And here we are again! We are disappointed with the selection of foods at the one store that really carries Passover food - the kosher Ralph’s, as we call it. Much less selection than the kosher Jewel in Skokie! Or Hungarian Kosher.
So no Barton Almond Kisses, no Temptee Cream Cheese, no chocolate covered orange peel or cherries, no frozen blintzes, no Breakstone butter…Luckily we keep ingredient kosher rather than Rabbi-approved kosher, so it’s not hard to find acceptable regular brands these days. Easy to avoid corn syrup and gluten in products! And it’s just the two of us the first night (not sure if we’ll teleseder with DS, brother, and SIL) and the new synagogue community seder the second night. I thought maybe we would try inviting some new friends but (1) DH wasn’t really interested and (2) I’m fairly tied up with DS’s upcoming move to Seattle.
Since I couldn’t buy candy, guess I’ll have to bake! I bought a few chocolate bars and I’m thinking sponge cake, brownies, and a first time try for meringue cookies. Actually, they did have candy, but it all seemed to be either for children or to bring as a hostess gift to someone else’s seder.
Luckily I saved our lovely butcher-supplied shank bone in the freezer. Glad it’s symbolic since I’m not sure I’d eat year-old frozen roast meat. I will probably bring it out every year from now on!
We try to eat as “normal” as possible except on the Seder nights. Matzah isn’t great for anyone in my family’s digestive track so we limit that to the Seder too ( including yummy matzah toffee). The rest of the days we eat a lot of potatoes. Salmon and baked potato, roast chicken with sweet potato " fries", Steak fritte, turkey breast and roasted Brussels sprouts, lunch is stuff like chicken salad in a tomato, turkey roll ups ( lettuce and tomato inside) with potato chips, avocado tuna tartare.
Just a quick question and a bit off topic. I may be going to a community Seder while visiting friends. I will wear clothing that I wear to Church, but wondered if there was any particular color, etc. that I should avoid? I thought I would look up a different type of meal during Passover as some suggestions for you to consider: http://www.epicurious.com/holidays-events/south-of-the-border-seder-article
Last year I made matzah lasagna for the first time and was amazed at how much our family enjoyed it. Layers of matzah alternating with tomato sauce and a mix of shredded Italian cheese and ricotta and egg. Parmesan sprinkled on top and baked until done. I can’t be more specific because I made it up on the spot. I used bottled sauce (I was in a rush) but this year I will make sauce from scratch (although probably it’s not worth the effort). I will also try adding vegetables to a second lasagna this year for a big family gathering over the middle weekend.
Moroccan lamb and eggplant pie from the Epicurious website is outstanding. We’re not Jewish, but buy the matzoh just to make that dish, as well as matzoh crunch. Google both of those recipes!
1)Finely chop 3 cups of celery and 2 cups of onion ( or if you’re like me and lazy but lucky enough to live in a Jewish area where the salad bars sell it in troughs before the holiday, buy it pre chopped)
sautée in oil the onions til they are golden brown and the celery intl it’s gone from hard to soft to almost crispy.
put in fridge for at least 2 hours.
dump a 3/4 of a box of matzah into a very large mixing bowl.
Heat up soup from of those large boxes of chicken broth. Pour half over the matzah
when it’s cool enough not to burn you but still warm start mushing up the matzah. Add more matazh from the box and more soup until you’ve got it to the consistency of a thick hot breakfast cereal. It should not be runny.
mix in the onions and celery.
when mixture is cool, to the touch add 4 lightly beaten eggs.
add 1 tbsp salt and 1 tbsp pepper. Mix.
pour mix into a 9 x 13 Pyrex pan that been sprayed with Pam. Sprinkle paprika on top
bake at 375 for 45 min or until top is lightly browned.
I’m looking forward to trying that eggplant with free mozz and tomato recipe that keeps showing up in my facebook feed. And spiralized veggie mac and cheese. On the matzah front, for me, less is more.
DH and I just came in from a major non-perishable Passover shopping. As we live in an area that is predominantly Orthodox, the regular Passover offerings in the supermarket get less and less every year and favored brands drop off but there are a lot more new Isreali brands. Luckily on the dessert front there is a fancy drugstore here that brings in Bartons every year so I just got the seder mints and the choc covered mini-matzo, was undecided about Almond Kisses so I emailed my D’s if they want me to get.
We are at the moment either 15 or 16, including one 4 year old and one visiting student from France who has never been to a seder, one vegan, some vegetarians… so doing some menu planning now. Given that it is a Monday night, younger d has to work on Monday but can leave early, and she is taking off Tuesday. I am taking off Monday and Tuesday but younger d is my go-to baker but she may not get to do any of that so I have to drag out some recipes and make something. Older d and her boyfriend who is vegan usually either cook stuff when they get here or bring something that they’ve prepared… lots of logistics. Both are working on Monday but leaving work early.
We do not keep a kosher house normally and we basically just throw out opened boxes of cereal and crackers but we do observe Passover for the whole 8 days.
We have fairly slim pickings here too. We’re attending a seder and were asked to bring dessert. I do make a great flourless chocolate cake but brought that last year. Nothing wrong with bringing it again but i’ll watch here to see if another tempting dessert shows up.
How about a Pavlova? I checked, and it can be made with potato starch instead of corn starch.
Wonderful with a tart fruit curd as well as berries.
I used to make a flourless cake with potato starch and ground nuts that was delicious. I’m not Jewish, so we just had it on regular occasions: no compromise of texture and flavor involved.
I’ve been making a lot of Persian recipes lately (coming on 6 years with my Persian boyfriend so I figure it’s about time) and there’s a lot of fun desserts. An easy one is called tut. You mix almond flour, confectioner’s sugar, and rosewater into a thick marzipan-style paste. Roll into hazelnut-sized balls. Dip in regular sugar to coat it, and stick a pistachio inside. Gotta say, I’m looking forward to being able to use rice in the future!
Just a reminder that confectioner’s sugar contains cornstarch so if you are avoiding corn products during Passover, you can use superfine sugar instead.
