Soul-Soothing Matzah Ball Soup

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Matzah ball soup is a cure-all. It makes me feel good on sick days, it makes me feel happy on sad days, and it makes the holidays complete. I have always been completely satisfied with making my matzah ball soup from the Manischewitz mix. It’s delicious, and it’s what I’ve always eaten. Sadly, I have a hard time buying it in DC. The supermarkets around here just don’t seem to carry it, and unless my mom mails me some, I’m out of luck. I bought a different brand of mix once, and… ew. I finally decided to suck it up and learn how to make my own matzah balls. Happy ending- they’re delicious!

To make matzah ball soup, start with your broth. You can make homemade chicken broth, or you can buy some. Then, it’s on to the balls. In a small bowl, whisk together 2 eggs. Mix in 2 tablespoons of vegetable oil. Then, add 1/2 cup of matzah meal (I made my own by grinding 2 sheets of matzah in the food processor), 1 teaspoon of salt, 1/2 teaspoon of black pepper, 1/8 teaspoon of garlic powder, and 2 tablespoons of chicken broth. If you want your matzah balls to be on the fluffier side or closer to what you’d get from the mix, also add in 1/2 teaspoon of baking powder. I didn’t add it, and my matzah balls didn’t expand much. Mix everything together, cover the bowl, and put it in the fridge for 20 minutes.

While the matzah ball mixture is chilling, bring 2.5 quarts of chicken stock to a boil. Drop in a few sliced carrots and celery stalks along with 1/2 of a diced onion. My mom also adds parsnip. The matzah ball mix should have absorbed most of the liquid while it was in the fridge.

With wet hands to keep the mixture from sticking, roll out 1 inch sized balls and drop them directly into the soup. The first time I ever made matzah balls, I didn’t stick to the 1 inch rule, and we ended up with bowling balls! It was quite a few years until I was permitted to make them again! This time, my mixture yielded 13 matzah balls.

Once all of the balls are in the pot, bring it down to a simmer, cover the pot, and let it cook for 1 hour. Season the soup with dill before serving. Happy slurping!

This recipe was adapted from Manischewitz.

Shopping list:

  • Chicken stock- 2.5 quarts plus 2 tablespoons
  • Matzah meal or matzah- 1/2 cup or 2 sheets
  • Eggs- 2
  • Vegetable oil- 2 tablespoons
  • Salt and pepper
  • Garlic powder
  • Carrots- 2
  • Onion- 1
  • Celery- 2 stalks
  • Dill
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Mountain Escape

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I recently spent a rejuvenating few days at an expansive resort in the Virginia mountains. David and I stayed in a house with his sister, her husband, and their two personable pugs. Primland Resort covers thousands of acres and is unlike any hotel I’ve ever seen. The resort’s amenities are spread over its thousand acres, so having a car is an absolute requirement. The drive from our cabin to the restaurants at the main lodge took us up and down narrow, winding roads. We saw turkeys and deer, and many insects splattered on our windshields. The air outside our cabin was perfectly quiet. True quiet. The kind of quiet I didn’t realize I missed until I had it again.

The drive to Primland took about 5 easy hours from DC. Most of the trip is spent on just two highways. Once you leave DC, the mountains appear quickly and the views are so beautiful. Cows and cows galore. It’s amazing that such a short distance from the nation’s capital lies what feels like an entirely different country. Our five hours whizzed by because we had good snacks and the Hunger Games on audiotape. We stopped to pose in front of breathtaking mountain vistas. Our cell phones lost all hopes of reception.

Over at Primland, we enjoyed a mixture of cabin quirkiness, resort luxury, and outdoor adventure, all of which was relaxing. We ate one dinner outside overlooking fire pits, the golf course, and a hill-top wedding (which included a carriage drawn by white horses). Some of us lounged in the spa while others played golf. We sat on our peaceful cabin deck grilling smores and charting the crystal clear night stars.

We had some off-road adventure too. We drove ATVs up and down the mountains, through trees and rivers, over gravel and lots and lots of dirt. We took in the views from the highest points, and at least I squeezed myself to the seat so hard that my inner thighs were sore for days. The ATVs also transformed us into literal dirtballs. If I licked my lips, I ate dirt. A poor butterfly hit me smack in the middle of my forehead. Our clothes held on to as much dust as they could and one pat would send it flying. Dirt crystals seeped from the corners of my eyes for days. Oh, it was so much fun (really)!

And even though we were in the middle of nowhere, we ate a truly magnificent meal in the hotel’s main restaurant. Sous vide lobster, the most tender, perfectly cooked lamb, a steak to die for, scallops that tasted like soft pretzels, the cheesiest tortellini and the sweetest cherry tomatoes, and oh, a chocolate dessert to end the meal in true bliss. The meal reminded me of dining at the Oval Room in DC, except for its looser dress code and only three full tables. I feel lucky to live in a city I love but that can be utterly escaped in one easy drive. Happy star gazing.

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Apple and Walnut Charoset

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Charoset is more than a symbolic food, meant to represent the mortar that binds the Egyptian pyramids. It is delicious! Charoset is my favorite part of the Passover sedar, and I love snacking on it throughout the rest of the holiday. It’s sweet and nutty, the perfect thing to liven up a piece of matzah or any kind of cracker. It is also really easy to make. No heat required! I first made charoset sitting on a dorm room floor while preparing for the least traditional sedar that ever existed. My technique has matured a lot, but the charoset was delicious even back then.

I make my charoset in the food processor for ultimate ease, but you could easily hand mix the ingredients in a single bowl. To start, add 1/4 cup of ground walnuts to your bowl. My walnuts were in pieces, so I ground them in the food processor.

Next, peel and grate 1 red apple. Any type of red apple is fine, I used Gala. Add the apple to the walnuts.

Add 1/4 teaspoon of cinnamon and 3 tablespoons of a sweet red wine to the bowl and mix it together. I pulsed my mixture in the food processor a few times to combine the ingredients and chop up my larger apple gratings. If you use a traditional box grater, additional chopping won’t be necessary. Taste the charoset and add more of any of the ingredients to get the balanced flavor you prefer. Decorate the charoset with another sprinkling of cinnamon and walnut pieces. Store it covered in the refrigerator. This recipe makes enough charoset for about 5-6 people. It’s really used as a condiment. But you can easily double the recipe if you’re serving a larger group. Enjoy!

Shopping list:

  • Ground walnuts- 1/4 cup
  • Apple- 1
  • Red wine- 3 tablespoons
  • Cinnamon- 1/4 teaspoon
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