Machu Picchu Matza Pizza Part 2

One of my favorite and least favorite things about Passover is kosher for Passover (K for P) food made to resemble non-K for P food (things like K for P cake, matzaroni and cheese, potato egg noodles etc.). On the one hand, there are so many K for P options that don't pretend to be something they're not - and that we would happily eat during the rest of the year - that it seems unnecessary to make these often mediocre Passover substitutes. These foods also feel like a cop out. Sure, they're still kosher for passover, but the purpose of the laws forcing us to eat unleavened products (and limiting the cooking and preparing time for wheat) seems lost when we find ways to eat wheat-based cookies on Passover.

On the other hand, it's always fun to figure out new things to do with matza farfelle, matza meal, matza cake meal, and all those other things that are basically matza ground down to different degrees. Passover forces us to think and be more creative when we cook since our ingredient options are limited (especially for Ashkenazi Jews). Its also fun to see how versatile matza can be, and non-Jews always love seeing the crazy concoctions we come up with.


Last night for dinner I made one of my favorites - Matza Pizza. But not the take-a-slice-of-matza-and-slather-on-some-KforP-tomato-sauce-and-Mozzarella kind. I find this variety to be somewhat digusting.


To make this matza pizza, you'll need:
-around 12 sheets matza broken into pieces, or a big can or 2 of matza farfalle (the coarsest of the ground matzas)
-5 or 6 eggs
-tomato sauce ( please God not the prepackaged K for P stuff!!)
-vegetables
-cheese- preferably mozzarella, but during passover just use what you can get.
- olive oil
- salt and pepper

Take your ground matza and soak it it water for around 5 minutes. Beat the eggs in a separate bowl. Drain the matza, and add the eggs, along with a bit of salt and a dash of olive oil. Mix it all together; the matza should be completely covered in egg, but there should not be a lot of liquid pooling at the bottom of the bowl. Press the mixture into a greased baking sheet, pushing some up on the edges of the pan for a crust. Bake for 10 minutes at 400 degrees.


Now, you may be asking yourself "what should I use for sauce since the K for P ones are so gross?" The answer is make your own!! Another thing that I like about Passover is that we learn how many prepackaged food products, even the ones that we would never expect have some kind chametz in them. This gives us a great oppotunity to make them from scratch. Not only will they taste better than the K for P varieties, but they'll probably be better than the stuff you have the rest of the year. So take a minute to go to allrecipes.com or a similar site and find yourself a tomato sauce recipe. They can be really simple, and who knows, maybe you'll be converted to making fresh sauces during the rest of the year as well.

After the crust has baked for ten minutes, drizzle a little olive oil on the crust, and put on your toppings. ( I usually precook my vegetables for a bit, but its up to you) Place the pizza back in the oven, and bake for another 10 minutes or so, until the cheese has melted and has started to brown.



And the ever popular close up shot



We also made this exact replica of Machu Picchu out of matza pizza with leftover batter



Here are the people who ate it


Read the previous entry for a more scholarly discussion of Machu Picchu Matza Pizza


EDIT: So for lunch yesterday I cut into the Machu Picchu Matza Pizza


Which kind of reminded me of this


- A cross section of skin under a microscope