42 | JUNE 30 • 2022 

T

he Detroit area is a 
phenomenal mixture 
of cultural groups, all 
immigrating to our metrop-
olis at various times for their 
own reasons and establishing 
neighborhoods, 
enclaves and 
retail districts in 
a beautiful patch-
work quilt. 
Practically, this 
means that it’s 
delightfully easy 
to find good food 
from a wide variety of cultural 
traditions, from Israeli cuisine 
to Greek to Polish to Japanese, 
and even little niche spots for 
food from one city or another. 
Thus, I’m drawn to the idea 
of those liminal spaces where 
a Greek coney island ends up 
next to a Jewish deli, and what 
sort of exchanges and hybrids 
might emerge. Jewish food, after 
all, has consistently borrowed 
liberally from whatever country 
the diaspora has flung us into. 
We see local customs and food-
ways incorporated into mean-
ingful expressions of Judaism 
and developed into long-lasting 
dishes that form the corner-
stone of new traditions in new 
corners of the world.
I’m a fan of the coney island, 
and particularly the egg-lemon-
rice soup that’s on almost any 
coney menu you find. Why not 
tweak it a little, and take a cue 
from its Greek origins, where 
the lemon-egg liaison forms 
the basis of several sauces and 
soups, using fish, chicken and 
other lighter meats (particularly 
veal) to create lively bowls of 
bright broth surrounding meat-
balls, noodles, grains and more. 

Here, I’ve decided to use up 
some leftover matzah from 
Passover. This could even be 
tweaked slightly (potato starch 
for cornstarch) to be properly 
Passover-friendly for next year’s 
recipe plans. 

Ingredients
4 qts. water
2 lbs. chicken thighs, bone in, 
skin on
1 medium yellow onion, quartered, 
some skin left on if clean enough
1 carrot, chopped roughly
1 stalk celery, chopped roughly
2-3 parsley stems
1 stem dill
2 cloves garlic
1 tsp. black peppercorns
4 Tbs. cornstarch
6 eggs, separated
¾ cup lemon juice
1 cup matzah meal, plus more as 
needed
2 Tbsp. rendered schmaltz, saved 
from broth-making
1 Tbsp. salt
1 tsp. ground black pepper
1 Tbsp. finely chopped parsley
Fresh parsley, chopped
Fresh dill, chopped

Salt, freshly ground black pepper 
Good olive oil

Directions
1. Place the chicken thighs 
in a pot large enough to 
hold them, the aromatic 
vegetables listed and 4 
quarts of water. Pour the 
water, adding more to 
cover, if necessary, and 
place the pot on your 
stove. 
 Bring it to a simmer 
over medium heat and 
reduce to a bare bubble. 
Skim scum that rises and 
discard; when there’s not 
much more forming, add 
the onion, carrot, celery, 
parsley and dill stems and 
smashed garlic cloves 
as well as the black pep-
percorns. Note: Using 
the onion skins will help 

give the broth the golden 
color we all associate with 
chicken soup.
2. Simmer very gently for 
at least 45 minutes, up to 
6 hours, as your timeline 
allows, adding more water, 
if necessary, to maintain 
a decent coverage over 
the broth ingredients. Mix 
occasionally to make sure 
all of the various ingredi-
ents are able to provide 
everything they can to the 
flavor of the broth.
3. After cooking, remove 
the pot from the heat and 
allow the broth to cool 
somewhat. Remove the 
chicken thighs, carefully, 
and set aside. Strain out 
the rest of the broth ingre-
dients and discard, placing 
the broth into a clean pot. 
Clean and cut the thigh 

FOOD
FROM THE HOME KITCHEN 
OF CHEF AARON 

Chef Aaron 
Egan

Ingredients
Salt, freshly ground black pepper 

Matzah Ball 
Avgolemono