"jewish foods" news and stories

My real Jewish friends are off tonight having a "Break Passover" party, a little "celebration" where they're going to indulge in all those foods they couldn't eat for eight days - yeasted breads, cakes, pretty much anything that contains wheat, all of which were replaced during the Passover holiday with matzo.

Since the holiday is over, there might be a lot of leftover matzo. Sure, eating it at three meals for eight days, one might get sick of the hard, cracker-like flatbread, but no one ever gets sick of matzo ball soup. How could they? Matzo ball soup doesn't cause sickness, it cures it. It's known as Jewish penicillin, great for anytime of the year.

Our siblings over at the Life Sciences blogs have posted some resources for those of us who will be preparing foods that are kosher for Passover and work for the special dietary needs of diabetics. The Passover holiday restricts unleavened breads as well as grains like wheat, oats, rye and barley, but for diabetics, it's important to find recipes for foods that will help maintain a stable blood sugar level.

One source is the website for the Jewish Diabetes Organization, www.jewishdiabetes.org. The site offers a guide in PDF format with recipes. Cinnamon Hearts, at www.cinnamonhearts.com, is a recipe goldmine for Jewish diabetics, with not only Passover recipes and a menu for a Seder dinner, but many foods for diabetics in general.

We already know that there are a lot of "commandments" that govern the Jewish holiday of Passover, which will be starting tomorrow evening. Many of are strict dietary rules. The first two nights of Passover are the most important because Jews hold a religious service in their homes with friends and family around the dinner table called the Seder. The Seder is a time when the Passover story is told from a book called the haggadah, and explains why the holiday even exists.

The word "seder" means "order," indicating that there is an "order" in which 15 things, or steps, take place. If you didn't figure it out by now, the Seder dinner can take a very long time. There are very detailed steps that include blessings, hand washings, asking of questions and recitals of answers, and storytelling.

With the restriction on leavened bread and most grains during the eight days of passover, foods like toast and cereals won't do for breakfast. Matzo brei is basically a matzo and egg scramble, for which Stefania already gave us a basic recipe. However, matzoh brei can get as interesting as any vegetable-filled omelette, especially now withe farmers' markets offering spring produce.

For two servings, break one sheet of matzo into bite size pieces and soak in hot water to soften them. Saute chopped vegetables of your choosing in a small amount of olive oil  – I used scallions, yellow onions, tomatoes, bell peppers, and chopped garlic. Lightly beat four eggs, stir the softened matzo pieces into the eggs, then add to the vegetables in the pan.

Some people leave the egg/matzo mixture in the pan over a low heat to set like a frittata or an omelette. However, I prefer to scramble everything together – but I think that’s less of a taste preference and more of my hyperactive inability to leave anything to cook on its own.

At the very end, I added avocadoes, just so they would maintain their cool creaminess (avocadoes can become bitter when cooked).