Initiation Into The Mysteries Of Matzo Brei

Sunday - On this particular topic I draw a line in the sand.  It is spelled MATZO BREI and it is served SWEET.  It is an Ashkenazic Passover dish, and it is served sweet.  Even the Litvaks eat their matzo brei sweet, and as for us Russian Jews, we eat everything sweet.

Unfortunately, I can't remember the last time I actually prepared matzo brei, and I was not thrilled with the result.  I am my own worst critic, but I always try to learn from my mistakes.  As soon as I tasted this, I made a face and declared "my mother's is better."  For the first time since she passed away in 2000, I wish she was around long enough so I could ask her how she made her matzo brei so good.  Beyond staging a seance to reach her, I dug deep into childhood memories and decided that it needed to be a lot eggier.  Here is an example of a deceptively simple recipe where execution is everything.  To achieve the almost French toast quality of my grandmother-who-raised-me's matzo brei, I may have to ignore printed recipes and follow my instinct, which was telling me to break the matzo pieces even smaller, use more eggs, whisk them with a little milk, and let the matzo soak a good amount of time.  Maybe next weekend.

My yen has shifted to fresh vegetable soup.  Really fresh vegetables, nothing from the freezer except possibly green peas.  I want a lot of broth and I want it to be very flavorful.  That, like the avocado devilled eggs, is simply going to have to wait.

I hope everyone enjoyed a wonderful Easter Sunday.

We are spending it quietly in post-matzo brei stupor, watching television.  I can safely say that there is such a thing as too much Food Network.  So we have switched to "High Anxiety", which about describes my state of mind if I stop to think.  However, one cannot stop to think while watching Mel Brooks, because one is laughing too much, even if one has seen the movie too many times to count over the past 40 years, knows all the sight gags, and can recite the lines along with the actors.

If one cannot think, one cannot worry.  Good show, Mel.  Good show.