When I saw this recipe Matzo Brei with Parmesan and Chives in the Vegetarian Times a year ago, I was fascinated. I’ve never made anything with matzo before. But, this sounded interesting – and what doesn’t go with eggs and cheese right? So for Passover 2015 (though I don’t observe it myself) from the evening of Friday, April 3 to Saturday, April 11 I thought I would give it a try.
I did add chopped onion to mine to go an itsy bit more savory – if you want you can sauté your chopped onion before adding them into the matzo brei mixture. I also used a bit more butter, but a lot less than the Ruth Reichl version so you decide what is enough for you!
This recipe for Matzo Brei with Parmesan is a great way to use up some extra eggs as with this dish, 4 eggs can feed 6-8 people depending on what else you are eating with the Matzo Brei. I used 1 matzo for every egg, but some use 2 matzo for each egg to make it more chewy and further stretch that egg. You can also add a splash of milk if you’d like.
Matzo Brei also seems to come in two forms- omelette from where after pouring it into the pan, you flip it, and then for serving you do slices almost like a quiche, like I did. Or, you can scramble it instead – a perfect fallback in case your flip doesn’t work! – or in case you have leftovers later to heat it up in a pan and break it up and maybe add a little more (like in this case, I added some broccoli).
Apparently there is quite a debate of the best accompaniments for Matzo Brei – there seem to be two big camps, either enjoying the matzo brei savory or sweet.
For savory, think of topping them with sour cream, sauteed onions and mushrooms, creamed spinach, or other roasted vegetables, grated cheese, hot sauce or horseradish etc.
For sweet, common toppings include cinnamon sugar, powdered sugar, maple syrup, applesauce or other fruit jams or compotes or fresh or roasted or maceration fruit – think similar to pancake.
Ingredients:
- 4 matzo squares
- 4 eggs
- 1/4 cup chopped chives
- 1/4 cup chopped onion
- 1/2 cup grated Parmesan
- Salt to taste
- Pepper to taste
- 1 tablespoon of butter
Directions:
- Break up your matzo squares into 1 to 1 1/2 inch pieces. Place broken matzo pieces in bowl, and cover it all with hot water (brei means scalding, though it doesn’t have to be that hot!). Let the matzo get soft by letting it sit in the water for 30 seconds or so, then drain out all the water – you want it to be softened, not mushy.
- Crack and beat the 4 eggs in a large bowl. Stir in the broken but now softened matzo squares, chopped chives and onion, grated Parmesan, and season with salt and pepper to your liking.
- In a skillet over medium heat, melt the butter. Now add the matzo egg mixture and let sit for 2 minutes before flipping, or scramble for 3-4 minutes.
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- Serve immediately while still hot with your choice of sweet or savory or both types for toppings!
What do you think you would do, keep your Matzo Brei in omelette form or scramble it? Why?
And would you do it with sweet or savory toppings, what would you pick?
