The Wonders of Cheese Toast

After reading Alex Witchel’s “ode to wonderbread” called “A Soft Spot for the Anti-Artisanal” in this morning’s New York Times, I got to thinking about my own love affair with the soft, white, all-pupose sandwich bread which I have long abandoned. 

Growing up in my house, the perfect snack was something my mother creatively named,  Cheese Toast.  This delicacy was a slice of white Wonder-like sandwich bread, (although I think my mom bought Stroehman’s more often) topped with a single slice of munster cheese, with it’s distinctive orange edges.  The cheese topped bread is melted in the broiler or toaster oven until the cheese bubbled all over and the bread was slightly toasted around the edges.  Cheese Toast was the perfect quick, simple, inexpensive, tasty breakfast, lunch or even late night snack.

We sometimes jazzed it up topping the cheese with a slice of tomato or grilled bologna and even used different kinds of cheese, although Munster does the best bubbling.  The one cheese that really does not work is processed American.  Upon melting, the cheese never really bubbles and develops a scary film that sticks to the roof of your mouth. 

I have continued to make Cheese Toast throughout my adult life having graduated to using fresh baked sourdough, rye and whole grain breads.  Bagels work too, although you have to orchestrate the cheese into a perfect circle on top of the bagel half so the melted cheese does not run down the sides into the pit of the toaster oven and start a fire - a warning my mother constantly gave.

Over breakfast with my eldest brother last week, we talked about our memories of Cheese Toast and how we have both continued the family tradition.   Who knows why but even today when we visit my mother, she still bellows up the stairs, Does anyone want a Cheese Toast for breakfast?”  The answer is always yes. 

Recipe for Cheese Toast

Ingredients:

Slice of white, jewish rye, sourdough or whole wheat bread

Thinly sliced cheese – munster, provolone, mozzarella or cheddar

Directions:

Top bread slice with cheese.  Make sure the entire slice is covered.

Broiler or toast until cheese bubbles for 5-10 seconds.

Remove carefully.

Enjoy!!!

Fresh, Hot Matzo Year Round

Yes, Passover is over but wouldn’t it be nice to have hot, fresh baked Matzo anytime you want it?  Well, that is definitely possible thanks to the Streit’s Matzo Factory, which I recently discovered is still baking ”sheet-loads” of Matzo at their Lower East Side factory on Rivington Street.

148-154 Rivington Street
New York, NY 10002
Phone: 212-475-7000

The other day, after a delicious lunch at The Clinton Street Baking Company (try the fried green tomatoes – yum-yum), I headed up Rivington Street and came upon a simple, sparse looking storefront on the street level of what I thought was the abandoned Streit’s factory.  I had seen the billboard on the side of the closed building many times before. 

But on this day I was lucky and in for a surprise as the store was opened for business.  I entered the store and was greeted by a jovial Orthodox fellow named Adam.  The shelves were stocked with Matzo, left over passover products and some other kosher items like egg noodles, soup, pickles and cake mixes.  Adam explained that the store was only open now Monday through Thursday, closed on Fridays and Saturdays due to the Jewish sabbath and now closed Sundays too, since Ratners and the rest of the kosher restaurants in the area had closed and the foot traffic for them had dwindled.

While the store was nostalgic for me, what was most exciting was that tucked away through an open door were some men wearing gloves catching hot baked Matzo as it rolled off the conveyor belt from a gigantic oven.  I was amazed to see the huge sheets of Matzo which were being separated at perforated lines into the smaller sheets we are used to eating. 

One of the men offered me a piece to taste fresh out of the oven.  Now, I have eaten my share of Matzo but this was delicious.  Not only was it hot and crunchy but it was sprinkled with salt and was much more tasty than the regular Passover Matzo.  Adam explained that this was their new multi-grain Matzo which was made with a hint of oil and apple juice.  I thought if Matzo tasted this good, I could eat it all year round so I bought a pound.  With paper bag in hand, I headed to the production line as one of the men placed a stack of the steaming squares into my sack. 

So, you don’t have to wait until next Passover to partake of this unleavened bread.  Just head on down to the LES and make a visit to Streit’s.  Tell Adam I sent you and maybe you will be as lucky as I was to catch them baking while you are there so you too can have fresh hot Matzo year round.

Jews who celebrate Passover are limited with what they can spread on Matzo during Passover.  So, during the rest of the year when you can eat anything, try “shmearing” a little cream cheese, butter, hummus or peanut butter on Matzo for a tasty snack.  You can even make Matzo pizza in a toaster over or microwave.

