Matzo Ball Soup, with Help from the Westford Market Basket

Since it’s Passover, most major grocery stores -- including Market Basket in Westford -- have an expanded Jewish food section. If you’ve never tried anything from the Kosher area, now is a great time to check it out!

Matzo crackers are one of my favorites—we eat them all year as a snack, with butter or peanut butter or hummus or cream cheese or, well, just about any spread.

While I’m not Jewish, I really love Passover seders. My sister-in-law always serves a delicious matzo ball soup when she hosts a seder. I’m not sure how authentic my recipe is, but we like it in our house!

Ingredients:

• 1 cup matzo meal
• ¼ teaspoon salt
• 1/8 teaspoon pepper
• ¼ teaspoon dried thyme
• ¼ cup vegetable oil (or, if you make your own chicken stock, you can use ¼ cup of the fat you skim off the top of the stock after you’ve refrigerated it)
• ¼ cup chicken stock
• 4 large eggs
• 10 to 12 cups chicken stock
• 2 to 3 carrots, peeled and sliced into coins
• 2 green onions, whites and greens sliced into coins
• Fresh parsley for garnish

Directions:

1. In a large bowl, mix the matzo meal, salt, pepper, and thyme.
2. In a large measuring cup, combine the eggs, vegetable oil, and ¼ cup stock. Mix until well blended.
3. Pour the egg mixture into the dry ingredients and mix until combined. Cover and refrigerate 15 to 30 minutes.
4. In a large pot with a lid, bring 10 to 12 cups of chicken stock to a boil. The matzo balls will absorb some of the liquid, so you really do want to use that much!
5. Once the stock is rapidly boiling, add the carrots and green onions. Remove the matzo ball dough from the refrigerator. Form into approximately golf ball sized balls and add to the boiling soup. To do this, wet your hands and roll a scoop of the mixture into a ball. Alternately, you can just use two spoons to form approximate ball shapes. I normally do this—my matzo balls aren’t perfectly round, but I find it much quicker and easier! It’s very important that your stock is rapidly boiling before you add the matzo balls. If your stock isn’t hot enough, the matzo balls will dissolve into the soup and it’ll just be a big ol’ mess.
6. Cover the pot and continue cooking on high for 40 minutes. I use a very large pot so I don’t have to worry about the stock boiling over. Don’t peek—just let the matzo balls keep cooking. 
7. Serve three or four matzo balls per bowl with a generous amount of soup.  Garnish with parsley. This recipe will serve 3 or 4 people.

To those of you who celebrate, Happy Passover!