We know that Passover is on the horizon, but exactly how far away is that? Sometimes we don’t even know what today’s date is. No wonder we feel like Passover is sneaking up on us.
A week ago, when saw that the wall of matzah was up at our favorite Passover place, the ShopRite in Cherry Hill, NJ, we bought a 5-box brick for $8.99. Had we been patient and known then that Passover didn’t begin until the evening of April 5, we could have waited a week for the annual promotion and gotten those boxes free with our weekly grocery order.
We have Rabbi Dov Behr Manischewitz and his sons to thank for that wall of matzah. 
When Rabbi Dov immigrated from Lithuanian to Cincinnati in the late 1800s, all matzah was round. He opened a matzah bakery and used his sechel to design a machine that could cut and bake matzah in squares. Now, matzah could be easily packaged and shipped around the world, from Japan to Africa to New Zealand, and it also could be stacked neatly for supermarket displays! You can’t do that with round matzah.
Since we’ve already bought matzah, it’s hard to resist breaking open a box. A few days ago, Ellen found Joyce in her kitchen making a pan of fried matzah. “I haven’t had any matzah since last year,” Joyce said, explaining the obvious. “It’s here. I want some for lunch.”
Why do we wait all year to eat matzah? “Why is this night different from all other nights?”
Throughout the year, we make kugels for family gatherings. We usually eat latkes only at Hanukkah, but that’s because they make the house smell of onion and oil. The grease gets everywhere and it’s a production to do all that frying. But if you made them in February, we’d gladly eat them!
There is some commentary and rabbinic opinion on eating/not eating matzah before Passover. Most of it has to do with cleaning out your house of all chametz (leavened products) and avoiding getting chametz crumbs in your matzah. That’s why some people might consider Joyce’s eating matzah brei for lunch, three weeks before Passover, a shanda (shameful).
Rules aside, perhaps most of us eat matzah just once a year because it’s hard to get excited about a flat cracker. That’s why manufacturers try to make it more interesting every year. We spotted trendy “Ancient Grain” spelt matzo on the shelf. (Trying to get your fiber from matzah is not a good plan as anyone who has eaten matzah for eight days can tell you!) There’s also egg and onion, whole wheat, and thin salted matzahs. So many choices, but they all still taste like matzah. Maybe that’s why one company, Kestenbaum’s, is making oat matzah, which they claim tastes exactly like oatmeal.
Maybe because matzah is so plain – and because we’re “bound” to eat it – there are plenty of ways to disguise it. Everyone with kids has probably tried to make matzah lasagna: Replace the noodles with sheets of water-softened matzah and add tomato sauce and lots of cheese. It turns out pretty good.
Make a Mina
If you really want to be adventurous, make a mina. Mina is the Ladino/Sephardic word for a Passover pie made with layers of matzah and filling. The famous Israeli chef Vered Guttman, who has been a judge on Beat Bobby Flay, writes that “the most traditional minas are mina del Pesach, filled with filled with meat and pine nuts, and mina dei spinak, made with feta cheese and spinach.”
Ellen’s spinach mina
There are also minas made with leeks, potatoes, ground beef, paprika and garlic, various cheeses and more.
For Liz Steinberg, author of the blog Café Liz, the only kind of mina is spinach mina, made with canned spinach. She got the recipe from her mother, who learned it from her Turkish grandmother and aunts growing up in Brooklyn. Steinberg says that “it is a dish that means Passover to me.”
Ellen decided to make a spinach and cheese mina. It looks okay, but she didn’t eat it yet. She popped it in the freezer until Passover, so she’ll have to let us know how it tastes.
Make Matzah Brei
Some people say matzah brei, or fried matzah, is the Passover equivalent of French toast. We say matzah brei is in a category all its own.
To make matzah brei, you soften sheets of matzah by running them under warm water or soaking them in water for a few minutes. Beat 2-3 eggs in a big bowl with 3-4 tablespoons of water or milk, like you would for scrambled eggs. Crumble the softened matzah in the egg mixture. Let it sit for a few minutes so the matzah can soak up the egg mixture. Then fry it in a well-greased pan.
Every family has their own variation. Do you fry it in one big lump like a gigantic pancake and then cut it up, or do you scramble it in toasty crumbles so everyone gets a messy pile on their plate? Do you add onions? Do you like it slightly wet, like soft scrambled eggs, or dry and crusty crunchy? Do you eat it sweet with maple syrup, jam or cinnamon sugar, or savory with sour cream or salt and pepper?
Now you see why Joyce couldn’t wait to make that first batch of matzah brei (hers is a a messy pile seasoned with salt and pepper). And it’s delicious, if she says so herself.
Munch a Macaroon
When you’re all done with matzah, you can reach for a macaroon. Like matzah, macaroons aren’t really eaten outside of the days of Passover. Really, if the dessert choices in a restaurant were chocolate mousse cake, lemon meringue pie, or a coconut macaroon cookie, would you go with the macaroon?
Macaroons they are surprisingly easy to make, and homemade ones are waaay better than the mass-produced supermarket macaroons that have come in a metal can for 4,000 years. Imagine our surprise this year to find a packaging innovation! Macaroons now come in a sealed plastic bag. Not a can in sight!
Macaroons are the perfect Passover dessert because they are made without flour. Coconut macaroons use shreds of coconut and almond macaroons use ground almonds or almond flour.
Almond macaroons are good for your friends and family members who dislike coconut, and they’re another Sephardic treat. Almonds grow in Mediterranean countries, and almond cookies are popular in Italy, Greece and France. This version from Joan Nathan uses lemon zest as an accent.
Coconut macaroons are more familiar – and this recipe from Ina Garten (yes, she’s a member of the tribe) – uses sweetened, condensed milk to hold the macaroons together. Ina says it will only take 10 minutes to make and she’s right. Let them bake until slightly brown and you’ll be amazed how delicious a macaroon can be.
“Why is this night different from all other nights?” Give your guests a thrill this year – and a fifth question to answer: “On all other Passovers we eat potato kugels and Manischewitz canned macaroons? Why, on this night, spinach mina and homemade macaroons?”
Because the host wanted to change it up!
Shmoozing With the Word Mavens 