A belated Chag Sameach to my Jew Crew!
So a bit of a rundown for those of you who aren't familiar with the Jewish holiday of Passover. We celebrate Passover to commemorate the story of the Israelites (we weren't Jews at that point yet) being freed from slavery under the Egyptians over 3,000 years ago. G-d is supposed to have brought down 10 plagues on the Egyptians to help convince the Pharoah to let them go. The final plague was the killing of the first-born son; which the Israelites avoided by painting lamb's blood on the doorposts of their houses so G-d knew which houses to "pass over", hence the name. That was the final straw for Pharoah and he told us all to get the heck outta Dodge ASAP. In preparing food for the road, there was no time to let the bread rise, so in celebration of that Jews around the world who follow the tradition don't consume anything that rises during the 8 day festival. This includes bread, legumes, barley, even peanuts are off the table. Of course, this means that we're cooking at home all week and most alcohol is off the table.
Anyway, on to my day yesterday. You know when you're keeping Pesach (Passover), but sometimes a bit of chametz (non-Passover food) sneaks in there? Yeah, that was me yesterday. And by a bit, I mean a lot. And by chametz, I mean beer. The picture below is not from last night, but for the effect, you know.
I started out the day by going to the One of a Kind Show at the Direct Energy Centre with my parents. Oh boy, oh boy you guys, we had such an amazing time! We actually did it in two blocks. We arrived in the morning, went for some lunch at The Rhino (where they had Granville Island's excellent Lion's Winter Ale which I first tried while out at Canadian Music Week with some of my colleagues and was completely impressed), then came back to keep browsing.
Among my booty picked up at the show: The most beautiful tin of foie gras from Les Canardises, Henderson Farms' delicious fig-rhubarb marmalade, pistachio butter (like peanut butter, but with pistachios) from Hawberry Farms on Manitoulin Island, some amazing magnets (I have a thing for fridge magnets...), some awesome organic granola as well as this incredible salve that seems to cure all from Matter: Outdoors. Plus, my father bought me a fancy hat. The picture is a bit blurred, but voila!
After the show, I met up with my dear friend Reethi for a drink at Bar Volo. We ended up making some new friends, Isabelle and Hacene. We had a gay old time! In the end, the Gladstone's karaoke night sucked us in. Hacene had been talking about wanting to sing Maroon 5 for at least an hour before, and my musical selection today is a tibute to our new friends!
So, seeing as I completely broke my Passover dietary restrictions yesterday, I thought I would share the recipe that usually gets me through the 8 days. So here you have my reipe for Matzo Bagels, which is essentially the recipe from Second Helpings Please!, but with a few tweaks.
Matzo Bagels
1/2 cup oil (something neutral)
2 cups water
2 cups matzo meal
1/2 tsp salt
1 tbsp sugar
3 or 4 basil leaves, chopped fine (ish)
5 eggs
Preheat your oven to 400C. Boil the oil and water together, then add all the other ingredients except the eggs. I find this works better if I mix all the dry ingredients (and herbs) together before adding them to the liquid. Remove from the heat and allow to cool (covered) so the eggs don't scramble when you add them; about 15 - 20 minutes.
Add the eggs one at a time and stir them in so your mixture gets fluffier.
Put about a tablespoon or two of oil in a little bowl - which you will regularly us to grease your hands to avoid sticking while shaping the bagels - and start forming your dough into flattened circles and put on a greased/lined cookie sheet. I like to actually make them bagel-sized so I can have sandwiches during the week.
Then use a greased chopstick or greased back of a wooden spoon to make holes in your bagels. The holes allow your dough to cook evenly. My mother tried my recipe this year without the holes and found that her buns were overcooked on the outside, but still raw on the inside.
Bake them in your oven for 50 - 60 minutes until brown. I find I usually get about 6 matzo bagels when I make them the size I like.
I very carefully cut them open length-wise with a serated knife when I use them and then put all manner of things on them such as butter, cream cheese, tomatoes, leftover brisket, spinach etc. Also, you can change up the herbs as you like; I've also had great success with fresh chives chopped fine.
