Matzo Balls, Macaroons, Aunt May, and Easter Dinner

4/20/16
I was just about to start a batch of these, when I realized that I had never added to the recipe, that for an absolutely sublime version of this soup, I substitute duck or goose fat for the chicken fat, and  homemade duck stock alone, if there is enough, or mixed with homemade chicken stock. And remember, no matter how your soup turns out, who's on the chairs around your table is more important than what's on the table.



From 2013...
Some of you will notice this is a slightly edited version of an older post. But for the last several days at work, we've had a steady stream of customers getting ready for their Passover meals. Next week the Easter shoppers will start, but right now I'm comparing recipes with a lot of good cooks for the primo matzo ball soup recip(. So I stopped on the way home to pick up a canister of matzo meal. It's time.

With these matzo balls, who needs Easter Ham?

Aunt May used to feed me matzo ball soup secretly in the kitchen before Easter dinner. I loved the soup, and I hated the Easter ham and sweet potatoes that were always on the family Easter dinner table. My Aunt May was actually my Jewish step-grandmother who had married late in life into a slightly deranged Italian -French- Catholic family who always had an “American” Easter dinner. Ham, sweet potatoes, asparagus. Aunt May was afraid I’d starve since I’d sit tight-lipped in front of my mother’s baked ham. I don’t know what Mom did to that chunk of smoked pork, but it was always dry, and no amount of pineapple glaze could save it in my eyes. Big hunks of meat were a dangerous thing in my Mom's hands. She was great with fish chicken or ground meat, but give her a ham, or a rib roast and there was a good chance it would be barely edible when she got done with it. 

Not that Aunt May was a perfect cook, either. She actually didn’t cook much, but I loved her matzo ball soup. On the other hand, her macaroons for Passover were so bad we used to hide them under the seat cushions until her visit ended. Sadly, she passed away before I had the sense to gather any of her recipes, but my mother had the matzo ball recipe since it was something her picky daughter would eat. No one, even to be polite, ever asked for that macaroon recipe, although I suspect it was off a cake meal box. Those Passover macaroons were truly vile. Good thing the Easter Bunny had brought some goodies for us to polish off after the dishes were done, and even Aunt May liked a decent dark chocolate egg.

These matzo balls are a bit of a compilation of recipes: Aunt May’s recipe uses the eggs separated and the whites beaten stiff, plus chicken fat (schmaltz) and chicken stock. I’ve added the chives, parsley, the longer resting time and the extra salt in the cooking water. Just like with pasta, these absorb water, and the salty water really helps boost the flavor! My friend Amy has also reminded me to not to lift the lid once you are boiling them. Because these are lightened with egg whites, you don’t want to handle them very much when forming. Compressing and hand forming them will make them rather stodgy. To keep them light and airy when I form them, I use this approx. 1” OXO cookie scoop and just gently roll them off my wet fingers into the pot. They puff to about 1-1/2”.

Puffy, gently chicken-y, and made with love, these taste like just the thing a Jewish “Auntie” would be happy her Italian granddaughter serves each year on her Easter table.

All of you, please, hold your family during Passover and Easter, and if you really want them to know they’re loved, serve them these.

Recipe notes: I make my own chicken stock, unsalted, and I make it double or triple strength. If you don’t want to make your own, buy a good brand of boxed, unsalted stock and cook it down to half its original volume, or cook it with some whole chicken legs and seasoning to make it taste homemade. Use part in the matzo balls and the rest add to the chicken stock in which you’ll serve them. You can sub a neutral oil for the chicken fat, (please don’t use melted margarine) although I save the fat that I skim from the aforementioned homemade stock to use in cooking. Obviously, if you keep kosher, you’ll need to adjust the ingredients used here to suit your dietary needs.

Everybody’s Matzo Balls

Makes 28-30 balls

1 cup matzo meal

4 large eggs, separated

¼ cup strong chicken stock

¼ cup chicken fat (schmaltz)

1 tsp. kosher salt

1 tsp. finely minced chives

1 Tblsp finely minced parsley, leaves only

Freshly ground black pepper, to taste

To cook:

4 quarts of boiling water in a pot that has a cover

2 Tblsp of kosher salt

To serve:

3 quarts of good strong chicken stock

The matzo balls

A few chives for garnish

Beat the egg whites in a medium bowl wit a hand mixer until soft, shiny peaks form when you lift the beaters. Set aside. In a second bowl, whisk together the yolks, the chicken stock, the chicken fat, the salt, the chives, the parsley and a few grinds of black pepper. Mix well. Add the matzo meal, and combine it completely.

