April 2011

Of all the recipes in the Passover canon, one of the simplest is matzo brei. Soak matzos in egg and maybe a little milk or water until softened, fry in butter or oil. Top with powdered sugar or maple syrup if you like the sweet side of things, or salt and pepper if you have more savory hankerings.

It’s quintessential Passover brunch food, so bare-bones that I never really thought about altering it, or even eating it, more than once or twice a year.

Apolinaras recently sold one of his business ventures so I decided to whip up a celebratory meal with several of our favorite splurge ingredients – lump crabmeat and wild Mahi Mahi filets! I made a crab cake mixture and piled it high atop the fish. Apolinaras loves Brussels sprouts, so I finally tried roasting some and immediately fell in love – why haven’t I tried doing this sooner?!? I nestled the filets on top of the Brussels sprouts and pulled it all together with a luscious lemon sauce with a touch of honey and heavy cream.

Overcooking the broccoli in our Broccoli-Cheese Soup recipe coaxed all the flavor out of it. Adding a bit of baking soda to the cooking water sped up the cooking process, and pureeing fresh baby spinach along with the other ingredients brightened the Broccoli-Cheese Soup’s bright green color and enhanced its vegetable flavor. Finally, cheddar and Parmesan gave our soup adequate cheesy flavor without making it heavy. To make a vegetarian version of this soup, substitute vegetable broth for the chicken broth. 

Tea is for drinking to be sure, but what about tea for eating? Many of us know the marbleized tea eggs and tea-smoked duck of Chinese kitchens or the green tea ice cream found in many Asian restaurants, but how often have we encountered oolong-brined turkey, salmon lacquered in green tea or "smoky" black lentils cooked in lapsang sou- chong tea?