Derived by way of a tray of lasagna from a Sephardic matzo-and-meat pie called mina, the name scacchi comes from the Italian for chess. I first heard of this many, many years ago when local restaurant chain Vinny T's advertised an Italian-style Passover seder for its Jewish customers, and spent a great many years being intrigued by the idea but never really getting a chance to make it. It wasn't until Joyce Goldstein published her excellent Cucina Ebraica (Chronicle Books, 1998, ISBN 0811819698 (hardcover)), a wonderful celebration of the Italian Jewish kitchen, that I had a recipe, but it still took a long time to get around to making it.
I made this with whole wheat matzo, but you can use regular matzo as well. I've tried to keep the recipe kosher despite my decidedly goyish kitchen.
1 batch Meat filling
1 batch Spinach and Mushroom filling
8 matzo
1 c/250mL chicken broth, heated
3-4 eggs, beaten, with some chicken broth added to thin it out
Preheat the oven to 350F and grease a standard 9x13 baking dish. Soak the matzo in the chicken broth until flexible, then put two in the bottom of the dish, overlapping them at the edges. Put the meat mixture on the bottom, then another layer of soaked matzo, then the vegetable mixture, then more matzo, then a mix of what's left of the meat and vegetable, then more matzo on the top. (If you have more matzo and a deeper pan, you can layer it as deep as you like.) Pour the egg mixture on top and then bake 30-40 minutes or until golden brown on top.
Meat filling
1 1/2 lbs/375g ground beef or lamb
1 medium onion, chopped
1/4 c fresh parsley, chopped
1 clove garlic
1 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp allspice
1/4 c raisins, soaked in hot water to cover
olive oil
Brown the meat with the onions and salt to taste in a bit of olive oil, then cook until the onions are translucent. Add parsley, raisins and seasonings and cook until the soaking liquid in the raisins is incorporated in the meat mixture, then set aside.
Spinach and Mushroom filling
1 1/2 lb/375g spinach, fresh or frozen
1/2 lb/125g mushrooms, sliced
1/4 c pine nuts
2 medium yellow onions, sliced
1/2 tsp nutmeg
olive oil
Cook the onions in olive oil over low heat until starting to brown, then add mushrooms and pine nuts and cook for a bit until mushrooms are partially cooked. Add spinach (along with a small amount of water if the spinach is not frozen) and nutmeg, then cook until spinach is done and set aside.
