Matzo Lasagna for Passover

I've always wanted to make matzo lasagna. This isn't so much a recipe as it is a suggestion. I had a carton of Pomi diced tomatoes I needed to use up as they were about to expire and I need some delicious passover food. Fairly easy to throw together.

I decided to swap out the usual ricotta with some mascarpone. Which gave it an almost buttery ness in the final product. cjr described the final result tasting just like Zachery's pizza. Definitely more saucy than cheesy, but that's the way we like it.

If you're using a jarred pasta sauce instead of canned tomatoes, skip the garlic and sugar as they are likely to already be inside your sauce. Then again, you can never have too much garlic!

It makes enough for about 4 people

Ingredients

3 matzo sheets

One 26 oz can of diced tomatoes (750 g) or pasta sauce

4 oz of mozzarella cheese, shredded or sliced thinly.

1/2 cup of mascarpone cheese (or ricotta cheese)

4 cloves of garlic, minced

Handful of basil leaves, roughly chopped

1 tsp sugar

Salt to taste

Crushed red pepper (optional)

1/2 cup of water

1. Preheat the oven to 350F.

2. Mix the tomatoes, sugar, salt, crushed red pepper, basil, and garlic

3. Spread a quarter of the tomato mixture in the bottom of a 9inch square baking dish. Place a sheet of matzo on top.

4. On top of the first matzo, place 1/4 cup of the mascarpone in dollops around the matzo. Then sprinkle about a third of the mozzarella on top of that. Then, add another quarter of the tomato mixture.

5. Repeat step four with the next sheet of matzo.

6. Place the last matzo on top, pour over the remaining tomato sauce, and cover with remaining mozzarella cheese. Pour in the water around the edges of the matzo.

7. Cover with aluminum foil and bake for 25-30 minutes. Then, uncover the lasagna and place the lasagna under the broiler for about 30 seconds until the top cheese is nice and bubbly.

Perfect Passover Matzo Meal Pancakes

My history with Matzo meal pancakes is well, mixed (pun intended). As a child, my cousins always made us pancakes from a prepackaged mix. They were edible, but never as good as the real deal. I always "chalked" the problem up to the lack of chemical leaveners.

Today, I woke up and decided to take a stab at home made passover pancakes. I found this recipe on epicurious. I didn't have matzo meal, so I ground up two matzos in the food processor very finely and decided to make a few risky swaps. Since eggs are precious in our house as we only buy them at the farmer's market and they are quite expensive I decided to use only one egg in place of 3 - replacing the other two with yogurt (think buttermilk pancakes!). Then I made the swap from using water (I assume to make it parve?) to milk.

By some miracle, it worked! Not only were our pancakes delicious, they may even have better than normal ones... I know what I'll be doing with any leftover matzos I have! Plus, unlike most passover recipes they aren't overly "eggy".

This recipe doesn't make very many pancakes - maybe enough for 1-2 people MAX (2 is already a stretch) so you'll have to scale it up for a crowd. Also, you'll want it to sit for about 10-15 minutes before cooking as the matzo needs to soak the liquid. These minutes are crucial as they should allow you just enough time to cup up whatever toppings you like, do the dishes, and set the table.

Some ways to spruce up the batter in future: adding some orange zest and cardamom or a pinch of cinnamon, and, of course, chopped fruit and chocolate chips!

Ingredients (enough to make about 6 4-inch pancakes)

1/2 cup matzo meal (about 2 matzos worth, ground in the food processor)

1 tbsp sugar

pinch of salt

1 egg

2/5 cup plain or vanilla whole milk yogurt (~1/3 cup + 1 tablespoon)

1/2 cup whole milk

Butter (for pan)

1. Mix the matzo meal, sugar, and salt in a bowl.

2. Beat the egg, yogurt, and milk together.

3. Mix the wet ingredients with the dry ingredients until combined, try to avoid over mixing. Let stand for about 10-15 minutes. Batter should have the consistency of runny-ish yogurt. If too thick, add a bit more milk.

4. After the batter is rested, heat up a bit of butter in a pan over medium-high heat.

5. When the pan is nice and hot, pour some batter in 3" or so rounds - trying not to over crowd the pan. Now is the time to add toppings such as chocolate chips or fruit sprinkled on top of the batter that you've poured into the pan.

6. When the bottom of the pancakes are nicely browned (don't expect them to bubble up too much to know when to flip!) flip the pancakes and cook the other side until brown. Between rounds of pancakes add a bit more oil to the pan to ensure the next batch doesn't burn.

7. Serve with fresh fruit, maple syrup, and some butter. cjr likes his with nutella.

Panzanella Salad (For Two)

This is one of those "serendipity" recipes where you happen to have all the ingredients at your disposal. I had some leftover Italian bread, olives, mozzarella cheese, and basil. Plus, all the stuff I usually keep handy like cherry tomatoes, cucumbers, and shallots.

I know this is horribly "out" of season. But I just couldn't face another bunch of chard or another squash and I'm ready for summer already! Sorry locavore police. I tried to keep it to ingredients that came from no further than Mexico (rather than Chile like everything seems to come from around here...).

This makes just enough for two people to have a small-to-medium "entree" sized portion. It's extremely easy and in the time it takes the bread to crisp you can assemble the remanning ingredients. Shouldn't take more than about 15 minutes from start to finish.

This salad is usually consumed room temperature. Which makes it an ideal candidate for springtime picnics.

To make it vegan, just swap the cheese for some walnuts or pine nuts.

Ingredients
4 thick slices of Italian bread
1 persian cucumber, roughly chopped into chunks
30 cherry tomatoes, cut in half
1 pepper (I used yellow), cut into chunks
1 shallot, chopped
1 clove garlic, minced finely
15 basil leaves, chiffonaded (cut into thin strips)
1-2 oz (about 1 to 2 inch size cubes) of mozzarella cheese, cut into 1/4 inch cubes
10 olives, pitted and cut in half
1 tablespoon olive oil
2 tablespoons balsamic or red wine vinegar
Salt, to taste

1. Heat oven to 400 degrees. Toast the 4 slices of bread until hard. Alternatively, can be done in a toaster.

2. In the meantime, mix the remaining ingredients in a large bowl.

3. When the bread is done, remove from oven and cut into large cubes (0.5-1 inch cubes). Toss with the other ingredients. If you want the bread to soak up more of the dressing you can let it sit longer and eat later, or, if you prefer your bread a bit crispy, serve immediately.