April 10th Chicken Soup, Matzoh Balls, Roast Chicken, Garlic Mashed Potatoes, Roasted Vegetables,zucchini mushrooms and roasted tomatoes, sauteed bananas with whipped cream.

After many days of left-overs with a few additions, tonight I'm making a proper meal.  Ivan, has been in graduate school here for two years.  He'll be getting his degree in May.  I expected to see more of him, but I've been away for huge chunks of time and he had never been here for a proper meal.  We finally set a date.  He came tonight with Meghan, his girlfriend, who recently had gum surgery.  This gave me the opportunity to prepare one more component part of the seder-I-did-not-have.

The chicken soup has been nicely chilling for two days.  I removed the fat on the top (schmaltz) for the matzoh balls, which I proceeded to prepare.  I made some additions based on a Joan Nathan New York Times recipe complete with video.
MATZOH BALLS
4 large eggs
4 tablespoons schmaltz
4 tablespoons chicken stock (from the soup)
1 cup matzoh meal
1/4 teaspoon grated nutmeg
1 tablespoon grated fresh ginger (could use more or less, depending)
1 tablespoon chopped parsley
1 tablespoon chopped dill (herbs can be mixed and matched)
1 teaspoon salt
black pepper.

Combine eggs, schmaltz, broth, matzoh meal, nutmeg,ginger, herbs, salt and pepper.  (that would be all the listed ingredients).
Cover and chill in refrigerator for several hours or over-night).
When you're ready to make matzoh balls, start boiling large pot of lightly salted salted water. You should also gently re-heat your pot of cooked chicken soup.   Remove mix from fridge, it should be nicely thickened.  With wet hands, shape into balls about the size of ping pong balls.  When the water boils, gently drop balls in, lower to a simmer, cover and cook for about 45 minutes.  When they're done (they'll have grown substantially and look exactly like proper matzoh balls), remove them with a slotted spoon and put them into the soup.  Serve.

We started with the soup, but also had Roast Chicken with Lemons and Vegetables, and Garlic Mashed Potatoes (a bonus potato dish--there were potatoes roasting with the chicken, but due to gum surgery I added this variation on my standard mashed potatoes.  AS always, all quantities, as well as type of potatoes  can be juggled as you see fit.

GARLIC MASHED POTATOES
Five Yukon Gold Potatoes
Four cloves Garlic
Milk
Butter
Salt and Pepper.
Boil Potatoes until they are pierced easily with a fork (you can peel them or not--I don't--but I suppose they are more elegant if peeled).
Drain, then put potatoes back in pan with heat on low and jiggle them a bit (so they don't burn).  The goal is to dry them out a bit--makes them fluffier, I think.  Heat 1/2-1 cup milk (I use 2%, but depending on your longings  for or aversion to fat, you can use any thing from skim to heavy cream).  If you'd like you can melt 2-4 tablespoons butter in the milk as it warms.  

Masher in repose

Using an old fashioned potato masher, add the milk and butter slowly, getting rid of lumps in the potatoes while the liquid is absorbed.  You can squeeze a couple of garlic cloves in at this point.  For a milder garlic taste, you could roast the cloves first--but I think the potatoes can handle the raw ones.  Season with salt and pepper and serve.
I also sauteed onions, mushrooms and zucchini in olive oil and added roasted tomatoes.  Oh--there was a lot of food.

Bananas with sour cream.  Imagine whipped cream here.

There were still more chocolate matzohs, but I thought we could use something a bit softer, so  while Meghan and Ivan did a splendid clean-up, I sauteed sliced bananas in butter--adding a bit of brown sugar.  Several weeks ago, I'd served the bananas with sour cream.  Tonight Ivan whipped up some heavy cream.  We added a little vanilla.  No complaints at all.