Oh, those sound good, Jessy. I was just looking through the Passover recipes I've saved from the CF in past years, and I'm in a quandary, because my DC (cousin) now lives with us, and he's diabetic, so I never bake desserts any more (he won't touch 'em, and I shouldn't have them anyway). But that means no chocolate-covered matzoh and no macaroons or other treats.

I might try this Apple Matzoh Kugel, modified from a recipe I found on Jack's Shack blog last year (it's sort of a French toast casserole with matzoh instead of bread). I'll have to use a sugar substitute.

Apple Matzoh Kugel

Break 8 matzohs into pieces, and soak in hot water until soft. Drain but do not squeeze dry. Beat thoroughly 6 eggs and 1 teaspoon of salt. Add 1 cup sugar [I'll use Splenda or Equal], 1 stick melted margarine, and 2 teaspoons of cinnamon. Stir in 1 cup of raisins and 4 large grated apples. Dot top with margarine. Bake in a 9 x 13 pan at 350 degrees for 45 minutes.

Sue

Oh, I love the annual Passover thread! I always learn something and get really good recipes.

jessyf, how many people will you have? And do you mean appetizers as in first course, or nibble on during the first part of the seder, or even before everyone comes to the table?

So far I count 18 that I expect at our house for first night, and then "just us" the second night -- which means 8, including the out of town family members who will be in.

This is going to be a very special Pesach at our house.

Our menu varies very little. One reason is that everyone knows what they bring: one friend brings big strawberries that we eat during the beginning of the seder, one brings fruit salad for dessert, one asparagus for a side, and my brother in law makes these amazing hard boiled eggs that look like they are made of marble -- he saves onion skins all year to make them, and then they pack them carefully drag them all the way on the plane; drives my brother nuts.

But the other reason is that while the kidz were growing up, I really wanted to keep the various holiday menus consistent, so they would know "what Thanksgiving [or Passover, or RH, or YK, etc.) tastes like." But they are 20 and almost 24 now, and it occurred to me recently that as we are in the window between young children and (I hope) grandchildren, this is a good time to be more creative. So before Thanksgiving this year, I told everyone they were liberated from the usual menu; what would they like instead? You guessed it -- everyone had at least one item that HAD to be exactly the same as always, and the menu didn't change one bit.

So I doubt I'll even bother to ask if there are any requests for a change in the Pesach menu. But I am considering sneaking in those tri-color gefilte fish tortes like Susie Fishbein does one in her cookbooks. My friend made it and said it's really easy; I have the recipe, so I'll do a trial run this week and see.

I always like to have asparagus and strawberries for Pesach, because they are so springtime-y.

Hi Gellchom, I don't know my body count yet - maybe 20. Yup, I consider appetizers to be nibbles on the table that people can access during the service. I like to do something new each year, and I vary the appetizers. Not everyone loves the mock chopped liver.

Loved reading your family story! Ain't it the truth - Passover and Thanksgiving have sacred menus, LOL. Oh, BTW, DH and I once made salmon gefilte fish. To die for!

Oy.

I'm just finishing the never ending kitchen remodel. Somehow, I managed Seder last year two days before demolition. Now, I have to somehow clean, and get all the stuff that goes in the kitchen out of the living room while they're finishing the installation. It doesn't seem to change the menu much though. For me Sukkot and Pesach are all about the bounty of the earth, so I'm big on the veggies. (Since we're not allowed to partake of the grain harvest at Pesach!)

We usually have Saturday Seder so that everyone will come (about 30):
Lots of crudites on the table rather than cooked appetizers (traditional for us). Celery, matchstick carrots, scallions, different colored bell peppers, heirloom tiny tomatoes, olives, artichokes, little raddishes.

The children like to play with mandelin. Which I do not bake, though I have recipes.

Chicken soup with knaedlach (traditional). I learned last year when I had to borrow a kitchen to make the knaelach that they freeze great, so I'm going to do them ahead.

Reseasoned boughten gefilte fish the way Grandma used to do it when she didn't make her own (traditional). My father knows how to make the real thing the way his mother did, but my mother and I are both allergic to fish. She can (and will) do the redress. I did it once. I was nauseous for hours.

