Sinker Matzah Ball and the left and Floater Matzah Ball on the right.

As with all great cooking adventures you just can’t make one recipe of anything. Matzo Balls may seem simple but like a fine ballerina that make dancing look easy, a perfectly weighted and flavored matzah ball can be heaven. From selecting which classic brand of of Matzo meal to use or how to making a rich broth, each component makes for one of the best all time favorite comfort foods. Hard to imagine a good  Jewish deli or attending a Passover Seder without a delish bowl of matzah ball soup. Here I have included three different tried and true recipes along with some of the ingredient and technique tips I discovered.

The big personal distinction in Matzah Ball soups seems to be what type of Matzah ball one prefers, light and fluffy floaters or satisfying and chewy sinkers. Broadway Panhandler  in New York City had invited me to do a demonstration of making Matza Ball Soup in earthenware Chicken Pot from Colombia and it offered a great opportunity to have a large group express which type of Matzah balls was their favorite. I made two different types of Matzah balls for each public judge to try, all served in the same homemade Chicken broth (except for the vegetarian matzo balls). It was a very close between Nathalie’s Floaters and Rich’s Sinkers… out of 70 judges the winner by 4 votes was the floaters. So it was close to a tie and I recommend doing both types of matzah balls to do your own taste test, since both types are marvelous. This is also a very fun project for children too. I included a recipe for vegetarian Matzah balls, which is really satisfying option in a vegetable broth.

Nathalie’s Floating Matzo Balls

Type: Floaters

Flavor: Parsley, Onion powder

Lightening agent: Seltzer

Matzoh Brand: Streits

Combine

4 eggs, beaten

¼ cup chicken fat

¼ cup Seltzer

1 Tbl chopped fresh parsley

2 tsp salt

1/8 tsp black pepper

1/2 tsp onion powder

1 cup matzo meal

Refrigerate for 1 hour. Roll into eight or nine 2″ tight balls and drop into boiling UNsalted water and cook for 45 minutes. Simmer in chicken soup before serving.

Rich’s Flavorful Matzo Balls

Special thanks to Rich for sharing his Matzo Ball making tips and recipe.  He has perfected some of the most tasty Matzo Balls I have ever enjoyed!

Type: Sinkers

Flavor: Parsley, Onion powder, Chicken Stock

Matzoh Brand: Streits

Combine

4 eggs, beaten

¼ cup chicken fat

¼ cup Chicken Broth

1 Tbl chopped fresh parsley

2 tsp salt

1/8 tsp black pepper

1/2 tsp onion powder

1 cup matzo meal

Refrigerate for 1 hour. Roll into eight or nine 2″ tight balls and drop into boiling UNsalted water and cook for 45 minutes. Simmer in chicken soup before serving.

Vegetarian Matzo Balls

Type: Sinkers

Flavor: Dill, Onion

Matzoh Brand: Manischewitz

Combine

4 eggs, beaten

¼ cup Olive Oil

¼ cup Vegetarian Broth (vegeta)

1 Tbl chopped fresh dill

1 tsp salt

1/8 tsp black pepper

1 T minced onion

1 cup matzo meal

Refrigerate for 1 hour. Roll into eight or nine 2″ tight balls and drop into boiling UNsalted water and cook for 45 minutes. Simmer in chicken soup before serving.

I did try the recipe found on the web for the classic Second Ave Matzah Ball Soup and I found all three of the above recipes far superior.

Tip:

1. Rendered your own Chicken fat. I collected fat from chickens I prepared by saving the scraps in the freezer just to use for this purpose. It is a hard to beat flavor enhancer.

2. Make the chicken broth from scratch and you will have a world class Matzah Ball experience.

3. Use the freshest Matzah meal you can find. I like buying my Matzah in Jewish neighborhoods delis in Brooklyn right particularly around Passover and freezing a couple of extra boxes.

A cute Matzah Video about 20 things to do with Matzah Bread after Passover… I suggest a 21st thing to do… grind fine or coarse and make some Matzah Balls!

A post-Passover musical greeting!
Song composed by William Levin
Lyrics by William Levin and Michelle Citrin
Performed by Michelle Citrin and William Levin.

