When it’s this stormy, nothing sounds as good as soup. Chicken Matzo Ball was Thursday’s soup du jour. I’m no expert when it comes to matzo balls — I’ve tried doing it by grinding up my own matzo, but the box mix just works better. The secret is to shape them gingerly (that’s how you get a floater instead of a sinker) and boil them in chicken stock — separate from the soup. Salted water just doesn’t taste as good.
Chicken Matzo Ball Soup
1 pkg. of Matzo Ball mix (either Streit’s or Manischewitz is fine)
2 bone-in, skin on chicken breast halves
2-3 carrots, cut in 1/2 in. coins
2 stalks celery, cut in 1/2 in. pieces
2 1/2 (32 oz.) boxes of chicken broth
1/2 t. thyme
1-2 bay leaves
S&P
Preheat oven to 375. Sprinkle chicken breasts with S&P and roast for 30-45 minutes until done. (Or just get a rotissierie chicken at the store & make it easy on yourself). Let cool. Shred chicken into bite-size pieces.
Prepare matzo balls according to pkg directions (you’ll need a couple of eggs and oil).
Boil them in 1 box of chicken broth (instead of water). Remove them from the pan when done, otherwise they’ll keep soaking up the broth and get waterlogged.
In a soup pot, bring the remaining 1 1/2 boxes of broth, thyme, bay leaves and S&P to a simmer. Add carrots, celery and chicken. Simmer until vegetables are softened, about 20 mins or so. Taste broth again and add S&P to taste.
Serves 4 (or 2 w/ leftovers for lunch the next day)
