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In spring, when early produce is available at Baltimore’s 32nd Street/Waverly Farmers Market, I buy enough greens, turnips, onions, and garlic to make my favorite soups, including matzo ball soup. At grocery stores, Passover foods (and aisles of Easter peeps and chocolate bunnies) are featured, so I like to stock up on Matzo Ball Mix to have on hand. Though my family is not Jewish, making this delicious soup became a family tradition that my grandmother, Vee VanHoten, learned in 1958, from one of her real estate clients in South Florida.

As a child, I traveled with my grandmother on this particular business trip, and felt important to be introduced to the manager of Wolfie’s 21 Restaurant, at the north edge of Miami’s South Beach. After shaking hands and saying hello, we followed Mr. Eli into the kitchen where he taught my grandmother how to make his soup, as he had promised years earlier. Perched at a cook’s counter, gorging myself on a humongous banana split with five scoops of ice cream, I listened to his mantra of “Just a light touch, the hands cool!” Based on my grandmother’s repeated story over the years, here’s a description of that cooking lesson.

He broke two eggs into a bowl, saying they were “laid this morning in Homestead.” Then he instructed my grandmother: “This you remember, Vee—for matzos that float like a dream, have a light and gentle touch. Very important. And the chicken fat, the butter added to the matzo meal—they give it flavor. Don’t use that white stuff in the blue can. A little minced garlic and fresh parsley into the mix, nice and easy with the fork,” and he placed the bowl of matzo batter in the big fridge to cool for 15-20 minutes.

Next, he pulled out two giant jars of chicken stock and patted them, saying, “Made from chicken fresh from the butcher down the Avenue. Soaked in salt water for about an hour, then drained and stuffed it with fresh-cut thyme, and roasted till done. You take off the meat from the bones—save it for chicken salad—and put the rest of the chicken in a large pot of water, add some spices or bouillon cubes if you want and cook for about an hour, then cool and strain into jars or a pot.”

He poured and heated the broth in a large pot, adding chopped carrots, celery, onions, garlic, a little ground black pepper, and a pinch of salt. When the vegetables were cooked, he removed them with a strainer and plopped them into a colander over a bowl to catch any dripping broth.

Teasing me with offers of garlic pickles and sauerkraut as I ploughed through my super-sized banana split, Mr. Eli turned up the flame to bring the chicken stock to a soft boil, and retrieved the matzo mix from the fridge. He gently formed 1-inch balls, rubbing his hands with ice before rolling another blob of barely-stirred batter between his palms, and repeated to my grandmother, “Keep the hands cool, always. Light touch. Try it. Now you drop them into the boiling stock for a quick, full boil. Cover the pot with a tight lid, and bring down the fire to a low simmer for 20-30 minutes.”

When the timer went off, he removed the lid and there they were — plumped-up matzo balls, all floating on the steaming surface. With a slotted spoon, he lifted out the balls and tenderly put them on a platter, and returned the cooked veggies and drippings back to the pot. Then Mr. Eli and my grandmother filled their bowls with soup and matzo balls and savored each spoonful.

Wolfie’s 21 is long gone, but you can find farm-fresh eggs, quite possibly “laid this morning” in your area in the Eat Well Guide. The butcher shop on Collins Avenue was most likely Einhorn’s in South Beach, which has evolved into Kosher Kingdom, where you can find everything you need for Passover meals.

This recipe could be easily adapted as a vegetarian or vegan one. Instead of chicken broth, you can make vegetable broth; instead of chicken fat or butter, you can use olive oil; and instead of eggs, you can make a binder from tofu, or use kosher Ener-G egg replacer.

Wolfie’s 21 Special Matzoh Ball Soup

1. Chicken stock or broth

Soak an organic, kosher chicken in salt water for an hour, then drain and stuff with sprigs of fresh thyme from your garden or preferred herbs such as sage, a sprig of rosemary, a teaspoon of cumin, etc.

Roast at 350 for approximately 1 1⁄2 hours.

Cool and remove meat for other use, setting aside skin, bones, etc.

Cook chicken parts in 4 quarts of water at a low boil for at least an hour.

Cool and strain. Tiny thyme leaves remain in broth.

2. Vegetables for Soup

Heat broth on medium to cook the following for 30 minutes:

3-5 chopped carrots

2-3 diced onions

3-5 chopped celery stalks

3 minced garlic cloves

1⁄4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

1/8 teaspoon salt

1 tablespoon minced parsley set aside for garnish

3. Matzo Ball Batter (for more dumplings, use two packs of mix and double ingredients)

Blend:

2 eggs with 2 tablespoons expeller-pressed oil and/or chicken fat, butter

1 garlic clove finely minced

2 tablespoons finely minced parsley

1 pack of Matzo Ball Mix

Stir a few strokes GENTLY with fork just until mixed

Refrigerate batter for 15-20 minutes

Wet hands with ice or ice water and lightly roll batter into 1-inch diameter balls, cooling hands each time you make another ball. If you stir or handle batter too much, your matzo balls will become klunkers and sink like lead to the bottom of the pot. (Light touch!)

Bring 3 quarts of chicken broth to a boil, drop in balls, cover tightly, simmer low for 20-30 minutes. Remove balls to a platter. Add cooked vegetables back into broth. Serve soup with 1 or 2 matzo balls in bowl. Sprinkle a pinch of minced parsley into soup.