by Amy Crocker
Gather ye pastries, breads, and crackers while ye may at sundown tonight those leavened treats become verboten for eight long days. Every spring, while our Christian cousins giddily look forward to Easter eggs and ham, we Jews silently dread the onslaught of flavorless matzo and gefilte fish. It’s Passover time again. Dayenu?
For a people usually intent on good food and plenty of it (just try refusing seconds at a Shabbat dinner), Passover is a bit of an anomaly on the Jewish calendar. The food, frankly, is terrible.* Some will say, "Oh but you’ve never tried my grandmother’s matzo brei!" To this we say, we're sure it’s fine with lots of jam, but French toast is better.
But, people gotta eat, even on Passover. And we’re here to help with three easy recipes for your seder. We won’t pretend these recipes are mouth-wateringly delicious; that they’ll make you wish it were Passover every week; or that with one bite your shiksa girlfriend will want to convert. But we do believe these recipes will make the holiday endurable. And as you take a bite, just remember: it could be worse. We could be slaves in Egypt.
*Matzo ball soup is, of course, exempted from the rule. Matzo ball soup resides with challah, pastrami on rye, the bagel, raisin kugel, and cheese blintzes in the Jewish Food Hall of Fame.
