Last year I totally revamped the menu for our family Seder, moving from traditional Askenazi dishes to Sephardic ones from a variety of countries. The new orientation was interesting and most of the dishes were successful. Planning for this year’s Seder, I confronted the question of which dishes to keep and which to change, and elected to stick with last year’s for the majority. My goal is eventually to arrive at a suite of dishes that everyone is excited to see again, year after year; continuity is, after all, what Passover is all about.
Thus I made a
rtichoke tapenade and
burnt eggplant with tahini and pomegranate seeds, as well
lemon scented veal meatballs. I suppressed last year’s unsuccessful dried fava bean hummus and substituted
pickled mushrooms from the renowned Bar Tartine. The fifth appetizer was
gefilte fish from nearby Citarella, cut into bite-size morsels and served with my mother-in-law’s wonderful sinus-clearing horseradish.
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Burnt eggplant with tahini and pomegranate seeds on endive leaves |
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Artichoke tapenade |
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Gefilte fish with homemade prepared horseradish |
The Seder plate contains two prepared elements that I love:
horseradish (made by my mother-in-law) and
haroset (the one I made -- Joan Nathan's haroset from Bordeaux -- consists of dates, figs and nuts only – ironically, no wine).
For the dinner, I gave up the watercress and chickpea soup I made in 2014 and prevailed on my sister-in-law to make her great
matzoh ball soup (not Separdic but why let purity deprive us of something great?). I made
Syrian lemon and olive chicken (
D'jah 'Limoneh) again and my cousin contributed a
Moroccan lamb tagine with figs, ginger, carrots and Moroccan spices for which I provided the recipe. For last year’s Turkish zucchini pie I substituted
grilled asparagus with lemon zest and ricotta sprinkled on top. I repeated the divine
Persian rice that was what inspired my “conversion” to Sephardism, with dill and edamame salad that makes an interesting accompaniment.
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Persian rice with edamame and dill |
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Syrian lemon and olive chicken |
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Lamb tagine with ginger, carrots and Moroccan spices |
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Grilled asparagus with ricotta and lemon zest |
I made a lot of changes for dessert, mostly for the worse I fear. Instead of last year’s wonderful flourless orange cake I made a perfectly good but not sensational nut-free
fresh ginger and molasses cake and for last year’s --- I substituted a
French style apple tart, the only real flop of the meal: matzoh flour just doesn’t make a good tart dough. My cousin contributed her excellent
lemon squares,
chocolate covered matzohs and
chocolate chip cookies, as well as some store bought items. I jettisoned the sesame halva that I made in 2014: despite numerous attempts I never got the texture right.
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Fresh ginger and molasses cake |
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French apple tart before it fell apart |
Now for next year . . . . There would be a mutiny if I didn't make the meatballs, and the burnt eggplant is pretty compelling as I present it. Citarella’s gefilte fish is another definite keeper. But I will not repeat the artichoke tapenade or the picked mushrooms, and will be seeking worthy successors.
The haroset and horseradish are fine; no change needed. Similarly, the matzo ball soup. The Persian rice will stay, although I plan to accompany it with something other than the edamame dill salad. The Syrian chicken will appear again, but not so sure about the lamb tagine. J loved The grilled asparagus so I may repeat the dish but I think I can do better and remain on the hunt for a new vegetable dish.
Desserts will change, but I am not sure to what. A project for the next year.
Here are the sources for the dishes that made up the meal.
- Artichoke tapenade: David Lebovitz, My Paris Kitchen.
- Burnt eggplant with tahini and pomegranate seeds: Yotam Ottolenghi, Plenty.Pickled mushrooms: Nicholas Balla and Courtney Burns: Bar Tartine.
- Lemon scented veal meatballs: Mario Batali, foodnetwork.com.
- Heidi's matzoh ball soup: family reicpe
- Bordeaux style haroset: Joan Nathan, Quiches, Kugels and Couscous: My Search for Jewish Cooking in France.
- Chicken with lemon and olives (Dja'jeh Zetoon b'Limoneh): Jennifer Abadi, A Fistful of Lentils.
- Lamb Tagine: cooking lesson at Ateliers des Chefs, Paris.
- Persian
rice with edamame and dill: cooking lesson with Jennifer Ababi,
Institute for Culinary education, for rice; Louisa Shafia, The New Persian Kitchen for edamame and dill (substituting edamame for favas).
- Grilled asparagus with ricotta: Yotam Ottolenghi, Plenty.
- Fresh ginger cake, David Lebovitz, Ready for Dessert.
- French style apple tart: America's Test Kitchen, TV Show Cookbook 2001-15.
Happy Passover!
Bobby Jay