I used to get into a tizzy thinking of Passover substitutes for bread. I’d get into a tizzy baking them. It seemed necessary to produce every kind of matzah-based lasagna, muffin, cake, dinner roll, pizza. Truth is, though, I don’t like those faux-chometz foods very much. (Faux-chometz, is that a word? Never mind, I just made it up.) So I avoided those recipes.
Then I’d feel as if I’d neglected my duty.
But fake breads make me shudder. Like matzah pizza. Those damp, greasy matzah layers with their blanket of tomato paste and cheese – they look sad and smell strange. And cakes based on matzah meal tend to be stodgy. No wonder so many people complain that Passover is the most indigestible holiday.
Now let me defend myself before I’m accused of hating matzah. No, I’m grateful for it. Grateful to have it and for the mitzvah of eating it. I wouldn’t want to separate myself from the spiritual, historical, and personal family associations of matzah.
Jews haven’t always had the freedom to bake matzah. I’m not talking about the far-off Spanish Inquisition – as recently as the 1960s, baking matzah was illegal in the former Soviet Union. What kind of twisted rationale makes an innocent food illegal to eat? How ridiculous would it be to make cupcakes illegal? Well, the flat, flavorless, unleavened bread, icon of freedom from oppression, naturally represents a threat to dictatorship. Yet Jews grew and watched over the wheat, grinding it in secret, secretly baking the matzahs and risking punishment or imprisonment. The bread of affliction, indeed – and the bread of national identity and freedom.
It’s not like I refuse to eat it. I love matzah balls in soup. Matzah brie. Every once in a while, matzah with a shmear of cottage cheese, pesto, guacamole (or sinful butter). This week I came across a intriguing recipe showing the affinity between matzah and eggs: matzahs stuffed with mashed potatoes, dipped into beaten eggs, then into seasoned matzah meal, then fried.
Ow – sounds heavy, but I think it would make a good appetizer if you keep the portion small. Something to make once over the holiday.
Meantime, it’s spring out there and the markets are full of seasonal vegetables. No need to go through contortions baking bread alternatives to fill the family up. Colorful, flavorful foods based on seasonal vegetables are a pleasure to cook and satisfying to eat. How about ratatouille to accompany hamburgers, grilled fish, or a cheese platter? Or consider an enormous, main-dish tossed salad. A casserole of sweet potatoes. Roast chicken stuffed with kugel. A turkey stir-fry. Matzah can always go on the side; it is a bread.
Sephardic Jews may draw on grains and pulses, which makes life easier and more varied. Ashkenazi Jews do eat a lot of potatoes. I cook a lot of potatoes on Passover. But it’s time to rejoice in the artichokes – the strawberries – the Swiss chard and eggplants and peppers and celery and tomatoes and avocados.
I don’t miss matzah pizza one bit.
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There are so many wonderful flourless chocolate, nut, orange and coconut cakes, sponge and chiffon cakes, brownies (my MIL’s chocolate pesach brownies don’t taste pesachy at all), it seems strange to rely on matza meal for cakes.
Claudia roden’s orange almond cake wins hands down: http://www.notquitenigella.com/2008/09/03/middle-eastern-blood-orange-cake/
“Faux chametz” – LOL!
In our family, we call it “ersatz chametz”…
I wholeheartedly agree with you!
We eat gebrukts, but it rarely comes up because we just don’t like it.
Last year, I made an OUTSTANDING lasagna by running the vegetable peeler lengthwise all the way down a raw zucchini – it made perfectly sized “lasagna noodles” near the center of the zuch. The trick is to set it up so that the lasagna heats enough for the cheese to melt and the sauce to be hot while the zucchini stays somewhat firm (have everything somewhat warm to begin with. The look and texture is perfect, the taste is wonderful, and it’s healthful to boot! I urge you to try it this year.
By the way, could we see a recipe for bkila? I’m so interested!
Hi, Rivka,
Here I was thinking that my readers would be up in arms…:) Your zuke lasagna sounds excellent.
I’ll have to ask Shosh if she has the bkila recipe. Her MIL makes it – maybe she’ll part with the recipe for us.
I hope so! I can’t even find anything ONLINE – !!! Wait… THIS is online… Whatever. You know what I mean…
A neighbor once tried to convince me that I needed to make a cake from potatoes and about a thousand eggs. Anything made with matzah, or any kind of Pesachdik flour, needs lots of eggs and probably oil. And we eat enough of that already on Pesach. I’m with you, go for the vegetables and fish.
I’m glad to get your support, Hannah.
I confess to making one or two potato starch cakes over the holiday, which do need lots of eggs and oil. Guests expect it – family expects it – but we don’t eat it every day.
My late Dad used to make a sort of carrot fudge with nuts in it. It was gritty and carroty, and felt as if it were a very old, Eastern European recipe. I don’t think any of my kids would eat it.
[...] Mimi muses about Pesach: Thinking About Passover Cooking [...]
What ever happened to serving fruit for dessert? Do people think it’s not classy enough? There must be some good ideas for dressing up fruit to get people to appreciate how wonderful it is.
Hi, Rivka,
I think that people who don’t want to bother peeling an slicing an apple happily tuck into one that’s already prepared. Then, there’s always pears in wine, stewed apples, fruit soup, fruit salad, lightly cooked fruit puree with a spoonful of whipped cream on top.
Abbi, what a delicious-looking cake! It seems to me that the best Pesach cakes are based on almonds.
Please don’t get me started with the matza rolls, profiteroles, and matza meal cakes. Matza meal is evil folks!!!! Use the whole matza. The whole matza is our friend.
Mimi, the best part is not having to separate the eggs. I would imagine putting everything in a bowl and pulsing with a hand blender would work just as well.
I’m not sure about that, Abbi…the almonds do take a bit of grinding. I imagine a food processor would be more efficient.
LOL!
[...] the holidays. One was posted on The Jew and the Carrot while the other one was written by Mimi of Israeli Kitchen. I plan to prepare a mainly vegetarian – as in lots of vegetables – festival in an [...]