Matzo Brei Berry Stacks

SWEET MATZO BREI WITH MIXED BERRY COMPOTE SAUCE AND HONEY DRIZZLE

Since living in Cleveland, I’ve noticed the melting pot of religions and cultures around us. One of the largest is our local Jewish community.

I was asked to create a breakfast meal using matzo bread by Heinens. To be honest, I didn’t know what matzo brei was, but I did know the unleavened bread. I have never used it for cooking, so this was truly an enlightening experience. I did the research to figure out what best ways to approach this recipe while still doing it justice and not “making it my own.”

I gathered steps from several ways of making matzo brei, and just cut it in triangles for styling purposes. However, it is traditionally eaten broken up into pieces.

From what I gathered, there are many variations of fruit compote with brei, and syrup. I also have seen several with almonds or mixed nuts. I wanted to do a mixed berry compote but to blend it for a thick sauce with honey drizzle as well. And let me tell you, this was absolutely delicious. We could not stop eating it.

I toss in some lemon zest and juice, vanilla extract and sugar. After it’s baked, I add in corn starch to thicken.

Make sure you have a plate big enough to slide over the pan so you can flip it without it spilling out!

Once you’ve flipped it and transferred back to skillet, push it down a bit from the trapped air forming.

That texture. Oh my.

Ingredients & Instructions

Berry Compote Ingredients

• 3/4 cup strawberries, chopped

• 3/4 cup blueberries

• 1/4 cup granulated sugar

• 1/2 teaspoon grated lemon zest

• 2 tablespoons lemon juice

• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract

• (post baking) 3 tablespoons corn starch mixed in 1/4 cup cold water)

Matzo Brei Ingredients

• 5-6 sheets of ***UNSALTED*** matzo, broken into 2” pieces

• 1 1/4 cup hot water

• 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt

• 3 large eggs, beaten

• 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon for eggs

• 5 tablespoons unsalted butter

Instructions

Preheat oven to 425°F. Set rack to middle position.

In a baking tray, mix all berry compote sauce ingredients except for corn starch mixture. Bake for 20 minutes.

While that’s baking, put salt and cinnamon in the beaten eggs in a bowl.

In a 13” by 9” tray, layer the matzo pieces evenly out. Should form 3 layers. It MUST BE unsalted matzo. If you go with something like whole wheat, it will not absorb the water and egg mixture properly. And leave a soupy mess in the tray.

Pour the hot water in a zig zag fashion and let it sit to soften, about 2 minutes.

Add in the egg mixture to matzo, and stir with a fork until eggs fully incorporated. Don’t worry about the layers getting messed up, they will be scooped into the skillet anyway.

In a large skillet, melt the butter.

Begin scooping the matzo egg mixture into the skillet, and press down with a spatula each time until you form the entire disc to flatten fully.

Cook for 5-7 minutes.

Make sure you have a plate larger than the skillet, so that you won’t spill any of the cooked mixture.

Place the plate on the skillet and quickly flip.

Slide the flipped matzo disc back on to the skillet and cook for 5-7 more minutes.

Slide the fully cooked disc onto a cutting board where you can cut it up how you choose. I chose wedges.

By this time the berries should have been out of the oven if not about to be taken out.

When ready, remove from oven and place in blender or use a hand blender. Add in the corn starch mixture to thicken.

You can now pour the berry sauce over the brei, and add honey or a syrup, and I used walnuts.