   

Passover Trail Mix

In my quest this week to find tasty snacks that are “kosher” for Passover, I uncovered this fabulous recipe for Passover Trail Mix that actually tastes like something you could eat year round.

Can you believe this delicious looking crunchy, nutty and chewy trail mix is made with Matzoh?  What a treat!  My friend Dana from West Hartford, CT shared this recipe with me this weekend and I could not wait to rush home and try it. 

It was incredibly easy to make and took very little prep or baking time.    

Make sure you have a secure place to hide it from the family or it will be gone before you know it. 

Passover Trail Mix

1/2 box Matzoh Farfel (3 1/2 cups)

1 stick of butter or Passover margerine

1/2 cup brown sugar

1/2 cup water

1 teaspoon cinnamon

1/2 cup nuts

1/2 cup raisins

3/4 cup chocolate chips

Preheat over to 350 degrees.  Line cookie sheet with tin foil.  Mix farfel, cinnamon and nuts.  Melt butter, add brown sugar and water.  Stir and cook for 2-3 minutes.  Pour butter mixture over dry ingredients and mix well. 

Spread  mixture onto foil-lined cookie sheet.  Bake at 350 degrees for 25 minutes.  Add raisins for last 10 minutes.  Toss at least once or twice while baking. 

Cool thoroughly.  Add chocolate chips, mix well and enjoy. 

Note:  I used a mixture of walnuts, almonds and cashews.  Any nuts will do. 

I also used dried cranberries and golden raisins which added nice color to the mix.  Any dried fruit would be a nice and tasty addtition.

Tasty Passover Snacks

While there are many delicious foods to eat during Passover, one thing missing is a selection of good tasty snacks.  There are numerous recipes for cookies and cakes made with special matzo cake meal, or sponge cakes made with an obscene amount of eggs and sugar however, most of these treats taste bizarrely similar.   

One of my favorite snacks involves a simple piece of matzah, doctored up with Chocolate, nuts and a toffee crunch.  How can you go wrong with that?  It’s simple to make, stores well, and tastes yummy. 

This seasonal snack goes under many names, but I think Matzo Crunch is the most appropriate.  Here is the recipe:

 Toffee Chocolate Matzo Crunchmatzo
2 sticks butter 
1 cup brown sugar
1 bag chocolate chips 
1/2 cup chopped nuts (walnuts, almonds or pecans generally)Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.   Use cookie sheet with sides.  Line pan with aluminum foil or parchment.  If using foil, grease sheet.  Cover pan with sheets of matzo.  Break matzo into smaller pieces to fit if necessary.   Melt butter, add brown sugar, stir frequently and cook 2-3 minutes till bubbly.  Pour mixture over matzo and bake it until bubbly and slightly toasty looking.  (note: I have read recipes saying anywhere from 7 -15 minutes).  Make sure to watch closely so the matzo does not burn. Remove from oven and sprinkle chocolate chips over the matzo.  Let stand a few minutes to let chocolate melt.  Spread evenly over matzo.  Sprinkle with chopped nuts.  Refrigerate or freeze till chocolate and toffee hardens.  Break into pieces.  Serve and enjoy!
 

Fresh Philly Soft Pretzels coming to your home town?

 In preparation for my Passover Seder tonight, I have had to eat every last pretzel in my house before the week of “unleavened bread” is upon us.  Just as I finished the last crumb and mentally prepared that I would not have any more for 7 days, my friend forwards me a link The Pretzel Boys website. 

Interesting concept……Two “boys” who live outside of Philadelphia, want to make the world a better place, have opened Pretzel bakery retail stores in the western suburbs of Philadelphia, so that pretzel lovers like myself can get a hot, steaming, salty soft pretzel without having to rely on driving past a man at an intersection selling the delicious Philly treats out of a shopping cart, (the usual way of finding them).

Kudos to Tim Dever and Mark Gosik for bringing more Philly soft pretzels into the world.  They offer franchise opportunities so that Philadelphia soft pretzels could be available say in Cleveland or Manhattan, Kansas.  Wouldn’t that be amazing? 

Living in NYC, I still contend that Philly soft pretzels are the best in the world and the NY ones can’t hold a candle to my hometown favorites. 

Good luck guys and maybe I’ll just open up a franchise in NYC so that people here can have a taste of the real thing.