Category Archives: Jewish Holidays

Roasted Chicken Soup and Perfect Matzoh Balls

Yesterday was the first day of spring. Apparently, someone forgot to notify the Weather Gods of this fact because over 25 centimetres of snow fell on us here in Ottawa! My son, a go-with-the-flow kind of guy, just took it in his stride, embraced the white stuff and went snowshoeing!

I also embraced the bonus snow storm, by hunkering down in my kitchen and making a big pot of Roasted Chicken Soup with Perfect Matzoh Balls, just in time for Passover.

There are only two things you need to know to make good chicken soup. The first is that you must use homemade chicken stock, not water, as the liquid. The second is that you must allow enough time to chill the soup, after cooking, so that all the fat can be removed. If you follow these two rules, you will have wonderful chicken soup.

Chicken stock is a mystery to many people. Exactly what is it and how is it made? Stock is simply chicken bones, simmered, in water, with aromatic vegetables (typically, carrots, onion and celery) until the bones have given every ounce of their flavour to the liquid. This usually takes about 2-3 hours. Then you take this flavourful liquid, add some fresh bones and vegetables and simmer for a further 2 hours to get chicken soup.

I have recently discovered roasted chicken stock. Before throwing the chicken bones and vegetables into the pot with some water, you roast them in a hot oven for about 45 minutes until they are deeply browned.

Then you simmer these browned bones and vegetables with water for about 2 hours.

This gives you a stock with much greater depth of flavour. It is rich, dark and delicious and makes a killer chicken soup. Here is a photo comparing unroasted stock and roasted stock.

Now, onto the matzoh balls. Here are my golden rules for making perfect fluffy matzoh balls. I have tried many different recipes and techniques over the years and the best recipe comes from the Manichewitz box, but with a few adaptations.

After you make your chicken soup and chill it, there will be a layer of fat sitting on top of the soup. Do not throw it away! Scrape off that fat layer and use some of it as the fat called for in the matzoh balls, instead of vegetable oil. I know that some of you are already having heart attacks, in advance of even eating this, but Passover comes only once a year, and you will actually only be eating one little matzoh ball, so the chicken fat will not kill you. It adds such flavour and tenderness to the matzoh balls, you will be amazed.

Eggs, matzoh meal, chicken fat, salt, a bit of water or chicken stock are combined to make the matzoh ball batter.

The recipe on the box instructs you to chill the batter for 30 minutes. Ignore the box, and chill it overnight. If you leave the mixture overnight, the matzoh meal absorbs more moisture, holds together better and cooks more evenly.

When forming the matzoh balls, wet your hands and gently toss the balls from palm to palm, to form the balls. The size you make them is up to you. I like to make them about 1 tablespoon in size. They will swell in the liquid as they cook.

Do not cook the matzoh balls in the chicken soup! It will make your chicken soup cloudy. Cook the matzoh balls in HEAVILY SALTED water. The water should taste like the ocean. As the matzoh balls cook, they absorb the cooking water. If you start with unsalted or just lightly salted water you will have bland matzoh balls. And that would make me very sad.

Gently simmer, do not boil the matzoh balls. Cook them in a shallow wide pot, rather than a tall narrow pot, so they will have room to swell. Cover the pot so that they will cook more evenly. If your matzoh balls are large, it could take up to an hour. You will know they are done when you slice one open and they are the same colour all the way through. After cooking, remove with a slotted spoon and set in a single layer on a baking sheet. They can be wrapped and stored in the fridge for up to 3 days. Rewarm them in the chicken soup, before serving.

Click here to print recipe for Roasted Chicken Soup with Perfect Matzoh Balls.

Coming Soon… Roasted Chicken Stock and Perfect Matzoh Balls

1 Reply

I’m hard at work on a great new Passover post for you. Should be out in a day or two.

Blondes have more fun and Blonde Chocolate Ganache Macarons.

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Seems that blondes really are taking over the world. First we had the introduction of Blonde Ale, then Starbucks released its Blonde Roast, and now Valrhona has introduced the world’s first blonde chocolate. Say what?? Blonde chocolate?? You thought there were just dark, milk and white?

Before we delve into the world of Blonde chocolate, I offer you a quick Chocolate 101 Primer:

The process of making chocolate starts with the cocoa bean. The beans are fermented, dried, roasted and then shelled. These shelled beans, known as cocoa nibs, are ground and the resulting product is a thick liquid known as chocolate liquor. (It’s not actually alcohol.) Then, this chocolate liquor is pressed and from this pressing we get two products:

1. Cocoa butter, which is actually the fat from the chocolate liquor

2. Chocolate solids, which when ground results in cocoa powder.

Unsweetened chocolate is basically cocoa butter reblended with cocoa powder. Sugar is added to make semi-sweet and bittersweet dark chocolate, and milk is added to produce milk chocolate. White chocolate contains none of the chocolate liquor. It contains cocoa butter, milk, sugar and sometimes vanilla.

