<p>Hubby and I had a wonderful Seder with a very good friend. Usually we have a much larger group and that's fun too, but this was so peaceful.</p>
<p>Two fun seders here...only 6 the first night and 11 the 2nd night, mostly kids college-age friends who knew the same tunes as we did. Great singing!</p>
<p>And no accidents--no sliced thumbs or burnt anything. And plenty of leftover meat to eat the rest of the week...yay!</p>
<p>Friends brought homemade gefilte fish, which as mentioned by an earlier poster, is far superior to the jarred stuff. And matzo baklava! I have to get the recipe...I know there's honey, nuts, and matzo.</p>
<p>Here's my family's recipe for HOT horseradish but be sure to taste and adapt to your taste:
1 beet -- boil in pot till somewhat soft and cut into pieces
1 large horseradish root -- I peel it with peeler and then cut (or hack?)
it into small-ish pieces
Put cut up beet and pieces horseradish into food processor with steel
blade. Add a little bit apple cider vinegar. Process. Add more
vinegar if you need more liquid. Process till mixed and at consistency
you prefer.<br>
Place in glass jar with air tight lid -- horseradish will weaken over time
and if exposed to air.</p>
<p>I used to make my family's 40+ years recipe of gefilte fish -- with the shortcuts -- but my kitchen smelled like gefilte fish for days. I found a great recipe on Epicurious.com:</a> Recipes, Menus, Cooking Articles & Food Guides for Ellen Goodman's Salmon/Halibut Fish Terrine
(made in a Bundt pan so it looks great); recipe is from Alaska, land of the Frozen Chosen. It's $$$ to make -- you need to start off with double the amt of fish (with skin, etc) to get the required amt of filets. Yummy.</p>
<p>For horseradish, we just cut slices off a root. Pretty hardcore, I know. :)</p>
<p>Well, I am in serious recovery from Passover Seder cooking for ~40 people over the course of 2 nights. I am trying to stay awake until my normal bedtime tonight! For Seder #1, Brisket and Baked Apricot-Ginger chicken, with sides of Savory Mushroom with Thyme and Olive Oil, Zucchini Casserole w/dill, sweet carrot kugel and potato croquettes. For Seder #2, Tagine of Chicken with Prunes & Almonds, Potato, Carrot & Zucchini Kugel, Roasted Vegetables with Garlic/Tarragon Butter, Viennese Chocolate Torte and Turn-of the Century Danish Apple Macaroon. We keep strictly kosher for Passover, so no matter what the recipe is titled, it's all pareve. I have a bunch of kosher cookbooks, some devoted strictly to Passover, I scour epicurious.com for new passover recipes, etc. I had to drive DS#1 to the airport at 6:20 this morning so that he could return to grad school (I was so happy he decided to come home for the Seders!) and I woke my younger ones at 9 and made matzo brei for them for breakfast. However, going forward there are going to be a lot of leftovers served for the next few days until I get my second wind! Hope you all had great Seders with lots of singing!</p>
<p>Anybody searching high and low for Tam Tams? Here's why: <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2008/03/28/nyregion/28cracker.html?emc=eta1%5B/url%5D">http://www.nytimes.com/2008/03/28/nyregion/28cracker.html?emc=eta1</a></p>
<p>Fortunately, I had a bunch of them left over from last year!!!</p>
<p>I didn't find any Tam Tams either...we just put out regular matzah with the chopped liver and gefelte fish.</p>
<p>Our Seder for 30 went very well last night. Beyond the starters mentioned above, we made our special charoset, vegetarian matzah ball soup, turkey, meatballs, Persian celery stew, rice, sweet rice w/carrots, raisins, pistachios, & apricots (Persians eat rice on Passover), green beans w/peppers, sweet potato souffle' and a peach salad. For dessert we made chocolate covered strawberries and marshmellows...friends brought even more goodies. </p>
<p>I'm still full, but contemplating what to make when all the leftovers run out in a few days...how about a good recipe for passover noodles? I bought some, but they never taste very good when I've made them.</p>
<p>I sent my son a cookie care package last Monday. He finally got it today and decided not to open it yet because he's trying to do the unleavened thing for the full time period. This suggests to me that Grinnell may have a larger Jewish population than I was aware of for him to even be thinking of this. Or maybe it's just who his friends are. He tried this once at home and caved within hours when his quiz bowl coach brought in Krispy Kremes!</p>
<p>Found these on the web after a gluten free friend of mine suggested them. Have used them for enchiladas and my D is rolling them up with jam. She also used them to make quesadillas! My friend uses them to make manicotti. We ran out already. D is at the store buying waxed paper so I can make more.</p>
<p>Passover Crepes (pareve)
4 tablespoons potato starch
1 cup cold water
4 eggs
1 teaspoon oil
pinch of salt
oil for cooking</p>
<p>Combine potato starch and water in a mixing bowl. Stir to blend. Add eggs, oil, and salt and beat until well blended. Batter should be the consistency of buttermilk. If necessary, add more water to achieve good consistency.</p>
<p>Heat a large skillet or griddle over medium heat. When hot, add a little oil to skillet and spread to coat pan. Stir batter and ladle 2 tablespoons on hot skillet. Immediately tip pan to spread batter to make a thin pancake that is about 6 inches in diameter.
