Tonight is the first night of Passover. I won't get into a history lesson, for that you can watch The Prince of Egypt, or The Ten Commandments. But I will give an extremely brief culinary description as to why there is no leavened bread. The Passover story says that the slaves had no time for their bread to rise as they were fleeing Egypt and that is how they ended up with the cracker-type matzo that we know today. So, observant Jews refrain from eating anything leavened for the eight days of Passover. The end.
Have you fallen asleep from boredom yet?
When I was a young girl back in the olden days, we did not have much in the way of ready to eat Passover products. Matzo, the weird chocolate covered marshmallow twist and jelly ring candies, jarred gefilte fish, canned macaroons, soup nuts (a weird, puffy crouton-type thing) and a few soup mixes. Now the stores are flooded with Passover snacks, cereal, pasta, cakes, cookies, pizza and loads of other processed crap.
As a little kid we did keep Kosher in the house, but we've gone to the dark side. I don't keep a Kosher home. I like bacon too much. I also don't rid my house of "chametz" which is any of the leavened-bread type products that you are supposed to get rid of before Passover. But while I may not be the most observant Jewish person, I do like to celebrate.
I love cooking for Passover, but this year I am not having it at my house. I've been relegated to bring a few things to my Aunt and Uncle's house, a couple of recipes that have become must-makes over the years.
First up is Matzo Toffee. It is a recipe from Epicurious, and can be found here:
Matzo Toffee
It starts off as all delicious toffee does with butter and brown sugar. Do NOT use margarine, it does not taste the same....
After that boils together for a few minutes it gets poured over a cookie sheet lined with matzo
It bakes in the oven for about 12 minutes, and then is sprinkled with chocolate chips
After the chips soften they are spread over the matzo. You can add other toppings over the chocolate if you want. I tried a rocky road mixture that I saw on Pinterest this year. It isn't something I plan on making again. It was just kind of eh. No point in messing with perfection.
Once it all cools in the fridge it is broken into pieces and that's it! It keeps for a week in the fridge, but it will be gone sooner than that. Trust me.
Here is the finished product along with the next recipe:
The next dish actually is an Auntie Ina recipe, from her Barefoot Contessa Family Style book. Coconut Macaroons. Way better than the kind in a can, but they do contain dairy for those who are observant of Kosher dietary laws. I haven't been Kosher since the late 70's so I'm all over it. They taste like the coconut patties that they sell at the airport in Florida. For those of you who haven't traveled to South Florida to visit parents or grandparents, then they taste like Almond Joy or Mounds! Easy to make with only 4 ingredients!
Sweetened coconut, vanilla, condensed milk and egg whites. That's it! Here are the stiff egg whites about to be folded into the coconut, milk and vanilla.
After baking them on parchment and letting them cool, I like to dip at least half of the batch into melted chocolate. You'll never want to eat one of those canned Passover macaroons again. Unless you have to, and in that case I'm sorry.
If you are celebrating Passover, have a Zissen Pesach. I know mine will be bittersweet because I won't be with my parents. Spring break doesn't coincide with Passover this year, and life doesn't stop here in Connecticut for the holiday like it did when I was growing up in New York so we won't be together. Of course this is the year my mother decides to actually cook an entire seder and not cater it and I can't be there!
If you don't celebrate Passover like me and Auntie Ina....these macaroons are just as good for Easter! And as for the matzo toffee, you don't have to be Jewish to eat matzo. I remember my Italian/Polish friend's mother always had a box in the house. I think she ate it with cream cheese and ham. Why not? To each their own, right?
Happy Holidays!
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