Jewish penicillin meets super duper healthy? Power Greens Matzo Ball Soup is a game changer!
If you’re reading this, then I survived the first weekend of SXSW. Hooray! Though it’s been touch and go at times. I’ll do a full recap after the event is done, but so far it’s been super fun, super long 17 hour days of learning and frolicking. From chatting with the super cool guys from Infatuation, to crying laughing over a mimosa brunch session with The Fat Jew, to seeing The Flaming Lips to speaking about Jew food!! The conference part of the two week extravaganza is over, and next is music, with a nice break of St. Paddy’s Day in between. So much for catching a break.
When it’s all over, I’ll definitely need to detox from my whiskey and taco diet. When the only green thing you have all week is a green beer, you start to crave some vegetables. 
With Passover on the horizon, and St. Paddy’s Day today, this Power Greens Matzo Ball Soup fits the bill for both. Vegetarian, comforting, detoxing, and pretty.
Doesn’t the green soup look great in my new Le Creuset Dutch Oven?? Totally.
Now I’m not saying this soup can replace Bubbe’s classic matzo ball soup, but it’s a nice addition, or ideal on day 5 when you are super sick of matzah pizza. As if that could happen. 
The best part is, you can throw pretty much any green in there and it will taste good. I went with spinach, arugula, asparagus, parsley. With a touch of cumin for depth. Don’t knock it till you try it!
Power Greens Matzo Ball Soup
Ingredients
- For matzah balls:
- 3 eggs
- ½ cup vegetable stock
- 1 cup matzah meal
- ¼ cup grated onion
- 2 Tbsp olive oil
- ¼ tsp salt
- ¼ tsp pepper
- 1/4 teaspoon baking powder
- For soup:
- 4 Tbsp butter can use margarine, but butter preferred
- 1 medium white onion diced
- 3 cloves garlic minced
- 1 medium Russet potato about 1 pound, washed peeled and small diced
- ½ bunch asparagus tops and stems chopped
- 1 cup spinach rough chopped
- 1 cup arugula
- ¼ bunch parsley chopped
- 4 cups vegetable broth
- Juice from ½ lemon
- 1 tsp ground cumin
- Kosher salt and fresh cracked black pepper to taste
Instructions
- To make matzah balls, separate the egg whites from the egg yolks. In a large bowl, whisk together egg yolks, stock, matzah meal, onion, olive oil, salt and pepper and baking powder. Do not over mix, this leads to dense balls. Then a separate bowl, beat the egg whites with a hand or stand mixer until you have stiff peaks. Fold the egg whites into the matzah mixture until just combined. Refrigerate for 30 minutes to an hour.
- When ready to make soup, heat a large pot of water to a simmer. Shape the matzah mixture into 12-15 1-inch balls. Place balls into water and simmer for 45 minutes or until matzah balls are cooked. Check doneness by cutting one ball in half. The color should be uniform all the way through.
- In a large heavy-bottomed pot or Dutch oven melt butter over medium heat. Add onions and cook for 7-8 minutes until onion is cooked though and translucent. If onion starts to brown, turn heat down. Then add garlic and cook for one more minute.
- Then add the potatoes, asparagus, spinach, arugula, parsley and broth and turn heat back up to medium. Simmer covered for about 10-15 minutes until asparagus and potatoes are tender. Don’t overcook or your vegetables will turn pea green.
- Turn off heat, and blend soup in a blender or with an immersion blender. Add additional broth if your soup is very thick.
- Season with lemon juice, cumin, salt and pepper to taste. Serve with matzah balls.
This recipe originally appeared on The Nosher!
We are big fans of “green soup” here – and I’ve used everything, believe me. Any CSA greens that are past their salad-life prime and need purpose? Green soup. But adding matzoh balls? Nice. Trying it.