Matzah Ball Soup

I was shopping at Seven Mile Market outside of Baltimore, when a woman came up to me and asked if I knew the secret to amazing chicken soup. How exciting is that? (The answer was ginger)

Soup:

1 lb. carrots
5 celery stalks, leaves included
4 large onions
3 parsnips
2-3 quarter size pieces of ginger
2 cloves of garlic, crushed with the back of a knife
lots of chicken, like 6 lbs.
bunches of parsley and dill
Kosher salt and fresh pepper

Put the chicken in the pot first and cover it with water. Then put in all the vegetables and cover about half of them with water. If you fill up the pot with water it won't be good. Cook 2-4 hours. Strain the soup, discarding what you will. I add the carrots only back into the broth.

Matzah Balls:
Recipe from Smitten Kitchen. It makes about 8 good size matzo balls, so of course you'll want to multiply everything by at least five.

1/2 cup matzo meal
2 eggs, slightly beaten
2 Tbsp schmaltz (or vegetable oil)
1 tsp salt
1/4 tsp pepper
2 Tbsp seltzer

Mix ingredients and refrigerate for 30 minutes. With wet hands, roll into a ball (roughly the size of a golf ball) and drop into a big pot of well-salted boiling water. Simmer, covered, for 40 minutes. Or just cook it in the soup once it's been strained.