Happy Passover: Two Secrets to Fluffy Matzoh Balls

Our Seder is quite relaxed.    My husband, having married a non-Jewish woman (my good self), is pretty low key about his faith, so his holidays are more about family getting together for a festive meal than strict religious teachings.  And food is really my religion so it works well.

With Passover on the near horizon, I am busy planning the menu, which always features matzoh ball soup.  This dovetails well with our feature on eggs, because one of the secrets, shared with me by my husband's beloved, late Aunt Sarah, a famously great cook and hostess, involves eggs.  Drum roll, please:  Separate them.

When you prepare the matzoh balls, use whatever recipe you like, but separate the yolks from the whites and whip the whites to a light, frothy near-meringue.  Then gently fold them into the remaining mixture and proceed with the process as planned.

The other secret Aunt Sarah taught me was to use seltzer.  Many recipes call for water or chicken stock.  Ignore them.  These result in leaden balls that seem more appropriate to bouncing off pavement than eating. 

So when we sit down to our feast this weekend, and my spoon cleaves through the soft, fluffy matzoh ball like a hot knife through butter, I'll tip my toque to Aunt Sarah in thanks for sharing her secrets, even with a shiksa.

Happy Passover!

Farewell, Soup Month

Copes Corn and Shrimp Chowder on January 31, a fitting adieu to National Soup Month.  As promised in a previous post, I made this and am reporting the results.  It was goooooood.

It is essential to use Cope's Sweet Corn--this dried corn is thought to be a Native American product, originally developed so corn could be stored throughout the year.  Cope's Corn is also popular in Pennsylvania Dutch cooking.  Pop into Pennsylvania General Store in Reading Terminal to stock up.  You'll be hooked; the creamed corn and corn casseroles that feature this ingredient are heavenly.  But I digress.  Back to the chowder.

I am not as notorious as Claire about tinkering with recipes, especially virgin ones, but in this case,  I did some tweaking.  The original version as suggested by Gourmet is here.  My slightly altered (mushroom-free, unpureed, simpler) version is below.  You be the judge.

Cope's Corn and Shrimp Chowder

1/2 cup chopped onion
1/4 cup choped parsley
1 7 oz package Cope's corn
3 TBSP butter
1 cup heavy cream
6 cups chicken stock
1/4 tsp dried thyme
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 tsp pepper
3/4 lb medium shrimp, tails removed, shelled, deveined and cut in 1/2
Sriracha or your favorite hot sauce

Saute onion and parsley in butter til softened.  Add corn, cream, stock, and seasonings.  Bring to boil, then immediately lower and simmer for 45 minutes til corn is completely soft.   Add shrimp and simmer til just cooked through about 8 minutes.    Douse with a few drops of Sriracha if desired.

This was a huge hit; I think it would be epic with crab as well.  Think I'll try that next time!  But I'm not waiting til next January.

Soups of the South

Seeking soups of the south gave me a chance to tap two of my favorite cooking men:  my husband Matt, who hails from Arkansas; and Chef Bill Beck, who was raised in New York, but food-wise he's all New Orleans.

Matt's latest specialty is black-eyed pea soup.  He starts with a meaty ham hock, chops a large onion, a few stalks of celery and carrots, 3 or 4 crushed garlic cloves, a teaspoon of chili powder and salt, and tosses the lot into a big pot with a pound of rinsed black eyed peas.  Or navy beans.  Or whatever beans you have on hand.  He covers the mess with water and simmers for about 3 hours.  Then he pulls the ham off the bone into bite sized bits, tosses it back into the soup, and is ready to enjoy.  [Alternatively, skip the ham hock, buy a 1 lb picnic ham,  cut it into cubes, and add them to the pot--saves the work of picking the bones.]

He recently visited his elderly parents for a few days on the Chilly New England Coast, and while there filled their freezer with a vats of homemade soup--chicken, simmering in the picture above, and black eyed pea.  Clearly he's a keeper.


And no discussion of southern soups would be complete without a mention of Gumbo.  Strictly speaking, Cajun is different from southern, but geographically it's nearby, and since Chef Bill Beck of Beck's Cajun Cafe is a rising star on the Philly Food Scene he warrants some airtime.

Chef Bill Beck with a vat of gumbo.

Chef Beck will be competing in the Reading Terminal Cook-off on February 25 at the Valentine to the Market Gala, but he was kind enough to take some time out of his busy schedule to chat soups with us.  "Gumbo is the quintessential Cajun dish.  The key is a good roux.  You really have to brown the butter and flour mixture thoroughly, constantly stirring for a good while to avoid burning.  The roux forms the base flavor as well as the thickener for the gumbo. "  In addition to gumbo, Bill was kind enough to share his famous oyster stew.  This recipe is a New Orleans version of a dish that is commonly served in coastal areas all over the US.  Bill's rendition would typically be served as a first course for a holiday dinner in New Orleans. 

And finally, we're dying to try this Cope's Corn and Shrimp Chowder, which appeared in the late, lamented Gourmet Magazine's "What is Southern?" issue from January 2008--the only one I saved from my vast subscription.  The chowder is definitely on our agenda soon.  We'll be sure to report the results.