Yes, you chocolate purists out there, I know that technically white chocolate is not really considered chocolate since it does not contain any pulp from the cocoa solids extracted from the cocoa bean.

To be labeled white chocolate, there must be a minimum of 20% cocoa butter, 15% milk powder and a maximum of 55% sugar. Note that real white chocolate is not pure white in colour, it is actually an ivory colour. If you see snow white chocolate, it is likely that it contains vegetable oil, rather than cocoa butter and trust me, the taste difference is significant!

OK, now onto the discovery that rocked my world, Blonde Chocolate! (Just a little aside here, when I announced this startling discovery to my husband and two sons they all started snoring! Ungrateful sods, no blonde chocolate treats for them!)

As with several other culinary innovations, this one was also an act of pure serendipity! About 8 years ago, Frédéric Bau, Executive Chef and director of Valrhona’s Ecole du Chocolat, was doing a demonstration for pastry chefs from around the globe. He had some white chocolate melting in a bain-marie. He used a small amount of that white chocolate for his demonstration and the remainder was left sitting there, continuing to slowly heat, completely forgotten about.

Around 10 hours later, he returned to discover that the white chocolate had caramelized into a stunning buckwheat honey blonde colour. It had the aroma of toasted shortbread, and when he stuck his finger in there for a taste, he was shocked to discover an intense biscuity, caramel flavour. It was smooth, buttery and there was a hint of salt on the finish. Frédéric was convinced that he was clearly onto something big here. It took almost 8 years to be able to reproduce this happy accident on a large scale and sell it commercially.

But in October of 2012 Dulcey 32%, the world’s first blonde chocolate was born. Clearly I must have been living under a rock, as I had no idea about this launch. I only became aware of it last week when I got an email from The Vanilla Food Company, featuring some new products to their lineup. My mind was spinning with the possibilities and I immediately ordered a 2 kilogram bag.

Since Passover is coming up soon (March 25), I decided to make some macarons and fill them with a Blonde Chocolate ganache. I think Frédéric would approve. These are classic French macarons, with only one “o”, not to be confused with American macaroons, (with two “oo”‘s), which are made with coconut.

Macaons are the perfect Passover dessert, since they contain no flour. There is a plethora of information and recipes out there in the Blogosphere. I have tried numerous recipes and techniques. Last year I discovered Stella Parks’ (aka Bravetart) macaron primer. I had always thought that macarons were the prima donnas of the pastry world, very temperamental and required a delicate touch. Not so says Stella. If you are a macaron geek like me, then these posts by Stella are required reading:

1. The 10 Commandments of Macaron Baking

2. Macaron Mythbusters

To make your life easy, print out this template for piping your macarons. Depending on the size of your baking sheets, you could print two and tape them together. Place template on baking sheet, cover with parchment and set aside.

A kitchen scale and stand mixer are recommended for success with macarons. Classic macarons begin with almond flour, sometimes called almond meal. You can buy ground almonds at most grocery store or bulk food stores. The ground almonds are combined with powdered sugar and then pressed through a sieve.

Egg whites, sugar and salt are whipped to stiff peaks. Stella gives quite explicit instructions, including number of minutes and speeds, which I have detailed in my attached recipe.

The meringue is whipped enough when there is a big clump of meringue in the center of your whisk, like this:

Next the ground almond/powdered sugar mixture is dumped on top of the meringue and a rubber spatula is used to combine everything. A combination of a folding stroke and a pressing motion, against the sides of the bowl to help deflate the meringue, are used. Remember, we are making macarons here, not meringues. You want to knock the air out of the egg whites.

The batter, also known as the macaronage, is sufficiently mixed and perfect for piping when you spoon some batter on top of the bowl and it mounds up on itself, but after about 20 seconds, it melts back down on itself. Your macaronage is under-mixed and too stiff if you spoon some out and drop it back into the mix and it just sits there, never incorporating. Your macaronage is over-mixed if it has the consistency of pancake batter. Do not let it get to this stage!

Filling the piping bag is easy if you place it inside a tall glass or pitcher, and cuff the top down. Only fill the bag half full. Otherwise, it will ooze out from the top and you will have a sticky mess, and probably curse me!

Pipe just inside the circles, as the mixture will spread.

Remember to remove template before baking. Top half the macarons with a few Skor bits. These will be the top half of your macaron sandwich cookies.

While macarons are baking and cooling, prepare ganache filling. Bring cream and butter to a boil. Pour over chopped blonde chocolate. (You could also use white, milk or dark chocolate) Let sit for 3 minutes then whisk until smooth.

Let cool to room temperature, until quite thick and then pipe onto half the macarons. Top with Skor lids.

Macarons will keep in the fridge for a week or in the freezer for up to a month. Let come to room temperature before serving.

Click here to print recipe for Almond Macarons with Blonde Chocolate Ganache Filling.

A Joyous Purim

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I recently discovered that Bed Bath and Beyond has their very own blog, called Above and Beyond. Who knew? Check out today’s issue to see yours truly featured as their guest blogger and read the full story! I was asked to write a guest post about the Jewish holiday Purim, which begins tomorrow (Saturday February 23) night.