Make two batches of grits simultaneously.

One batch with blue corn grits and one with yellow corn grits.

1 ½ Cups of Blue Corn Grits*

1 ½ Cups of Corn Grits*

Vegetable Broth or Water

1 t of garlic powder per batch of grits

1 t salt per batch of grits

2 T of butter to each batch

Start cooking the two kinds of grits. Follow the pack directions. I like using stone grown grits for the taste and texture. I like using vegetable broth vs water. I used a lidded clay pot to make each batch of grits because I like how the clay gently cooks the grits possibly plumping them up.

Rectangular piece of Poster board

Plastic wrap

Non stick spray (optional)

While the grits are cooking, cut a piece of rectangular poster board 13 inches by 5 inches. Cover the poster board with plastic wrap and save for the plating. Spray with Non Stick spray (optional).

Next, puree in a food processor the Huitlacotche with garlic.

1 sm can of Huitlacotche

1 Clove of Garlic minced

1 Jalapeño Pepper chopped - optional

After the basic grits have cooked and are still warm, it is time to flavored each batches.

Add the Hitlacotche puree to the prepared blue corn grits. Mix together and save.

To the just cooked yellow grits add

1.5 Cups of Bright Yellow Shredded Sharp Cheddar

1 Cloves of Garlic minced

Black Pepper to taste.

Mix well.

You want to do the plating while the grits are still warm. Use a ten inch wide bowl for serving. Put the plastic covered poster board in the center of the bowl and curve it to a shape of a ying yang. Pour in the warm blue corn grits on one side and the yellow on the other side of the poster board. Save back approx two tablespoons of each grit mixture to put contrasting dots on the ying yangs. Let the grits set with the poster board in place. Once set you can gently removed the board and you will have Ying Yang Grits. If you need to transport leave the board in place until ready to serve.

You can do a similar dish presentation with Purple and White Mash potatoes too.

Vegetarian friendly.

For vegans you could omit the cheese and butter and have a tasty dish as well.

Serves 6 to 8.

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 In our family we believe in the cooking properties of the Magic Bean Pot. This is the name one of my children gave an old Mexican clay bean pot in my kitchen. “Oh… we are going to use the Magic Bean Pot today”… gets the whole family excited and involved.

It’s not a myth, over the years my favorite bean pot has developed wonderful seasoning and it is like cooking with an old friend everytime I use it… yes, its a positively magical bean pot.

I had just gotten a new shaped Mexican clay bean pot from El Metezo in Chicago. I nick named it “The Pretty Lady”, since the bean pot shape seems like a pretty lady with a narrow top and two hand-les resting on a bulbus bottom. This traditional design was created to keep beans very moist and plump while cooking.  These purple bean were definitely very unusual and would bring some interesting flavors to my new clay pot. Since it was new, I boiled some water in the pot first on low heat for about thirty minutes to prepare it for its maiden bean cooking voyage.

Place in the bean pot, 1 lb of Frijoes Ayocote and enough water to cover the beans with an extra 2 inches of water.  Remove and clean to look for any twigs, stones or leaves. Boil for about an hour and turned off for a couple hours or skip the first boil and soak the beans overnight. When ready to cook, again add additional water to cover at least two inches over the top of the bean. Do not add any seasonings. Cook the beans until tender about 2 hours.

In a separate small pan or stove top clay pot saute

1 chopped onion in

1 Tablespoon of olive oil until golden.

Add 2 dried Avocado leaves crumbled,

2 dried hot peppers of you choice crumbpled,

2 cloves of chopped garlic,

1 teaspoon of cumin and saute for 1 minute.

Add one cup of the cooked purple beans and cook a minute more. Let cool a little then using caution place the small pans contents in blender until lightly blended. Then pour the mashed bean and seasoning mixture in to the main pot of beans. Simmer 10 mins and add salt and pepper to taste.

The beans will lose a little of their purple brilliance and become a purplish brown but they are a lovely meaty bean.

 My love of fresh pomegranate made it impossible for me to resist a book named Pomegranate Soup by Marsha Mehran.

