Easter / Passover season has drawn to a close yet again. No more melting Peeps in the microwave for another year. Sad, right? But we can still ooh and ahh at all of our creativity putting it all together! As we said, the judges aren’t going to do any judging this time around. Rather, we wanted to enjoy the holidays with you all. So let’s get started! Continue reading
In honor of Easter and Passover, we decided to do mix things up a bit and instead doing a traditional contest, we thought we’d try showcasing some of the creativity you put into your holiday tables. Both holidays are steeped in such tradition and food is such a large part of them. Continue reading
One week from today, my home will be filling up with the smells of Seder dinner. Chicken soup will be simmering on the stove. Brisket will be roasting in the oven. The food processor will be chopping up apples and walnuts. My husband will be snacking on macaroons.
What is a Seder Dinner?
The Seder dinner is a tradition for the first night, or for some people the first two nights, of Passover. Seder, which is a Hebrew word meaning order, is an evening of rituals, such as eating matzo and bitter herbs, drinking four cups of wine (many of us have adapted that ritual to four sips), telling the story of Exodus and eating the Seder meal.
During the Seder, and the following eight days of Passover, we remember the Exodus when our ancestors escaped from being slaves in Egypt. We eat matzo and refrain from eating other grains because our ancestors did not have time to let their bread rise. We eat bitter herbs to remember the bitterness in their lives. We eat charoset to remember the mortar they used to build the pyramids.
What Is Not Eaten?
I could write an entire post on what is or is not kosher for Passover. This is the quick overview.
The foods that can not be eaten on Passover are called chametz: wheat, spelt, oats, barley, and rye. Many Jewish people of European descent, including me, also do not eat kitniyot: corn, rice, legumes and some seeds. The reason? The quick answer is we deny ourselves foods our ancestors were not able to eat during the Exodus and the only food containing grain we eat is matzo. Matzo is unleavened bread, almost like a large cracker, made from only flour and water and baked for less than 18 minutes. Matzo can be ground into matzo meal to be used in many recipes during Passover. A fine matzo meal is similar to a course flour, while a course matzo meal is similar to bread crumbs. There are a few reasons many of us refrain from eating kitniyot, but it is basically to prevent accidentally eating chametz.
Many Jewish people who do not keep regularly keep kosher follow the general rules of Kashrut, dietary law, during Passover. That means we do not eat pork or other meat from animals with cloven hooves that chew their cud. We do not mix meat and dairy. We only eat seafood that has fins and scales, which means we do not eat shellfish. This website has a good overview.
Some Traditional Recipes
I am sharing with you a few of my favorite traditional Passover recipes. I’ll be making these and many other foods for my Seder dinner. Please share your own favorites in the comments. Maybe you can help me decide what side dish is missing from my menu.
My Mom’s Chicken Soup
Whether you are making this soup for Passover or just everyday enjoyment, the recipe depends on using kosher chickens. Kosher chickens are soaked and salted before packaging and that makes a significant difference in the taste.
Makes 12 cups of soup
Clean chicken thoroughly. Cut away excess fat and discard. Pour boiling water over chickens prior to putting in pot. Put chickens in a large stock pot and pour water up to about ¼ of an inch over the chickens. Bring to a boil and skim off fat and scum during the first 10 minutes of boiling. Lower heat to allow stock to simmer. After one hour, remove about half the chicken. (This chicken will make great chicken salad, the chicken that cooks the whole time will have lost most its flavor.) Add carrots, white turnip and parsnip. Bring back to boil, lower heat and simmer for 10 minutes before adding celery, onion and leeks. Bring to a boil once again, lower heat and simmer for another 10 minutes before adding parsley and dill. Bring to a boil for a final time and simmer for 30 minutes.
Strain the soup before serving so you have a clear broth. I strain it from the ladle as I pour each bowl. In my family, we serve the soup with one large matzo ball and a piece of carrot. Some people like to shred some of the chicken and add it to the soup. As a child, it was a treat to get the neck or the gizzards.
For the matzo balls, my mother always told me there is no better recipe than the recipe on the side of the box of Manischewitz matzo meal. We are a family that believes matzo balls should float, not sink.
Charoset
Adapted from The Complete Passover Cookbook, Frances R. AvRutick
Put all ingredients in a food processor and pulse until very finely chopped. Ideally, the charoset should resemble a chunky mortar, as it should remind us of the mortars used to build the Egyptian pyramids. Some people prefer a chunkier charoset.
Charoset is my favorite Passover food. Every Passover, I wonder why I don’t make charoset throughout the year. It is simple and delicious. But I know that, in my heart, I want to keep charoset special so I only allow myself the cinnamon apple goodness during the eight days of Passover.
Coconut Macaroons
This recipe is adapted from Alton Brown’s Toasty Coconut Macaroons.