Simple steps, here.

 Take 1/3 of the egg whites and mix it thoroughly into the matzo meal mixture. Be sure to scrape the bottom of the bowl. Take ½ of the remaining whipped whites and fold it in gently until no white streaks occur. Be sure to get all the way down to the bottom of the bowl. Take the last of the whites and again, gently fold in until there are only a few white streaks. Cover the bowl and refrigerate at least 4 hours and as long as 12.

When you are ready to cook the matzo balls, bring a gallon of water to a boil in a large covered pot, and add 2 Tblsp of kosher salt to the boiling water. Using the 1” cookie scoop  (or a small spoon), portion out little balls of the matzo dough and drop onto your wet fingers and then roll them off your fingers into the boiling salt water. Keep a bowl of water close, and wet your fingers as needed so they don’t stick. When they rise to the surface, stir very gently with a slotted spoon to turn them over, lower the heat to low, cover, and simmer for 40 minutes. They will puff to about 1-1/2”.  No peeking! Remove with a slotted spoon, and either chill, covered well, or place directly into soup bowls.

Do not lift the lid until done...or Amy will get you!

At serving time bring the 3 quarts of chicken stock to a simmer and taste for seasoning, add salt or pepper as needed. Drop in the matzo balls and simmer in the stock for about 10 minutes, if you’ve made the balls ahead and chilled them. If you are serving them straight from boiling, place in bowls, and ladle the hot chicken broth over and garnish with chives.

Makes 28 -30 matzo balls, and will serve anywhere from 6 to 10 people depending on what else is in the meal.

Easter: Aunt May, Macaroons & Matzo Balls

With these matzo balls, who need Easter Ham?

Aunt May used to feed me matzo ball soup secretly in the kitchen before Easter Dinner. I loved the soup, and I hated the Easter ham and sweet potatoes that were always on the family Easter dinner table. My Aunt May was actually my Jewish step-grandmother who had married late in life into a slightly deranged Italian - Catholic family who always had an “American” Easter dinner. Ham, sweet potatoes, asparagus. She was afraid I’d starve since I’d sit tight-lipped in front of my mother’s baked ham. I don’t know what Mom did to that chunk of smoked pork, but it was always dry, and no amount of pineapple glaze could save it in my eyes.

Not that Aunt May was a perfect cook, either. She actually didn’t cook much, but I loved her matzo ball soup. On the other hand, her macaroons for Passover were so bad we used to hide them under the seat cushions until her visit ended. Sadly, she passed away before I had the sense to gather any of her recipes, but my mother had the matzo ball recipe since it was something her picky daughter would eat. No one, even to be polite, ever asked for that macaroon recipe, although I suspect it was off a cake meal box. Those Passover macaroons were truly vile.

These matzo balls are a bit of a compilation of recipes: Aunt May’s recipe uses the eggs separated and the whites beaten stiff, plus chicken fat (schmaltz) and chicken stock. I’ve added the chives, parsley, the longer resting time and the extra salt in the cooking water. Just like with pasta, these absorb water, and its all about the flavor! My friend Amy has also reminded me to not to lift the lid once you are boiling them. Because these are lightened with egg whites, you don’t want to handle them very much when forming. Compressing and hand forming them will make them rather stodgy. To keep them light and airy when I form them, I use this approx. 1” OXO cookie scoop and just gently roll them off my wet fingers into the pot. They puff to about 1-1/2”.

Puffy, gently chicken-y, and made with love, these taste like just the thing a Jewish “Auntie” would be happy her Italian granddaughter serves each year on her Easter table.

All of you, please, hold your family close this holiday weekend, and if you really want them to know they’re loved, serve these.

Recipe notes: I make my own chicken stock, unsalted, and I make it double or triple strength. If you don’t want to make your own, buy a good brand of boxed, unsalted stock and cook it down to half its original volume. Use part in the matzo balls and the rest add to the chicken stock in which you’ll serve them. You can sub a neutral oil for the chicken fat, (please don’t use melted margarine) although I save the fat that I skim from the aforementioned homemade stock to use in cooking. Obviously, if you keep kosher, you’ll need to adjust the ingredients used here to suit your dietary needs.

