How to make a comforting bowl of ‘Jewish penicillin’ with matzo balls

It’s been 20 years since the Monday Morning Cooking Club first came together to write a cookbook for charity.

The group, from Sydney’s Jewish community, met each Monday to test, collect and curate their favourite dishes, eventually going on to release a series of recipe collections from Australia and around the world.

This “sisterhood”, now comprised of Lisa Goldberg, Merelyn Chalmers and Natanya Eskin, has just released it fifth book, A Year of Jewish Cooking. More than just a recipe collection, it’s a guidebook designed to pass the torch to the next generation by capturing the heart of Jewish festivals and traditions.

“When we started out, our kids were just kids,” the women write in the book’s introduction. “Before we knew it, they were all grown up. Now they phone home, asking for the recipes of their memories, the recipes that are soaked with tradition, the recipes that have guided their Jewish life.”

For Passover, the trio offers a recipe that balances tradition with the festival’s unique demands. Commemorating the Exodus from Egypt, Pesach is “without doubt – food-wise – the most complicated and challenging of festivals”, yet it remains a season of profound joy and communal feasting.

At the centre of this celebration is their version of the ultimate Jewish comfort food: a golden, restorative chicken soup.

Chicken soup and matzo balls

It is a universally accepted truth that Jewish-style chicken soup is pretty much penicillin. And not only is it good for the constitution, it also nourishes the soul. This is the simplest chicken soup we have come across and it is full of amazing flavour. This is a clear, rich soup which jellies when cold. Best served piping hot with matzo balls (below) or after Pesach (Passover) with kreplach (meaty soup dumplings).

Chicken soup

INGREDIENTS

• 1.5kg chicken frames
• 1kg chicken wings
• 1kg chicken drumsticks
• 4.5 litres (18 cups) water
• 2 carrots, peeled and quartered
• 1 large onion, unpeeled and quartered
• 3 dill sprigs
• 3 parsley stalks
• 1 tbsp whole black peppercorns
• 1 tbsp salt (see tip)

METHOD

1. Start this recipe the day before serving.
2. Place the chicken frames, wings, drumsticks and water in an extra-large stockpot. Place over high heat and bring to the boil. When it comes to a boil, a scum will form on top. Skim off and discard. Add the carrot, onion, dill, parsley, peppercorns and salt. Bring to the boil again. Reduce the heat to low, partially cover with a lid and continue to cook at a light boil for 2 hours.
3. Leave to cool for 30 minutes before straining the soup into a large bowl, discarding all solid ingredients except the meat from the chicken drumsticks and the carrot. Put the chicken meat and carrot in a separate bowl, and cover and refrigerate until needed. Season the soup with extra salt and pepper, as needed (see tip). Leave to cool and refrigerate overnight. The next day, skim off the fat from the surface. You can freeze the fat (schmaltz) for later use.
4. To serve, reheat the soup by bringing to the boil and simmering for a few minutes. Serve with the carrots and reserved chicken meat if you wish. Serve within 3 days or freeze for future use.

Makes about 4 litres (16 cups)

Tip: If you use kosher chickens, you will need to add less salt than the recipe directs. Taste for seasoning once cooked, adding extra salt and pepper as needed. If the flavour is not strong enough, simmer and reduce over medium heat until just right. This recipe makes a huge quantity of soup. If it is more than you need, freeze it for another day.

Matzo balls

Matzo ball soup is perhaps the most quintessential and iconic Ashkenazi Jewish dish. Everyone thinks their mother’s, grandmother’s or aunty’s matzo balls are the best. This recipe may challenge your opinion. Whether you like them hard or soft, cooked in the soup or not, made ahead and frozen or not, matzo balls are simply the most delicious, soul-soothing soup dumplings. As our spoons slice through the first matzo ball, we are immediately and deeply connected to generations past.

INGREDIENTS

• 3 eggs, separated
• ¾ tsp salt
• 125g (1 cup) coarse matzo meal (see tip)
• 60ml (¼ cup) oil or melted schmaltz
• 60ml (¼ cup) water
• ⅛ tsp ground black pepper

METHOD

1. Using an electric mixer, whisk the egg whites and salt on medium speed until stiff peaks form.
2. Meanwhile in a separate bowl, with a fork, combine the egg yolks, matzo meal, oil or schmaltz, water and pepper. While continuing to whisk the egg whites on a low speed, add the matzo meal mixture, spoon by spoon, into the whites, whisking to combine after each addition. Set aside for 15 minutes, giving it a light fold halfway through. The mixture will be the texture of stiff porridge, and you should be able to shape a small ball with your hands.
3. In the meantime, bring a large saucepan of well-salted water to the boil. With wet hands, and without pressing too firmly, lightly roll the matzo ball mixture into smooth walnut-sized balls and drop into the boiling water. After the last ball has been dropped in, cover, turn the heat to medium and simmer rapidly for 40 minutes. Remove the pot from the heat and allow the balls to cool in the water.
4. Refrigerate in the cooking liquid for up to 3 days until ready to use. When ready to serve, remove with a slotted spoon and reheat in the chicken soup.

Makes about 20 balls. Serve 2-3 balls per person.

Tip: The quality of matzo meal has changed over the years. This recipe works best with pure coarse matzo meal, so if the packet you bought has lots of finer “sandy” matzo meal in it, you will need to tip it into a sieve and remove the fine meal before measuring. Matzo meal is widely available in kosher food stores and in some supermarkets in the weeks before Pesach.

This is an edited extract from A Year of Jewish Cooking by Lisa Goldberg, Merelyn Chalmers and Natanya Eskin, published by Simon & Schuster. Photography by Alan Benson. RRP $59.99.