Passover Seder 2011: A Pictorial(ish)

Oh my goodness, has it been a year already? Yes, yes it has!

Just one year ago I was invited to spend the evening with friends and hosts Nancy (from Fun Playing With Food) and her husband Bob as they shared their home, their traditions, and their food during last year's Passover holiday. I was tickled once again to receive an invitation this year to their Passover festivities. Because Passover wasn't on time again this year (because according to Nancy, the holidays are always early or late, they are never on time), the meal fell closer to the end of April this year instead of last year when it was in March.

As with last year's entry, I didn't want to belabor the dishes I had already described so thoroughly the first year I blogged about them (Part 1 Part 2), so today's post will be mostly a pictorial of the meal from beginning to end, with notes interjected from time to time to bring up any interesting facets of the meal. This past Tuesday night, we all gathered in Nancy's kitchen around 6:30 PM to put the final preparations together for the Seder. Some of us chopped, some of us washed, and some of us opened bottles of wine to let them breathe and photographed others' activities (that'd be me).

Diane prepping a delicious fennel, lemon, and pistachio salad.

Bob and Edsel prepping the parsley leaves for the Seder ceremony.

In addition to traditional Kosher for Passover wine, we had lots of regular wine on hand, too.

It is important to begin the Seder ceremony before sundown. Here, Nancy was lighting the candles and singing the first prayer from the Haggadah.

The traditional Seder plate with roasted egg, roasted shank bone, charosis/charoset, two bitter herbs (onion and horseradish), and fresh parsley. Each played a symbolic role in the Seder.

This was a special matzoh flown in from Israel, Shmurah Matzoh. In accordance with tradition, each unleavened wafer was cooked precisely eighteen seconds, not a second more or less.

Nancy's homemade charosis and Bob's homemade horseradish from his garden. I think these two flavors alone are what make me yearn to return year after year.

As part of the Seder tradition, Hillel's Sandwich (Korech/Koreich) was made from two pieces of broken matzoh that had been stuffed with charosis and one of the bitter herbs, either raw onion or horseradish.

Steamed eggs from Aaron Miller's farm.

At the end of the first half of the ceremony, after we've eaten the parsley dipped in salted water, the matzoh, the bitter herbs, and Hillel's Sandwich, we finished by eating one of the steamed eggs that has been drizzled with some of the salted water.

Nancy's homemade gefilte fish made with whitefish, pike, and carp; a special grind that she gets from Mr. Brisket in Cleveland Heights. As odd as it seems, pairing this with the spicy horseradish makes the perfect complement.

Shaved fennel salad with lemon zest and pistachios and dressed in a simple olive oil and lemon juice vinaigrette. So simple and so delicious!

Here was my first course plate. You have to be careful not to fill up too early because there are three more courses coming! And trust me, it's hard because everything was so delicious.

This was our second course: Nancy's homemade matzoh ball soup. If I were sick, this would be exactly what the doctor would order to make me feel better. After the soup, we took a breather to clear the plates and make more room in our stomachs.

Sweet farfel kugel with apricots and Vietnamese cinnamon from Heather's Heat and Flavor. While I always love this dish, everyone agreed that this year's version was simply outstanding. I was even fortunate enough to bring a square home with me for breakfast the next day.

This was a carrot and prune tzimmes with shredded shortribs (also known as flanken). While this was the first time I had eaten a tzimmes for Passover, I remember eating Linda Griffith's amazing version at the last Rosh Hashanah meal I attended. It was amazing to me to see the range of this one dish.

Along with the sweet farfel kugel, Nancy and Bob always serve up a slightly spicy potato kugel as well. While the farfel kugel reminds me of a bread pudding, the potato kugel is a wholly different beast and really was its own thing in term of texture. Absolutely delicious though.

Of course, having a Seder meal at Nancy's house meant that the final savory course of the meal would contain brisket, this particular one from Aaron Miller's farm from grass-fed cows. She also served up a contrasting brisket that had been finished on corn from a different purveyor. It was a treat to get to try and contrast the two styles to see which we liked better. It really fell 50/50 among the guests. Both, however, were tender, juicy, and quite flavorful.

Here was a shot of the third course of tonight's Seder meal, all the usual suspects: brisket with onions, sweet farfel kugel, spicy potato kugel, and carrot and prune tzimmes.

After cleaning off the plates from the savory courses, desserts began making their way to the table. This was a mint cordial, unwrapped. Also available were my major weakness, cherry cordials. I had one of each.

Just like last year, David Leibowitz's chocolate flourless cake, also known as the Idiot-Proof cake, made an appearance.