Everybody’s Matzo Balls

Makes 28-30 balls

1 cup matzo meal

4 large eggs, separated

¼ cup strong chicken stock

¼ cup chicken fat (schmaltz)

1 tsp. kosher salt

1 tsp. finely minced chives

1 Tblsp finely minced parsley, leaves only

Freshly ground black pepper, to taste

To cook:

4 quarts of boiling water in a pot that has a cover

2 Tblsp of kosher salt

To serve:

3 quarts of good strong chicken stock

The matzo balls

A few chives for garnish

Beat the egg whites in a medium bowl wit a hand mixer until soft, shiny peaks form when you lift the beaters. Set aside. In a second bowl, whisk together the yolks, the chicken stock, the chicken fat, the salt, the chives, the parsley and a few grinds of black pepper. Mix well. Add the matzo meal, and combine it completely.

Simple steps, here.

 Take 1/3 of the egg whites and mix it thoroughly into the matzo meal mixture. Be sure to scrape the bottom of the bowl. Take ½ of the remaining whipped whites and fold it in gently until no white streaks occur. Be sure to get all the way down to the bottom of the bowl. Take the last of the whites and again, gently fold in until there are only a few white streaks. Cover the bowl and refrigerate at least 4 hours and as long as 12.

When you are ready to cook the matzo balls, bring a gallon of water to a boil in a large covered pot, and add 2 Tblsp of kosher salt to the boiling water. Using the 1” cookie scoop  (or a small spoon), portion out little balls of the matzo dough and drop onto your wet fingers and then roll them off your fingers into the boiling salt water. Keep a bowl of water close, and wet your fingers as needed so they don’t stick. When they rise to the surface, stir very gently with a slotted spoon to turn them over, lower the heat to low, cover, and simmer for 40 minutes. They will puff to about 1-1/2”.  No peeking! Remove with a slotted spoon, and either chill, covered well, or place directly into soup bowls.

Do not lift the lid until done...or Amy will get you!

At serving time bring the 3 quarts of chicken stock to a simmer and taste for seasoning, add salt or pepper as needed. Drop in the matzo balls and simmer in the stock for about 10 minutes, if you’ve made the balls ahead and chilled them. If you are serving them straight from boiling, place in bowls, and ladle the hot chicken broth over and garnish with chives.

Makes 28 -30 matzo balls, and will serve anywhere from 6 to 10 people depending on what else is in the meal.

Homemade Spinach Fettuccine with Mega Mushroom Sauce, Meatless or Not

Homemade Whole Wheat Spinach Fettuccine

Every now and then, an old memory comes up and smacks you on your head. You know the kinds that say ”Hey, you know it’s a long time since you thought about me, so now DO something!” This is one of those thoughts that just happens to have a recipe or two attached.

About 10 years ago, during a long drive home from an auction with a couple of friends, the conversation turned to what each of us was going to fix for dinner that night. One said she was going to make something her mother used to make often when she was a kid, and that she hadn’t made in quite a while. A pasta dish made with ground beef, sliced mushrooms and a packet of onion and mushroom soup mix. You could have knocked me down with a feather, because my Mom used to make this too, and I’d thought she’s invented it. I hadn’t had it in years. It was a rich, woodsy, mushroom-y dish that was not tomato based, a thing practically unheard of back in the 1970’s when my mother served it. It’s also fast and really easy.

Of course I had to make it as soon as I could. With a few, ahem, changes. You can use a packet of soup mix, which is the easiest and original, or the substitution (which I use) since I try to avoid processed products loaded with things I can’t pronounce. This, easily and deliciously, can be made without meat and also gluten free, especially since many folks are vegetarians, or simply abstain from meat for Lent or during this Easter week. Just see the note at the top of the recipe.

Serve over wide whole wheat pasta, brown rice or wild rice, unless you want to serve it my favorite way, over fresh, home made, wide whole wheat-spinach fettuccine.  The recipe for the fettuccine follows after the mushroom sauce. Oh, it's so good, I can’t wait until dinner!

Mushroom Lover's Mega Mushroom Sauce

Mushroom Lover’s Mega Mushroom  Sauce

Note: The dried porcinis need to soak for 30-60 minutes, prior to cooking the sauce. If you would like to make a meatless version, omit the meat, and use 1-1/2 pounds of sliced fresh mushrooms, water or mushroom stock, and be sure your mushroom base is vegetarian /vegan and gluten-free, if you need it to be.

