Renowned Los Angeles Jewish Home Launches Passover Recipe Contest

RESEDA, Calif., Feb. 25 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- The Los Angeles Jewish Home, a leading provider of quality senior care, is sponsoring its first annual contest to find the best recipe for matzah brei, a Passover staple made with broken pieces of matzah and scrambled eggs.  Yiddish for "fried matzah," matzah brei can be made sweet or savory, enhanced with any number of other ingredients, and is an appropriate addition to any meal, making it one of Jewish cuisine's most versatile dishes.  

The eight-day holiday of Passover commemorates the Israelites' freedom from slavery in Egypt.  During the holiday, matzah and matzah-based products, which are made without leavening agents, are substituted for bread and wheat products.  This dietary restriction symbolizes the hasty exodus that did not provide enough time for dough to rise before food had to be packed for the long journey.

Anyone with a favorite matzah brei recipe is invited to submit it on the Home's website now through Friday, March 12, 2010 at www.jha.org/myrecipe.  A panel of Jewish Home resident judges will select twelve finalists, whose recipes will be displayed online for the public to browse and vote for their favorite.  The judges will also select winners in three categories from the entire pool of entries: Best Sweet, Best Savory, and Most Creative.  Online voting will be open on the contest page between March 17 and March 25.  

On Monday, March 29, the winner of the online vote will be announced on the Jewish Home website.  The Grand Prize winner will receive dinner for two at Brent's Deli, named the "Number One Restaurant & Delicatessen" in LA 15 years in a row by Zagat Survey.  The top three overall online vote-getters and winners in each of the Best Sweet, Best Savory, and Most Creative recipes will receive a copy of Mama Cooks California Style, the Jewish Home's 276-page cookbook featuring new twists on Jewish classics.  Deadlines for submissions and voting along with the contest rules and entry form can be found at www.jha.org/myrecipe.

The matzah brei contest is the latest addition to the new recipe section on the Jewish Home's website, which features over 50 recipes, many of them passed down through generations.  "Food is an integral part of Jewish tradition," says Cindy Cordon, who manages dietary operations at the Home's Eisenberg Village campus.  "That's especially true for a holiday like Passover."

Founded in 1912, the world-renowned Los Angeles Jewish Home is one of the foremost continuing senior-living facilities in the United States and is the largest single-source provider of senior housing in Los Angeles. Each year, more than 1,700 senior women and men are supported through in-residence housing on two village campuses totaling 16 acres, which feature independent-living "Neighborhood Home" accommodations, residential care, skilled nursing care, rehabilitation care, and memory care, or through Skirball Hospice in the community.  Healthcare professionals from around the world consult with the Jewish Home in an effort to improve eldercare in their home countries. The Home is a nonprofit organization that relies solely upon donations from individuals, corporations and foundations to continue its remarkable work. Further information regarding the Home can be found online at www.jha.org or by calling 818-757-4407.

SOURCE Los Angeles Jewish Home