Matzoh Ball Soup
Chicken soup with matzoh balls is a traditional Sabbath evening meal and a favorite of the Passover season. Strain the broth carefully-- nothing should distract from the clear goldene yoich except the delicate matzoh balls and the tender chicken. Serves 6.

For the broth:

• about a dozen chicken wings
• 4 cups water
• 1 chopped onion
• 2 chopped carrots
• 2 chopped stalks of celery (preferably with leaves)
• a few sprigs of fresh parsley
• salt and pepper to taste

Combine all the ingredients except the salt and pepper in a large kettle. Bring to a boil. Skim the froth off the soup. Reduce heat and simmer one hour or until chicken is tender. Remove chicken-- when it is cool enough to handle, remove the meat from the bones and chop it into bite sized pieces. Reserve the meat and discard the skin and bones. Strain the broth carefully through rinsed cheese cloth or a fine sieve. Return the broth to the kettle, salt and pepper it to taste, and bring it back to a boil.

For the Matzoh Balls:

• 2 eggs, slightly beaten
• 3 tablespoons chicken fat from the soup or plain Crisco
• 1 cup matzoh meal
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1/3 to 1/2 cup water or broth
• water and salt for boiling matzoh balls

Combine eggs, fat, matzoh meal, and salt in a medium sized bowl. Add enough water or broth to make a stiff dough. Chill dough for at least one hour. Put a pot of salted water on to boil as you would pasta. With wet hands, shape dough into 1" balls. Drop carefully into boiling water. Lower heat and cook at a steady boil, covered, for about 30 minutes or until matzoh balls are cooked through. Remove with a slotted spoon. Put the chicken meat and matzoh balls in bowls or the tureen and pour the hot broth over them.

Mrs. Simon Kander's Chicken Soup
From an extraordinary time capsule and cookbook from Joy's pantry, The Settlement Cook Book, compiled by Mrs. Simon Kander. "Tested Recipes from The Settlement Cooking Classes, The Milwaukee Public School Kitchens, The School of Trades for Girls and Experienced Housewives," 1938.

• 3 to 4 lbs. chicken
• 10 chicken feet, scalded and skinned, nails removed
• 3 to 4 qts. water
• 1 tablespoon salt
• 2 stalks celery or 1/4 cup celery root, diced
• 1/4 teaspoon pepper
• 1/8 teaspoon nutmeg
• 1 onion

Select an old hen (present company excluded). Ask butcher for extra chicken feet. Singe, clean and joint the chicken; then salt and let stand several hours or over night. Cover with boiling water and let come to a boil. Cover tightly, simmer slowly 3 or more hours, add the vegetables, boil 1 hour longer, strain, remove fat and add seasoning to taste. Take out the chicken before it falls to pieces and use for salads, croquettes or with brown sauce. Serve soup hot with noodles.

Pennsylvania Dutch Chicken Corn Soup
A wonderfully opinionated recipe from Cindy, the foodies® producer. (Isn't that what you're counting on here at foodies?)

The ingredients to chicken soup are as follows:

• chicken (whole, no cut up or boneless allowed),
• onion,
• celery,
• carrots,
• salt,
• lots of black pepper. Period.

This much, you can even make in Cleveland. Now, if we're talking the Lancaster County, PA method, throw in:

• corn,
• egg noodles, and, strangely enough,
• some chopped hard-boiled egg (I hate that part and pick them out).

Remove the chicken from the soup pot, let cool, remove the meat from the bones and return it to the soup.

Sicilian Style Chicken Soup
Simple, satisfying, yet exotic. Based on Joy's travels across that magic isle.

• 4 cups chicken broth - meat optional (see Some Notes on Broth)
• 3/4 cup tomato sauce (great way to use leftovers)
• 1/8 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes
• 3 cups escarole, washed and chopped
• 2/3 cup couscous
• extra virgin olive oil and fresh lemon juice

Bring the broth, tomato sauce, and pepper to a boil. Add the chopped escarole and simmer for 10 minutes or until the escarole is tender. Add the couscous, stir well, cover, turn off the burner and let pan sit on the still-warm burner for 5 minutes. Stir again before serving. Sprinkle each bowl of soup with extra virgin olive oil and fresh lemon juice. Four generous servings.

