Staff Recipes: Hungarian matzah balls, Pesach bagels, Charoset

Grandma’s Hungarian matzah ball-chicken soup recipe

Serves 10.

Chicken soup:
5 chicken legs (dark meat is more flavorful)
2 or 3 turkey wings
1 lb of beef      
1 bunch of parsley root (peeled and cleaned)
1 bunch of carrots (peeled and cleaned)
1 side of celery root
1 bunch of parsley

Put all of the ingredients in a large pot.
Add water, chicken-flavored powder and a handful of whole black pepper and salt.
Once boiled, remove foam with spoon. Simmer for 2 1/2-3 hours (depending on the size of the pot), or until meat and vegetables are soft (the meat will have come off the bones). Remove all the

Matzah balls:
Make the matzah balls using any matzah ball mix from the supermarket.

In a separate pot from the chicken soup, boil water and add chicken flavor.
Boil matzah balls for 15 to 20 minutes.

Once the matzah balls are cooked, put them in the pot with the soup. They are now ready to serve.

Recommended: Make the chicken soup one day early. Put it in the fridge so the grease comes to the top, which makes it easier to remove. Reheat the soup slowly, then add the matzah balls.

—Ryan Torok, Staff writer

Tante Mina’s Pesach Bagels

1 cup water
Half cup oil
2 cups matzah meal
1tablespoon sugar
1 teaspoon salt
4 eggs

Preheat oven to 375. Grease cookie sheet.
Combine dry ingredients in a small bowl. In a medium saucepan, bring oil and water to a boil. Add dry ingredients to saucepan. Reduce heat, and mix until all dry ingredients are moistened. Remove from heat then add four eggs one at a time, mixing well after each egg is added.
Oil hands and roll dough into bagels, inserting thumb to make hole.
Place on greased cookie sheet and bake for 30-40 minutes, until golden brown. Makes approximately 12 bagels.

—Julie Gruenbaum Fax, senior writer

Passover Popovers

1 cup water
1/2 cup butter or margarine
1/2 tsp. salt
1 cup unsalted matzo meal
5 eggs

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Boil water, margarine and salt in a heavy bottomed pan, stirring to melt the butter. Remove from the heat and stir in the matzo meal with a wooden spoon. Add the eggs one at a time, stirring to mix. Grease a non-stick 12 cup muffin pan. Fill each cup with about 1/4 cup batter. Bake 35 minutes at 400 degrees. Cool on a rack.

—Julia Pine, contributing writer

Traditional Charoset, from Boston

3 or 4 apples—macintosh, maybe throw in a granny
1/4 cup chopped walnuts, more or less
cinnamon—start with 1/2 teaspoon
a little honey or sugar
red wine

Chop apples into teeny pieces. Add walnuts, cinnamon, sugar or honey and 1 tbsp wine. Mix it. Taste. Add more of whatever you want. As with many recipes, these are not exact amounts. Much is to taste, even number of apples, depending on how big they are. Read the whole recipe before starting.

—Jessica Ogilvie, contributing writer