The Goodenough Blog

Yesterday the sun finally came out for the first time in at least a week.  I begged Eric to get in the car and go for a drive so we could watch the sun set on the lake.  Beautiful ending to a beautiful day.

This is just near our house

I jumped out of the car before we made it out of our subdivision.  It was just magical.

Downtown Tahoe City

This photo was from inside the car on the drive through town.

Somehow my husband talked me into making matzo ball soup. I thought hey no biggie, just make chicken stock and then make some matzo balls, piece of cake.  Well in my search for a recipe I found that this is something that mere mortals attempt and fail.  Oh crap!  I am not Jewish, although married to one, we just found out that a great grandmother was secretly Jewish, who knew?  So here I am a gentile, trying to make homemade matzo ball soup.  So I mentioned on my facebook that I was going to attempt it and my wonderful friend from 9th grade sent me her recipe!  She is so wonderful and so far so good.

I made the Chicken Stock last night and used the chicken for green enchiladas!  Yum!  Then I put the stock in the fridge overnight to cool.  Today while making the matzo ball recipe, I used the schmaltz(?) or hardened chicken fat from the stock to add fat to my matzo balls.  Pretty slick.  Anyway then tonight all I have to do is heat up the stock, add some veggies and cook the matzo balls!  Happy New Year to us!

Here is the recipe from my friend Cori that I used.

Chicken Stock

• 1 whole bodied chicken (make sure it is NOT A STEWING CHICKEN) get a fryer it works best, make sure you clean the insides out and clean and dry chix. Place in large pot
• 4 whole carrots cut in half and tied in 2-3 bundles using white kitchen string. Place in pot.
• 2-3 carrots grated into the pot (use vegetable peeler not a cheese grater).
• 3 parsnips cut in half tie into 2-3 bundles with kitchen string drop in pot.
• 2-3 leeks cleaned thoroughly, white part only tied into a bunch with kitchen string drop into pot.
• 1 bunch flat parsley remove metal tie, rinse off and tie with kitchen string…drop into pot.
• 3-4 stalks of celery trimmed, cut in half, tie with kitchen string and drop into pot.

Once everything is in pot, fill with water until it covers the chicken/everything in the pot.
-Add some salt and pepper to taste.
-Bring to boil on stove top.
-Once boiling, turn down heat to simmer, cover pot and leave for 2 hours.
-Once done, cool completely then carefully remove chix (it will fall apart) remove veggies and save they are absolutely delicious to eat!
-Strain liquid and viola you have chicken soup.
-You must consume within 3-5 days if refrigerated if you want to save it freezes beautifully.

And the Matzo Balls

• 4 eggs slightly beaten
• 4 tablespoons of Crisco (vegetable shortening)
• 1 cup of Matzo Meal
• 2 teaspoons of salt
• 4 tablespoons of Chicken stock

Combine all ingredients together and place in fridge for an hour or more. Once you have chilled the mixture, form the Mazto balls (not too big or small). Get about 4 quarts of Chicken soup boiling then turn down to simmer, carefully drop in the Matzo balls. Cover the pot and simmer for 20 minutes, they should be floating not sinking…light and fluffy not hard as a rock!

Best of luck!  And Happy 2010