Matzo is not the type of food which leaves gourmet palates indifferent. Very much like gefilte fish, it often sparks strong feelings and is the subject of many recurrent discussions around Jewish dinner tables: people either hate it or love it, depending on their very personal experiences, childhood memories and digestive systems. But, whether you like it or not, comes Pesach time, there is no way around it. So here are a few suggestions for edible and other ways to use your matzo:
For the more traditional among you, who will be eating matzo for a week, here are a few ideas which will allow you to vary your daily feasts:
- Matzo brei: my personal favorite. A mixture of mashed matzo and egg, it can be served in a gazillion ways, sweet or savory, and is always excellent. You can mix it with cheese and herbs, veggies, serve it with a salad, or make a dessert out of it by mixing in melted chocolate, jam, peanut butter … Yum!
- Matzo as chips/crackers: dip it (in usual dips and hummus) or drown it with melted cheese, nacho style.
- Matzo as cookies: make smores (with melted chocolate and burnt marshmallows between two pieces of matzo), banana/chocolate/ice cream « sandwiches » and, of course, macaroons.
- Matzo as topping or stuffing: Crumble it, mix with butter and cheese and make a vegetable or fruit crumble (replacing the cheese with sugar) or stuff vegetables with the mixture.
- Matzo as lasagna: Layer the matzo with ingredients that are moist enough (like spinach, tomatoes sautéed with onions and bell peppers, eggplant purée) and cheese. Serve with a salad.
And for those of you who know you won’t manage to eat it all, here are other suggestions for using your matzo:
- Matzo as place cards: use it as a background to display the names of your guests at the Seder table.
- Matzo as fortune cookies: write fortunes, put them between pieces of matzo tied with a ribbon, and give them a « gifts » at the end of the Seder.
- Matzo as table decorations: for this you will have to bake your matzo yourself. Instead of making square pieces cut the dough into stars of David or other Jewish themes and display them on the Seder table.
So you see, there are many ways to use matzo.
