I made us matzo ball soup for supper, because we had the ingredients and ![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
adrian_turtle wasn't feeling well.
I've been working on making the soup in pieces and then assembling them, rather than making a pot of chicken soup as one process and then adding the matzo balls. It still needs work, but this is good enough to go on with. What's below might be useful/sufficient instructions for someone else to work with, but it's also for my reference.
The pieces, this time, were cooked chicken (from yesterday's supermarket rotisserie chicken); raw carrots; chicken broth (chicken "Better than Bouillon" from a jar, plus boiling water); and matzo.balls. For the matzo balls, I used the recipe on the Manischewitz package, plus some fresh dill, becausecattitude and Adrian bought a bunch at the farmers market yesterday, to use in making pickles.
The process: first, cut the dill into small pieces. Then mix up the matzo ball dough (eggs, water, oil, matzo meal, and dill). Meanwhile, start a pot of water boiling.
Once the dough is chilling in the fridge, peel the carrots, then simmer them, covered, in chicken broth for about twenty minutes. After twenty minutes, turn the stove burner off, and leave the pot of broth+carrots on the stove top.
Take the matzo ball dough out of the fridge, form into balls, and drop into boiling water. Simmer covered for about 35 minutes.
While the matzo balls are cooking, cut up cooked chicken. Put it somewhere the cat can't get at it.
When the timer goes off, turn off the heat under the matzo balls, and use a slotted spoon to remove the matzo balls from the boiling water. Pour out the slightly cloudy water and rinse the pot.
Now, put the pot back on the stove. Transfer the broth and carrots into that pot. Put the matzo balls in the broth, again using the slotted spoon. Add the chicken, a little powdered ginger, and as much more water as there's room for in the pot. Bring to a boil, simmer for a few minutes, and serve.
I used our smaller (white) soup bowls, because they're easier to wash and dry than the larger (green) bowls. So, each person got one matzo ball to start with, one large piece of carrot, some chicken, and as much broth as there was room for in the bowls.
This made good soup, and enough for dinner for the three of us, at two bowls of soup per person.
This process is based on the pots we have--I used our 3-quart saucepan to cook the matzo balls and then the soup, and a smaller saucepan to cook the carrots. I'd have liked to use a slightly larger pot, so I could have made slightly more soup, for a better broth-to-solids ratio.
Simmering the carrots in broth for twenty minutes in broth made them definitely cooked but still firm, and tasting nicely of chicken. The previous iteration of this was eight minutes in the microwave, with liquid to cover; that produced boring but cooked carrots.
If I'd had either scallions or celery, I'd have cut some into small pieces and added them to the soup pot when it reached a simmer. I'd have made this without carrots if necessary, though the three of us all like carrots in chicken soup. Dried dill works about as well, I think; the fresh has more flavor but clumped, and the dried dill I used last time didn't.
adrian_turtle wasn't feeling well.I've been working on making the soup in pieces and then assembling them, rather than making a pot of chicken soup as one process and then adding the matzo balls. It still needs work, but this is good enough to go on with. What's below might be useful/sufficient instructions for someone else to work with, but it's also for my reference.
The pieces, this time, were cooked chicken (from yesterday's supermarket rotisserie chicken); raw carrots; chicken broth (chicken "Better than Bouillon" from a jar, plus boiling water); and matzo.balls. For the matzo balls, I used the recipe on the Manischewitz package, plus some fresh dill, because
cattitude and Adrian bought a bunch at the farmers market yesterday, to use in making pickles.The process: first, cut the dill into small pieces. Then mix up the matzo ball dough (eggs, water, oil, matzo meal, and dill). Meanwhile, start a pot of water boiling.
Once the dough is chilling in the fridge, peel the carrots, then simmer them, covered, in chicken broth for about twenty minutes. After twenty minutes, turn the stove burner off, and leave the pot of broth+carrots on the stove top.
Take the matzo ball dough out of the fridge, form into balls, and drop into boiling water. Simmer covered for about 35 minutes.
While the matzo balls are cooking, cut up cooked chicken. Put it somewhere the cat can't get at it.
When the timer goes off, turn off the heat under the matzo balls, and use a slotted spoon to remove the matzo balls from the boiling water. Pour out the slightly cloudy water and rinse the pot.
Now, put the pot back on the stove. Transfer the broth and carrots into that pot. Put the matzo balls in the broth, again using the slotted spoon. Add the chicken, a little powdered ginger, and as much more water as there's room for in the pot. Bring to a boil, simmer for a few minutes, and serve.
I used our smaller (white) soup bowls, because they're easier to wash and dry than the larger (green) bowls. So, each person got one matzo ball to start with, one large piece of carrot, some chicken, and as much broth as there was room for in the bowls.
This made good soup, and enough for dinner for the three of us, at two bowls of soup per person.
This process is based on the pots we have--I used our 3-quart saucepan to cook the matzo balls and then the soup, and a smaller saucepan to cook the carrots. I'd have liked to use a slightly larger pot, so I could have made slightly more soup, for a better broth-to-solids ratio.
Simmering the carrots in broth for twenty minutes in broth made them definitely cooked but still firm, and tasting nicely of chicken. The previous iteration of this was eight minutes in the microwave, with liquid to cover; that produced boring but cooked carrots.
If I'd had either scallions or celery, I'd have cut some into small pieces and added them to the soup pot when it reached a simmer. I'd have made this without carrots if necessary, though the three of us all like carrots in chicken soup. Dried dill works about as well, I think; the fresh has more flavor but clumped, and the dried dill I used last time didn't.
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