An innovation I made when I was trying to serve under poor conditions from my old kitchen, is instead of handing around the fish with eggs and salt water (traditional), I cut the fish in strips and the eggs in wedges and put them out with panty toothpicks. People can dip their own and aren't cutting half a piece of fish and trading their eggs and knocking over the wine.

For the meal proper, turkey with matzah stuffing (traditional). Veggie kugel (a friend's recipe which I tried last year. It's fab, easy, and can be made ahead). And maybe a tzimmis, but not like Mother's which is carrots and prunes. I was thinking carrots, little Yukon Golds, baby yellow beets, and maybe some little rutabegas, with sultanas and currants, and more of a beef base rather than honey.

Banana cake, maybe a honey cake if I have time and find the pan, and cut fruit. And my cousin's famous brownies.

There's a lot of spinach and other green leaves in the kugel. Do you think it really needs a salad too?

I like having the same foods, too. A few new things are OK, but there are a few things we can't do without!

I started making a quinoa dish a few years ago, it's really delicious with orange slices and a citrus vinagrette. Plus, it has the added bonus of driving my MIL absolutely batty because she still doesn't believe that it's kosher for passover.

We always have sweet and sour meatballs, and someone always comments that they wish they had challah for the sauce...

We always have a brisket and turkey, A&B sweet gefilite fish, potato kugel, asparagus, tsimmis, big salad, etc... and for dessert there is always a nut cake that no one eats, flourless chocolate cake, a buttercream dacquois and a tray of candies.

My kids help make up individual seder plates for everyone so we don't have to pass things around except for the matzoh. I find it really nasty to have hands touching food at the table, eventhough clearly I touched the food to put it on the plate in the first place!

Plllog, I'd include a salad. You might not *need* it, but it's always good to have greens that aren't mixed in with other foods. I like to fill my plate up with salad, then just have very small portions of other foods.

AM

Thanks, AM. I hate it when all the vegetables served are really starches at other people's home's but I never know where to draw the line on the vegetables, myself. Your point about unmixed is great. Especially if someone doesn't want the eggs in the kugel.

The thing about the quinoa depends on your traditions. The Ashkenazie side of my family don't do any grains or legumes (and so says my rabbi, who is more Ashkenazi yet!). The Eastern side of my family will serve whole grains or legumes as a "vegetable" dish, that is, used whole not as flour. Hummus, yes. The Italian garbanzo bean flour pancakes the name of which I forget, no. Rice pilaf, yes. Rice pudding, no. If she's very traditional your MIL will expect you to adopt your husband's traditions, but she might be molified if you explained why the quinoa is kosher l'Pesach in your tradition. Unless you really meant that you want to drive her batty.

But quinoa isn't a grain, it's a fruit. It's definitely not chametz, and it's not even kitniot, so it's okay for Ashkenazim, too; not a matter of "tradition." Your MIL may THINK that it is kitniot, because it LOOKS like kasha, rice, etc., but it ISN'T. There are one or two super strict authorities who have been trying to add quinoa to the list, but even the vast majority of Orthodox authorities agree that quinoa is not kitniot according to any tradition. The rabbis of Europe who listed the foods considered kitniot had never heard of quinoa, a new world food (of course, so were corn and wild rice, but they SOUND like the German word for rye and like rice, so they are kitniot. I wish I were making that up.)

The late Rabbi Dick Israel wrote a fabulous drash in 1997 about kitniot that is as fun and readable as it is informative. Even while acknowledging kitniot creep -- the tendency for prohibitions to drive out permissions -- he wrote:

"To my astonishment, I recently received a decision from some very right-wing authorities that quinoa IS permissible on the grounds that it is not botanically related to any other kitniot and in fact is a fruit. If you are not familiar with it, it is a rather sweet, nutty flavored South American grain that our family likes to eat throughout the year (Go to Bread and Circus, folks.) so that is one you might consider eating for Pesach though if you don't give it a try soon you can be reasonably sure that within a few years it too will get prohibited by someone in a very black hat."

Of course, if you only buy things with a kosher for Passover certification, you may have trouble finding quinoa. I buy it in bulk at a natural foods coop.

Of all our weird rules, and we do have many, this is the weirdest!

We will have strawberries to nibble, hard boiled eggs and boiled potatoes (my husband's family's tradition), gefilte fish (see above), chicken soup and kneidlach, brisket (if I can arrange financing), asparagus, potato kugel (if my daughter insists, tzimmes if she doesn't), fruit salad, chocolate torte, strawberry mousse, and of course the matzo candy.

