Matzo Ball Soup
The flu has struck.
It's kind of bad timing.
It could be worse; it could be four weeks from now. That would be worse. But this is still a real bummer. I will work from home tomorrow; the last thing we need is for me to give this to others. Working remotely during preproduction isn't ideal, but is managable.
Ho hum.
So, I made matzo ball soup for this week's dinners. I bought chicken legs on my way home from the urgent care yesterday and threw together a two-hour stock (it's really good), then this morning I cooked off some matzo balls and put together a pile of dinners for the week. If this doesn't bring me back to the land of the living, then nothing will.
Planning!
Generally, if I make chicken stock, it's because I have a chicken for some other reason; or, if I make chicken stock, I will also make chicken salad. Nothing goes to waste! So this week, I have also made a chicken salad to bring to work for lunch (or eat at home, depending on how this illness progresses).
Matzo balls are the easiest dumpling of all (really!) but they do require resting in the fridge for an hour, and it takes them an hour to cook, so I did start them early today so that I could relax by the end of the day, and keep kicking this flu's butt.
Here's the nutritional breakdown from Fitbit...
Groceries I had on hand...
- carrot
- celery
- onion
- matzo meal
- eggs
- salt
- vegetable oil
Groceries I had to buy...
- chicken legs (1.94lb @ 1.99/lb = $3.88)
Total monies spent for the entire recipe: $3.88
Total monies spent for each of these 4 meals....
$.77 per meal...
Cooking!
When I was younger, I thought that chicken stock took a whole day. Then, I discovered browning, and my life changed.
So, for stock: brown your meat or bones (in the pan, or roast them), and do the same with your aromatics. Simmer them for a while. More time if you're making more stock; less time if you're making less. Easy as that.
This stock cooled on the countertop, then chilled in the fridge overnight. This morning, I made the matzo balls. Matzo balls are fun! You make a mush (I essentially follow the directions on the box, but swap the oil and water proportions, because it makes them fluffier), then you scoop and form balls out of that mush, and cook them off.
After that, I just portioned it all out with the stock that was chilling in the fridge, then poured the remaining stock into a mug, reheated it, and drank it straight. GO AWAY, FLU.
