Matzoh and Egg

Brunch during Passover almost always means matzoh brei - a traditional combination of egg and water-soaked matzoh. Leftovers always play an important role as well. And usually, when it comes to food restrictions, I don't like to play the substitute game (i.e. tofurkey and the like).

But given the opportunity to use farm-fresh eggs and matzoh from a sedar, I thought why not? The result - a sunny-side up egg on a piece of matzoh. No recipe needed here. Fry an egg to your liking, and gently (very gently!) place on top of half a piece of matzoh. You gotta eat it quick so it doesn't get sloppy, and it helps to over-cook the egg a little so it stays together (matzoh doesn't soak up the yolk as well as bread).

Enjoy it for a 'change.' (pictures coming soon)

The 18 minute Meal

Some rabbis say that if they can't see that it's matzoh, then no, you can't eat it. Some say rice (even the white, refined type) is ok. Some say metal detectors are ok, in jerusalem, on the sabbath, well, because. There are so many different variations on the rules that it's hard to keep it all straight. so I've come up with a few of my own.

Chez's Kosher for Passover Laws

1) No bread

2) No beer

3) Eat Pasta - if you can cook your meal in less than 18 minutes

4) Eat Rice - if you can cook your meal in less than 18 minutes

5) Drink wine - the kosher wine laws have nothing to do with specific passover regulation, but stay away from bubbly.

Honestly, what matters is the intent. I understand that the seder is longer - it's about the family, the celebration, and the story. But what's the point if you're off in some exotic land, having 3 hour meals with

It's basic

But good. Check it out:

Little Ears

Sausage

Roasted Pepper

Feta

Red Wine

Spinach/Green Beans

Grape Tomatoes

Onions

Yay Shrimp

So this is a classic I learned from my mom, but I like to call "The Italian" for its colors. No recipe needed, see if you can do it from the pics.

Trying to improve my skills with the macro zoom and a steady hand. The optical image stabilization definitely helps - check out the detail on the spinach at the left and the shrimps contours.

Stuffed Peppers

Yum! Once again, a taste of spain wins here. Got the recipe from a book I actually first saw in Anthropologie. Go figure.

Time-wise, this one was a lot more work than last night's garlic shrimp. Although the actual time in the kitchen wasn't very intensive, between the rice, the pepper-baking, and the meat-simmering, there were a lot of long-cooking processes that couldn't happen simultaneously.

I added a little dollop of feta on top just as a tease (at room temp). would definitely do again.

Basic ingredients here:

onions

ground beef (lamb was suggested)

garlic

tomatoes

white wine

spanish rice

spices

olive oil

Garlic Shrimp

Spanish experiment number one was a success. I decided to go with a standard: garlic shrimp with spanish rice (and some string beans on the side, more for the nutritional value).

Here's a pic of the goods. (recipe to come soon)

(no flash, getting better with the macro foscus pics without a stand. I think i need to get a small, portable tripod if I'm going to be serious about this)

Real Recycling

Although those blue and green bins are nice, they're not nearly as efficient as finding ways to truly reuse products at home. So, I thought it would be helpful to offer some tips about ways to use everyday items in great ways.

1) The jelly jar as a cup - almost any jar will work, but Bonne Madame is definitely my favorite. when you've gone through, take off the label, rinse it out, pop it in the dishwasher, and presto! you've got a beautiful glass to drink from. Apparently, there's even some company that uses European tumblers to store their jam in so you actually have a really nice set of glassware to go with that yummy spread.

Pasta in Pan

It was never really a secret. Putting your cooked pasta into the pan with the sauce for a minute or two has been the suggestion of grandmothers and professional chefs alike since the beginning. But still, time and again, I see people mixing both later. Now, there are a few reasons why you wouldn't do it: you've got really fresh pasta that you don't want to overcook. You've got a 'sauce' that's not very saucy and you want the flavor of the pasta to stand out. You're from the South (of Italy) and you like to give people a spoon to mix their own pasta/sauce at the table. But other than that, here's some hopefully yummy pictures to get your appetite going. All photos here taken with a cannon powershot 950SI.

A Dabble in Spain

I love just about everything Spanish: the sports, the wine, the cheese, the tapas, port, the language, flamenco, don quixote, the people. So, what better way to celebrate a culture than to plan a trip and try a week's worth of dishes:

Tuesday: Grilled Garlic Shrimp

Wednesday: Stuffed Peppers (with rice, meat, tomatoes, onions)

Thursday: Salmon with parsley/basic pesto with green beans

Stay tuned for pictures, recipes, and reviews. Decided to go with FreshDirect today. I'm a big fan of their new rating system. It's a great way to choose veggies and fruit that are in season and extra-fresh.

Safari 4 beta

I try to stick to food, but every once and a while I'm just impressed. While i think Safari 4 is only a so-so attempt to match the goodness that is Google Chrome (yet to be released for Mac), it does have one really neat feature. Perhaps there were other ways to do this before, but safari 4 makes this so easy. If you look at the screen shot below, you'll see that I've captured a frame (Pandora) and embedded it into the dashboard as a permanent widget. Perhaps this is just overkill on my system resources, but it's nice to be able to get this kind of access no matter what I'm doing with my mac to one of my favorite sites. Cool.