On matzo and meatballs

There’s something about Passover, the Jewish holiday happening this week, that really speaks to me. For starters, culinarily speaking, it’s quite the challenge making food for a crowd based on a cracker; and I enjoy a challenge. I also like that for eight days of the year you really stand out as being Jewish, what with all the matzo sandwiches and hard-boiled eggs.

And if people thought I was annoying before, you should see me matter-of-factly explaining why we can only eat things made of ground-up matzo and not flour, even though matzo is made of flour, while waving around a piece of matzo shmeared with pareve margarine and 778 blackcurrent jam for effect. Hours of fun!

Geez, I guess I’m a little more into Passover than I thought, as I even found a bunch of blog posts related to the holiday here, here, and here, plus some ditties I did for Food & Wine magazine here, here, here, and here.

I hosted my first-ever seder this year, and along with the matzo ball soup, salads, salmon, brisket, roasted asparagus and potatoes (tip: when people offer to contribute to the seder, say yes), I made this fresh take on sweet and sour meatballs.

Whether you’re celebrating Passover or Easter or nothing at all, I think we can all agree that everybody loves a good meatball. It's the meat that binds.

Sweet & Sour Meatballs

(serves 12)

Ingredients:

4lbs lean ground beef

2 tsp salt

1 tsp pepper

6 medium tomatoes, cored and roughly chopped

2 cooking onions, peeled and roughly chopped

2 medium carrots, roughly chopped

1 pineapple, peeled, cored and roughly chopped

3 tbsp olive oil

1 tsp ground ginger

2 tbsp honey

4 tbsp ketchup

2 tbsp red wine vinegar

salt and pepper to taste

*Depending on the sweetness of your vegetables and pineapple you’ll want to adjust with more ketchup, vinegar, salt, etc. before serving in order to hit that perfect balance. Taste your food!

Method:

1. Season beef with salt and pepper and roll into 1-inch bite-sized meatballs.

2. Add prepped tomatoes, onion and carrot to a food processor and chop until smooth, then add pineapple and pulse so that it’s still a bit chunky. Add mixture to a very large pot, add oil, ginger, honey, ketchup, vinegar and salt and pepper, then bring to a boil. Lower to a simmer, add meatballs, and cook, partially covered, for two hours. Serve will roasted potatoes or matzo.

Matzo baklava

This is one of those instances when you smack your forehead with the palm of your hand while muttering, "Why didn't I think of it first?"

And then you realize that you're not as much of a culinary genius as you thought you were, and this brilliant dessert had to come from someone who is. And that would be Chef Einat Admony.

Though a bit time consuming, what with the matzo soaking and syrup making and nut shelling and chopping (plus, this is a plan-ahead treat that likes to sit for two days), it's actually not that difficult to prepare.

I switched up the 1 tsp of rose water for 1 tbsp orange water just because I prefer the taste, and doubled the cinnamon, but besides that, it worked like a tasty charm.

Just follow the link to get the recipe from Epicurious.

Chocolate almond caramel matzo (you'll plotz for it!)

Passover means something different to everyone. For Shlomo Mendelson, it means eating matzo in his public school cafeteria for a week in April. For his non-Jewish friends, it means wondering why Shlomo has suddenly taken to eating nothing but hard-boiled eggs, oversized crackers and celery sticks at lunchtime.

And yet, if they were to simply ask the young Mendelson boy, the others would learn that Passover, which we head into this week, commemorates the exodus of the Israelites from ancient Egypt. So you've got Moses, the parting of the Red Sea, the Ten Commandments and a triumphant return to Canaan (I'm sure you've seen the movie.) 

Passover also means lots and lots of unleavened recipes, some of which are little miracles in and of themselves, including this sweet treat. From Bonnie Stern to Joan Nathan, everyone's got her recipe for this winning chocolate caramel snack, and who's to say who invented it? (Although Bonnie Stern credits Marcy Goldman, a Montreal baker.) 

A bissle this, a shmeck of that, and before too long it's time to "Eat! Eat! You're all skin and bones!"

CHOCOLATE ALMOND CARAMEL MATZO BRITTLE

Ingredients:

6 pieces matzo

1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter

1 cup brown sugar, packed

2 cup chocolate chips (semi sweet seems to get the job done, or, use your favourite high quality chocolate, chopped)

1/2 cup sliced almonds, toasted (optional)

Method:

1. Preheat oven to 350 F. Line a large cookie sheet with tinfoil. Arrange matzo in a single layer on foil -- don't worry if they overlap.

2. If using almonds, toast in the saucepan you're about to use for the butter and sugar mixture (one less pot to clean!) Once toasted, remove from pot and set almonds aside.

3. Place butter and brown sugar in the medium saucepan and bring to a boil. Go against your instincts and try not to stir it. Just cook for a few minutes until mixture comes together and looks saucy, then pour evenly over the six pieces of matzo. Bake for about 10 minutes in the preheated oven, or until caramel is bubbling. 

4. As soon as matzo comes out of the oven, sprinkle with the chocolate chips. Wait 5 minutes then spread chocolate as evenly as possible, making sure to get under the overlapped pieces. (The heat of the sugar and butter will have melted the chocolate.) Sprinkle toasted almonds over top, then pop in the fridge until the chocolate and caramel are set, about 15 minutes. Break into chunks. 

So good it's almost worth wandering the desert for 40 years.