Bring eggs to room temperature. Whip eggs, a pinch of salt and vanilla until they stiffen. Add sugar in three parts and continue to whip until very stiff. Fold in the coconut, being very careful not to over mix. You want to keep the mixture as light and fluffy as possible.
Line two cookie sheets with parchment paper. Drop batter onto paper using a teaspoon. Bake at 350 degrees for about 20 minutes, checking periodically to makes sure they do not burn. You want a nice golden color on the top, but the cookie won’t be too firm.
In a double broiler, or a metal bowl over a pot of about 2 inches slightly bowling water, melt the chocolate chips with the shortening. Dip the cookies in the chocolate so the chocolate covers about half the cookie and let dry on parchment paper.
(Special thanks to DahlELama for making sure this Reform Penguin didn’t make any mistakes)
What is a shiksa, a goy, a lapsed Catholic doing writing one of the Crasstalk Passover recipes? Well, because it’s a chance to delve into history that’s not my own, and possibly become a better friend – by making asparagus and leek soup with a horseradish gremolata.
My best friend in high school, (oh, so many years ago), is Jewish. And she left our hometown in Vermont after marrying a nice Jewish boy who was going to be attending medical school in Alabama.
But before she left, she asked me to hold the huppah at her wedding. For those of you who aren’t already familiar with the huppah, picture a wedding tent with – as you might expect – four poles. Now picture a tent whose four poles aren’t pushed into the ground, but instead held up by loved ones of a bride and groom. My friend “Dana’s” future husband’s brothers held up three of the poles and I, who in 1992 was a whopping 125 pounds soaking wet, was holding up the fourth. The tent was over 50-feet long and so incredibly heavy that by the time “Dana” started down the aisle, my elbows had buckled. By the time she made it to her fiance, my arms were shaking uncontrollably, and men in the first row were mouthing the question, “Do you need help?” I shook my head, “No.” Because I could not physically unclench my fingers.
They were paralyzed, as if I’d been playing that children’s game in which you curl your fingers into someone else’s fingers and pull back hard for a few seconds and, (voila!), you have paralyzed fingers. I thought of that game the entire time my best friend was getting married. It distracted me from crying, though.
“Dana” left for Alabama the next week, and she has been down there for nearly 20 years. Since then, she has become incredibly involved in an Alabama synagogue, and that has brought out a new and much more religiously devout woman, a woman I am still getting to know.
So, when the idea of this post came up, I was thrilled. I love any chance to work with food. But, then it dawned on me that I know nothing about a traditional Passover meal, other than “no leavened bread.” And to write this article I had to do a lot of research, and put some thought into the meaning of the food that means so much to so many people. Now, at least I know that forbidden leavened products are called chametz.
I chose this recipe specifically for its spring ingredients (hello asparagus!) and for the fact that the maror, (a group of bitter herbs that symbolize the bitterness of slavery under the Pharohs), would marry perfectly with the asparagus. Instead of using the traditional freshly grated horseradish I used homemade prepared horseradish. (This is made by my grandmother, who makes it once a year in a dedicated blender. She doesn’t do this to make sure that the horseradish is kosher – she does it because the horseradish is so pungent that it can’t be washed away.) In a nod to the fact that many people who celebrate Passover have special dishes that they serve it from – dishes that have never had contact with chametz – I used a pretty soup bowl that my mother gave me. I’m not a hundred percent sure that it has never come into contact with chametz, but I’m 99% sure; She’s not a big fan of crackers or bread with soup.
And just putting this meal together has helped me feel a little bit closer to my friend in Alabama, who I’ve only seen a handful of times over the last two decades.
At any rate, posting a recipe for Passover is more useful to “Dana” than the time I helped her get married.
Asparagus and Leek Soup With a Horseradish Gremolata
Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
Gremolata
Trim asparagus by bending the stalk until it breaks naturally. Place asparagus on a sheet pan with 2 tablespoons of olive oil and salt and pepper. Roast the asparagus for 10 minutes, or until it has browned slightly. (You don’t want to overcook the asparagus, you just want it soft with color.) While the asparagus is cooking, wash the leeks thoroughly, slice them, and saute them in olive oil in a soup pot. Once they have wilted, add the white wine and cook until they are very soft. Chop the cooked asparagus in half and add to the soup pot. Add the chicken broth. Blend the vegetables and broth until smooth. Either do this in batches in a blender or use an emulsifier. Then heat the soup, ladle into bowls and add the horseradish, lemon zest, scallion, and parsley.
The soup is simple to make, and it’s very thin – nearly a consomme. But, it’s incredibly delicious, and the gremolata adds a layer of flavor that makes this little soup big and bold. This isn’t meant to be the centerpiece of a Passover meal, but it would make a lovely springlike and kosher beginning to a heavier dinner.
(Special thanks to DahlELama for her help.)
