Matza 101: Eggrolls, Tacos, Anyone?

After the seder, do you look at matzo and wonder, “So now what?”

Well, Jenny Kdoshim and her friend, Debbie Bevans, had that exact thought.  Together, they came up with 101 matza-based recipes.  From egg rolls and tacos to tarts and pies, Matza 101 is the only cookbook dedicated solely to (you guessed it!) matza.

The secret to their success is how they make the matza pliable to create the most outrageous, kosher-for-Passover dishes.  By running matza under the faucet and nestling the wet sheets between soaked paper towels for about 10 minutes, the matzo becomes malleable and gains a similar texture to al dente lasagna noodles.

Then, the matza is cut into shapes (rounds for tarts and tacos, squares for egg rolls and pizza pockets) which they bake according to the specifics of each recipe.

Want tacos?  Use a small bowl or large cup to cut rounds from the wet matza.  Brush with softened margarine (to crisp the matza during the baking process), sprinkle with salt, and fold the round over two cannoli tubes (with one tube the “taco shell” may close during baking).  Bake in a 400 degree oven for 20 minutes and viola! Crisp, kosher-for-Passover taco shells.

Want egg rolls?  Cut the wet matzo into four squares and brush with softened margarine (to crisp the matzo during the baking process).  Sautee shredded carrots, cabbage, garlic, onions, and celery until limp.  Place a dollop of the cooled vegetable filling in the lower center of each cut-matzo square and roll up firmly.  Place seam-side down on a cooking sheet and bake for about 30 minutes.

Want individual-size tarts?  Use a cup to cut into about 5 inch-size rounds.  Brush the rounds with softened margarine and sugar and press into tart pans.  Bake in a 450 degree oven for 12 minutes until lightly browned and crisp.  Fill with a fresh fruit filling and top with whipped cream.

Full of visual aids, color pictures, and a how-to guide of working with matzo in unordinary ways, Matza 101 starts where other traditional Passover cookbooks end.

Give your matzo skills a whirl.  Try these two dessert recipes our test-kitchen adapted from Matza 101. Chocoholics will adore the Passover Brownie Walnut Pie while lemon lovers must try the Passover Luscious Lemon Meringue Pie.

Check out this instructional video on how to cut matza in half without making a mess:

Felisa Billet writes on Jewish food from her home in Hollywood, Florida. Participate in her interactive culinary dialogue at kosher.com by sending her questions to editor@kosher.com

Haroset From Around the World

Of all the ritual foods that grace the Passover table, there is probably none that has as many variations as haroset.  This sweet concoction, symbolizing the mortar the Jewish people used to build pyramids while enslaved in Egypt, takes on different forms depending on the cook’s heritage.

While the ingredients making up Ashkenazi haroset rarely varies from the basics (apples, nuts, spices, and sweet wine), haroset made by Jews from Middle Eastern and Mediterranean origins tends to vary not only by country but sometimes even based on the cook’s town or family.

If one doubts that Jews are a wandering people, just look at the difference within the styles of this Passover superstar.  Egyptian haroset is made by soaking dates and raisins overnight, then boiling them into thick syrup.  Yemenite haroset features a pâté of dried fruit and piquant spices like cardamom, cloves or pepper.  Persian haroset is made from dates, and sometimes bananas and pears as well.  Venetians add chestnuts or pine nuts, while haroset from Milan is made with apples or pears, bananas, dates, almonds and oranges.

Even when sticking to traditional Ashkenazi ingredients, by including a variety of apples and nuts, the flavor becomes unbelievably complex.

To celebrate the rich heritage of our people and to add a nontraditional edge to a very traditional dish, make this Passover different by offering your guests a sampling of harosets from around the world.

Click here for haroset recipes to get you started.

Take a look at this great video on “How To Make A Seder Plate 101″

Felisa Billet is a journalist whose commentaries on food and lifestyles have been featured in regional and national publications including USA Today, The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, and My Midwest Magazine. Check out her interactive kosher cooking dialogue at usa.kosher.com

7 Yummiest Passover Treats

Hurry children! Find that afikomen, pour the wine, and gather round… it’s Passover time again! Get prepared to stuff your gourd as we showcase some of Passover’s most favored treats.

Matzah: No passover is complete without matzah. Now I’m not talking the more digestable egg matzah…I’m talking straight-up, cardboard, take it like a man matzah.

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Tam Tam: With the disappointment of the Manaschewitz plant not reaching full capacity last year, everyone’s eagerly anticipating these matzah-like cracker creations. It would be safe to say our intestines rarely feel the same love… party on!

Horseradish: Part of the traditional seder plate, moror (or raw horseradish) is capable of bringing even the toughest man in the bunch to tears.

The Hillel Sandwich: Hillel used to say of his creation, the world’s oldest sandwhich, “Man this thing is spicy!” Okay, maybe he didn’t. Still, you can’t ignore the alluring combination of matzah, moror and charoset sandwich.

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Brisket: Nothing says “I love you” like the breast of a cow–or maybe that’s diamonds. Anyhow, this is one of the more hearty servings of Passover and not just a favorite treat of Texans.

Passover Pizza: Come on, you know you buy this every year. You know it isn’t pizza but the matrix tricks your mind into believing that it is pizza. And after your 10th box of matzah, what is there to complain about? It isn’t half bad.

