grandma's matzo ball soup

I am one of the least religious people in my family (or the world probably) but I have never missed a Passover at my Grandma's house in my life except for last year when I was in England for the semester. It is one of my favorite holidays. It is such tradition through and through. I mean, I suppose all holidays are, but Passover is the extreme for me. Everyone goes to my grandma's house and she makes tons and tons of food and invites tons of people and there are (handmade) namecards and everything. It is the best/largest/greatest family gathering ever and I think that is why I like it so much.

And also the food is delicious. My grandma always makes the best matzo ball soup and brisket especially. Both things I never have except on this one occasion but they are my favorite things. While everyone helps out in the days leading up to Passover, my grandma really makes everything herself. I think she is where I get my organizational skills and need to plan ahead!

Anyways, since we go to her house every single year I have never made any of the foods we eat on Passover myself. Until last year when I tried to make matzo ball soup in London by myself because I needed some sort of Passover even if I was by myself. It was not exactly a success, considering they were sold out of most of the ingredients and I had no cooking supplies to speak of. So this year, even though I got to my grandma's for one night of Seder I was already back home for the second night, thanks to my Tuesday classes I couldn't miss. So I decided to try again. It came out much better this time. I did not even ask my grandma for her recipe but I tried to make it the way I figured she must based solely on 21 years (cuz I missed the one) of consuming it. Honestly I think it was some kind of Passover miracle the way that it turned out tasting exactly like hers..

Matzo Ball Soup

3 medium sized onions or equivalent

some garlic

3 chicken legs

3 carrots

water

chicken broth cubes or concentrate

salt and pepper

matzo ball soup mix

2 eggs

vegetable oil

Chop onions and put them in the bottom of a huge pot with some oil. As they begin to cook add the chicken and let them cook together until slightly browned. Add carrots too and some garlic if you want (I added garlic at this point and later on I think). Pour in about 7 cups of water and the corresponding amount of chicken broth flavoring. Some water may end up evaporating or cooking away so you may not need quite as much broth flavoring as it says on the package. I had these broth concentrate packages that were liquid and said to add one for each cup of water. I ended up using maybe 4 or 5 in all and I had at least 7 cups of water. Taste at the end to see if you need more flavoring or not. Cooking the chicken on the bone in the water should help add to the flavor and also add salt and pepper to taste at this point. Let simmer covered for a few hours. I just left it on until I went to yoga at which point I turned the stove off and let it sit until I returned and then turned it back on until it was warm again and by then I tasted it and it seemed good. I guess I'm a very inexact cook!

Once the flavoring is right and everything is cooked until soft let cool and blend in small amounts until it has all been blended smooth but slightly thick.

Mix up the matzo ball mix according to package instructions (add the eggs and oil and then refrigerate for 15 minutes before forming into balls and cooking in boiling water for 15 minutes) and then drop them into the blended soup. Let them sit in the soup while it heats back up and then eat and enjoy!