What can you do with matzo besides soup?

 

Susan Wittig Albert’s monthly newsletter, “All About Thyme,” this month included a link to a list of about forty easy Passover recipes. I clicked over and was soon lost in nostalgia. A practicing (almost devout) Protestant, I spent twenty years of my life with a Jewish man, seventeen of them married. I have been to formal seders, hosted less formal seders, served gefilte fish to my family. When we divorced, acrimoniously more’s the pity, I said the two good things came out of the marriage: four wonderful, beautiful, adorable children (now all but one in their fifties) and a taste for Jewish food. Those recipes brought the past rushing back to me.

There are some Passover dishes I won’t try this year. Gefilte fish, for instance, though I am intrigued that Martha Stewart makes it with salmon rather than whitefish and presumably does away with the gooey jelly part. My younger son used to love gefilte fish, but when I served it to him once when he was grown, it was one of the tastes he’d left behind (he no longer likes beets either). And I won’t try brisket with tzimmes or a kugel, but I hope to convince my local family that matzo brei would be a good dish for Easter breakfast. In the true spirit of recognizing all faiths, I will get hot cross buns just for me, because no one else eats them. I don’t see a chance for chopped liver and, after all, you can buy or make it year round.

But matzo is in season right now, so I’m going to make two dishes, one traditional, one not. My ex occasionally fixed matzo brei, and I’m hoping Christian will like the idea well enough to try. He loves migas, and the principle is the same. But while matzo brei is traditional, matzo crack is not. I never heard of it until recent years, but I’ve made it several times and we all like it. So there you have breakfast and dessert—you’re on your own for the stuff in between.

Matzo brei (serves 8)

1 pkg. (10 oz.) unsalted matzo

8 eggs, beaten

½ c. half and half

2 tsp. salt

6 Tbsp. unsalted butter, divided

Crumble the matzo into a fine mesh strainer set over a bowl. Put aside the crumbs in the bowl, and run cold water over the matzo pieces in the strainer for about ten seconds. You want the matzo softened. Stir the softened matzo, eggs, and salt into the crumbs in the bowl.

Melt 3 Tbsp. butter in a large skillet and pour in half the matzo mixture. Do not stir. Let it cook until the bottom is brown—about three or four minutes. Flip and again cook until bottom is brown. Remove to a warm platter, and repeat the process with the remaining mixture. Serve warm.

You can serve matzo brei sweet or savory. Sweet might be topped with jam or maple syrup or applesauce; for savory, either add sauteed onions into the mixture before cooking or top with chopped green onion. Either way serve the savory with sour cream.

Matzo crack

This tastes like really good English toffee.

4-5 matzo, lightly salted

2 stick unsalted butter

1 cup packed dark brown sugar

1 12. oz bag chocolate chips

1 cup chopped pecans

Sea salt

Line a jelly roll pan (my daughter is already saying, “What’s that?”—a rimmed baking sheet) with heavy duty foil, fold it up and over the edges. Then cover it with parchment paper.

Lay matzo on the pan, as evenly as possible

In a saucepan, combine butter and brown sugar and bring to a boil, stirring constantly. Once it boils, cook until thick and foamy, about three more minutes. Still stirring. Immediately pour over matzo, spreading with a metal spatula until it is even. Be very careful, because nothing burns worse than hot sugar. Bake at 375 for ten minutes—toffee should be bubbling and crackling.

Remove from oven and place on a cooling rack; immediately sprinkle chocolate chips as evenly as possible. Let them soften for a couple of minutes and then use spatula to distribute evenly. Sprinkle with pecans and sea salt. Refrigerate just until chocolate hardens, perhaps 30 minutes; if you refrigerate longer, it will turn to concrete.

Using foil as a sling, carry matzo crack to a cutting board and cut into small squares. This will take your big, heavy, sharp knife.

A lot of work, you say. Yes, but well worth it.

Happy holidays, whatever holiday you celebrate.