Here is the recipe for the strawberry mousse. It is light and refreshing, and very easy and fun to make. I made it the year a friend passed on the recipe, and it immediately got voted on to the permanent list.

Strawberry Mousse
1 pint fresh strawberries, sliced and slightly sugared
3/4 cup sugar
2 egg whites
1 T fresh lemon juice
dash of salt
3T sweet red wine
Beat egg whites until stiff; add sugar and beat until stiff (it gets like marshmallow fluff consistency after sugar is added). While beating at low speed, toss in strawberries, lemon juice, wine, and salt. Start at low speed and increase greadually, beating for 15 minutes. Use your biggest bowl; this will grow like you would not believe! Either spoon it into a 3 qt. bowl or individual foil cup cake containers. Freeze overnight.
Garnish with strawberries or shaved...

Gelchom, thank-you for the explanation!! I've eaten quinoa but always used in lieu of a grain, and it looks like grain, so I thought it was. Wikipedia says is seeds (I looked it up following your message because I realized I'd never even seen a drawing of the plant).

I love the article too! Especially this line: And according to the Rambam, even if one kneads flour made of rice with hot water, and bakes it and processes it so that it rises and looks very much like regular dough, one may still eat this product because it is nevertheless not called chametz. And everything that flows from it. Which is, I guess, why there's Kosher l'Pesach baking powder in Israel!

Even my Eastern side don't do flour made from non-chametz things. I always thought it was because they wanted us to eat more matzah so I was very amused by the rabbi who worried that eating more matzah was leading to laxity in the production.

Very cool!

Now that we have that settled, here's a recipe for your kitniot. I'm beginning to learn that sharing recipes is very important here, and I don't have many! I just cook! But I don't want to be ungracious, and have a good one with garbanzo beans. You can make it parve for Seder, though I've never made big enough for that.

Pesach version Lebanese eggplant

• Several Japanese eggplants, cut into thirds and sliced lengthwise

• 5-6 medium roma tomatoes cut and drained

• 2 medium to large onions, cut in half and sliced, or chopped large

• 1 small head of garlic, slivered

• pinch of salt

• 1/2 tsp. pepper

• 1/2 tsp. cinnamon

• 1/2 tsp. allspice

• 1 tbsp. pomegranate molasses with Pesach hecksher. If you can only find pomegranate juice for Pesach you can condense it to syrup consistency, or substitute honey and lemon, or grape jelly and lemon. It just needs to be sweet and tart.

• water and/or wine as needed, about 1/2 cup

• Optional (omit if you don't do legumes for Pesach): 1 to 1 1/2 cups garbanzo beans, cooked and hydrated (or canned).

• Several mint leaves, sliced into little ribbons

• About 3 oz. crumbled feta

  Put cut eggplant in a heavy pan and drizzle a tiny amount of olive oil over the top. Stir until coated and put in a medium oven to cook. Alternatively, you can cook it on the stove, moving it around often so it doesn't stick. Cook eggplant until it's lightly brown and soft all the way through (not white) but not fully cooked.

  Meanwhile, pump spray or brush a pan with oil and saute the onion and garlic until soft but not brown. Add a little wine or water to moisten if necessary. Add the (optional) garbanzos and cook until they're warm through, about 5 minutes, stirring occasionally. Add the pomegranate molasses or the substitute. Add the eggplant, water and the rest of the seasonings. Bring up the heat to bubbling, then simmer until the juice is reduced to a pleasing thickness. Alternately, if you're using a heavy, cast iron pan, you can turn off the heat after the boil and leave covered to finish. ...

I love eggplant - thanks for that great recipe.

Yep Gellcom, that's what my Lubavich Rabbi told me, too. He said as long as I buy it in bulk or in a box with the proper hecksher and look the grains over very carefully, quinoa is fine for Passover. I first asked him about it 8 years ago and even though he had never heard of it, he was kind enough to do some research for me and check it out.

My MIL is a "anything new is bad" kind of person, so she doesn't want to hear anything about it. Her mind is closed.

Here's the dacquoise recipe:

Passover Dacquois

This French dessert is as versatile as it is delicious. For this recipe, I use buttercream filling, but you can also use softened ice cream, mousse, or whipped cream with fruit. Have fun with the meringue and experiment with different shapes and flavors.

