HOMEMADE JEWISH CHICKEN SOUP

1 chicken, at least 3 - 4 pounds, cut up into 8 or 9 pieces
1 bunch parsley
1 bunch dill
1 bunch celery
1 lb carrots
2 large onions
2 or 3 parsnips
lots of water
salt & pepper to taste

Put cleaned chicken in the bottom of a large pot.
Cover the chicken with water and add salt. The pot should be less than two-thirds full.
Bring to a full boil over high heat. Skim off any foam that may develop, preferably into a fat skimmer. Throw out the foam, but put the water back into the soup pot.
Add the pepper and all the parsley and dill. Also add the heart, the leaves, and a few stalks of the celery.
Cut about 1/4 of the carrots & onions into chunks and one of the parsnips if you're using them.
Add the chopped carrots, etc.
Slowly boil all this for as long as you can bear. Three hours is ideal. Two will do. Add extra water as needed to keep the pot around 2/3 full. If you have a fat skimmer, repeatedly skim the fat that comes to the top. If you don't, before the soup can be eaten, you'll have to leave it in the refrigerator for quite some time (maybe over night) until the fat solidifies and can be lifted off. If you have no room in the fridge, trunk of your car will work, assuming it's cold outside.
After the stock has cooked for 2-3 hours, turn off the heat. Carefully remove everything from the liquid, placing it all in a colander that's sitting in a big bowl. Stock should go back into the soup pot. Chicken, veggies and herbs should be left to cool for about half an hour.
In the meantime, dice up celery & the remaining carrots & onions. Parsnips too, if used. If you're going to make matzoh balls, prepare and refrigerate them - batter recipe follows.
Bring the soup back to a boil and add the chopped vegetables. Cook for about half an hour more. At the same time, add pieces of chicken to the pot, completely boning the chicken as you go along. (The veggies used in making stock can be eaten as is, chopped & added to the soup, put in your compost pile, or just thrown out.)
Check the seasoning. You may want to add more salt and pepper. Then add the matzoh balls and cover the pot.
Turn the matzoh balls occasionally, cook another 30 minutes or so. The soup is delicious its first day - better the next. Store any leftover soup in the refrigerator.

Matzoh Balls

These are delicious, not required, and certainly the least healthy part of the soup. You can use noodles or rice instead. If you do go for the matzoh balls, cook them
separately and add to each bowl as you serve. Since the soup is so thick, it's also fine without a starch.

Ingredients:
4 tablespoons of melted chicken fat (or use vegetable oil
to cut down on cholesterol)
4 large eggs (I use jumbos)
1 cup matzoh meal (Add ¼ cup more if you like them hard;
use 1/4 cup less for airy balls. We prefer harder ones.)
1 teaspoon salt
4 tablespoons of soup stock

Directions:
1. Beat the eggs slightly and then add the fat. Mix well.
2. Add the matzoh meal and the salt. Mix well.
3. Add the soup stock. Again mix well.
4. Refrigerate for ½ hour or more.
5. About 45 minutes before the soup is to be served, form little matzoh balls and drop them into the pot of boiling water. You should end up with about 8 to 10 balls. Keep pot covered as the matzoh balls cook, and turn them a couple of times.

There is a certain popular belief that chicken soup is Jewish. I don't know how that came to pass, but I do know that a good chicken soup is an amazing dish; Not only can it be used as the base of other great soups (e.g. garlic soup, tortilla soup, etc.,) but it is also by its other (secret?) identity: Jewish penicillin. I cannot say that it actually cures anything, but it sure is an amazing balm when you have a cold. I once knew a guy who owned a restaurant and once gave an interview to a local paper, about the greatness of the chicken soup. The clip was picked up by USA today and wouldn’t know it? He started getting orders for chicken soup from places as far as the other coast. For a while he used to Fed-Ex overnight chicken soup in gallon containers. In any case, I do enjoy my chicken soup, I hope that you will too.

Bon Apetit!!!