Time to pull Sunday’s broth out of the refrigerator and make the matzo balls for the soup. Matzo is an unleavened (no yeast) bread that’s flat, like a cracker, made with flour and water. The flour can be wheat, barley, spelt, rye, or oat — so it’s possible to make them gluten free. Matzo meal is ground matzo, so the texture is a cross between breadcrumbs and flour, and it comes in a canister like breadcrumbs.
There’s a recipe on the canister but it makes very bland matzo balls (Jewish soup dumplings), so Tony got the idea for this one on the Food Network. He made the dough the night before since it can rest overnight in the refrigerator. You can also save time by rolling up the dough balls in the morning because they can sit in the refrigerator again for up to 8 hours. You can add things like your cooked celery, carrots, and shredded chicken back to the broth along with the matzo balls when you serve it, and garnish with dill.
Today was a snow day, so it’s perfect weather for a flavorful soup. When we were mixing the matzo balls, I asked Tony how much flour was in it and he said, “one cup.” So I put in one cup; but he meant one cup of matzo meal obviously. I didn’t realize there was matzo meal only, so our first batch came out too watery to form into balls. I happened to re-read the recipe and see “matzo meal” and realized we never added it so we had to start over. Luckily we still had enough ingredients left, but we definitely need eggs now. My egg lady’s chickens just started laying eggs again so she’ll bring over a couple dozen this weekend.
Matzo Balls
4 eggs
2 T reserved broth fat or cooking oil
1 T finely chopped shallot or onion
1 small crushed clove garlic
1 t finely grated lemon zest
1/4 t ginger
1 T finely chopped fresh dill
1 T finely chopped fresh parsley
1 C matzo meal
1/4 C broth
1 t kosher salt
Whisk the eggs and broth fat in a bowl. Mix in the rest of the ingredients until combined. Cover and chill at least 2 hours or overnight. Roll heaping spoonfuls of dough into balls with damp hands.
Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil. Add the matzo balls and reduce the heat to maintain a low simmer; cover and cook until the balls are tender, 35 minutes. Meanwhile, warm your broth (8-10 cups). Drain the matzo balls and serve in the warm broth.
