Breakfast And Brunch | Mama Lisa's World Blog

Archive for the 'Breakfast and Brunch' Category

Posts

Recipe for Savory Matzo Brei

Wednesday, April 15th, 2009

Matzo brei means fried matzo in Yiddish. The traditional way to make it is with a lot of matzo – you generally use equal eggs to matzo. Jewish people eat it around Passover. Savory Matzo Brei is salty. There’s a different recipe for Sweet Matzo Brei.

You can put whatever you like into savory matzo brei. Here are some suggestions: fry up any of the following first: chopped onions, green or red peppers, mushrooms, or other vegetables that you might put into a normal omelet. You can also add cheese and/or herbs to savory matzo brei. If you’re using cheese, I’d recommend Swiss or cheddar cheese – but use whatever you and your family like.

Here’s how you make Savory Matzo Brei:

Recipe for Savory Matzo Brei

3 Eggs
3 Matzo
1 Tablespoon Milk
Salt and Pepper to Taste

1) Fry up any vegetables you want to use in a little oil or butter, until lightly brown and soft. Set aside.

1) Soak matzo in water for a minute or two to soften (no longer than that). Take the matzo out of the water.

2) Break matzo into small pieces with your hands.

3) In a separate bowl, beat the eggs with the milk (like you would for scrambled eggs). Add salt and pepper and stir. Then stir the egg mixture in with the matzos.

4) Put pan with vegetables back on medium heat heat. Then add the egg mixture. Break up like you would scrambled eggs while frying.

5) Add small cubes of cheese if you’re using cheese.

When it’s firm (not liquidy), it’s ready to eat.

Bon appetit!

Mama Lisa

PS If you’d like to try something different, check out my recipe for Matzo Omelet.

Share on Facebook and other services:

Posted in Breakfast and Brunch, Countries & Cultures, Holidays Around the World, Israel, Languages, Main Course, Omelets, Passover, Recipes of the World, Savory Matzo Brei, USA, Yiddish | No Comments »

Recipe for Matzoh Omelet

Wednesday, April 15th, 2009

I’ll give the recipe here for a matzo omelet. It’s inspired by the dish called Matzo brei. There’s a little story behind this and I’ll tell it in a moment. Matzo brei means fried matzo. The traditional way to make it is with a lot of matzo – you generally use equal eggs to matzo. Jewish people eat it around Passover. A matzo omelet is different, it’s an omelet with matzo in it – more egg less matzo!

A few years ago, my mother-in-law was explaining matzo brei to me. I suppose I misunderstood her explanation. I went home and made a traditional omelet for my husband with matzo in it. I made it using a little matzo per egg. It turns out that he loved it! I made him omelets like that for years, thinking I was cooking authentic Jewish food. My bad! I wasn’t. I had come up with a new invention: a matzo omelet. It wasn’t until this year, when my sister-in-law taught me the real way to make matzo brei, that I learnt the difference. I personally prefer the matzo omelet to the savory matzo brei.

So let’s get to the recipe! I’ll start by saying the you can put whatever you like into the matzo omelet. Here are some suggestions: fry up any of the following first: chopped onions, green or red peppers, mushrooms, or other vegetables that you might put into a normal omelet. You can also add cheese to the matzo omelet. I’d recommend Swiss or cheddar cheese – use whatever you and your family like.

Here’s the basic recipe for the matzo omelette:

Matzo Omelet

3 Eggs
1 Matzo
1/4 c. Milk
Salt and Pepper to Taste

1) Melt butter in a frying pan, fry up any vegetables you want to use on medium heat. When they’re soft and lightly brown, turn off the heat and set aside.

2) Beat the eggs with a fork. Add the milk, salt and pepper and stir again.

3) Break up the matzo into bite sized pieces and put into the egg mixture.

4) Stir the matzo in the with eggs

5) Put the frying pan with the vegetables back on medium heat and add the egg mixture.

6) Once the omelet starts to get firm you can add cheese to half of the pan.

7) Once the cheese starts to melt, and the omelet gets less liquidy, you can flip half of the omelet over the other half. I flipped it and cut it in half to help it cook more quickly. You may need to lower the heat if the bottom starts to cook too quickly.

8) You can flip the omelet again after a couple of minutes, make sure the inside gets cooked. Once the eggs are firm on the inside, you’re ready to eat it!

Bon appetit!

Mama Lisa

PS I used whole milk for the omelet because we had it in our fridge for another recipe. I don’t normally use whole milk, but 1%. The whole milk gave the omelet a more custardy taste. More yummy, though more fattening. Interesting to know as a cook!

Next: Recipe for Savory Matzo Brei

Share on Facebook and other services:

Posted in Breakfast and Brunch, Countries & Cultures, Holidays Around the World, Israel, Main Course, Omelets, Passover, Recipes of the World, Savory Matzo Brei, USA, Yiddish | 2 Comments »

Recipe for Sweet Matzo Brei

Monday, April 13th, 2009

Matzo Brei means fried matzo in Yiddish. This is a good dish to make near Passover. That’s when most Jewish people eat it. I’d suggest trying it even if you’re not Jewish. Here’s one good reason: Matzoh is always on sale around Passover and there’s tons of it in the store. How can you not buy a box?

After you buy your box of matzo, I’ll tell you two things you can do with it! You can made Sweet Matzo Brei or Savory Matzo Brei. Don’t go away – don’t be fearful! If you like sweet things, you’ll like Sweet Matzo Brei. I was suspicious about it for years. I KID YOU NOT! I would never in a million years have put matzo, with eggs and syrup. But man, this is good. If you like pancakes or French toast with syrup, you’ll like it. If you don’t, then try the savory way (which I’ll explain how to do in my next post). My savory way is different from everyone else’s. Mine is like a matzo omelet. Sounds a bit strange, yes! But it’s actually very good. That one I have been making for years.

So, let’s get to it!

You can choose how much you’d like to make depending on the number of people eating. The key to making Sweet Matzah Brei is to use one egg per matzo. We used 10 eggs and ten matzohs for 3 adults, 2 big teenage boys with hearty appetites and 2 young girls (one six and one eight year old). Using that as a general rule, it would be about 1 to 1 1/2 matzo per person for a serving size, depending upon how hungry the people are and how much they like to eat.

Recipe for Sweet Matzo Brei

What you need:

1 Egg per Matzo
Milk (1 teaspoon per egg)
Cinnamon
Nutmeg
Butter for Frying
Maple Syrup

1) Soak matzo in water for a minute or two to soften (no longer than that). Take the matzo out of the water.

2) Break matzo into small pieces with your hands.

3) In a separate bowl, beat the eggs with the milk (like you would for scrambled eggs). Add a dash or two of cinnamon and nutmeg and stir. Then stir the egg mixture in with the matzos.

4) Melt a slab of butter in a frying pan (enough to coat the bottom of the pan). Add egg mixture. Break up like you would like scrambled eggs while frying on medium heat.