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tablespoons mild olive or avocado oil
    Freshly ground black pepper
    4 teaspoons grated onion
    Up to 4 tablespoons finely minced fresh herbs (dill, chives, parsley, or a combination) and/or 2 pinches of ground ginger (optional)
    1 cup matzoh meal
    In a large bowl, beat the egg whites with a pinch of salt until they hold peaks that are stiff but not dry. In another bowl, beat the yolks with the fat, about 1 1 ⁄ 2 teaspoons salt, or to taste, and a little pepper, until thick and creamy. Whisk in the onion and seasonings, if using. Fold the whites into the yolk mixture until just combined. Slowly and gently fold in the matzoh meal. Cover the mixture and refrigerate for at least 2 hours or up to 24 hours, so the matzoh meal can fully absorb the liquids and seasoning.
    Follow the directions above for poaching, draining, and serving the matzoh balls.
    I was stumped by the name Dayenu that Ester Silvana Israel, avid cook and secretary of the Jewish community of Verona, Italy, used for matzoh balls—either traditional Ashkenazi knaidlach or more uniquely Italian kinds, incorporating bits of chicken or other meats.
    I questioned her as we walked through the pink marble columns of her exquisite synagogue. Smiling, she wondered whether I remembered the song from the Passover service?
    â€œOf course,” I replied. “Each miracle God performed would have been dayenu (enough); each would have sufficed to show God’s love. Nothing else was necessary.”
    â€œWell, so too with the matzoh balls,” she explained. “Each one is so filling it would be enough; each could suffice for the entire meal. But there is always more and still more yet to come.”
    I’ve given two recipes for matzoh balls here. To make Dayenu, matzoh balls Italian-style, add up to three-quarters cup cooked chicken, finely shredded and then cut into bits, to these recipes. For additional matzoh ball recipes, including ground chicken matzoh balls, dumplings made of whole matzoh instead of matzoh meal, and a wonderful herbed matzoh ball made with no fat other than what’s in the egg yolks, see the index.

    FRIED ONION AND CHICKEN KREPLACH
    yield: ABOUT 30 KREPLACH
    Throughout this book, onions are cooked in many ways, depending on the texture and taste desired—soft and sweet, rich and caramelized, golden and crispy. In this recipe, they are salted first to draw out the moisture and then fried. If you are pressed for time or don’t want to bother, omit the soaking and fry the onions a little longer over medium heat.
    Using a high proportion of savory fried onion to the chicken ensures that the filling for the kreplach won’t be dry—even if the chicken left its flavor in the soup pot.
    2 large onions, very thinly sliced (about 4 cups)
    Coarse kosher salt
    1 cup cooked chicken (use light and dark meat; leftover from preparing chicken soup is fine)
    A few tablespoons of chicken broth
    2 tablespoons mild olive or canola oil
    1 large garlic clove, minced
    1 large egg, lightly beaten
    1 tablespoon finely chopped fresh dill
    Freshly ground black pepper
    About 30 wonton wrappers (have some extra in case of tearing)
    Egg wash (1 to 2 large eggs, as needed, each beaten with 1 teaspoon water)

    Accompaniments: Classic Chicken Soup , gravy, fried onions, or mushrooms from Mishmash Kreplach
    SEPARATE the onions into rings. To draw out the moisture, toss in a bowl with 1 1 ⁄ 2 teaspoons salt. Set aside for about 20 minutes, stirring from time to time. Then place the onions between sheets of paper towels, pressing down to soak up as much onion water as possible.
    MEANWHILE, prepare the chicken: roughly shred it (preferably using your fingers, so you can easily find any little bits of gristle or bone) and place in a bowl. If the chicken is very dry—usually the case if you are using chicken left over from making soup—spoon some broth over it, mix well, and let it drink in the liquid for at least 15 minutes.
    HEAT the