Chicken feet are the best to make this soup. They make it thick, full of flavour and gelatinous – unfortunately, they are hard to find. Feel free to use this recipe as inspiration and to vary it as you wish. I like to simmer the soup longer than most recipes to get depth of flavour. I also drain it, then chop the chicken and return it to the soup – not a traditional way to do things as most recipes suggest using the chicken for salad or some other use. The parsnip is essential for sweetness. I like to use a free-run/organic chicken, as usual.
The matzoh balls are from Bonnie Stern’s excellent cookbook “Friday Night Dinners.” You can buy chicken fat (schmaltz) from specialty butchers or Jewish grocery stores.
1 medium chicken (3 to 4 lb)
1 unpeeled onion, halved
2 carrots, peeled
2 parsnips, peeled
A few sprigs of fresh thyme
Salt and pepper to taste.
Place chicken with vegetables and thyme in large, heavy saucepan. Add cold water to cover. Bring to boil over high heat. Reduce heat to very low and simmer, partially covered, about 2 hours. (There should just be a few bubbles that appear on the surface.)
Drain soup into very large bowl. Remove chicken from strainer (it may have fallen apart) and cut or pull meat from breast and thighs into pieces. Return meat to soup, discarding skin and bones along with onion and contents of strainer. Cut carrots and parsnips in chunks: return to soup. Add salt and pepper to soup.
Chill soup; remove congealed fat from surface and reserve for matzoh balls.
Makes 8 to 10 servings.
Matzoh Balls:
4 eggs
1 cup matzoh meal
1 tbsp kosher salt
¼ cup sparkling water or tap water
3 tbsp chicken fat (schmaltz) or vegetable oil
Combine all ingredients in bowl. Chill 30 minutes.
Bring large saucepan of water to boil over high heat. With wet hands, shape mixture into about 20 1-inch/2.5-cm balls.- they will double in size. Gently drop into boiling water. When water returns to boil, reduce heat and simmer, covered, about 30 minutes or until matzoh balls are cooked through.
Makes about 20 matzoh balls.