I share with their readers how to make Hamentashen, the traditional triangular shaped cookie, filled with a dried fruit filling. My hamentashen recipe actually comes from my Aunt Carol. She shared their recipe and techniques with me. Her filling uses dried prunes, golden raisins, strawberry jam, lemon juice and almond extract.

If you are looking for something more modern to celebrate the holidays with check out my recipe for Cinnamon Bun Hamentashen from last year.

Or check out these very cool and modern hamentashen:

Candy Cane Hamentashen

Cinnamon Dulce de Leche Hamentashen

Chocolate Covered Hamentashen Pops

A Sweet New Year

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Tomorrow night marks the start of Rosh Hashanah, the Jewish New Year. Honey is traditionally served at the Rosh Hashanah table to symbolize our hope for a sweet year ahead. What you may not know, is that honey is rapidly at risk of becoming a scarce commodity.

What I’m about to share with you may sound a bit far-fetched, like a plot from an episode of CSI-The Animal Kingdom Edition, if there were such a version.

Honeybees are disappearing at an alarming rate. Apparently, thriving colonies disappear overnight without leaving a trace, the bodies of the buzzing little victims are never found. Seemingly healthy communities fly off never to return. The queen bee and mother of the hive is abandoned to starve and die.

Bees don’t just make honey; they are critical in the pollination of our fruits and vegetables When you stop to consider that honeybees pollinate about one out of every three bites of food we eat, this is a serious matter. This missing bee phenomenon is known as “Colony Collapse Disorder” (CCD). What is causing CCD is up for debate.

Some put forth the theory that whenever bees are stressed, a parasite, called nosema, attacks the bees digestive system. Anytime bees are stressed, their immune system takes a hit. What could honeybees possibly be stressed about, you may ask? In what’s called “migratory beekeeping”, beehives are often transported long distances to pollinate farms. Imagine how you’d feel, doing a great job on one farm and then being packed up in a truck, to travel thousands of miles only to have to set up shop in a new location all over again. That would stress anyone.

According to Richard Schiffman of blogs.reuters.com

Three new studies point an accusing finger at a culprit that many have suspected all along, a class of pesticides known as neonicotinoids.

In the U.S. alone, these pesticides, produced primarily by the German chemical giant Bayer and known as “neonics” for short, coat a massive 142 million acres of corn, wheat, soy and cotton seeds. They are also a common ingredient in home gardening products.

Research published last month in the prestigious journal Science shows that neonics are absorbed by the plants’ vascular system and contaminate the pollen and nectar that bees encounter on their rounds. They are a nerve poison that disorient their insect victims and appear to damage the homing ability of bees, which may help to account for their mysterious failure to make it back to the hive.

What can we do to help? Here are a few ideas from the “District Domestic” website that you can implement in your garden, to help the plight of the honeybees.

Replace some of your lawn with flower beds.
Keep your garden as organic as possible! Avoid using pesticides and herbicides.
Plant native species, which bees love – for example: mint, daisies, strawberries, raspberries, lavender, salvia, asters, sunflowers and verbena.
Choose plants that flower at different stages in the growing season to provide a constant supply of food for the bees.

While honey cake is traditionally served at Rosh Hashanah, I have to admit that I’m not the biggest honey cake fan. My main complaint about honey cakes is that they are very sticky and cloyingly sweet.

To me, honey cake is the Jewish equivalent of fruitcake. Everyone makes it but no one really wants to eat it. However, here is a honey cake recipe that I have come upon that has changed my mind. Honey-Glazed Beehive Cake is light and delicate, as a result of egg whites which are whipped to fluffy peaks and then folded into the batter.

The honey glaze which sandwiches the two halves of the hive together is created by combining brown sugar, honey and butter. The brown sugar and butter work their magic to tame the cloying sweetness of honey. I could not stop myself from licking the bowl.

This recipe comes from the June 2008 issue of Martha Stewart Living. I have adapted it slightly and omitted the marzipan honey bees that Martha decorated her cake with. If you have the patience and fine motor skills to make the little marzipan bees, go for it! The hive cake pan is made by Nordicware and I got mine on Amazon.

Egg whites are beaten to stiff peaks and folded into the cake batter to help create a lighter honey cake.

The cake halves must be trimmed in order to sandwich them together to make the hive. The trimmings make a great afternoon snack with tea!

Martha recommends using the honey glaze when it is warm, to glue the halves together. I found that the two sides kept sliding, so I chilled the glaze for about an hour so the butter had a chance to set up a bit. Once firmer, the two halves stuck easily.

The remaining honey glaze can be rewarmed and poured over the cake if you like a “wet-look” sticky cake.

A final sugar glaze is made by mixing icing sugar and water together and poured over the cake.

Click here to print recipe for Beehive Honey Cake.

L’Shana Tova. Wishing you all a sweet, joyous and healthy New Year.

Salt and Serenity

Tales from my kitchen