Jewish Deli’s are smart. They know they make the food so tasty, you just can’t replicate it at home, nor would you even try. So never in my life would I dare to make my own matzo ball soup. But, when my step-daughter, Rachel, told me she was making her own, I had to have the recipe. And, a new world was opened up.

She sent me the copied pages from her cook book, and after making the soup twice, I immediately went to Amazon and ordered the book, What’s Cooking, Jewish by Elizabeth Wolf-Cohen. The book has beautifully photographed each recipe collected from all over the world. Beet borscht, babka, piroshki, latkes, oodle kugel, brisket are some of the expected dishes, but there are the unexpected dishes, such as Sicilian caponata, Mexican tzimmes and Moroccan carrot salad. I look forward to making many of these dishes, especially after trying the matzo ball soup.

When I served this soup to my book club, I noticed they took three helpings, which was, of course, a great testimony to the recipe. The matzo balls were light, fluffy, satisfying and not heavy at all. You can make these for any favorite chicken soup recipe or use the one in the book.

I simply used my own chicken stock added carrots, onion and parsley and served approximately two matzo balls per bowl, making them the size of golf balls. You could opt to make them much smaller. I made them one day with chicken fat and one day with canola oil and we liked the ones with the canola oil much better.

You can also add the matzos to this easy recipe for chicken noodle soup.

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Matzo Balls

Recipe for Matzo Balls

Ingredients

• Recipe for Matzo Balls
• 3 eggs
• 6 tablespoons of chicken fat or canola oil.
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 2/3 cup cold water
• whole nutmeg for grating
• 1 1/3 cup medium matzo meal

Instructions

• Beat eggs, oil (I prefer the oil over chicken fat) and salt together. Whisk in water. Mix matzo meal and salt together, add to egg mixture and mix well.
• Cover, refrigerate for two hours or until firm.
• Using a scooper, make even sized balls, using wet hands to prevent sticking.
• Bring large pot of water to boil. Add matzo balls. Simmer for 25 minutes. They will swell and bob to top. Transfer gently to the soup. You could add them directly to the soup. I prefer to cook them separately.

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Velouté Du Barry is a creamy cauliflower soup that arrives just in time to offer a bowl to Sippity Sup, who broke his jaw. His site is recently filled to the brim with soups you can drink, and some are quite clever.

Named after the mistress of Louis XV, whenever you see á la Dubarry, the dish will include cauliflower. I could think of many foods I might want to be named after other than cauliflower, but in this case, it has also to do with a dish considered “high class” in preparation and presentation…creamy, silky, smooth, and pure.

Although, Madame Du Barry was not exactly pure, as the last mistress of King Louis XV, her legend lives in this soup. Some say she demanded every meal be made with this dish.

The Process
This is a very easy soup to make, provided you have the right tools….either a blender or my preference an emulsion blender (which is a stick blender) that goes right in the pot. And, then to make it very silky smooth, I use a old fashioned food mill, just as I did in this pumpkin carrot curry soup. It’s that simple. The recipe (and many other similar recipes I researched) call for reserving 1 cup of cauliflower florets to add in later. I preferred to blend it all.

The herb used for this is chervil, which I did not have. I highly recommend the chervil, as this soup is bland without it. You could substitute with tarragon. If I were not committed to following the recipe, I would add in some fennel for more flavor, but I think the chervil will give it what it needs. Chervil tastes like a parsley/anise cross and the soup needs this, along with a good sea salt and white pepper. You could also add an umami seasoning to perk this up.

I’ve seen recipes that allow for a non-fat milk instead of cream. This is merely a matter of taste. I prefer less cream and if I were to make this again, I would do the non-fat milk and perhaps a shot of cream.

The recipe called for croutons, and I skipped this part, and this also makes this a gluten free dish.

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Velouté Du Barry – Cream of Cauliflower Soup

Recipe for Veloute Du Barry, cream of cauliflower soup, (adapted from Le Cordon Bleu at Home

Course Soup

Cuisine French

Author Angela Roberts

Ingredients

• 1 small cauliflower divided into small florets
• 2 tablespoon white vinegar
• 1 large leek white part only, finely chopped
• 1 large onion chopped fine
• 2 tablespoon unsalted butter
• 1/4 cup rice flour
• 6 cups chicken stock or water
• salt and freshly ground pepper
• 1 egg yolk
• 1 cup créme fraiche or heavy cream
• chervil or parley leaves for garnish

Instructions

• Soak cauliflower in cold water with the vinegar for five minutes.
• Saute onion and leek in butter until soft. Add rice flour, stirring constantly for five minutes.
• Add in broth and cauliflower and cook until soft. Blend welll.
• In separate bowl mix egg yolk with cream. Add to soup mixture and blend in super blender.
• Season with salt and pepper. Garnish with chervil or parsley.

Notes

I think some freshly ground nutmeg is nice in this soup. You can substitute non-fat milk, or milk for cream.

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