Post Pesach Matzah Brei/Pizza

I know, I know, the dash back to chametz is a sprint that many of us make, especially my kids, like the second Passover is over. And we are talking about adult children here 🙂 .

Since DH and I are somewhat older, this is less of a thing for us and we calmly cruise through till the next day and if we don’t have that piece of bread (or pita, or bun or roll etc.) we manage to survive it. It ain’t like we haven’t eaten enough till now, the good G-d knows!

Since we wound up eating tuna pate and veggies yesterday and no bread or matzah like objects, we felt rather virtuous this morning and so when my girlfriend Malka texted me to say, let’s do breakfast together, I was up for it. But DH needed care and feeding, only fair, right?

So he astounded me by saying, I haven’t had matzah brei in like 20 years, we have literally one piece of matzah left (yayayayay little happy dance, our son Dani loves it, go figure, and took away triumphantly all the leftover matzah in the house save this one lonely piece), how about you make me a matzah brei? This was said in such a hopeful cute tone that I couldn’t resist him and not only did I say sure, but he got a hug out of the deal too 😉 .

I confess, I hadn’t had matzah brei in years myself and since this Pesach I was pretty careful about the matzah intake, I made myself one matzah pizza in a frying pan and lemme tell you, it was yumola. So it shows you, great minds think alike!

Matzah brei has many many permutations but in this I’m kinda a purist. You take a whole matza, run water over it right from the tap (it really doesn’t need to soak unless you are making a big batch) and let it drip in the sink a bit. Then, take a bowl, crack 2 checked eggs into it with a bit of water, like 2 teaspoons and whip together with a fork till the eggs are blended and break the damp matzo into chunks into the eggs.

Sprinkle with salt to taste (you can add other spices but like I said, I’m a purist) and let soak for a minute or two. Heat the pan with some oil spray (and at this point, DH came running over with a bag of grated cheese so I wound up tossing that on top of the matzah mixture) and pour the matzah and egg mixture into the hot pan, adjusting the pieces so that they are evenly distributed in the pan

and then cover either with a cover, piece of tin foil, or as I did in a moment of necessity being the mother of invention, the identical frying pan on top for a nice seal.

Now while there’s no question this came out yummy and crispy on the bottom whilst soft on top, I gotta say I preferred my matzah pizza.

The crispy bottom and cheesy saucy top was so yummy that you celebrate the matzah in it, not something to take lightly.

So all the above steps are the same except I left the matzah soaking for 5 minutes to really soften for the pizza and took out a jar of pizza sauce and grated cheese (I used Emek which is like Muenster cheese but you can use American, Gouda, Mozzarella or Feta for an interesting changing it up. I poured the matzah egg mixture in the pan and let cook a bit and then spread with 2 tablespoons of pizza sauce.

Let cook a bit and sprinkle with the grated cheese.

Note the edges starting to crisp up, yummm. Cover briefly for about a minute (peek) to make sure cheese melts but once it’s melted, by now your matzah brei pizza is done.

Slide onto a plate, cut into wedges and demolish.

So, all in all, I say to you who have matzah left over, this is a satisfying way to use up your matzah. Happiness is a cheesy matzah pizza!

Matzah Brei/Pizza

This is for one matzah brei/pizza. Clearly, you scale up the ingredients as needed per person.

One square matzah

2 eggs

pinch of salt

Water for wetting matzah

If you are making it into a matzah brei pizza, you need

2 tablespoons pizza (or pasta) sauce

2 tablespoons grated cheese such as Emek (Israel), Muenster, Cheddar, American, Gouda, Mozzarella or Feta

Directions:

For both matzah breis, turn on your water tap and hold the matzah under the tap for a few seconds or until wetted all over. Turn off water and let drip into sink for a few secs.

Crack 2 eggs into a bowl and add about 2 teaspoons of water and whip till properly mixed, add the pinch of salt (and other spices if you wish). I have added lightly fried onions from time to time and it’s usually a HUGE hit. Break the wet matzah into chunks (see above) and let soak in the egg mixture for about 2 minutes. If for pizza, 5 minutes.

Heat a frying pan on the stovetop with oil spray till hot, pour the matzah egg mixture into it and cover with foil, a lid or another frying pan to cook the top. (you can flip it if you prefer but I’ve found it turns to scrambled brei often). At this point, crack the cover open to add cheese if you wish. Cover and cook just till melted.

For the pizza: you’ve soaked for 5 minutes, pour into hot oiled pan, cook a bit till bottom is not gushy (technical term 🙂 ) and spread with 2 tablespoons of pizza sauce. Let cook a bit and sprinkle with 2 tablespoon of grated cheese, cover just till melted and slide onto a plate. Cut into wedges and dig in.