Stracciatella
"Stracciatella" means "little rags" in Italian dialect. That will make sense when you see how the beaten egg cooks in the swirling broth. This perfect soup is the ultimate cure for jet lag-- it will put you right to sleep!

• 6 cups chicken broth - meat optional (see Some Notes on Broth)
• 1/4 cup pastina (such as tubettini, alphabet noodles, or orzo)
• 2 eggs
• 1/4 cup freshly grated parmesan cheese, plus some for garnish

Bring broth to a boil. Add pasta, stir, and carefully bring the soup back to a boil. In a small cup, beat the eggs and mix in 1/4 cup parmesan. When pasta is cooked, stir the soup vigorously until it is swirling and add the egg/cheese mixture in a slow, steady stream. Serve at once with more freshly grated cheese.

Tom Ka Gai #1
Joy's recipe-- fewer hard-to-find ingredients than #2.

• 6 cups chicken broth (see Some Notes on Broth)
• 1 1/2 cups (or one 13.5 oz. can) UNSWEETENED coconut milk (NOT the kind for pina coladas!)
• a one inch round piece of dried galanga
• 1 large garlic clove, crushed
• a piece of fresh ginger, about the size of a walnut, peeled and crushed
• 1/8 cup fresh cilantro, chopped
• 2 tablespoons lemon or lime juice
• 1 tablespoon cider or rice vinegar
• 1/4 teaspoon cayenne or hot pepper flakes (or to taste)
• 1/2 teaspoon sesame oil
• 1 cup cooked chicken, chopped
• 2 cups bok choy (Chinese cabbage), chopped
• 2/3 cup firm tofu, cubed
• soy sauce to taste
• 1 cup fresh mushrooms, chopped
• additional chopped cilantro and/or chopped scallions for garnish
• cooked rice (optional)

Place broth, coconut milk, galanga, garlic, ginger, cilantro, lemon juice, vinegar, hot pepper and sesame oil in a large pot, bring to a boil and simmer over low heat for 30 minutes. Add chicken, bok choy and tofu and simmer 5 more minutes or until bok choy is just a bit tender. Add mushrooms. Add soy to taste. Bring soup back to just before boiling and divide into four large soup bowls. You may wish to remove the chunks of galanga, garlic and ginger. Garnish and serve immediately. Spoon some hot cooked rice into the bowls for extra sustenance. Four generous servings.

Tom Ka Gai #2
From Delightful Thai Cooking, Eng Tie Ang, Ambrosia Books.

• 2 tablespoons vegetable oil
• 2 garlic cloves, crushed
• 4 tablespoons scallion, minced
• 1 stalk lemon grass, minced or 2 teaspoons dried lemon grass
• red cayenne pepper to taste
• 2 green chilies, finely chopped
• 1 teaspoon grated lime peel
• a one inch piece dried galanga or loas root
• 3 cups chicken stock or water
• 1 pound boneless chicken breast, very thinly sliced
• 2 tablespoons cornstarch
• 1 can coconut milk
• 1 can straw mushrooms, drained
• 1/4 cup fish sauce (nuoc mam)
• 1/8 cup fresh lime juice
• 6 tablespoons fresh cilantro, chopped

In a medium-sized pot, heat oil, then stir-fry the garlic, scallion, lemon grass, cayenne, green chilies, lime peel and galanga for 2 minutes. Add stock or water and bring to a boil. Coat sliced chicken with cornstarch and add to soup. Cook for 4 minutes or until chicken is done. Add coconut milk, mushrooms, fish sauce and lime juice and simmer for 2 more minutes. Garnish with cilantro before serving. Serves 4 to 6.

Some Notes on Broth

Some of these recipes call for chicken broth. Okay. You don't bake cookies and you don't make your own broth. Do you at least pump your own gas? All right then, use the canned stuff (College Inn brand is hands-down the best if you can find it in your region) or bouillon cubes (I like Maggi) or soup starter (do you have a favorite? Email me!). If you have a free afternoon sometime this year, cook up a cauldron of broth and freeze it in batches. You can find a recipe for it in any basic cookbook. Remember, carrots add that touch of sweetness, onion and celery the savory note (use celery seed if you're out of the fresh stuff). Don't chintz on the salt.

Hint: Use a free-range chicken. I part with the big bucks for these little clucks--they're worth every penny. Roast them for a most satisfying supper then turn the bones into a soup that my great-grandmother would have blessed. This is the chicken soup of our collective memory! - Joy