WHERE CAN I BUY MATZO MEAL RECIPES

Steps:

• 1. Rinse your chicken in cold water, pat it dry with kitchen paper and put it into your biggest pot. Cover with cold water to come about 8 to 10cm above the chicken. Bring to the boil, then turn the heat down and simmer for 30 minutes. Skim the froth off the top of the chicken.
  2. Add the chopped veg, garlic cloves, bay leaves and thyme sprigs, and season with a good pinch of sea salt. Bring everything back to the boil, then turn the heat down and leave it to simmer for 1 hour. Carry on skimming the broth, reserving 4 tablespoons of this fat for your matzo balls.
  3. To make your matzo balls, beat the eggs in a large bowl and add 70ml of cold water, your cooled chicken fat and 1 teaspoon of salt and ½ a teaspoon of freshly ground black pepper. Beat again, then slowly stir in your matzo meal until well blended. Leave, covered with clingfilm, in the fridge for 30 minutes, then wet your hands with cold water and roll the dough into about 20 small balls. Don’t roll them too big because they’ll double in size when you cook them.
  4. When the soup has had its hour and a half, use tongs to carefully transfer the chicken to a roasting pan. Leave to cool, uncovered, for a few minutes. Remove the soup from the heat and strain it through your biggest sieve or colander. Pull out the decent-looking bits of veg and put these back into the soup, getting rid of anything else. Put the pan back on a medium heat and bring back to the boil, then add your matzo balls. Put a lid on the pan, turn the heat down a bit and simmer for 20 minutes, until the balls are light and puffy. Halfway through the 20 minutes, add your noodles or spaghetti to the pan and cook gently for the final 10 minutes.
  5. When your chicken has cooled enough to handle, either use two forks or pop on a pair of Marigolds and use your hands to shred the meat off the bone. Pile it on to a plate and get rid of the skin and bones. Pick the leaves from your parsley and roughly chop them with the dill. Add all your shredded chicken meat to the soup, along with the chopped herbs, and warm through for 3 minutes. Have a taste, and season with salt and pepper. I’d usually serve soup with a nice crusty roll, but to be honest, this is a meal in itself and perfectly delicious and nourishing on its own.

Steps:

• Heat the oven and fit one baking sheet with paper towels and another with a cooling rack. Arrange a rack in the middle of the oven and heat to 200°F. Line 1 rimmed baking sheet with a double layer of paper towels. Fit a wire cooling rack into another baking sheet. Set both aside.
• Prepare the potatoes. Scrub the potatoes well, but do not peel. Cut each potato in half crosswise.
• Grate potatoes and onion with a food processor. Grate the potatoes and onion using the shredding disk of a food processor.
• Make a cheesecloth tourniquet and squeeze liquid from potato and onion. Transfer the grated potato and onion onto a large triple layer of cheesecloth. Gather the corners and tie around the handle of a wooden spoon. Dangle the bundle over a large bowl, then twist and squeeze the potatoes and onion as hard as you can until no more liquid comes out of the potatoes and onion shreds.
• Pour off the liquid, but keep the potato starch. Give the liquid a few minutes to allow the potato starch to settle and then pour off and discard the liquid but leave the potato starch.
• Toss the latke ingredients together with your fingers. Add the potatoes, onion, eggs, matzo meal or breadcrumbs, salt, and pepper to the bowl of starch. Mix with your fingers, making sure that the potato starch breaks up and is evenly distributed with the rest of the ingredients. Set batter aside for 10 minutes.
• Heat the oil. Place the oil or schmaltz (or a combination of the two) in a large skillet so that when melted there is a depth of 1/4 inch (for a 10-inch skillet you'll need 1 cup of melted oil/schmaltz). Heat over medium-high heat until a piece of the latke mixture sizzles immediately.
• Form latkes one at a time. Scoop 1/4 cup of the mixture onto a fish or flat spatula. Flatten with your fingers to a 4-inch patty.
• Fry the latkes until golden on both sides. Slide the latke into the hot oil, using a fork to nudge the latke into the pan. Repeat until the pan is full but the latkes aren't crowded. Cook until deeply golden-brown, 4 to 5 minutes per side, adjusting the heat if necessary.
• Drain the latkes. Transfer the latkes to a paper towel-lined baking sheet to drain for 2 minutes.
• Serve with applesauce and sour cream or keep warm in the oven. Serve immediately with applesauce and sour cream, or transfer the latkes to the wire cooling rack set in the baking sheet and keep warm in the oven for up to 30 minutes while you continue cooking the rest of the latkes.