Dacquois
2 cups ground toasted almonds
1 tablespoon potato starch
6 large egg whites, room temperature
1 ½ cups extra fine sugar

1. Preheat oven to 225º.
2. Prepare 2 large baking sheets covered with parchment paper.
3. Trace the outline of a dinner plate (or any size you wish) as many times as you would like layers of meringue (this recipe will make three 10" circles).
4. Mix together the almonds with the potato starch.
5. Beat the eggs whites on medium speed until foamy. Increase the speed to high and slowly add the sugar.
6. Beat on high until the meringue is glossy and holds a STIFF peak.
7. Gently fold in the ground almonds.
8. Spread meringue onto circle making the outside slightly thicker.
9. Bake for 1 hour 25 minutes.

10. Turn off the oven and let cool in the oven.

Pareve Buttercream
4 egg whites
2 tablespoons water
½ cup sugar
½ lb (2 sticks) unsalted margarine, cut in pieces
1 ½ tablespoons vanilla

1. Combine sugar and water in a small saucepan over medium heat and bring to a boil. As the mixture begins to boil, start to beat the egg whites on medium speed.
2. As egg whites start to get frothy, turn the mixture up to high and beat for an additional 3 minutes.
3. CAREFULLY pour the sugar syrup into the egg whites while continuing to mix. The syrup is VERY hot and will scald if it splatters.
4. Beat together on high for about 6 Â 8 minutes. Mixture will be fluffy and white.
5. Add the margarine and beat for another 3 Â 4 minutes until the mixture combines and becomes smooth.
6. Fold in the vanilla.

To assemble dacquois, place 1 meringue layer on a cake platter and spread buttercream evenly. Continue layering as many meringue and buttercream layers as youÂd like. Then frost the top and sides with buttercream. You can also sprinkle with slivered almonds and dust with confectioners sugar.

"lucky me" I don't usually make seder. The tradition my kids know and love is to go to friends for the seder.

Sometimes we may even go to my brother's but that isn't as much fun. They are very, very, very orthodox (not how I grew up at all) and they don't START till 10:30 which leaves the little ones whiny and hungry - something to do with not spoiling the appetite for the main meal - and then falling asleep in the soup. This is all so a certain part of the seder is after midnight. And we have to be there an hour before sunset.

We only go when my mom is in town otherwise my DB would never invite us knowing we would be driving home. Anyway she is coming in this year so we are going there first night.

Then second night we are, as always, going to friends who serve the same menu every year and we love the tradition of that...eggs in salt water, chicken soup with kneidlach, gefilte fish, brisket, turkey, tzimmis and veggies, and dessert. I am responsible for dessert so am always on the lookout for pareve desserts. And they have to be easy because I make them at my friend's house and she has no equipment so it's tons of fun and lots of laughs. Last year I made pavlova with pareve custard and fruit, and the crack matzoh toffee. It's the first AND LAST time I ever whip a meringue by hand, even with help. Gave me a HUGE appreciation for my KA. Not sure what to do this year.

Wheeeeee!!! Passover is my FAVORITE holiday.

Firstly, very interesting commentary on kitniot. As you all might know, I'm sephardic (actually mizrahi) so I'll refrain from commenting except to say that for multiple reasons, I disagree with and don't follow the kitniot restrictions.

I'll be serving the recipe I've posted below for brisket which I acquired over on the the conversations page in the kitchen forum and have been making ever since. It's wonderful.

I normally also make matzo ball soup (I like mine chock full of veggies and chicken pieces although I know some like it to be broth and balls only), asparagus, and potatoes of some kind.

Last year Nathan brought up the tradition of serving three different kinds of meat which I thought I had covered with the fish, beef and chicken but he insisted fish didn't count. So I made lamb meatballs which were a hit so they'll be on the menu again this year. I think I might also do brussels sprouts for a second green vegetable.

Since I don't like gefilte fish (I was NOT raised on that stuff! LOL), I also serve lox. Of course hard boiled eggs as well. I do make the passover rolls but I've quit serving them at the seder, I don't think they are needed. I do celery sticks, carrot sticks, olives and pickles as the "snacks to hold you over till we eat".

