Matzo Brei

For any of you who have read Ruth Reichl's books, you know that one of her favorite comfort foods is matzo brei - a food that she describes with such warmth in her books that even though I have never had it, I regularly crave it. I keep meaning to try her recipe for it, but I haven't remembered to pick up matzo (the fact that we are as far from Passover as you can get doesn't help my case either!)

Well, this morning I woke up against my will at 5am again - a funny little trick my body has been playing on my the past two weeks. As I lay there in bed, willing myself to fall back asleep even for an hour, I decided (in my partially awake mind) that I wanted matzo brei for breakfast. I had to have it. Why, I don't know. But I did.

Now, despite where you may think this is going, I did not take advantage of the 24 hour Shaw's to get matzo. When I finally got up around 7, I decided to find her recipe on epicurious.com and just make it with what I had - water crackers!

I had no idea what it would come out like - I ended up following some of the comments on her recipe and amending it to fit the ingredients I had on hand.

Here is how I did it - I have to say, I was very skeptical at how it would taste when it was done, because it looked kind of dry. I packaged it up and brought it into the office (I always eat my breakfast at work), and I was pleasantly surprised at how yummy it was! So in case you ever wake up at 5am and decide you want matzo brei - know that you're not alone, and here's a recipe you can follow (I presume it would really work with any kind of mild flavored cracker....perhaps not a really crumbly/buttery kind, but any dry one)

Hack Matzo Brei, minus the Matzo:

8 water crackers (we had sesame flavor ones, and they were yummy)
2 eggs
splash of milk (enough to moisten the crackers)
small handful (approx. 2 tablespoons) of finely chopped onion
chives or other herbs, for flavor
butter (be as courageous as you want here - I used a little more than was enough to coat the pan, but as you can see on her recipe, Ruth calls for like 1/2 a stick!!)
Salt and Pepper, to taste

Break up the crackers into small pieces, and place them in a bowl with the milk. Let them sit for about 3-4 minutes, until moist but not too soggy. Pour out most of the milk (you can keep a little in to make the mixture fluffier if you'd like.

Add the two eggs to the same bowl, and scramble them together with the matzo. Add the onions and chives/herbs and a dash of salt and pepper.

Meanwhile, heat the butter in a skillet on the stove until melted and hot.

Pour the mixture into the pan and cook - I think that it would be best to make it like an omelet - cook for 2 minutes or so then flip, cook the other side and try to keep the inside moist.

When it's nicely browned on both sides, remove from the pan and serve!!

Enjoy.....