Matzo-rella Balls: Passover Remix

With the Covid quarantine lasting well into April and still going strong, the spring holidays have gone practically unnoticed. St. Patrick’s Day was a bust, Easter cancelled, Cesar Chavez Day ignored. But even during these isolating times, we Jews excell at remembering all the other times we suffered, especially during Passover.

For those unfamiliar, Passover is all about remembering and recreating the story of the Jews’ exodus from Egypt led by Moses. The one with the incompetent Pharaoh, the burning bush, the “let my people go”, and the plagues. Traditionally Passover is celebrated with a ritual service and a ceremonial dinner meant to symbolise the struggle of the Israelites while under oppression. But because the Rona has synagogues locked up, and social distancing means no big family dinners, we have been delivered a most authentic Passover experience: literally scrounging leftovers in fear of going outside to avoid a deadly plague wreaking havoc on the community, only being made worse by arrogant leadership and public hysteria. Granted, we haven’t seen the rivers run red with blood, plague of frogs, mass livestock death...yet. But 2020 has seen swarms of locusts, heavy rains and a third thing that would make one think, “geeze, who did we piss off up there?”

Even by reform-Judaism standards, I’m bad at being Jewish. I know the main plot points for most of the stories, but I’ve never attended Hebrew school, nor been bar mitzvahed. The Yiddish I know is from watching Mel Brooks movies. As a half-jew raised particularly secular, I never had a strong connection to the faith or the traditions, but I always appreciated my heritage and made efforts to take remembrance into my own hands. Some argue that accommodation and evolution of tradition is a key part of being Jewish, and with that in mind I concocted my own non-traditional holiday rituals. Alongside ceremonially burning bush and binge drinking boxed wine, my Passover ritual now includes Matzo-rella balls: fresh ciliegine mozzarella breaded in crushed matzo with marinara dipping sauce. It might not be kosher, but it is God damn delicious.       

8oz Cup Ciliegine Mozzarella

1 box Matzo

1-2 Eggs

1 cup Flour 

Dash of Seasoning (onion powder, garlic powder, black pepper)

1 cup Fry oil (Canola, veg, corn)

Strain and dry off mozzarella in a paper towel.

Crush matzo in a ziplock bag until it’s crumbled. 

Add seasonings to the crushed matzo bag. Shake to incorporate.

Place flour in a small bowl, coat each mozzarella ball evenly in flour. 

Beat egg in a separate bowl. 

One ball at a time, after coating in flour, coat mozzarella in egg, then place in the matzo breading bag and gently shake to get even breading.

Place breaded mozzarella balls on a sheet tray and freeze. Freezing the balls before frying will help keep the structure while in the oil.

As breaded balls freeze, prep fry oil. Fill small pot ⅓ full with oil, heat to 350℉

Place balls in fry oil, give ample room so you can roll them around, get a thorough frying. Or submerge if you can without crushing the breading. 

Once balls turn a golden brown or cheese starts melting out the sides, use a slotted spoon or spider spatula to fish them out and place on a sheet tray to cool.

Plate with fresh basil and marinara sauce. Store-bought marinara is fine, but if you want to make it, see below for the recipe I used.         

Marinara Sauce:

8oz can San Marzano Peeled Tomato 

4 roasted, deseeded Red Pepper

Loose handful Herbs de Provence

8 cloves roasted Garlic

½ cup Olive Oil

1 Tbsp chopped Basil 

Dash Salt & Pepper to taste

Cut and deseed red peppers, lightly coat in olive oil and roast in oven at 400℉ for 10 mins, or until skin begins to char.

Meanwhile, peel and roast garlic cloves in olive oil in a large pot. Once they begin to brown, add tomatoes and reduce heat to simmer. 

Toss in the red pepper and rest of the sauce ingredients, simmer and stir for about half an hour so everything breaks down.

Once tomato and pepper chunks start breaking down, take the pot off heat, let the sauce cool for a hot second before blending in a food processor.

After blending, pour the sauce back into the pot and simmer to prefered consistency. 

Keep in mind the sauce will stiffen up once cooled, so if it seems too liquidy when simmering, rest assured. 

Let cool and boom, you got a homemade marinara.      

Garnish: 

Fresh Basil

Balsamic Vinegar