Chicken Soup

Servings: 4 Entrees

 

Chicken Base:

 

Ingredients:

8 pounds chicken legs and thighs with skin on

2 cups peeled and roughly chopped thin, young carrots

1 teaspoon vegetable oil

1 ½ cups chopped onions

½ cup chopped parsley

1 cup peeled and chopped parsley root

1 cup celery stalks and leaves

1 tablespoon minced garlic

1 ½ cups peeled and chopped turnip

1 cup peeled and chopped parsnip

¼ teaspoon salt

¼ teaspoon pepper

½ cup loosely packed striped curly parsley leaves (large and empty stem portions removed)

 

Garnish:

Dill sprigs

Paprika

 

 

Chicken Base Directions:

Rinse chicken pieces and place in a large stockpot.

 

Cover the chicken pieces plus two inches above with cold water.

 

Bring chicken to a simmer. Do not boil.

 

Simmer for 25 minutes or until the chicken is cooked through.

 

Remove chicken pieces to a large bowl. Allow to cool.

 

When the chicken is easy to handle, remove meat.

 

Remove any tendons from the meat.

 

Roughly chop half of the meat and chill. The rest of the meat should be reserved for other dishes.

 

Place skin and bones back in the stock, cover pot, and continue to cook over low heat for six hours.

 

Strain chicken stock.  There should be approximately 16 cups of strained stock. Discard solids.

 

Heat frying pan. When hot, add oil. When oil shimmers, add onions. Saute the onions until transparent.

 

Use a slotted spoon to remove onions from oil.

 

Add sauted onion, garlic, carrots, celery, celery root, turnip and parsnips to the stockpot.

 

Simmer vegetables for 15 minutes.

 

Chill stock and vegetables overnight.

 

Day 2

The chicken fat (shmaltz) should have risen to the top of the stock as it cooled. Remove and reserve shmaltz.

 

 

Chef’s Note: Remove the shmaltz whether matzo balls or lapsha are chosen. The broth will be cloudy if boiled with the shmaltz. Reserved shmaltz is added back to the soup just prior to serving.

 

 

Matzo Balls

 

Ingredients:

1 cup matzo meal

4 eggs

1 tsp baking powder

¼ teaspoon salt

¼ teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

3 tablespoons melted shmaltz

1 heaping teaspoon minced fresh dill 

 

Directions:

Combine all the matzo ball ingredients in a large bowl.

 

Mix with a fork until smooth.

 

Chill matzo mixture for 20 minutes.

 

While matzo chills, heat stockpot of stock and vegetables. Strain stock, reserving vegetables.

 

Fill stockpot with 8 cups of stock and bring to a boil. Reserve any remaining stock.

 

Wet hands with cold water.

 

Roll 1½ tablespoons of the chilled matzo mixture into a ball.

 

Place the ball on a large plate.

 

Repeat making matzo balls until all the mixture is used, Wet hands as necessary.

 

Drop each matzo ball into the boiling stock, one at a time.

 

When all of the matzo balls are in the stock, continue to boil to the desired degree of doneness.

 

For “sinkers,” boil the matzo balls for 25 minutes. The exterior of the matzo balls will be light, the interior will remain dense.

 

For “floaters,” boil the matzo balls for 35-40 minutes. The entire matzo ball will be light and fluffy.

 

Place cooked matzo balls on a clean plate.

 

Strain stock used to cook matzo balls. Discard any solids.

 

 

Lapsha

 

Ingredients:

1 large egg yolk

6 tablespoons water

½ teaspoon salt

1 cup flour

Additional flour for rolling

 

Directions:

Pre=heat oven to 275º F.

 

Place water in mixing bowl.

 

Add salt and stir until dissolved.

 

Add yolk and beat until creamy.

 

Mound flour in a deep bowl and make a hole in the top of the mound (like a volcano).

 

Gently pour egg wash into mound.

 

Gently mix flour and egg wash with a fork until a soft dough forms.

 

Dust the surface upon which the dough will be rolled, with flour.

 

Place dough on floured board. Dust hands with flour,  Dust dough with flour.  Knead dough until it becomes elastic. As necessary, dust dough with flour while kneading to achieve desired result.

 

Cover dough with a damp cloth and allow to rest for 20 minutes.

 

Dust rolling surface with flour.

 

Divide dough in four pieces.

 

Roll out one quarter of the dough into a large, very thin (nearly see through) piece.

 

Set dough aside for 10 minutes.

 

Flour rolling suface. Repeat process for second, third and fourth quarters of dough.

 

Fold each piece of rolled out dough from left side to center and from right side of dough to center. Then fold in half lengthwise at center. There will now be 4 layers of dough, one on top of the other, forming a loose roll.

 

Slice dough roll in thin strips from side to side.

 

Cover the bottom of a baking sheet with parchment paper.

 

Spread noodles on parchment paper.

 

Place baking sheet of noodles in oven for 20-40 minutes or until dry. The width of the noodles will affect the drying time. Do not brown.

 

 

 

Matzo Ball Soup Assembly:

 

Place all stock and reserved stock in stock pot and bring it to a boil. Reduce heat. At this point, stock should simmer, but not boil.

 

Add the roughly chopped chicken reserved for the soup and any remaining shmaltz to stock pot. Simmer until chicken is hot.

 

 

Chef’s Note: Some patrons prefer chicken breast meat in the soup. All of the dark meat may then be reserved and used in other dishes. Substitute 3 pounds of poached chicken breast (without skin) that has been roughly chopped.

 

 

Add vegetables. Simmer until vegetables are hot.

 

Taste soup and add salt, as needed, and pepper.

 

Add loosely packed parsley leaves and matzo balls. Simmer 5 minutes or until matzo balls are heated through.

 

Remove chicken and vegetables from stock with a slotted spoon. Place in soup bowls.

 

Place 3 matzo balls on top of vegetables in each soup bowl.

 

Ladle hot stock around matzo.

 

Separate dill leaves from larger dill stems and garnish soup with dill leaves.

 

Lightly sprinkle with paprika.

 

Serve.

 

 

Chicken Soup with Lapsha Noodles Assembly:

 

Heat stockpot of stock and vegetables.

 

Strain stock, reserving vegetables.

 

Fill stockpot with 8 cups of stock and bring to a boil. Reserve any remaining stock.

 

Add dried lapsha noodles to boiling stock. Boil for 10 minutes or until noodles are tender.

 

Add reserved stock to stock pot and bring it to a simmer.

 

Add roughly chopped chicken reserved for the soup and any remaining shmaltz to stock pot. Simmer until chicken is hot.

 

 

Chef’s Note: Some patrons prefer chicken breast meat in the soup. All of the dark meat may then be reserved and used in other dishes. Substitute 3 pounds of poached chicken breast (without skin) that has been roughly chopped.

 

 

Add vegetables, reserved shmaltz, and parsely leaves. Simmer until vegetables are hot.

 

Taste soup and add salt, as needed, and pepper.

 

Ladle soup into bowls.

 

Separate dill leaves from larger dill stems and garnish soup with dill leaves.

 

Lightly sprinkle with paprika.

 

Serve.