Week 1: Rainy Day— Alison Roman’s Matzo Ball Soup
Happy New Year! I have a lot of funny feelings about this blog. I have always intended for it to be a place of inspiration for people who want to learn something new and actually move past the beginning stages of growth where it’s easy to lose motivation because you’re not yet good at said new thing. For me, blogging is one of those things. I’m not yet good at it, but have I followed my own advice? Of course not! Because it’s really hard.
All that to say, new year, same goal: get comfortable with the uncomfortable parts of growth. So I’m back, and hoping to stick around this time. I’ll be striving towards what I hope is an easy goal: follow r/52WeeksOfCooking and post about it here. That’s it— starting simple.
If you’re not a Redditor, the rules of the sub are simple. Each week there’s a new theme, and participants cook a meal according to that theme. As long as you can make an argument that your dish belongs in that theme, it counts! People can join in at any time of the year (if you complete a full year, all that’s really up at stake is bragging rights) but I’m jumping in now, at the beginning of 2023!
The theme for Week 1 is “Rainy Day.” Yesterday, I spent the whole day cooking matzo ball soup and a chicken pot pie from scratch. It was an incredibly cozy and foggy day, which was lucky because I was able to cook a rainy day meal during a rainy day.
I’ve made the chicken pot pie countless times before, but I’ve never made matzo ball soup from scratch. I used Alison Roman’s recipes for both, and they (of course) did not disappoint. The first time I came across Alison Roman’s matzo ball soup recipe was for Passover 2020, when I took one look at the process of making chicken broth from scratch and thought “no way, too complicated.”
This time when revisiting the idea of matzo ball soup and chicken broth from scratch, I didn’t skip a beat… AND I made a chicken pot pie at the same time. 2.5 years, and look at how much I’ve grown! It’s easy not to notice these moments of growth, but they’re incredibly satisfying.
Turns out, making chicken broth from scratch is very easy— throw a bunch of stuff in a pot with tap water and let it simmer for a few hours. Looking back, I don’t know why I was so intimidated. Alison’s recipe doesn’t call for skimming the foam out of the broth, but I did only because it felt like the right thing to do. My end result wasn’t murky (so I think that means I did a good job?) but it wasn’t 100% clear either, so I do plan on researching and learning more about skimming vs. not skimming.
Unfortunately, while I am a big fan of Alison Roman, I am not a big fan of her third favorite herb, dill (if you’re reading this and you know her, please don’t rat me out). But since I do feel like dill is an essential flavor in matzo ball soup, I couldn’t imagine leaving it out. I’m happy to report I actually enjoyed dill in the matzo balls? I’m shocked. The balls were incredible. Light, fluffy, and all of them floated. And the broth? Absolutely worth the effort. I’ll definitely be making this soup again— rain or shine!