Widow Matalya’s Chicken Soup

When Ferdinand expelled the Jews from Spain in 1492, Sultan Bayezid made them welcome in the Ottoman Empire, saying; ‘What king is this, that impoverishes his kingdom to enrich mine?’ Many Jews settled in Thessalonica and other port cities. They spoke Castilian Spanish, known as Ladino, well into the twentieth century.

This comforting and nourishing soup is a staple of Jewish mamas worldwide, and is known as avgolomeno in Greece.