Comfort Food - Matzo Ball Soup - a photo on Flickriver

Last week somebody told me I was butt ugly, and under the circumstances what's a bold guy to do? Make Matzo Ball Soup, of course. :-)

This is one of those dishes that looks deceptively simple, whereas it is actually extremely complex:

- Chicken Soup: made with free-range, antibiotic-free local Farmers' Market chicken ( it makes a difference when you buy something from a family, and every person contributed to the goodness of the final product, I think), carrots, parsnips, whole onion, garlic, dill, bay leaf and black peppercorns.

I browned the chicken really well before adding the aromatics - not necessarily a traditional step in most families, but it adds a great deal of taste to the broth, and contributes to much desired amber color that everybody wants. Most of the color comes form the whole unpeeled yellow onion, parsnips bring subtle sweetness, and dill makes the broth taste just like "Granny use to make".

- Matzo Balls: made in a very traditional manner with Matzo Meal ( I used Manischewitz brand), eggs, chicken broth, celery seed and garlic, and absolutely the most critical ingredient - "shmaltz" (rendered chicken fat).

I rendered chicken fat very slowly while the soup was on the stove, and strained it before mixing the matzo balls batter - it was absolutely gorgeous bright yellow in color, but had that caramelized chicken bits aroma and taste.

Matzo Balls were poached in the broth for about 15 minutes, and served with freshly chopped dill - amazingly, they ended up tasting like chicken souffle.

This plate was absolutely [bleep]ing ridiculous!!! By far the best I made.

On a separate note: In your face, Bobby Flay! Throwdown this! :-) Just kidding, may be not.... LOL

Taken on: April 26, 2007

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Camera: Nikon D90, f/4.0, 1/250 sec, 60mm (=90mm), ISO 200 (more info) (hide info)

Camera:	Nikon D90
Aperture:	f/4.0
Exposure Time:	0.004 sec (1/250)
Focal Length:	60mm (35mm equivalent: 90mm)
ISO:	200
Exposure Bias:	0 EV
Flash:	No Flash
Exposure Program:	Program AE
Exposure Mode:	Auto
Metering Mode:	Multi-segment
White Balance:	Manual
Color Space:	sRGB
Software:	picnik.com
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