Shiitake Mushroom Matzo Balls

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Molly O'Neill is our Food Editor. She was the former food columnist for The New York Times Magazine. O'Neill is the author of three cookbooks, including the best-selling New York Cookbook (Workman Publishing, 1992), A Well Seasoned Appetite (Penguin, 1997), and The Pleasure of Your Company (Viking, 1997). She was the host of the PBS series Great Food, and edited the critically acclaimed anthology American Food Writing (Library of America, 2007). Her latest work, Mostly True: A Memoir of Family, Food, and Baseball (Scribner, 2006), recounts her childhood of growing up in a major league baseball family.

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by Molly O'Neill

Adapted from Cooking Jewish: 532 Great Recipes From the Rabinowitz Family by Judy Bart Kancigor (Workman, 2007). Kancigor writes, “Neither of my daughters-in-law ever liked matzo balls until I came up with this recipe. I doctored up plain old matzo ball mix — and a fine product it is! — with shiitake mushrooms and scallions for a shtetl favorite with an Asian twist. (Not surprisingly, Jews have had a long love affair with Chinese food!) Go ahead and double or even triple the recipe (and you may have to!), but be careful not to crowd the pot when you are cooking them.”

1/4 cup melted chicken fat or vegetable oil
4 scallions, white and half the green part, thinly sliced
3 ounces shiitake mushrooms, stems discarded, finely chopped (1 to 1 1/2 cups)
1 envelope matzo-ball mix, such as Manischevitz
1/2 cup matzoh meal
4 large eggs, lightly beaten
2 tablespoons finely chopped flat-leaf parsley
1 teaspoon kosher (coarse) salt
1/8 teaspoon white pepper
1 teaspoon baking powder (see Notes)
2 tablespoons club soda, chicken broth, or water

1. Heat the chicken fat in a medium-size saucepan over medium heat. Add the scallions and mushrooms and cook, stirring often, until the mushrooms are soft, about 5 minutes. Set aside.

2. Combine the matzo ball mix with the matzo meal in a medium-size bowl. Add the eggs and mix well. Stir in the mushroom mixture (with the oil), parsley, salt, white pepper, and baking powder. Add the club soda and mix thoroughly. Cover and refrigerate until firm, at least 1 hour.

3. Bring a large pot of water to a boil and lightly salt it.

4. Form the mixture into balls that are a little larger than a marble, wetting your hands if necessary to keep them from sticking. Drop the balls into the boiling water and cook, covered, at a slow, steady boil (not a hard boil) until tender, about 30 minutes (depending on the size of the balls).

5. Carefully remove the matzo balls with a slotted spoon and serve in soup.

Makes 24 to 30 golf-ball-size balls.

Notes: For Passover, use kosher-for-Passover baking powder, or, if unavailable, it may be omitted.

You will find that after cooking these matzo balls, the cooking liquid is so flavorful, it is almost a soup in itself, particularly if you have used chicken fat. You may also use this broth instead of water in soups and stews for cooking rice.

Alternate serving suggestion for children: Allow the matzo balls to cool somewhat. Cut into bite-size pieces to be eaten by hand. Serve Lillian Bart’s Chicken Soup lukewarm on the side in a sippy cup.