My final taste of the evening was a slice of the ultra-dense flourless chocolate cake with some of Nancy's homemade creme anglaise. Talk about a rich and decadent way to end an amazing meal!

What had begun as a group of very hungry diners at 6:30 PM had morphed over the next four hours of ceremony, conversation, laughing, and eating into ten very satisfied, tired, and full eaters. With the meal at its conclusion, Nancy finished the Seder by reading the last of the incantations and blessings from the Haggadah. We gathered our coats and leftovers and headed out into the stormy, wet evening. I, for one, never get tired of spending so much time on a single meal. Coming from a non-Jewish household, and even though I'm not particularly religious as an adult, I love being able to see this wonderful culture that seemed so foreign to my childhood.

Even more importantly, I know that whatever Nancy and Bob prepare will be at its peak of flavor. I am so grateful to them both for exposing me to this wonderful alternative to the Christian holiday of Easter (with which I am much more intimately acquainted). While I do admit that at the first Seder I ever attended, there were some items about which I was fairly skeptical (gefilte fish downright scared the crap out of me ... have you ever seen those jars in the Jewish section of the supermarket?), I learned to step outside of my comfort zone and discover a world of new flavors that I now find quite delicious and look forward to every year.

For those celebrating Passover (it is actually a week long holiday), I wish you a very happy and healthy celebration. For those of my gentle readers out there celebrating the Christian holiday of Easter, I wish all of you a happy and healthy holiday, too. As for everybody else, have a great weekend and enjoy it with family and friends sharing good food and great conversation. It's really what makes life so enjoyable.

Passover Seder 2010: A Pictorial

I had the honor and privilege of spending yet another evening at Nancy and Bob's house celebrating this year's Passover Seder with my wonderful friends. Since I wrote at length about my Passover experience last year in a two-part entry, I thought I would pay homage to Nancy and Bob's incredible commitment to providing their guests with an amazing and delicious meal without letting too many words get in the way. If you want to read in-depth descriptions of the food, I encourage you to check out last year's entries. This year, I'm feeling that simpler may be better; there just isn't a need to rehash. Once Nancy has a chance to recover and post a blog entry about her experience, I'll post a link here so that you can get multiple perspectives on this one incredible meal.

Nancy and Bob's Passover Seder table.

Hot peppers from Bob's garden.

Steamed eggs. Creamy and delicious.

Gefilte fish with carrots, flat leaf parsley and Bob's homemade horseradish.

Nancy's homemade Gefilte fish. Words simply fail.

Matzah, Elijah's Cup, Miriam's Cup.

Charosis: Local apples, local honey, Vietnamese cinnamon ... need I say more?

Ceremonial Seder plate.

Haggadah.

Ceremony is starting. Lighting the candles.

Matzah ball soup made with a double stock. Amazing as always.

Light and fluffy even without any leavening.

Roasted cauliflower with garlic.

Sweet apricot matzah farfel with more Vietnamese cinnamon.

Spicy potato kugel made by Bob.

Braised beef brisket with caramelized onions.

My dinner plate. Tremendous flavors!

Homemade flourless chocolate galette and coconut macaroons.

Creme Anglaise.

Final bite of the meal ... dessert.

Passover Seder Part II

I think if I was ever in a position to have a last meal request, it would be one of Nancy and Bob's Seders.

In my previous post, I walked you through Nancy's Seder table, explaining little tidbits about what various items were. In the post you are reading right now, my intention is to talk about the food. After convening at the table, Nancy led us through the Haggadah, explaining the reason for Passover and for the Passover meal. During this process, you do eat small bites of symbolic foods (like the parsley dipped in salted water and the ceremonial matzoh spread with charosis and either onion or horseradish and eaten like a sandwich).

The ceremonial part of the Seder is as interesting to me as the wonderful food. Again, not being Jewish myself, I find it fascinating to share the heritage and traditions of others. Plus, invariably, Nancy always manages to assemble the greatest group of guests. Our conversations ranged from food to beer to technology to traveling in Europe. It really just ran the gamut.

This post will pick up after most of the ceremonial portion of the Seder has already concluded.

Unfortunately, Kathy Breychek, Nancy's source for farm fresh eggs is no longer in the egg-selling business. Fortunately, Nancy was able to source her eggs from another local farm (which I will post when I get it from her). Eggs are an important part of the meal as we eat them both hard-cooked and as an ingredient in many of the other dishes.

First up, a shot of the hard-steamed eggs with a bit of the salted water from the ceremony:


This was rich and creamy and tender; everything you'd want out of a good, farm-fresh egg. Nancy actually steams these instead of boiling them, a trick she learned from Alton Brown on the Food Network show Good Eats!