 A sensitively presented book, with recipes, about three women leaving Iran to start a new life in a Ireland. The tale could be located in many countries but Marsha’s story rings the sounds of telling a difficult story in a thoughtful positive light. Of course I loved all the cooking references and what each sister brought to this loving kitchen. An easy quick read, with some difficult heart wrenching chapters. Each chapter begins with a recipe. I find great pleasure and special warmth in recreating her lovely recipes as if you are present in the storytelling and living her sharing of a culture heritage she wants to preserve.

 Here I am making the Red Lentil Soup from Chapter two. I used Yellow Lentils and searched out the Nigella Seeds from a local spice store. Nigella Seeds are now a new favorite in my spice rack so I recommend experimenting with them if you can find them. Pepper can be substituted but not the same.

2 Cup dry (red) or yellow lentils

7 large onions, chopped

7 garlic cloves, crushed

1 teaspoon ground turmeric

4 teaspoons ground cumin

Olive oil

7 Cups chicken broth (vegetable broth can be substituted)

3 Cups water

Salt

2 teaspoons nigella seeds

I found the author, Marsha Mehran’s directions worked perfectly and there is not anything I would do differently to this delightful soup.

“Place lentils in a saucepan, cover with water, and bring to a boil. Cook uncovered, for 9 min. Drain and place aside.”

In a large stockpot, fry 6 of the chopped onions, garlic, turmeric, and cumin in olive oil until golden.

Transfer lentils, broth, and water to the pot. Add salt, nigella seeds or pepper to taste. Bring soup to a boil. Lower heat, cover, and simmer for 40 minutes.

Fry the remaining onion in olive oil until crisp but not blackened. Add as a garnish…”

Recipe adapted from Chapter 2 recipe Pomegranite Soup by Marsha Mehran, Random House.

Clay pots I used were from La Chamba Colombia for the chicken broth and serving bowel. The  soup was prepared using a lidded clay Pomaire Chilean pot.

This is an homage to my very French mother raising her family in Texas. She was never a fan of grits and of southern style pan gravy so I did a twist on this recipe that would have made her a convert to this classic southern combination of grits and gravy.

First I searched out the best pork sausage I could find. Wild Boar sausage appealed to my love of using indigenous New World ingredients and hearing that D’Artagnan uses Texas wild boars it seem like a local (if in Texas) wild boar sausage to try.

I found this sausage to have a softer and less black musky flavor than others I have found using more expensive boar sausages at butcher counters such as Dean & Deluca. Interesting as these other Boar sausages were they seem too rugged for this rendition of a classic breakfast dish but could be substituted if you desire a more gamy flavor.I also liked that Wild Boar D’Artagnan sausage is made with meat from feral swine raised without hormones and antibiotics. And in the manufacturing process D’Artangnan used sage (another New World ingredient) shallots, sherry, dry mustard and garlic to add a continental gentleness to the flavor. These seasonings became the inspiration for this sausage gravy recipe. Hence I highly recommend ordering online or seeking out this D’Artagnan’s sausages. If you do not eat pork there are some gently flavored sausages with apple and chicken that would work well with this simple recipe and be less greasy than main stream sausage brands.

As for Grits… I love my grits…  I am grit picky southern girl.

If you are in the mood for classic and gourmet stone ground grits first stop would be McEwen & Sons of Wilsonville, AL. Every flavor I have tried is fabulous. I love the Organic Blue Grits for it’s stone ground texture, unusual color, and taste. The blue corn grits also adds a little exotica using this rare variation of this new world food and looks interesting on the plate and generates conversation. Any slow cooking grits could be used and both the gravy and grits can be made simultaneously.

I highly recommend watching the Stan Woodward’s documentary “It’s Grits” particularly the new anniversary addition. Fascinating and very sensitive (brought tears to my eyes)… the little clips on the web do not do it justice get the DVD at http://www.stanwoodward.com/itsgrits.htm  An American Classic! Youtube clip.

