I was brought up Unitarian. When spring arrives, however, as it finally has now, I embrace a variety of religions in the kitchen.
I make something gloriously colorful for Holi, the Hindu festival in which people pelt each other with colored dye. I put together a little hummus to break fasting for Ramadan. Mostly, I return to my mother’s Christian roots and my father’s Jewish ones and cook for Easter and Passover.
The two holidays are related.
They both celebrate spring and rebirth. And the Easter story takes place during Passover; the Last Supper was a Seder.
A Passover Seder dinner is obviously not going to happen in my home this year, thanks to the pandemic. Nevertheless, I can and will honor my father’s family by stocking up on matzo.
As most readers probably know, this unleavened bread is the most prominent food on the Passover table. When the Jews were finally allowed to leave Egypt, according to the Exodus story, they were in such a hurry that their bread didn’t have time to rise. To remember this, their descendants eat no bread except matzo during the eight days of the holiday.
Matzo can be eaten in many forms and many ways. I have used these flat crackers as a base for pizza. (It wasn’t my finest culinary experiment, but it wasn’t awful.) I have crumbled them up into small pieces, known as farfel, to make stuffing for a chicken or turkey.
Mostly, I just nibble on matzo with a little butter or cream cheese. I also use matzo meal (ground matzo) to recreate my grandmother’s matzo-ball soup.
Matzo-ball soup is associated with nourishment, love and Jewish grandmothers the world over. Making it was one of my grandmother’s few culinary accomplishments. She was generally too busy running her community and her family to bother to cook much.
For Easter, I love to dye eggs. I can — and do — use them to make egg salad or deviled eggs. I also like to work with chocolate, since I grew up receiving chocolate-rich visits from the Easter bunny every year and have a fondness for this generous small mammal.
A few years back, I became determined to recreate the peanut-butter cups pioneered by H.B. Reese in the 1920s.
I don’t know what inspired Reese to invent these confections, but as far as I’m concerned, the pairing of peanut butter and chocolate is right up there with Greer Garson and Walter Pidgeon (if you haven’t seen any of their movies, go watch one right now), dogs and kids, and friends and cooking.
In other words, it’s one of life’s great joys.
I tried a variety of approaches, but my peanut butter always seemed to melt when I encased it in chocolate. Finally, a woman in my church choir explained how her daughter made the cups.
The trick, I learned, was to add more solid ingredients — including graham-cracker crumbs — to the peanut butter.
I tried this formula and it worked.
It makes lovely little rounds or (at this time of year) eggs. If you want to make a gluten-free treat, I suggest using finely ground nuts or peanuts instead of the graham-cracker crumbs.
Happy Passover! Happy Easter! Above all, happy spring!
Two eggs
2 tablespoons minced fresh parsley
2 tablespoons minced fresh dill a small amount of finely chopped onion (optional) 2 tablespoons soda water
2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
¾ teaspoon salt freshly ground pepper
½ cup matzo meal
6 cups chicken or vegetable stock
In a small bowl, beat the eggs. With a balloon whisk, whisk in the parsley, dill, onion (if using), soda water, oil, salt and pepper. Then stir in the matzo meal.
Cover the mixture and refrigerate it for at least an hour but not more than 6 hours. Oil your hands and shape the dough into small balls (about ½ inch across).
Pop the balls carefully into salted boiling water. Simmer the balls, covered, for 25 minutes over medium-low heat. Do not peek at the balls while they are cooking. Drain the matzo balls.
Bring the chicken stock to a boil, covered and place the balls in it. Simmer, covered, for at least 15 minutes. Serves four to six.
¾ cup peanut butter
⅓ cup graham cracker crumbs
½ cup confectioner’s sugar
¼ cup brown sugar
About 1 pound chocolate — milk, semi-sweet, white, or a combination (you may also swirl them together as shown in the photo)
In a bowl with an electric mixer combine the peanut butter, graham-cracker crumbs and sugars. Beat until well blended. Carefully shape this dough into 16 or so small egg-shaped pieces. (It may be a little sticky.)
Place the pieces in wax paper and freeze them for at least 1 hour but no more than 2.
When you are ready to complete the process, put the chocolate in a double boiler over hot water. Melt it, stirring frequently. Remove it from the heat.
Dip the eggs in the chocolate and place them on wax paper or a silicone mat to harden. This may take several hours. Be patient. Makes about 16 irresistible eggs.
Keep them from getting too warm, and try to eat them within 48 hours. My family has no trouble doing this.
Tinky Weisblat is the award-winning author of “The Pudding Hollow Cookbook,” “Pulling Taffy” and “Love, Laughter, and Rhubarb.” Visit her website, tinkycooks.com.