La Buona Cucina: Nana's Matzo Brei

Thursday, March 31, 2011

Nana's Matzo Brei

~Trader Joes Matzo Crackers~

This is my Nana's recipe for Matzo Brei (rhymes with fry), which is basically scrambled eggs with matzo crackers. I remember making this with her when she was living with us as an afternoon snack. Both kids and adults love this dish and it can be eaten for breakfast, as an afternoon snack, and either sweet or savory. I grew up in Charleston, SC where there is a large Jewish population-- good food is always found in and near a large Jewish population-- But once we moved to Greenville, SC it was hard to find Matzo crackers that was until Trader Joes came along and now I can have my Nana's Matza Brei anytime I want it!

Ingredients
(For one person)

1 matzo cracker
2 medium eggs

~My Nana~

1-2 tablespoons butter (The more butter the better!)
salt to taste
Directions
Run the whole matzo cracker under gently running cool water, it should be moist not soaked. Break into small pieces into a bowl, add the eggs, salt, and mix well. Mixture will be a bit dry and appear not to hold together. Add butter to a large heated skillet and melt until the foam starts to die down. Dump matzo and egg mixture into skillet and scramble cooking over medium high heat about 3 minutes. This can be eaten as is or as a sweet snack with some sugar sprinkled on top!

~Mom's Matzo After School Snack~

So simple yet so good!

Now here is an even quicker Matzo treat that my Mom used to make for my sisters and me usually as an after school snack. You take 1 matzo cracker and some salted butter that has been allowed to soften up just a bit. Spread it all over the cracker carefully. If you only have unsalted butter then shake a bit of salt on top of the cracker after you have buttered it. Or if your kids like sweet sprinkle some sugar on top.This sounds so simple but it is so good.....believe me....as I am covered in Matzo crumbs as I type this recipe up!

Nutella Matzo
And of course as a lover of Nutella I like it slathered on top of...well anything : ) For this I like to break the matzo up into 4 shards and make 2 little sandwiches with nutella in between!

I also found these 2 recipes that look really tasty!

Matzo Brittle Recipe
Matzo Smores

2 comments:

The Short (dis)Order Cook said...: I LOVE matzo brei. There is something so good about something so simple. Matzos are available pretty much year-round in my area because the Jewish population is huge, but when I was growing up I remember my Italian family loving to buy boxes of them at Passover time as a changeup for snacking. I always loved eating them topped with butter. I made this for dinner last year for my Jewish huband and he loved the way it brought him back to childhood.

I sometimes make matzo balls this time of year so whenever I make a whole chicken, I reserve the fat and freeze it. Frying your matzo brei in schmaltz just takes it right over the top! You must try it!; March 31, 2011 at 8:02 AM
Ann Minard said...: In schmaltz? Sounds very interesting, will try. Did you just save the fat from a chicken or did you buy it?; March 31, 2011 at 8:14 AM

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Food Memories

Italian Lemon Squeezer
My Dad used to squeeze a lemon with his teeth! He would cut it in half, squeeze it with his hands, and then finish by placing it in his mouth and biting down!

Eat your Fegato!
My Mom used to make liver once a month, in Italian called Fegato, and I hated it. I would sit at the table for hours just staring at it hoping it would just go away. Sometimes I think I can still hear her saying, "Annuccia, Eat your Fegato!"

Cavallo Stew
One time I almost ate horse meat! My great grandmother, Nona Cornacchio, who was from Naples, Italy where it was perfectly acceptable to eat horse, had us over for a nice "beef" stew. My Mom took a bite and then quickly gave us a sign to stop eating, I swear we understood sign language, as soon as my Nona left the room my Mom swiftly dumped the bowls back in the pot. When my Nona came back we all sat there rubbing our bellies and saying how good it was!

Clink... clank... clink.... clank....clink

As a small child the sound of a whisk beating rapidly against a metal bowl could mean only one thing, zabaglione! I remember my Daddy would never let us know ahead of time that he was making zabaglione but rather he loved to surprise us with that melodious sound of....... clank clink clank clink clank clink....... ringing from the kitchen and then we would come running from all corners of the house to watch the magic........that little blob of egg yolk, sugar, and liquid sitting at the bottom of the bowl would all of the sudden become a light fluffy mound of pure bliss! We just drank it from espresso cups using a little demitasse spoon to get the last little drops at the bottom. And every New Years Eve my Daddy would start the magic as it neared midnight, what a wonderfully decadent way to start the new year: champagne & zabaglione!

You say Tomato...
When my husband and I were dating we were out one day and decided to stop for a quick bite to eat at a hamburger place. As soon as he got his burger he opened it up and hastily removed the tomato asking me if I would like it. I love tomatoes and felt there was never enough fresh veggies on my burger so I grabbed it and slapped on my burger. We still continue this ritual to this day. Truly a match made in Foodie Heaven!

Pizza, Pizza!
We ate pizza atleast once a week growing up and my Dad and I had a funny little system. You see he loved the cheese but couldn't stand the hard crust and I loved the crust but couldn't stomach all that gooey cheese. So I would start by removing all of my cheese and placing it on top of his pizza. Then he would eat the pizza all the way up to the crust and the hand me the crust.

Cappuccino and Croissant Merci!
When I was a little girl my Mom, like many others, liked to reward us with a treat when we made good grades. I remember this quaint little place in downtown Charleston called Jackies that was one of her favorite places to take us to. She would pick us up straight from school and we would sit at a table for two on the back porch and order croissant with real butter and cappuccino. I felt so cosmopolitan in downtown Charleston in my school uniform sipping cappuccino.

Musical Pasta
My Dad used to play music with his pasta! He would always grab one tube of pasta out of the box before dumping it in the water. Then he would hold it to his lips just so and blow. I can still see him walking around the house tooting out The Drinking Song from Verdi's La Traviata as we waited for the rest of the pasta to cook.

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Thursday, March 31, 2011

Nana's Matzo Brei

2 comments:

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