Challah Back

I made this!

They’re still baking bread over at Michael Ruhlman’s site, and it’s delightful. This week Peter Reinhart did a guest blog on Challah and I had to try it out – it just looked so good!

Full admission: I’m a secular jew. What that means, my friends, is that I don’t spend time at the synagogue, and I identify as a jew mostly in terms of ethnicity. Sure we haul out the menorah for Chanukah, and yes, I know the shabbis prayers for candles*, but religion by no means plays a center-stage role in our household. There’s a whole post about this business, I’m sure, and at some point, I’ll write it, but not today.

Soup on Wednesday?

Happy Hanukkah, everyone! Last night we celebrated the first night with gifties for Our Small Person, and neighbours up for latkes and matzo ball soup – it was lovely.

All I need is an occasion to make latkes and matzo ball soup, to be honest. I was once told (while the teller was laughing at me, no less*) that matzo ball soup and latkes are Passover food, not Hanukkah food. Well, screw her – it’s comfort food, and I’ll cook it any time I want to, thank you very much. But it is a bit of a production to put it together, so I only cook these things on special occasions. What better an occasion than one that involves a holiday and presents,** really?

The last few times I made matzo ball soup, the matzo balls came out firmer than I wanted, so I changed some business up this time, and they came out damned near perfect – so exciting!

The new baby. Isn't she just lovely?!

Light, fluffy, delicious, and I will share the how-to with you, my friends. I owe it all to my new (candy apple red) baby, a present from my mom, the mixer that I’ve always wanted, the Kitchenaid. I should turn forty every year, swear to dog.

Without further ado, the recipe.

Matzo Balls – enough for 6-8 servings of soup

1.5c matzo meal (I like Manischewitz, fwiw)
6 lg eggs, separated
1.5tsp kosher salt
6Tbsp canola oil***
6Tbsp chicken stock
2tsp baking powder (this may or may not make them unacceptable for Passover – ask your rabbi where she stands on it, ‘cos I read all kinds of conflicting views on it. Baking powder is also not mandatory for the recipe, exclusion of it will only make the matzo balls a little firmer.)

Happy New Year

Let me show you it:

Here’s how I would like my thinking to be –

Here’s how it’s really working today –

Someone had a little much wine at the table last night. L’shana tova, you all! I’m going to go make another pot of coffee now.

(Note – I have no idea where those two pix came from – they’ve been sitting on my hard drive for probably six months?)