If I don't do chocolate matza my kids will revolt so that's a definite. That strawberry mousse sounds perfect gellchom!! I think I'll make that too.

I love Passover!

BRISKET Posted by: MOM23cali (My Page) on Mon, Apr 11, 05 at 7:41

Ok- I make this from memory- It was my Mom's recipe year after year all my life.She did not cook with exact measurements:
1 3-5lb thin cut brisket
1 or 2 spanish onions
1 bottle heinz ketchup
1 cup Heavy Malaga Kosher Wine
1 box granulated brown sugar

coat the brisket in flour, salt, pepper and garlic powder and brown in skillet with olive oil

slice onions and lay MOST of them in glass baking pan
combine the ketchup, wine and brown sugar -stirring well
pour small amount over onions
place brisket ontop of onions and sprinkle remaining onions over top
pour remaining sauce to cover entire brisket
cover TIGHTLY with aluminum foil and bake at 325 degree oven for 5-6 hours
uncover for last 30-40 minutes
let cool about 15-20 mins. and slice

Lowspark, Thanks for the brisket recipe! I like the convenience of the Coke recipe, but I like scratch or near scratch cooking better, and reproducing it kosher for Pesach seemed like too much work. This recipe sounds just as easy, and similar in outcome. I'm so glad to know another lamb for Seder person! The old tradition on my Eastern side was rice stuffed lamb, but the Ashkenazie side had palpitations.

Can you tell me more about the three meats? My mother used to always make two plus the fish, but I thought it was just for the large crowd with different tastes.

plllog,
You will love that brisket. It makes a rich thick heavenly sauce. Rice stuffed lamb! That sounds wonderful! Of course we always ate rice at Passover and I usually make it during the holiday. I don't serve it at the seder though out of deference to my Ashkenazi guests. My Ashkenazi husband doesn't care though. I guess he figures he's Mizrahi by proxy. LOL

I never actually thought about the three meat thing till my son mentioned it. But in fact, my mother ALWAYS served beef, chicken and fish at holiday meals, be it Passover, Rosh Hashana or whatever. Usually the fish was something like smoked whitefish which was a special holiday treat. I served some at the seder a couple of years ago and no one was interested in it but me!

Anyway there weren't any extra guests, it was always just my immediate family, and just more food. I sort of took it for granted and never thought to ask my mother about it.

I've emailed Nathan to see where he learned about it.

Oh, that sounds familiar! Of course, one reason for cooking so much is to have more done. As in three day Chag. :) I wish I knew how to do the rice stuffed lamb. I knew the lamb was splayed (can't think of the right word for it), and the rice mixture spread on it then rolled. Pistachios? Dates, maybe? That sounds too sweet. Maybe figs? The most I've gotten out of my mother is new baby lamb. But then I love lamb with apricots, so if I'm reinventing I think I'll try that. How do you mkae your lamb meatballs?

I have to buy lamb burgers (preshaped ground lamb) because I can't find just plain ol' ground lamb here. Anyway, I only have made them once so far, last year so I can't exactly remember what I did but probably I just mixed in some Penzey's lamb seasoning, and a bit of matzo meal and maybe an egg. Shape the meatballs, place on a cookie sheet and bake.

Then I just served them plain without any sauce or embellishment. I love lamb and don't think it needs a whole lot of extra flavoring. Everyone seemed to like them so I'll do the same thing this year.

(I love this thread!)

plllog, don't sweat the recipe thing, we're mishpucha (family) here. Any excuse to talk about food.

Quinoa - I've been on pro-quinoa campaign since I found out about it, and much of what has been said just rings my bell.

Lowspark another idea for ground lamb - I sorta cook them as meatballs in mini-muffin cups with mashed potatoes (cap or crust depending on my mood), a variation on shepherd's pie.

Oh one tradition I started, is I collect Ethiopian embroidery - from the North American Conference of Ethiopian Jewry - their own modern Exodus was Operation Solomon, anyone remember that? So I find it a fitting for our modern times. An embroidered pillowcase of Moses in the basket is right next to a piece showing Ethiopians getting on a plane to Israel. Pass me a tissue.

Here is a link that might be useful: nacoej.org

Lowspark, a question about the brisket recipe you posted: Is that a whole box of brown sugar?

Yes, a whole box of brown sugar.