Cook until top is no longer wet and shiny and bottom is lightly browned. Flip crepe and cook for about 1 minute until barely brown. Remove from pan and cool on a clean flour sack towel. Stir batter and repeat process until all batter is used.
Use immediately, or place a sheet of waxed paper between each crepe to prevent sticking. Makes 12-15 crepes.</p>
<p>We are having serious tam tam withdrawal at our house. In addition to the tam tam shortage, Columbus, Ohio is just short on Pesadik food this year. It is truly depressing. I was in Krogers yesterday and they already had put everything on sale. Today there is NOTHING left.</p>
<p>Guess we will eat pesach crepes until we run out of potato starch. :)</p>
<p>I made an emergency delivery of matzo to a neighbor yesterday. The stores were all out. I wonder if they think Passover is over after the first night and sell it all off.</p>
<p>I agree bethie! They start clearing the shelves two days into the holiday. Unless, of course, you have access (with a 30 minute drive) to a totally kosher 45,000 sq. ft. supermarket. I made my first trip ever there a few days before Passover and I was clearly the only non-Orthodox person in the place. Talk about feeling conspicuous!</p>
<p>My friends and I exchange Passover cake meal, matzo meal, potato starch, farfel, whatever anyone has purchased in excess of what they've actually needed. It's an unusual exchange program. :)</p>
<p>Wow. Now I feel like a slacker! Congratulations to everyone on wonderful meals and wonderful family times.</p>
<p>To jym --</p>
<p>Thanks so much for the Apricot Kugel recipe. I made it for our Seder and it was a hit!</p>
<p>^^^ Thanks, blackeyedsusan!
It is a relatively easy recipe. I make 2 of them every year-- one gets snarfed down at the seder, and we have one left over for the rest of the week.</p>
<p>Glad you liked the recipe!!! (I use fat free sour cream and fat free cottage cheese, and it comes out great)</p>
<p>I just made a second, no third batch (made a double batch for the first night) of passover rolls. When they come out right they are almost like brioches inside- almost hollow, slightly dough-y. and you can use them to make sandwiches for lunch the next day. I like them hot out of the oven. I think someone posted a recipe that is very similar to my passover roll recipe, so I didnt post mine. I'll compare the 2 recipes (when I find the one in this LONG thread) and report back!</p>
<p>I just had dinner with some folks that said there is no matzo to be found in all of Durham... I told them to treat it like a widespread, corporate version of the afikomen (also, as a Catholic - I'd like to thank Outis and friends for introducing me to the concept of afikomen :) )</p>
<p>The passover roll recipe is similar to p3t's passover muffins (post 117), except mine don't have milk, and I use peanut oil (or whatever kosher cooking oil is available) in place of butter. I'll have to get the exact recipe but I am weighted down by matzoh, matzoh balls and one or 2 of these rolls in my tummy and not up to sprinting up/down stairs). This dough is sorta sticky. You coat your hands with oil and form the rolls balls (like snowballs) in your hands. Cook them on a greased cookie sheet at 375 for 50 minutes. Yummy.</p>
<p>The more things change the more they... Back when I attended Duke, there was no matzo to be had in all of Durham either.</p>
<p>Oh good news, jym626, I'm getting rid of that butter and trying oil instead. Just not tonight...eyelids being held up with toothpicks (no it's not a facelift). Fingers need help just typing the letters. Had a happy time both nights. The only problem with these pot-luck seders is No Leftovers.</p>
<p>At least I have my CC friends and new recipes to try this week, er, starting tomorrow.</p>
<p>Funniest line from a little 8-year-old girl sitting beside me (her first seder ever), as she attempted her first bowl of Matzo Ball Soup. Poor thing, she was sawing away with fork and knife to reduce her matzo ball to bitesize before she even attempted the broth. She looked at me with saucer eyes, saying "This is the first soup I ever needed 3 utensils to eat!"</p>