A Recipe from Florence Jones’ Recipe Box (????)

About the Recipe

This year, I had the pleasure of hosting a family Passover Seder. And when I say host, I mean the whole darn thing, including the Festive Meal. For those not familiar, there’s some ceremony and storytelling that come before anyone can eat. Sometimes it’s a lot, and sometimes it’s short and sweet. But any way you do it, the highlight is always the Festive Meal. And the Festive Meal must have matzah ball soup.

I had planned on grabbing a matzah ball recipe from my cousin, or perhaps sourcing from the internet. But, by chance, I was going through Grandma’s recipe box and I stumbled on this recipe! It was no doubt cut from the back of the matzah meal box. There are layers of tape on it. Knowing my grandma, she probably taped it to her cabinets each year for easy reference during the holiday season.

A reverse image search on Google says that this is probably Manischewitz, likely from the late 20th century. That sounds about right. Let me tell you – they’re floaters, and they’re delicious.

Some tips on making a great matzah ball:

• Seltzer instead of water or broth is said to make extra fluffy balls
• Make the batter and then let it sit in the refrigerator. The recipe says 15 minutes, experience says at least a few hours.
• Cook the balls in water the day before your Seder. Drop them in your broth and let the broth and balls sit in the refrigerator overnight.
• A little extra salt never hurts
• Use one of your balls as a tester for done-ness. Remove it from the pot and cut it in half. If it’s not done, pop the halves back in and cut one of them again to test again. It almost always requires at least 10-20 minutes more than the recipe to get them fully cooked and fluffy.

For more recipes from my family recipe box, check out my Recipes from Grandma page.

A vintage Seder

I love using my family heirlooms and vintage Pyrex to make a celebration dinner beautiful. I used my great-grandfather’s dining table, my great-aunt’s tablecloth, grandma and great-aunt’s china, grandpa Koppelman’s kiddush cup for Elijah… and so much more. Everything was topped off with a Pyrex Seder Plate and Matzah holder.

Andi’s No-Fail Chicken Broth

A great broth is an absolute must when cooking Matzah Ball Soup. Here’s how I do it:

• I make turkey stock from my Thanksgiving turkey bones. If you can’t make your own stock, don’t stress. Penzeys has some great bases.
• Line a big stock pot with cheese cloth. Put in the cheese cloth one roaster chicken, some onions, some carrots, some celery, and one big sweet potato (don’t sleep on the sweet potato). Cut your veggies into chunks before putting them into the cheese cloth. You’ll want to save them for when you serve the soup.
• Gather the corners of the cheese cloth together and bind them at the top with a rubber band or some twine. The goal is to be able to lift the whole bundle out of the soup when it’s done.
• Add your stock or soup base, a little salt, a little pepper.
• Cover the bundle with water, just until you hit the twine. Cover and simmer for 4-5 hours.
• Let it cool enough to handle the bundle. Take the bundle out and put it into a bowl. It’s going to drain some more delicious broth, so don’t put it into a colander or over the drain!
• Open your bundle, but don’t get rid of the cheese cloth yet. Get rid of the sweet potatoes. Pick the meat off the chicken and put the meat along with your veggies in a container and into the fridge. You’ll want to put that back into your soup before you reheat it.
• Re-bundle your cheese cloth and squeeze all of the broth out of what’s left. Throw out the bundle and put the additional broth back into the pot.
• Matzah balls go into the broth and the whole pot goes into the fridge overnight. When you’re about an hour away from the Festive Meal, take the pot out of the fridge and skim the fat. Put the pot back on the stove and add back in the chicken and veggies. Simmer until it’s time to eat.

The Recipe!

Ingredients:

2 T vegetable oil
2 large eggs, slightly beaten
1/2 cup Manischewitz Matzo Meal
1 t salt, if desired (from Andi: yes, you’ll want to add this)
2 T soup stock or water

Directions:

Blend vegetable oil, eggs, matzo meal and salt together.

Add soup stock or water and mix until uniform. Cover and place in the refrigerator for 15 minutes

Bring 1 1/2 quarts of water to a brisk boil

Reduce flame and drop balls approximately 1-inch in diameter formed from refrigerated mixture

Cover pot and cook for 30-40 minutes

Makes about 8 matzo balls