In a pinch I have used Manishevitz Matzo Ball Mix which is really pretty good...but these are beyond easy and wonderful...you could season them with some cayenne pepper...go wild...they are a blank canvas...

Matzo Balls...
adapted from Claudia Roden'sClaudia Roden's recipe (from "The Book of Jewish Food: An Odyssey from Samarkand to New York").
2 eggs, separated
1/2 cup matzo meal
1 teaspoon salt

Beat the egg whites until stiff. Fold in the lightly beaten yolks, as well as the matzo meal and salt until well amalgamated. Cover and chill in the refrigerator for 30 minutes.

In a pot of well-salted boiling water, roll dough into 3/4-inch (2-cm) balls and simmer in the water for 20 minutes.

The recipe also gave the option of adding a little ground ginger or finely chopped parsley to the dough -

Enjoy....your boyfriend will love the soup and you!

jazzymom at 7:21PM on 02/14/08

From Required Eating

My Seven Go-To Foods for the New Year: What Are Yours?

Every week I roast 4 pounds of carrots at 400 degrees for 90 minutes. They sit in the refrigerator and make a delicious and filling snack with a generous sprinkling of salt.

carolmurray at 5:31AM on 01/19/08

From Required Eating