Dinner Tonight: Minimalist Matzoh

I just realized I haven't written a cooking post in awhile, and of course I didn't want to deprive anyone reading Law & Food of my masterful cooking skills that will blow your mind with it's originality (I'm actually very humble).

As all Jews (and therefore the rest of NYC) know, Passover is in full effect (if you can call it that after the first two nights). So what does that mean for me?  Well... in the past few years a conservative Passover regimen has descended into a Seder and not much else (a total reform move).

However, I love matzoh, especially this time of year (obviously). For the most part, I just cook matzoh brie, or fried matzoh as we called it at my home (and nowhere else apparently). That's for another post.  Yet with matzoh on my mind I was intrigued by Mark Bittman's Minimalist column from last week, where he wrote about a Sardinian flatbread, similar to matzoh, and made with just flour and olive oil.



I experimented with the recipe last weekend, and discovered that, instead of Bittman's method of cooking it in a 500 degree oven, a broiler works best. The results was a crispy flatbread with a nice richness from the olive oil. I also added salt, sesame seeds and a little smoked paprika to the top before cooking.

Bubbles!

Tonight, with little to eat in my apartment. I saw the remaining dough balls from last week sitting in my fridge. I figured since they were just olive oil and dough I'd be fine, so I rolled two out and threw them under the broiler.

I dipped the first matzoh in the leftovers of some homemade roasted habanero hummus. After sitting in the fridge for a week, it was damn spicy. 

With the second, I used the only semblance of something fresh in the apartment: cremini mushrooms. I sliced them up and sauteed them with butter. I put down a base of hummus, and topped the matzoh with the mushrooms and some feta I found in the fridge. The result:

Not the most involved thing I've ever made (some green would have been nice, but you gotta make to with what you got). Yet there's something to be said for a dinner that came together in 20 minutes (screw you Rachel Ray, I'm 33% better than you). It filled me up and had the added benefit of being Kosher for Passover, (which can't really be said for my lunch of fried chicken and mac and cheese from the lady at 2 Boots Pizza on 6th Avenue).