Lotso Matzo!



matzo brei



Just the other day, I was talking with Sharon about doing a blog post about Passover. Now, mind you, I’m a good Lutheran girl, and Sharon Roman Catholic, but I’ve always been fascinated by the history, traditions and FOOD of the Jewish culture. My great-grandmother Lillian, whose family is from Bohemia, made us great potato latkes. I now cheat and make the boxed kind (I prefer Streit’s) for my family every Hanukkah. Sometime before Passover, when the big boxes of matzo come out, I buy a box of Streit’s Lightly Salted.  Daughter Berkley takes pb&j on it for lunch. I eat my homemade orange marmalade on it. This morning I’m making matzo brei (the sweet version) for breakfast.



So, anyway, Sharon and I are talking about a recent Passover Seder/lecture event that was held at my church, Mountain View Lutheran. We had an expert give a talk about the history and meaning of Passover. We ate the bitter herbs. We dunked the egg in the salt water. And then we had matzo ball soup. Now, I cheat (again) when it comes to matzo ball soup and I buy my favorite boxed brand – so easy and so satisfying. The ladies on the Passover committee made homemade soup, and we had some “floaters and sinkers.” Some matzo balls, if compressed, will sink to the bottom of the bowl and be more dense and chewy. Others, if handled lightly, will float on the top and are airy.  I personally prefer the floaters, but there are fans of both. So, it was decided I would write about matzo balls for our Passover post.



Well, Evan Kleiman of KCRW’s Good Food beat me to it. Just last night an email came in stating that floaters and sinkers are a topic on her radio show this weekend. Since she’s much more an expert, I’ll leave the discussion to her. (http://www.kcrw.com/etc/programs/gf/gf110416matzo_balls_eating_d)

Meanwhile, it’s time for me to go mix my crushed matzo with water, then squeeze it out, mix with egg, cinnamon, and nutmeg and make a kind of Jewish/French toast/frittata thing for my family. I found the recipe at www.imafoodblog.com.  Chag pesach! Happy Passover!

Barb