Clay pots!!! I really like cooking both these dishes in Clay for the following reasons. I think it makes the grits creamer as it plumps and softens the grits. Plus the clay holds the warmth making a great stove to table way of serving the grits.  As for the gravy. The gentle even heat of the stove top safe clay pot offers a method to make a velvety sauce that if monitored will not boil much and minimize lumps. The gentle warmth is great for serving at the table as well. I used my Ancestral la chamba chicken pot skillet because it is great size for the sauce and has a fun chicken theme for breakfast if you chose to serve eggs on the side of these dishes for a brunch and a nice round small lidded Olla pot for the grits.

Recommended timing. First step… put the water for the grits to boil and sauté the sausage. Once boiling put the grits in the boiling water and crumble the cooked sausage (can be done ahead as long as you save the sausage drippings). Then make the gravy.

Quick option tip - You can alway remove the casings and crumble the uncooked sausage first and start cooking the crumpled sausage and jump into making the gravy with the pieces of sausage in the pan, quicker and a makes a bit more rustic style, equally tasty, but not as velvety a sauce.

Serves 3 to 4

Wild Boar Sausage Gravy Recipe

4 links of D’Artangnan Wild Boar Sausage

1 Tablespoon of Olive oil
3 Tablespoons of Flour
1 1/4 Cups of organic whole milk
1/4 Cup of dry sherry
2 Tables of fresh roughly chopped sage (save additional full leaves of sage for garnish)
1/2 t of salt
1/2 t of fresh ground white or black pepper

Sauté and cook throughly 4 links of sausage in 1 T of olive oil.

This D’Artangnan sausage is very lean if you are using another sausage you might be able to omit the olive oil. Remove the sausage and the pan from the heat, save the sausage drippings. we will be using this same pan and the dripping for making the gravy.  After the sausage has cooled a little remove what of the outer casing you can easily remove and crumble or chop up the sausage meat and put aside for adding to the gravy later.

Take the milk and flour and put in a plastic bag and shake well (a Texas cooks trick)… or you can put the flour and milk in a bowl and mix well, set aside.

Here comes the cooking, stirring part, which is easy just don’t try to use to high a heat, stir constantly and have all your ingredients handy.

Return the pan with the dripping back to the stove on medium heat for about 20 seconds and add the dry sherry to deglaze the pan, stir constantly. Once deglazed (sherry and pan drippings blended) add the milk flour mixture and keep stirring over medium low heat, approx another thirty seconds, until it starts to thicken, reduce heat to low.

The thickening happens quickly so be prepared to keep stiring while quickly adding the crumbled sausage and sage. before it gets too close to your desired thickness.

The clay pot will hold the heat and continue to thicken the velvety sauce so you don’t have to make it super thick. You can thin the gravy by adding a little extra milk at this point over the heat if necessary. Seasoning with salt and pepper to taste.

Serve immediately with the grits.  Garnish with the full sage leaves.

Cooking the grits

1 Cup of uncooked stone ground blue corn grits
4 Cup of water
2 Tablespoon of butter
3/4 teaspoon of salt
1/4 teaspoon of freshly ground pepper
1/2 teaspoon of garlic powder

Bring the water, salt, garlic powder and butter to a boil add the grits. Stir well and return to a boil over medium heat. Once boiling again, cover and reduce the heat to low for 25 mins. Check the grits periodically and stir to minimize sticking and loosen grits from bottom of the pot. Add pepper when done and serve.

Thanks to Matt Timm’s Grit Cookoff  at the NYC Food Film Festival, 2010 for allowing this grit recipe, one of a series of three - All American Grit Trilogy - Red White (more recipes to follow) and Blue Grits with Wild Boar Sausage to be a part of the competition.  A shoot out by Sam Woodward at the awards, as to the originality of my grit combo, made my year!

Care Instructions for La Chamba Cookware

The pottery from La Chamba, Colombia requires very limited initial preparation before normal usage. The first time you will want to clean your pot in water with a light non abrasive sponge to remove any dirt or residue left from the firing process.  At this point you could choose to start using your pot immediately on your stove, oven or microwave. If you want to take some extra step preparing your vessel or dinnerware here are some methods that have been used for centuries to treat clay cookware.