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Kosher Wine: There are some wonderful kosher wines out there just waiting to be tried. Have your 4 required l’chaims and then some.  .

Passover Store Grand Opening

Are you ready for some crazy matzo action? Quick, eat all the bread you can! Passover is just around the corner and Kosher.com is offering some wonderful deals to ensure you are good and ready. We’ve opened a Passover Store for our  Manhattan clientele (Manhattan customers have the added perk of free delivery) and for those of you ordering from outside of the city, we have a National Passover Store. You’ll be able to start placing your orders March 1st.

“We have many clients in the New York area who prefer quick shipping of their meat, perishable goods and large holiday orders, and enjoy the convenience of online grocery shopping,” said E-commerce Manager Brian Cooper. “Since we are based in the area, we decided to offer this premium service to the local community at no charge.”

You’ll be able to find everything you need for Passover in one location — the web’s largest online kosher supermarket. Kosher.com offers an enormous selection of perishable and non-perishable foods.

Pour Out The Kosher Wine -Into a Glass of Course!

Kosher wine is traditional for the Passover seder, so what goes into that making that bottle? To keep with tradition, those who may not keep kosher will enjoy kosher wine, but not too many people consider all that it takes to create kosher wine. It all starts with Concord grapes, which naturally have a bitter taste, so bottlers add large amounts of sugar to sweeten the wine.

And then there is the difference between kosher wine that uses boiling to purify it (Mevushal), and the newer “flash pasteurization” method which does the same thing, yet preserves the taste. However, by not boiling it, the “non-Mevushal” wine can lose it’s kosher status if handled by a non-Jew. The Mevushal is exempt from this and can be poured and enjoyed by all, regardless of religion.

Just remember that just because it’s a kosher wine doesn’t automatically make it an award winning wine. Ask around, ask friends, ask your rabbi! Now that wine producers are hastily realizing the surge in popularity of kosher wines, and creating more choices, wine stores will be more than happy to assist your purchase. L’Chaiyim!

Why is This Coke Different From All Other Cokes?

Coca-Cola is Kosher for Passover! Why? Because each year, around passover, the company makes a special run of Coke that replaces the high-fructose corn syrup with real, delicious, pure sugar. So when the alert goes out, they make some great sales, because the recipe harkens back to a taste that is really “Classic,” not to mention: “Kosher!”

Up until the 1980’s, the formula for Coke actually used real sugar, however, the company switched to high-fructose corn syrup. And since Passover requires refraining from eating certain grains, the corn-based sweetener is usually avoided. But, the Coca-Cola company has been able to continue producing this special variety this time of year.

The yellow cap and special labeling shows that “Passover Coke” is ready for your table! Coke has done a great thing, and having a product like this has even helped in their sales, so much so that even people who do not celebrate Passover request this seasonal recipe. Enjoy your soda this Passover, and savor the flavor of Kosher Coke.

Passover and Earth Day: A Lot in Common!

Celebrate Passover and Earth Day at the same time? Yes, you can! You can be green while enjoying all the traditions. Remember, Passover includes cleaning out the old and starting fresh. Just by ridding your home of excess, that is, allowing yourself and your environment to ‘breathe’, you have done at least one small thing to ‘improve your world’.

When we look at Passover as a celebration of being “set free”, we can apply this toward being also “set free” from things and possessions that tend to ‘clog up’ our lives. Freedom is a great feeling, but comes with a responsibility to take care of who we are, where we live, and the world we leave behind. Today, we deal with the plagues of climate issues and the such, things that really affect us all.

So enjoy Passover, but don’t pass over the chance to go the extra step and look at who you are and where you live. It’s those little things that really add up to help create a better world. Don’t take for granted what you have been given! Giving back is the perspective of living green. And don’t forget: “The less you have, the less you have to clean up!”

8 Ways To Enjoy 8 Passover Days

1: Just a reminder…

2: A Few Of My Favorite Passover Things
(Sung to the tune of “These are a few of my favorite things”)

Cleaning and cooking and so many dishes
Out with the hametz, no pasta, no knishes
Fish that’s gefillted, horseradish that stings
These are a few of our passover things.

Matzoh and karpas and chopped up haroset
Shankbones and kiddish and yiddish neuroses
Tante who kvetches and uncle who sings
These are a few of our Passover things.

Motzi and maror and trouble with Pharoahs
Famines and locusts and slaves with wheelbarrows
Matzah balls floating and eggshell that cling
These are a few of our Passover things.

When the plagues strike
When the lice bite
When we’re feeling sad
We simply remember our Passover things
And then we don’t feel so bad.

3: And if you wanted a different song in your head for all of Passover, here you go!

5: Time to get your Passover groove on!

4: Just watch and learn!

6: It’s all about your point of view
A little boy once returned home from Hebrew school and his father asked, “what did you learn today?” He answered, “The Rabbi told us how Moses led the children of Israel out of Egypt.”
“How?”
The boy said “Moses was a big strong man and he beat Pharaoh up. Then while he was down, he got all the people together and ran towards the sea. When he got there, he has the Corps of Engineers build a huge pontoon bridge. Once they got on the other side, they blew up the bridge while the Egyptians were trying to cross.”
The father was shocked. “Is that what the Rabbi taught you?”
The boy replied, “No. But you’d never believe the story he DID tell us!”

7: “A brush with the law and a burning bush”

8: Cleaning for Passover means you go ALL OUT!!