Matzah Pizza

Hannah Weinstein

No one in my mom's side of the family is particularly well known as being a great chef. In fact, we have mastered the art of take-out since my brother and I have gotten to be older. However, on my dad's side of the family, cooking is a big tradition, with many festive Jewish recipes that have been passed down from generation to generation, from both my Nana's Russian side and my Papa's Czech side.

Cooking is extremely important to the Jewish religion, and is something to be shared with the family, not just a ho-hum task you are programmed to complete every night at 6 p.m. Especially around the Jewish holidays, food holds very important roles in the celebrations.

Matzah is a very important element in the cuisine, especially during the Passover sedar. There are many different ways to eat and prepare matzah, such as matzah with cream cheese and jelly, matzah brie, matzah ball soup, but none are as special to me as the matzah pizza.

This is a recipe that my mother taught me and my brother, in her special attempt to include us in the Jewish holidays we so rarely practiced. It was Passover when I was about eight, and my brother was about six. We were watching TV in the kitchen, and she called us over and asked us if we wanted to help her make us some snacks for the mini sedar we were about to hold at our house. We were delighted at this, because Passover foods were some of our favorite foods, and we wanted to impress our Nana and Papa with our dishes when they came over later.

It was a special year, and even though we hadn't celebrated since my parents divorced, they were coming for a holiday visit. My mother had laid out 2 greased pans, all of the cheeses and sauce, and there was a box of Matzah. She then explained we were making Matzah pizza, and we were even more excited, because who doesn't like pizza?

She then laid out a piece of matzah on the pan, and had my brother spread the sauce over the rectangle. Once he was done, she instructed me to sprinkle the cheese over the sauce. After my brother and I made sure the matzah was properly sauced and cheesed, my mother sprinkled some oregano over the top, and we continued in this pattern until the entire box of Matzah was gone.

About 10 minutes after we placed the Matzah in the oven, our Nana and Papa arrived, and we were elated to show them what we had made. We could barely wait for the pizzas to cool until they had a bite, and when they finally did, my brother and I will never forget the proud looks on their faces, or the simple deliciousness of that recipe. Even as we slowed down on celebrating many of the Jewish holidays, we would still make Matzah pizzas as a tradition of that time of the year.