Some porous clay pottery requires or can benefit from being filled with water approx 3/4 full and placed in a 400 degree Fahrenheit over for 30 min. La Chamba usually does not need this step, particularly if you purchase a finer quality vessel like this one, but if you have a pot from a village market and you were not aware of the step and care taken in the preparation you might feel more comfortable doing the water heated process first before regular daily use. Some international clay manufactures recommend milk in place of water to seal your clay pot. This again is an extra step that does not seem to be necessary for top quality La Chamba.

Regular use of your pot will naturally develop a well seasoned cooking surface. Using wooden utensils verses un-coated metal utensils will also help protect your cookware.

With proper handling you can use your Chamba pot or dinnerware directly on the stove, in a microwave, on a grill and in the oven.

Like any cooking surface, these clay pots should not be exposed to excessive temperature changes. If your pot is very cold from the refrigerator you should not pour in boiling liquids. If your pot is very hot you should not put in ice cold liquids. The idea is to avoid extreme thermal stress.

Clay pots are very practical for daily cooking. They can be filled with cold liquids and be heated over a strong heat without a problem. The clay will also hold heat well. If your food is boiling, your dish may continue to boil for a while after you remove it from the heat, so use caution when moving your vessel. The advantage of your lidded clay pot retain a nice level of heat is that your food can stay nicely warm at the table for upward of an hour.

Cleaning:

Ancestral Chamba Cookware is very easy to clean. Just scrub a little, rinse and dry. Since the clay is porous we do not recommend using detergents, particularly at first, before the pot is cured. If you have stubborn food on your pot just soak an half an hour. The food should be easy to remove with a non abrasive sponge. Repeat if necessary. Boil some water in really hard to clean vessels. There are very good non abrasive, bacteria resistant scrubbers on the market. Metal scouring pads will scratch and are too abrasive for the hand burnished surface of your vessel.

A Recommended purple scrubber

You can clean you La Chamba in the dishwasher even though it is not recommended. The dish washing soap can remain in the porous clay and it can reduce the luster and natural seasonings of your piece.

Clay is a natural surface, not a non stick surface. With time your vessel, with care, will develop a very lovely cooking surface where only limited use of oils or cooking sprays will seem necessary.

Storage:

You should always dry your La Chamba ware well in a well vented space before storing. In very humid climates you will want to take special care to make sure your clay gets properly dried so mold spores will not develop. Proper washing and drying and prevent this from happening. You can air dry your pieces or to quickly dry place your La Chamba pieces directly on low heat to remove the excess moisture and allow to cool. Many cooks like to place their pieces in a warm oven for 10 min.

Happy Cooking and enjoying your heirloom clay cooking pot!!

This stirred and inspired an investigation about clay pot cooking traditions in Ireland.  Just scratching the surface…here are two quick finds I would like to enthusiastically share and hope to encourage more exploration…

An Irish Gallery - Gourmet Pots

A store dedicated to Handmade pots from potters who have thought seriously about what is required of a ceramic piece that will be used to prepare, cook or serve food and drinks.  Located on Main Street, Schull, Co Cork, Republic Of Ireland - hopefully more photos in the near future.

http://www.discoverireland.com/gb/ireland-things-to-see-and-do/listings/gss/product/?fid=FI_75055

Anthony OBrien

http://www.anthonyobrienart.com/index_home.html

A fabulous 5th generation Irish Artist Anthony OBrien, who in addition to creating lovely stoneware, earthenware pottery is reviving traditional designs of medival Irish Ceramic. His workshop is located in Shivlagh, Bunowen Louisburgh, Co. Mayo, Ireland.

Replica Medival Redware clay pots by ceramic art Anthony OBrien

 Jun- Glazed serving bowl by Anthony O’Brien

More research to follow… hopefully on location… Please share what you know about Irish clay pots and clay pot cooking!

This recipe is about using the ingredients on hand… lets say you don’t want to leave the house… your pantry is full of odds and ends… and its okay that likely this recipe will never be duplicated again, completely unique.

I like to look at this type of cooking as finding an unlikely new love encounter. So rich in flavors that no one ever knew existed before.

Why use a clay cooking pot, in this context of cooking? Clay pots adds style, exotica, encourages creativity, gently cooks the complex fusion of flavors and finally offers a serving ambiance that is earthy and beautiful.

