I wanted to let everyone know that the American Egg Board’s “Search for America’s Worst Cook” contest is launching its second year tomorrow! And it’s even bigger and better than last year’s contest.

If you are… kitchen-challenged… or know someone who is… enter the contest at www.AmericasWorstCook.com. There are also how-to videos, tips and recipes from yours truly on there.

And did I tell you that I am now a rapper? Crazy but true! I teamed up with YouTube “star” Remy to create this video about being the worst cook: http://youtube.com/watch?v=zvFR1cEl7mo

Even better, you can put yourself… or the worst cook you know… into a video with me and Remy! Just got to www.AmericasWorstCook.com and click on “Star In A Video.”
Do tell me how you like it all. And do enter yourself, or someone you know, in the contest! The winner will be featured in an American Egg Board ad and win a trip for two to New York City for a culinary makeover… and, if they’d like, dinner with me!

Click on the TV icon below to watch a short video where I show you a great short-cut for making poached eggs. Try it at home and let me know how it goes!

That’s what matzo brei is. As I mentioned in my last post, matzo is a thin crispy cracker-like sheet, about a 10-inch square, that is available in markets all year round, but especially during Passover. Matzo what the Jewish people ate when they hurried across the desert escaping from the Pharaoh in Egypt.

Matzo brei, my Jewish frittata, is essentially fried matzos. Here’s how you do it:

Matzo Brei – 2 servings

• 4 eggs
• ½ cup of water
• ¼-cup diced onions sautéed in butter*
• 4 sheets of matzo

Mix together the eggs, water and onions.

Run the sheets of matzo under running tap water so that they are moist but still firm and crumble them into the egg mixture. Stir it all together.

Heat a generous tablespoon of butter in a 10-inch frypan. Pour in the mixture. Then, like a frittata, let it set up, then stir it occasionally until it’s completely set.

That’s it! What could be easier?

*Make it even better: when you’re sautéing the diced onions, include sliced mushrooms and/or diced red and/or green bell peppers and/or diced salami and/or (gasp) diced bacon.  Yes, bacon.  I’m a reformed Jewish guy.

And just like other holidays that do or don’t have a religious spin, what’s cooking in the kitchen is usually something everyone will enjoy regardless of which way they pray. Passover is no exception.

I regard the Passover meal as kin to Thanksgiving dinner in that it’s a great big family affair. Friends, family and neighbors gather around the celebration meal table to eat far too much holiday food. At Thanksgiving we celebrate our freedom from King George. At Passover it’s also a celebration of freedom, from the oppression of the Pharaohs. Either way, we rejoice. And we eat, eat, eat.

At Passover, Jewish people eat foods they normally don’t eat any other time of year. One of those foods is matzos. Matzos are flat, thin cracker-like sheets. The matzo sheets measure about 10-inches square and are sold in boxes to keep the sheets from crumbling.

Matzo is actually unleavened bread harkening back to the time the Jews fled Egypt in a hurry. Such a hurry, in fact, that when they made bread as they hustled across the dessert, they didn’t have time to wait for the bread to rise so they baked it as-is. Even though matzo flies off of the grocery shelves at Passover time, it’s available the year ‘round making it possible to prepare my great-grandmother’s recipe for matzo kugel anytime.

And that’s what I do. “Kugel,” by the way, loosely translates to “pudding,” the custard-like medium the matzo bakes in.

This recipe for Great Grandma’s Matzo Kugel is at least four generations old. I hope that you’ll try it even though you might never have bought matzo before. It’s a Passover spin on familiar bread pudding but with more flavor and far, far more texture.

Great Grandma’s Matzo Kugel

• 6 eggs
• 6 tablespoons of “schmaltz” (rendered chicken fat that’s readily available frozen in most
• markets these days), or substitute softened butter
• 1 tablespoon of salt
• ½ teaspoon of pepper (white pepper if you’ve got it)
• ¾ cup of cold water
• 8 sheets of matzo
• 2 large onions, diced and sautéed in more schmaltz or butter

Preheat oven to 325F.

Crack the eggs into a large bowl and whisk in the schmaltz or butter until well combined with the eggs. Add the salt, pepper, cold water and onions and mix it all together.

Run the matzo sheets under running tap water until the surface is somewhat soggy but the sheets are still firm. Then crumble them into the egg mixture. Mix this all together, making sure there’s enough liquid for the matzo to absorb some more.

Spray an 8×8x2-inch baking dish with cooking spray. Pour the mixture into the dish and bake it for about 40 minutes. Let is stand 5 minutes before serving.

As my grandma would say, “enjoy it in good health.”

…was the easiest soufflé I ever made. This past Monday I was on Martha Stewart Living Radio with Betsy Karetnick talking about eggs for dinner and I brought up the subject of soufflés. I used to demonstrate soufflé making but got discouraged when I’d begin each program by asking to see the hands of those in my audience who made a soufflé that week. No one. That week? Nada. This life? Well, up went maybe 10 hands. People still have a fear of soufflés and no matter how easy I try to make it look.

But it’s easiest of all when all you do is talk it through. Separate eggs. Make a basic white sauce with butter, flour and milk. Flavor it (in this case, with spinach and cheddar cheese) and set it aside. Beat the egg whites until they cling to the sides of the mixing bowl.  Then stir the egg yolks into the sauce mixture, and fold the sauce and egg whites together.  Then, bake it. What’s so tough about that?

We did, though, give some helpful soufflé -making tips:

1. Separate the eggs cold from the fridge because they separate more easily.
2. But beat-up the whites when they’re at room temp because you’ll get more volume.
3. Butter and dust the soufflé dish so the soufflé mixture has some texture to grip onto as it rises up the side of the dish.
4. Test the beaten egg white volume by rocking the bowl they’re in. They grip the sides.
5. Don’t open the oven door to peek before the soufflé has been baking for at least 25 minutes. 

I referred listeners to the American Egg Board website for a specific basic soufflé recipe and urged them to give it a try. And since the subject of the radio program was eggs for dinner, we also discussed stratas – even how to make one in the microwave – and a recipe for eggs en croute for which a recipe also appears on IncredibleEgg.org. It’s far easier to make than it sounds