Chicken Stock The single most helpful thing you can keep on-hand if you wish to make your

own soups and stocks is a stock bag, a concept I picked up from Sara Moulton way back when. This is a bag you keep in your freezer with ingredients youre sa ing to fla or a soup base. Its especially awesome for those of us who hate throwing things away!you ne er ha e to. "hopping leeks tonight# Throw the tough green ends in your stock bag. $iscarding mushroom stems# %dd them too. &nly using half that onion# $ont let it grow old and forgotten in your fridge. This works for chicken as well. 'hen you go to buy chicken for a dish, grab a whole one and ask the guy behind the counter to chop it for you. It costs a lot less and you can then sa e the back and wings (because who eats wings#) in a separate stock bag, so theyll be ready when you are. *ield+ Approximately ,.- .uarts , /01 to 2 /01 pounds chicken necks, backs and wings , celery ribs, cut into big chunks , carrots, scrubbed and cut into big chunks 1 parsnips, scrubbed and cut into big chunks 1 onions, unpeeled and .uartered / head garlic, cut horizontally in half / Turkish or /01 "alifornia bay leaf / tablespoon black peppercorns / tablespoon 3osher salt 2 .uarts cold water !and0or! %ny egetables you ha e stashed in your Stock 4ag (described abo e) 4ring all ingredients to a boil in an 5- to /6-.uart hea y pot. Skim froth. 7educe heat and gently simmer, unco ered for , hours. 8our stock through a fine-mesh sie e into a large bowl and discard solids. If using stock right away, skim off and discard any fat. If not, cool stock completely, unco ered, before skimming fat, then chill, co ered. 7eser e a few tablespoons of the skimmed fat if you wish to use them in matzo balls (below). Stock can be chilled , days in the refrigerator or frozen / month. Matzo Ball Soup There are two matzo ball camps+ those that like them hea y and leaden at the bottom of a bowl and those that like them light and fluffy!these are the latter, and in my mind, the better ones.

If you cant find matzo meal, pulse a few pieces of matzo in your food processor until it is a coarse powder. If you cant find matzo, well, you ob iously do not li e in 9ew *ork "ity. Makes 5 to /1 matzo balls Matzo 4alls /01 cup matzo meal 1 eggs, lightly beaten 1 tablespoons reser ed chicken fat or egetable oil / teaspoon salt /02 teaspoon black pepper 1 tablespoons chicken stock or seltzer (which both of our mothers swear by for making the balls e:tra light) ;or soup 1 to , .uarts prepared chicken stock (recipe abo e) / carrot, thinly sliced % few sprigs of dill Mi: all matzo ball ingredients in a bowl. "o er and place in the refrigerator for ,6 minutes. 4ring / /01 .uarts of well-salted water to a brisk boil in a medium sized pot. 7educe the flame. 7un your hands under water so they are thoroughly wet. ;orm matzo balls by dropping spoonfuls of matzo ball batter appro:imately /-inch in diameter into the palm of your wet hands and rolling them loosely into balls. $rop them into the simmering salt water one at a time. "o er the pot and cook them for ,6 to 26 minutes. %bout ten minutes before the matzo balls are ready, bring prepared chicken stock to a simmer with the sliced carrot in it. <adle some soup and a couple matzo balls into each bolw and top with a couple snips of dill. =at immediately.