This recipe is based on a passion for collecting exotic ingredients. With a well (or oddly) stocked pantry and following your basic cooking and flavor mixing instincts, its not hard to create some very unique food fusions. Lessons I have learned, relax, play, smell, taste, mix, saute and enjoy. If I hadn’t tasted some of the mind blowing dishes, a very adventurous cook and pantry collecting friend, Rich, had recently created right before my eyes, I don’t think I would have had the gumption to mix so many odd ingredients. Hence, here, I include this recipe to give you a wild guideline, and mostly courage to cook beyond your day to day taste buds and create a dish that is uniquely your own kitchen fusion.

Warning, likely, you will not have these exact recipe ingredients on hand or would I recommend going on a grocery store scavenger hunt to duplicate each component. Use this recipe as a guideline to inspire your own special multi-cultural Kitchen fusion soup.

Okay … ingredients on hand. In order of how they came in too the clay cooking pot.

2 Shallots chopped - now I had to commit… sesame oil… or another oil… I chose…

1.5 T of Sesame Oil

— saute until transparent

1.5 good size links of Spanish Chorizo sliced thin and cut in half - I like the DeSpana brand I had in the freezer.

1 Organic Maitake (Hen in the Woods Mushroom) Japanese Grocery Store chopped

- - Then throw in and lightly saute with the past ingredients

1/2 C Seasoned Menma Bamboo Shoots, rinsed

1/2 C Boiled Royal Fern in Water (specially selected) - chopped into 2 in strips

Add

4 Cups of Water

1 Chicken Broth Cube

2 T of (Tiparos) Fish Sauce

1.5 t of Organic Seasoned Rice Vinegar Dressing

3 T Soy Sauce

1 T of Roland Chinese Curry Paste

2 T of Crushed Chinese peppers with Peanuts - Sorry no name in English

8 Pieces of Blue Colored Picked Eggplant chopped into half inch pieces

1 can of drained corn kernels

3 cloves of garlic chopped

- - Then desperate for an exciting flavor boost… to the rescue and a total surprise…

2 T of Indian Coriander chutney

— Bring to a Boil

add half a package Thai Thin Rice Noodles about 5 oz.

When noodles are ready serve.

approx 30 mins total cooking time.

Serves 3 to 4 people.

Results a soup of mixed ingredients probably impossible to bring together 50 years ago. The idea of having Japanese picked Eggplant with Indian Cilantro chutney and Spanish Chorizo in the same cooking pot is wonderfully odd and surprisingly very tasty.

http://www=.boston.com/news/local/articles/2011/02/20/plymouth_archeologists_work_sparks_a_fervor_for_outdoor_ovens/?camp=misc:on:share:article

Ingredients

Chicken legs and thighs

2 onions chopped

2 green peppers chopped

4 cloves of garlic chopped

1/2 a lg can of fire roasted chopped tomatoes

2 to 4 chopped chipotle peppers from a can

3 T Cilantro

1 T Chili Powder

Salt and Pepper

Can or bottle of beer

Start with a Stove to Table Cooking Pot - trusty oval clay Chamba pot that cooks perfectly and looks great for serving.

No Thought Basics - 2 small chopped onions, 2 chopped green pepper and 4 chopped cloves of garlic all roasting in 2T of olive oil.

Need for Meat -  Quick defrost a package of good value chicken thighs and legs you hopefully have in the freezer.

Flavor -  half a big can of chopped Fire Roasted Tomatoes, 2 to 4  Chipotle Peppers from a can with about 2T of Adobe sauce (gives a big kick to the dish… make to taste) , 3 T of chopped cilantro leaves and stems, 1 t pepper, 1 T salt and 1 T Chili powder.

Novelty - men seem to always like it when you say there is beer in the dish, so dug out that can of Tecate (any beer will do) from the back of the Fridge and hence the Mexican favor flair. Add half the can of beer to the pot and drink the other half while you cook and chop… Ole.

Relax - Put the combination on low, covered for about an hour, stirring occasionally and you will have a tasty, filling, and spicy dish that is good with beans and/or rice, over pasta, with fries, couscous, pearl couscous, boiled potatoes… any starchy side dish should do.