Brisket and Matzo Ball Soup

Seth was feeling badly this week that he wasn't able to get back to his roots for Passover this year, so I thought it was time for my first foray into the kosher kitchen. I called up our local butcher who tried to pursuade me that I would need 3.5 lbs of meat for this mini-feast and then headed to the local market where they had a table of passover goodies. I was tempted by the packaged matzo ball soup, but didn't give in... I was on a mission.

I found a couple great recipies on Epicurious for both the soup and the brisket. Before too long I was wishing that I had bought the packaged soup. Having only eaten matzo ball soup 2 or 3 times in my life, I didn't really know what to expect. But when the matzo balls that I had meticulously mixed and molded crumbled before my eyes on their encounter with boiling water, I knew something had gone wrong. What to do... add more matzo meal! I kept adding the stuff until I felt like I was mixing cement. That did the trick -- at that point I didn't care what they tasted like, as long as they stayed together.

The brisket turned out perfectly, and, despite thinking we could feed the entire block with the piece of meat I had bought, our leftovers were minimal. For desert I had bought a strange treat -- Isreali marshmallows covered in coconut. Seth made fun of them and said that they would never match up to macaroons, but I noticed that by the end of the night the marshmallows had disappeared.

After dinner I received the ultimate compliment when Seth told me I would make a great candidate for J-date. Hmm....

Happy Holidays to everyone, whether you are celebrating Easter, Passover or whatever other holidays may be falling this weekend. I personally plan to celebrate both by heading to the Sierra's and finally taking advantage of the snow that has resulted from all this rain we've been getting in the city!