Chef Amanda Downing: Rockit Bar & Grill

A recipe for the delicious dish our grandmother used to call “Jewish penicillin.”

Ingredients:
64 ounces good-quality chicken stock
2 8-ounce boneless, skinless chicken breasts
2 cups matzo meal
8 whole large eggs
½ cup chicken fat, aka schmaltz
2 tbsp chopped parsley
1 tsp salt, plus 1 tbsp
1 tsp fresh ground black pepper
¼ cup water, plus more water for cooking
½ cup diced celery
½ cup diced carrots

Directions:
1. In a large bowl, combine matzo meal, parsley, one teaspoon salt, and pepper.
2. In a separate small bowl, combine eggs and chicken fat. Using a large fork, incorporate the fat and egg mixture with the matzo meal mixture. 3. Slowly add in the ¼ cup of water. Do not over mix. Cover and refrigerate for one hour.
4. Combine chicken breasts and chicken stock in a large stock pot, bring up to a heavy simmer over medium-high heat. Reduce heat to a slow simmer and cover.
5. Cook chicken until tender, about 20 minutes. Remove chicken and allow to cool until able to handle. Pull chicken apart and mix back into stock. Keep hot.
6. In a large, wide-mouth stock pot, bring about one gallon of water to a boil with the one tablespoon of salt.
7. Add the carrots and celery and cook for about two minutes until al dente.
8. Remove carrot and celery from water and add to the chicken broth. Keep the water boiling.
9. After the matzo mix has chilled for an hour, take 1/4 cup scoops and drop into the boiling water, working quickly. Repeat with the entire mix.
10. Turn heat down to a medium simmer and cook matzo balls for approximately 20 minutes, until tender and fully cooked.
11. Add matzo balls to the chicken and vegetable broth. Serve.

  …and for the soul: For Downing, there’s no place like home. “I love making family dinners at my parents’ house because it brings me back to where I first learned to cook and surrounds me with the people, my dad especially, who were my guinea pigs,” she says.

Rockit Bar & Grill, 22 West Hubbard Street (at Illinois Street); 312-645-6000.