Matzo Ball Soup aka Jewish Penicillin

 

Okay, I know.  You're thinking, the other day
she posted a recipe that had a blanket o' bacon on it and today, she's making Matzo Ball Soup.  Mea culpa (Latin for "my bad").

What do you expect from a Christian Orthodox girl who married Jewish?

Tha fact is, today I am home with a cold.  I would have made Macedonian penicillin (roasted hot peppers with lots o' garlic and feta), but oddly enough, I had most of the fixin's for Matzo Ball Soup.

Any good Jewish mama worth her weight would make the broth from scratch.  I'm sick, remember?  This means shortcuts when it comes to broth.  However, as always, there is lots of the best ingredient of all:  LOVE!

So here's to good health and good eating!

• 1 pkg (of a 2 pkg box), Matzo Ball Mix
• (as per mix - 2 eggs and 2 T oil)
• 5 chicken bouillon cubes
• 1 chicken breast half
• 3 boneless, skinless chicken thighs
• 2 large parsnips
• 2 large carrots
• 1 medium onion
• 1 t dried parsley (divided into 2, 1/2 t portions)

First, get the Matzo Balls (MB) started.
In a bowl...
empty 1 pkg of the MB mix, add eggs, oil and 1/2 t parsley.

 

Stir until it's well incorporated like this.
Place in fridge for at least 15 minutes.
This will give you time to get everything else going.

Poach chicken in about 2 C chicken broth (1 bouillon cube).
When you poach, always do so in  flavoured liquid.
This is to ensure flavour penetrates the meat.
This should take about 20 minutes.

Peel and cut the carrots and parsnips.
I used 1 carrot (as per picture), but use 2 large ones.
I only used one because my husband bought a honkin' mutant sized one from the "Big and Tall" vegetable store. 
Cut the carrots and parsnips like crudites.

Then it's easy to hold onto a bunch at a time
while you cut into large dice.
(I've got a camera in my hand
so that's why I'm not holding them down!)

 

This is what large dice should look like.

Dice the onion, like this.

In a large pot,
place carrots, parsnips, onion, 1/2 t parsley and
4 bouillon cubes.
Okay, confession: 
I only had 2 chicken cubes so I went rogue and used
2 chicken and 2 beef cubes.
Yes, yes, I hear you.   Holy sodium, Batman!
If you want to use other chicken broth, please do so.
For each cube, you need 2 C of water and I added an additional 2 cups for a total of 10 cups of water.
This is what I had on hand and remember, I was sick!
Bring to a boil and reduce to a medium-low simmer.
(So I tried to make it legit by adding the water
from the chicken - you gotta have a little schmalz!)

For sure 15 minutes must be up, right?
Retrieve your MB mixture from the fridge.
Using a 1 T measuring spoon,
make 12 roughly equal sized mounds

Take each mound and roll between your palms
into round balls like this.



Slip the MBs into the simmering broth.
Cover with a tight fitting lid.
Let it do its thing for about 20 minutes.

 

              Meanwhile, roughly shred the cooled chicken.

I like the mix of white and dark meat for texture.

All white meat is too dry for me!

Now you're probably wondering...

why I don't cook the chicken in the soup.

I find it gets "overcooked" if simmered for a long time,

& it tastes like string to me. I can control it better this way.

Perfect Matzo Balls ready for your soup bowl! 

Oy, did you ever see such heart-warming
Matzo Ball soup?
Plump MBs,
chunks of chicken,
hearty veggies... 

Cutting into a MB...
Moist perfection!
So delicious, I'm gonna plutz!