After the egg (which is eaten towards the end of the ceremony), it is generally open season on everything else on the table. On my plate I have gathered one of Nancy's gefilte fish balls (more oblong than round) towards the back left of the plate, some of the carrot that was cooked in the fish fumet, a bit of freshly grated and prepared horseradish (thanks to Bob and his garden) right in the front and center, and some matzoh with charosis on it on the plate to the back right.


The horseradish is generally eaten with the chilled gefilte fish. It is an amazing symbiotic relationship, each on its own delicious, but eaten together it takes you to a higher culinary destination. Because Nancy uses all fresh fish to make her gefilte fish, it has none of the sliminess or fishy odor or taste that you would think. It's actually very mild. Which makes the pairing of the fish with the horseradish seem like rather an odd combination, but it works magically.

As I said in my previous post, I could eat the charosis on matzoh all the time and be completely happy. It is a nicely sweetened (but not too sweet) blend of nuts, apples, wine, honey and spices and works well to offset the spicyness of the horseradish. Nancy grinds hers more finely than others do, so it does have sort of a spackle or mortar-like quality to it. I'd even go so far as to call it a "spread" in its consistency.

One thing you quickly learn about surviving a Seder meal is the concept of moderation. With food this good, your initial reaction is to fill up on gefilte fish, horseradish, matzoh and charosis. Pacing yourself is key as there are still three more courses to come.

Next up? The ever popular Jewish penicillin, also known as matzoh ball soup. Nancy's soup base is unique in that it is a cross between a soup (which has less gelatin/collagen in it) and a stock. Besides the chicken carcasses for her soup base, she also uses chicken feet. This is what gives the resulting soup base it's silky and unctuous quality to it.


Not to be outdone, the matzoh balls were smooth and silky and light. She was worried they weren't quite right, but I thought they were marvellous. Of course, there were more matzoh balls and soup for anyone who wanted it, but we were about to embark onto the third and most substantial course, so no one went beyond one bowl.

First up, the sweet kugel with apricots. It is baked in a casserole dish and contains matzoh meal, eggs, apricots, and the secret ingredient: Vietnames cinnamon from Heather's Heat & Flavor. The Vietnamese cinnamon gives it this amazing heady spicy quality that you just can't get with the cinnamon you find at the grocery store. Here is a shot of the entire casserole:


Honestly, this was probably enough kugel to feed about 15-20 people. We only managed to finish about 1/4 of it.

Next up is the savory potato kugel. Bob prefers to grate his potatoes very finely so that the resulting kugel has a more pudding-like texture. Other preparations I've seen grate the potato more coarsely, but this gives you more of a "hashed browns" effect. Bob also adds a bit of fresh chili pepper (again from his garden) to give the kugel a nice capricious spice.


And while I forgot to get a shot of the plate of brisket, here is a shot of my plate all loaded up:


Tender and sweet asparagus to the left sauteed in some olive oil and dressed with basic salt and pepper, potato kugel at the top, sweet kugel at the right, and the brisket and onions at the bottom of the plate.

Let's talk about the brisket for a moment. Prepared by Bob, this was so tender and moist that a knife wasn't even required to cut it. It simply melted in your mouth. Adding interest to the flavor, Bob used some more of his chili peppers from his garden. Not so much that it came across as "spicy", but more as an interesting back note. The onions were tender from hours of cooking as well. Truly an outstanding plate of food.

And if that wasn't enough food, there was one last course, a dessert course. Now traditionally there are various sweets that would normally show up on a Seder table such as macaroons and honey cake. This year one the guests prepared what is called a "sham torte". It is a baked meringue based dish that is most closely related to the ubiquitous pavlova from Down Under. The sweetened meringue base is covered with whipped cream, fresh berries, and a basil infused syrup.


And my individually sized portion:


It was lovely, a nice mix of sweet, fruit, crispy and creamy. And the best part of all? It was EXTREMELY light. Not so much in the sense of calories, but in the sense you could eat a piece at the end of a heavy meal without too much difficultly. Kind of that whole "There's always room for Jell-O" mantra.

Just as spontaneously as we had all come together, we dispersed just as quickly. Hugs and handshakes and many "Thank you's" were to be had and only a moment after that I was back out in the cold evening air under a full moon ready to relive the past 3 1/2 hours on my drive home.

I'm hoping Nancy updates her blog with posts about this years prep-work after she takes a much deserved rest. It truly is fascinating to see how at the same time this food can be so simple and yet the flavors be so complex. If you'd like to see what went into last year's Seder meal, here are some of her posts from last year.

A huge thank you to both Nancy and Bob for their generosity and hospitality. I very much look forward to repeating the experience again.