Matzah Ball Soup
This is an Ashkenazi Jewish soup, which is made from a mixture of matzah meal and chicken fat. This is the traditional soup served on Passover. Everyone’s grandmother made the best matzah ball soup, so no two recipes are the same, except it contains the two basic elements, chicken soup and matzah balls.
Ingredients:
MATZAH BALLS
2 egg whites slightly beaten
2 tablespoons of chicken fat (or oil)
1 teaspoon salt
2 tablespoons soup stock or water
1 cup matzah meal (buy it at the store)
CHICKEN SOUP
3 lbs. chicken, quartered
2 medium size onions (diced)
6 carrots (diced)
1 stalk of celery (diced)
Water to cover
2 tablespoons salt
Instructions:
MATZAH BALLS
Beat egg whites slightly with fork. Add chicken fat, salt and water. Add matzah meal gradually until thick. Refrigerate for 20 minutes in covered bowl.
Take a standard ice cream scoop and scoop a ball. With wet hands form into perfect balls. Drop into bubbling chicken soup. Cook for 30 minutes. Drain and set aside.
CHICKEN SOUP
Peel all vegetables and dice. Place chicken and vegetables in 6-quart pot. Add salt and water to cover. Bring to boil and then lower flame and simmer for 2 hours.
Take out the chicken parts and shred the chicken meat. Put the chicken back in the soup.
30 minutes before serving place the matzah balls in the soup and simmer. Dish out soup with one matzah ball per serving.
Yield: 14-16 servings
Meet the Chef
Mitch was raised in a traditional Reform Jewish home near Boston. After graduating from high school, he attended the University of Massachusetts and focused on a culinary career. Mitch worked at some of the finest kitchens in Boston including the Ritz-Carlton Hotel, The Parker House and Le Meridien, achieving his goal of cooking with the best chefs in the world. In 1982 Mitch moved to San Francisco and cooked at some of the top restaurants on the West Coast as well. Mitch had a chance to work with other top chefs who introduced a new and lighter style of cooking to America, which became known throughout the United States as New American Cooking.
His destructive lifestyle, however, was detrimental to his career and he could no longer keep up with the high demands and pressures of cooking at the top. He was eventually fired from his job at Stars, once a top restaurant and one of the most creative kitchens in the country. He realized that his life was a wreck and prayed to God for the first time in years. The next day, he quit smoking and drinking. As Mitch began to trust God for the first time in his life, he talked with a Christian co-worker about the Bible and finally began to grasp the Gospel message. Mitch accepted Yeshua (Jesus) into his life in 1987.
Mitch now serves as Vice President of U.S. Ministries for Chosen People Ministries and oversees all recruitment, training, mentoring and leadership of the entire U.S.-based missionary staff. Mitch is married to Kina, a second-generation Jewish believer, and they have two daughters, Kaelee and Alana, and a son, Joshua.