2T olive oil

1 lb lean ground beef or turkey
1 medium onion, chopped
3 garlic cloves, minced
1/2 oz dried porcini mushrooms, soaked in 1 cup water for 30-60 minutes, then chopped (reserve liquid)
8 oz sliced white or baby portabella or cremini mushrooms
1 packet onion and mushroom soup mix (OR 2 teaspoons of natural mushroom soup base, and ¼ cup dried minced onion)

1-1/2 TBS Italian Seasoning or 1 tsp. each: oregano, marjoram, thyme and rosemary
2 c low-sodium stock of choice, or water
1/4 c dry sherry or dry vermouth

Freshly ground black pepper

½ cup fresh, minced parsley

Salt if needed

Grated pecorino for the table, if desired

Heat olive oil in a large nonstick frying pan on medium-high. Brown the meat with onions and garlic, breaking up meat. Add all the mushrooms, reserving the mushroom soaking liquid. Add the mushroom liquid, discarding the sediment at the bottom of the cup. Mix in the soup mix or the alternative, and the Italian seasoning, and then add the stock and sherry or vermouth and black pepper to taste.


Reduce the heat to medium and boil gently until thick enough that you can make a path with a spoon to the bottom of the pan. Stir in the parsley. Taste for salt and season if needed. Can pass grated Italian cheese at the table, if you want.

Serves 4-6

Eggs, spinach, salt and oil to start...

Whole Wheat Spinach Pasta

Note: I’m using white whole wheat flour from the King Arthur Flour company here as the lighter color gives a prettier green finished product. You may also need more or less flour depending on variables like the humidity, how you’ve measured it, and how much moisture there is in your eggs and spinach. The hand-cranked pasta machine you’ll need for rolling and cutting is available from Kitchen Kapers; mine came from them at least 20 years ago and it’s a very handy little kitchen slave.  The finished pasta freezes extremely well, but will also keep in the refrigerator, dusted with flour and gently coiled in a zip top bag.

3 large eggs

Big pinch of kosher salt

8 oz. frozen chopped spinach, thawed and squeezed really dry

1T extra virgin olive oil

2-1/2 (approx.) cups of white whole wheat flour (King Arthur is the most widely available.)

Extra flour for rolling, cutting and storing

1-2 quart sized zip top plastic bags

Place the eggs, salt, the well-squeezed spinach and the olive oil in the work bowl of a food processor fitted with the steel chopping blade. Process for about a minute to 1-1/2 minutes until the mixture is homogenous, and the spinach is minced. If the spinach pieces are too large, it’ll be hard to cut the rolled pasta sheets.

Looks like just enough white whole wheat flour now...

Add 1 cup of flour and process until mixed. Add another ½ cup and process for about 15 seconds. If the dough looks pebbly, squeeze some together and see if it holds, it’s likely very sticky at this point, so add another ½ cup and process until a ball of dough forms on one of the blade. There will probably be some crumbly dough in there as well.  Feel the dough; it should be soft and moist, but not very sticky. Add more flour as needed, this time a tablespoon at a time and process between additions.

When the dough is soft and pliable, but not overly sticky, process it for about 10 seconds, then carefully remove the dough, form it into a flattened ball and wrap in plastic wrap. Let it rest at least a half hour or longer before proceeding to roll and cut.

Let that dough rest...it's tired!

Divide the dough into 4 pieces, and rewrap  three of them back into the plastic. Flatten the small piece of dough a bit and dust lightly with flour if it’s sticky. Set the rollers on your pasta machine to the widest setting, and feed the dough through. Fold the sheet in half and repeat. Then, make the opening one notch smaller. Repeat the process until you are down to the next to the narrowest setting, run the dough through, and then run it through the fettuccine cutter. 

Rolled, cut and ready to cook.

Dust the strands very lightly with flour, spread them out on a clean kitchen towel, and dust lightly again with more flour. Toss the strands every once in a while you make the rest. Repeat with the remaining three lumps of dough. Let the past dry slightly for about an hour, tossing occasionally to keep the strands from sticking together.. To cook, bring a big pot of well-salted water to a boil, drop in fettuccine, and cook for about 2 minutes. Drain and serve. If you are not going to cook immediately, toss again lightly with flour, slip into a zip top bag and refrigerate for up to 24 hours, or freeze.

Makes 6 servings