His first meal of the day at 1:15 p.m. Brunch?
This is Joe’s power breakfast today, or was it lunch?
Cinnamon Toast Matzo
Spread the matzo with some softened butter. Put it in the microwave for 8-10 seconds for the butter to melt. Sprinkle on some cinnamon-sugar, then put it back in the microwave for another 10 seconds. Delicious (not nutritious).
I used last night’s left overs and created this gourmet lunch of a matzo pizza topped with lemon asparagus and matzo meal baked chicken.
Gourmet Matzo Pizza
Spread the sauce evenly over the matzo, then top with asparagus and chicken. Sprinkle on the cheese. Microwave on high for 1 minute.
Our friend Molly introduced us to this. If you love asparagus, this is a fresh new way to taste it.
Lemon Asparagus
Take the zest from half the lemon, then juice from the whole lemon, and set aside. Place the asparagus in a shallow baking dish, toss with the oil making sure the stalks are evenly coated, and arrange them in a single layer. Bake at 400 degrees for 10-15 minutes or until just tender. Remove from oven, drizzle on the juice and top with the zest.
Passover Blintzes
For the bletlach (crepe):
Mix together all the ingredients and relax with a good book for 20-30 minutes. Heat butter in an 8″ crepe pan (or non-stick pan), and ladle in 1/3-1/2 cup of batter. When the bottom is brown, turn over with a spatula, or flip in the air if brave. Brown the second side adding more butter as needed. Fill, fold, and return to pan to brown.
Serve topped with preserves.
For the filling:
Whisk together all ingredients. Fill and fold.
For the topping:
The blintzes, filled and returned to the pan for more cooking. Since the filling has raw eggs, be sure and cook them thoroughly.
Rae and I have been showing some enthusiastic teenagers a few of our secrets to good Jewish cooking. For the past few weeks we have been making a lot of Passover recipes. Matzo brie, or fried matzo, is a Passover staple. What was surprising, and really kind of delightful, was to discover that Rae’s family and my family have two completely different versions of the same dish. Ours is cooked up quite fast, into browned chopped up bits, and then served with a mound of jam, eingie. Rae’s is slow-cooked, using mushrooms and onions, and served in one giant, fluffed up wheel, which is cut into wedges to serve.
Rae’s Matzo Brie
In a very large pan, saute the onion until almost golden, then stir in the mushrooms and let cook for a few more minutes. Soak the matzos in water, briefly, then drain and stir in the eggs, salt, onions and mushrooms. Add a little more oil to the pan, and when it’s hot pour in the matzo mixture. Turn the heat to medium and let it slowly brown, for about 8 minutes. Slide a spatula around the edges and check the bottom of the matzo brie. When it is a deep golden brown it is ready to be flipped. Take a flat platter that is a bit larger than the pan, place over the top of the pan, and turn it all upside down, inverting the matzo brie onto the platter. Add a little more oil to the pan, and when it’s hot, slide the matzo brie back into the pan, uncooked side down. Cook for another 8-10 minutes until golden brown on the bottom, and then carefully slide onto the serving platter. Cut into wedges to serve.
Soak the matzo, stir in eggs. Add slow-sauteed onions and mushrooms and stir it all together.
Fry it up.
Loosen the edges and flip the matzo brie upside down onto a platter.
Slip it back into the pan, uncooked side down.
After the second side is golden brown, carefully loosen the edges, and slip it back onto the platter to serve.
A hot plate of fried matzo, topped with our favorite, eingie.
Break the matzo before soaking.
Mix the soaked matzo with egg and salt, and pour into a hot, buttered pan to brown.
A matzo ball, swimming in soup.
My mother’s matzo balls were always “puchie”*, and my grandmother’s were dense. My grandmother, a wonderful cook, just could not get them to be like my mom’s even though they used the same recipe—or so they thought. It turned out that my mother was beating her egg whites; Nana was not. Today I came across my mother’s recipe, which in true form was merely a list of ingredients. I mixed it together, folded in the beaten egg whites last, and it looked awful. So I threw that batch away and began again. This time I folded in the egg whites earlier, and it worked! These are the lightest, fluffiest matzo balls you’ll ever taste.
This large platter will easily serve 25 people.
This giant fruit platter will make a beautiful, edible centerpiece and a colorful addition to any buffet or pot luck. The one described here is suitable for summer fruits, when melons are in season. In the winter you can substitute peeled, sliced orange wheels and grapes.
Nana’s wooden bowl and chopping tool.
Every family has their own version of this Passover recipe. This is our family’s. My sister Maralee and I look forward to the ritual of making this together, chopping the apples by hand in our grandmother’s wooden bowl. When I was very little I asked my grandmother if I could have that bowl, which I think she received when she got married in 1920. She told me that she would give it to me when I got married. And now it is mine.
Charoset
Chop the apples until very small (see photo). Stir in the rest, a little at a time, tasting as you go. Add more or less of the nuts/wine/cinnamon to suit your taste.
The finished charoset on our seder plate.
Maralee peels the apples, cores them, and places them into cold water so that they don’t brown. (She likes to see how long she can make the peel.)
The chopping begins.
We’re getting there, but still more chopping to do. Maralee and I take turns.
We are finally satisfied with the small size of the apple pieces.
Always store and serve in a covered container. I served ours in this covered sugar bowl.
The badge of honor for a Jewish cook goes to the person who makes the fresh horseradish for the holidays. I remember watching my grandmother making it, standing at the blender with tears pouring down her cheeks. Naturally, in any given year, it is stronger than it has ever been before. If it doesn’t hurt to make it, and hurt to eat it, it isn’t a good batch.
Horseradish (makes about 2 pints)
Peel the horseradish root and cut into pieces small enough for your blender or food processor to easily handle. Put the beets, beet juice, cut up horseradish root, 1/4 c. cider vinegar, salt and sugar into the blender. Process until very smooth. Taste and adjust vinegar, salt and sugar. Always store in a sealed or covered container, even when on the table, or it will loose its strength. It will keep in the refrigerator for up to a year (until you make some at the next holiday).
After you’ve used what you need for the gefilte fish, keep it in the refrigerator to use throughout the year.
To make cocktail sauce: mix 1 part ketchup with 1/4 part horseradish.
The Plate is My Canvas 