Grocery Shopping on Pesach

So for those of you who aren't familiar with the holiday, Pesach is the Hebrew word for Passover, a Jewish holiday that celebrates the liberation of the Israelites from slavery under the Egyptian Pharaoh. We celebrate this joyous occasion with the Seder, where we all sit around a plate with an egg , a bone, and a scoop of apple jam for about three and a half hours of slavery metaphors and four glasses of wine because really, who wants to do this sober? Then we eat stale crackers for a week and complain about how much we miss bread. If you are Jewish, and craving some Italian this Passover season, scroll to the bottom for my highly lauded Matzah-Lasagna recipe.

So it sounds like these are quite enough restrictions to pack into one holiday right? Well in Israel, a land filled the secular and ruled by the religious; here we need to take everything the extra mile (or kilometer, as it were). Don't want to celebrate Pesach? Too bad! 

During Pesach, grocery stores in Israel cover all of the naughty bread and wheat products or "chametz" with big white sheets so that we heathens can only buy that wholesome kosher stuff.

If a whole aisle has been relegated to the naughty list then it is barricaded by cardboard stands of cheerfully packaged but inevitably mealy Passover snacks. Mostly your options consist of fruit, vegetables, dairy, meat and wine. Alternatively, if you're brave, you can try one of the many passover substitute foods and be disappointed, probably while slightly constipated. 

Also if need to brush your teeth or feed your baby, you're out of luck because those aisles aren't kosher either!

Moral of the story: If you aren't keeping kosher during the holiday, stock your freezer with bread, rolls and Ben & Jerry's at least a week beforehand.

For those keeping kosher, here's a recipe that will hopefully help make your week a little easier: 

Matzah Lasagna

1 tablespoon minced garlic

1 cans (28 ounces/800g) crushed tomatoes

2 jars (12 ounces/400g) tomato sauce

2 teaspoons dried basil

1 teaspoon garlic salt

1/2 teaspoon ground pepper

1 carton (15 ounces/450g) ricotta cheese

4 cups shredded part-skim mozzarella cheese

1 1/2 and 1/2 cups grated Parmesan cheese, divided

1 tablespoon olive (or other) oil

12 Matzah squares

Diced vegetables of your choice (I used carrots, zucchini, red onions and spinach)

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350°F/190°C
2. Mix together crushed tomatoes, garlic, basil, and both jars of tomato sauce - remove one cup and set aside
3. In a separate bowl mix ricotta, mozzarella, 1 1/2c parmesan, salt and pepper.
4. Oil a 12x14in (30x36cm) baking pan and lay 3 matzah squares across the bottom (one will need to be broken in half)
5. Spread 1/4 remaining tomato sauce mixture, and 1/4 cheese mixture across the matzah
6. Continue layering until you have 4 matzah layers 
7. Cover top layer of matzah with the separated cup of tomato sauce and the final 1/2 c parmesan 
8. Bake, covered, approximately 25 minutes. Bake, uncovered, 25 minutes longer or until bubbly. Let stand 15 minutes before serving.