It’s April 14, 2025, and yesterday Mike and Leah, Joe, Randi and Dan and the kids, and Danny and Benji and me had Passover dinner here. We started with the homemade chicken soup and matzoh balls, and this was my best batch ever. Here’s what I did.
3 packages of Trader Joe’s organic cut up chicken pieces (each pack includes 2 breasts and 4 drumsticks. Each package is over 3 lbs.
1 medium onion, whole
2 stalks celery, not sliced
about 7 sprigs of fresh dill
about 4 sprigs of curly parsley
about 1 1/2 lbs. of carrots peeled and cut up into largish chunks
salt and black pepper to taste as you go.
Put chicken pieces in cold water and wash until the liquid runs clear.
Put chicken in largest pot. Cover with cold spring water. Put peeled whole onion in pot.
Bring to a simmer with top on pot. Then skim all the scum off the top till there’s no more scum. Add in your onion, your celery, parsley and dill sprigs. Don’t put the carrots in yet.
Put on low flame but high enough to keep the soup simmering with the top on. After about 1 hour, add the chunks of carrot.
Simmer at least 1 1/2 more hours on lowest flame with top on.
Take all the chicken out and do whatever you want with it. Fish out all the onion, celery, dill and parsley springs and throw away.
Pour soup through a sieve. I take out all the pieces of carrot and wash them off and then I put them back in the soup. If you need to put the soup through a clean sieve a second time to remove impurities, do so.
I wait till the soup fully cools down until I divide it into quart plastic containers. PLACE IN REFRIGERATOR OVERNIGHT AND TAKE ANY FAT OFF THE TOP! THEN FREEZE AFTERWARDS.
I make matzoh balls strictly using Streits Matzoh Ball Mix, and I follow the directions 100% without any changes. They come out perfectly. DO NOT COOK YOUR MATZOH BALLS DIRECTLY IN YOUR SOUP! THEY MUST BE COOKED IN HOT BOILING WATER WITH THE TOP ON FOR EXACTLY 30 MINUTES!
EXTREMELY IMPORTANT!!! AFTER YOU MAKE YOUR MATZOH BALLS, PLACE THEM ON ALUMINUM FOIL AND LET THEM COOL COMPLETELY BEFORE YOU PUT THEM INTO YOUR CHICKEN SOUP!!!!!! IF YOU PUT HOT MATZOH BALLS DIRECTLY IN YOUR SOUP, YOUR SOUP MAY TURN SOUR!!!!
