Matzo Ball Soup, Chicken Salad, and Some of the Most Amazing Brownies EVER

I always get excited when someone in the neighborhood responds to my call for help in learning something new.  Last week, after being in contact with him at various times over the summer, I finally had the opportunity to meet and spend time in the kitchen with Ron.  The plan was to make homemade matzo ball soup from scratch. I love matzo ball soup, and historically in my kitchen, it involved a mix by Croyden House plus the addition of chopped carrots, celery, and egg whites.  (My husband and I would tend to make it during Passover, so the egg whites “replaced” noodles.) There is absolutely nothing wrong with that soup, but learning to make matzo ball soup from scratch including the chicken broth just seemed like something that every Jewish mother should learn how to do at some point.  Well, I had that opportunity!

Ron came to my house armed with the ingredients.  He expanded our plans in a great way! We had the ingredients for the soup, and he thought that chicken salad would be a great way to use the chicken after it was used for the soup broth.  (I am a vegetarian, but not a strict one. I would eat the soup, but not the chicken salad. My husband and kids could share that without worrying about me.) He also brought ingredients for brownies.  DO NOT IGNORE THE BROWNIE RECIPE which I will post below! TRUST ME!

The entire process to make the soup, salad, and brownies took several hours, but we were able to talk and enjoy ourselves the entire time.  The process was also very easy, and clean up was easy as well (HUGE BONUS). My husband was home during this as well, and we all really enjoyed getting to know one another.

Below, I am going to literally transcribe (almost verbatim) the recipes Ron gave to me.   Why mess with success?

Chicken Soup

Ingredients:

1 cut up chicken

2 cloves garlic

2 cups carrots

2 cups (4 stalks) celery

1 large yellow onion, chopped

1 leek

5 parsnips

1 bunch of curly parsley

1 bunch of dill  

Salt 

Pepper

Wash all of the pieces of the chicken and place in cold water to cover along with 2 tablespoons of salt.  Heat to a simmer and spoon off the foam. While the chicken is coming to a simmer, peel, wash, and cut the vegetables and place in a bowl along with 2 tablespoons salt and ½ tablespoon pepper.

After the soup is cleaned (ie all of the foam which comes to the surface is removed), add the vegetables, and bring the soup to a simmer.  Simmer for two hours and let cool on a different burner after two hours.

When the soup is cooled, pull out all of the chicken and debone.  It can be used to put in the soup or make a chicken salad.

In another bowl, heat water to a boil and make the matzo balls using the recipe on the can.  It’s foolproof. (It really was just as easy to make the matzo balls using the can of matzo meal and following the recipe on the side as it is to make them using a pre-packaged mix.)  After the matzo balls are done, throw them into the soup.

This soup was delicious and easy!  Although the recipe does state specific amounts of seasonings, when we made it, it was just added to taste.  At one point it was a little too salty, so we just added some more water. One of the beautiful things about making any soup in my opinion is that is fairly hard to screw up without being able to make adjustments to fix it.  

We made the matzo balls fairly large, so we did not quite have enough for all of the broth.  Nevertheless, we really enjoyed the soup for several meals, and I also had enough to put some zip-lock bags of the broth with vegetables into the freezer.  Knowing how weather changes quickly in Chicagoland, I am certain that homemade chicken soup will hit the spot again very soon! The matzo balls were so easy that if we decide to make more to add to the broth, it isn’t a big deal.

Chicken Salad

To the deboned chicken, add Hellman’s light mayo.  

To that add: garlic powder, onion powder, salt, pepper, celery, optional dill and onion.

Mix together and refrigerate.

It was nice to have something different in the fridge that my family could enjoy for lunch!

As a bonus grand finale, Ron also brought a recipe and the ingredients for brownies.  When he told me that these brownies would be some of the best I have ever tasted, he was not lying!  He provided me with a print out of the recipe which, like above, I will rewrite below. This recipe is from www.cravingsofalunatic.com.

“The Best Brownies in the WORLD!!!  (This is the title on the recipe, but it is not an exaggeration.)

(If you want the actual link, here it is.)

Prep time: 10 minutes

Cook time: 35 minutes

Total time: 45 minutes

Servings: 8

Calories: 329 kcal

Author: Kim Beaulieu

Ingredients:

½ cup butter

2 oz unsweetened chocolate

1 cup sugar

2 eggs, beaten

½ tsp vanilla

½ cup semi-sweet chocolate chips

¼ cup flour

¼ tsp salt

Instructions:

1. Preheat oven to 325 degrees
2. Line your pan with parchment paper.  I find wetting it gets it more pliable.
3. Melt the butter and unsweetened chocolate together over low heat in a medium saucepan.  Stir with a wooden spoon.
4. Remove from heat and add the sugar.  Stir well.
5. Now add you eggs and vanilla, stirring until it’s smooth.
6. Add chocolate chips, flour, and salt.  Stir until well blended.
7. Pour into a pan and place in over.  I always tap my pan to get out any bubbles and make it even.
8. Bake for 35-45 minutes, toothpick inserted should come out clean when done.
9. Remove”

When we made the recipe, we doubled it and used a 9 x 9 pan.  Also, when pouring the chocolate chips into the measuring cup, I was a little (a lot) liberal in my pouring.  You really can’t have too many chocolate chips in my opinion. You may note that there is not much to clean up with this recipe.  We used a saucepan and a bowl prior to pouring into a baking pan. These brownies really were some of the best ever, and I have eaten my share of brownies over the years!  They also made for a great bribe–if the kids wanted a piece of brownie, a certain amount of homework had to be completed first. It worked! (I realize that there is no photo of the finished brownies, but a photo would not have done them justice anyway.)

I had a great day in the kitchen with Ron, and we plan to do more cooking together in the future!  Thanks, Ron!