And I can't remember what size bottle ketchup I use as you can see, the recipe doesn't specify. I think a "medium" sized bottle - so not the huge bottle but not the small one either. I should really write down what oz bottle I use this year for future reference.

I know this sounds awfully sweet, but it caramelizes sort of and thickens. And combined with the drippings from the brisket it just has a wonderful flavor.

I refrigerate the brisket before slicing and refrigerate the sauce separately. Then I skim off the fat from the sauce, pour it over the slices and warm it in the oven during the seder.

lowspark, that brisket recipe sounds yummy. I am leaning hard toward brisket this year, and maybe a turkey breast, too.

So does the dacquois, arabella. How do you serve it? Can it be made in advance?

The eggplant sounds AWESOME. I love chickpeas, so I'll wait until after Pesach for that one.

I want to be born-again Sefardi. I don't care about bread or pasta, but it is VERY HARD for me to go 10 days without rice and soy sauce! A million years ago our synagogue did a Pesach cookbook. I contributed "Chicken Pey Sa Dikh," for those who can't make it through the holiday without Chinese food, but in truth it isn't all that good without the soy sauce. And farfel instead of rice? Ugh. But I didn't know about quinoa and fish sauce then. So maybe I'll give it another shot -- but I suppose it would be more in the spirit of the holiday to be reminded of the hardship our ancestors faced when leaving Egypt (specifically, not being able to get Chinese food). Talk about suffering! You can just hear them wandering in the desert: "Manna, schmanna -- we want egg rolls!"

gell,
I'll adopt you and then you can eat rice. LOL

I have a question about the strawberry mousse. When you add in the strawberries and beat, is the idea for them to sort of become pulverized? Do you use your KA Mixer and if so, are you using the paddle? I would have imagined using the whisk on the egg whites but then not on the strawberries. And how many cup cake container fulls do you think it yields?

Thanks!!

gellchom, thanks for that laugh.

Oh, that eggplant recipe sounds so good! I'm saving that for when the farmers market opens. (Only time I can get Japanese eggplant here.)

OK, please educate the ignorant (me). Why no soy sauce?
Oh, wait...soy beans = soy flour so all soy is off limits? Am I even close?

do you REALLY want to know?!

Soy beans aren't chametz -- i.e., not one of the foods specifically prohibited for Passover. But they are "kitniot" -- "itty bitties" (really) -- which the Ashkenazi rabbis decided could be CONFUSED with the specific species listed as chametz. Sometimes the concern was that stuff could get mixed up in markets or on docks; sometimes it's even that the name SOUNDS like a chametz food -- I just can't stand it. Feels insulting to me. Read that Dick Israel essay I linked to above.

And then of course different Ashkenazi authorities disagree about various items, and some seem to go by local custom (like green beans). A few years ago, our city changed the ruling on peanuts. Again, not making it up. I keep notes in my main Passover cookbook. And don't get me started on why peanut oil was okay but not peanuts ... or was it vice versa?

lowspark, yes, the berries do get completely pulverized. It's been a year, but as I recall, I use the whisk attachment. (btw A. is home for spring break; tell Nathan hi.) I can't answer the question about cupcake papers, because I always just put it in one big trifle bowl. It fills that perfectly, so perhaps you can estimate from that. If I see the person who gave me the recipe, I'll ask her. But I can say that it makes a LOT. So I would think that unless you are having an awfully large crowd, you'd have enough. Just keep filling the papers until you have as many as you have guests, and then put the rest in a big bowl. You must store this in the freezer. It doesn't melt very fast, though; you can leave it out on a dessert buffet for quite a while, much longer than ice cream.

Jessy, thanks for the encouragement! I have an apron done in Ethiopian embroidery that was a gift. The kind of apron you put on to cover your real apron. :) I was living b'aretz not long after Operation Moses. It was lovely getting to know those neighbors. Some of them were Jews of convenience, but I thought it was nice that they were rescued too.

Gelchom, thanks for the guffaw!

It's so interesting about the various reasons for the various prohibitions. If we go back far enough, according to one of my professors, it was a vote that determined that we have no "chicken a la king" (poultry in cream sauce) because they wouldn't be able to tell what the meat was on the plate. I don't understand how we're supposed to know that the meat is kosher altogether when it's served as stew, other than trusting the cook (and the store and the butcher and the mashgiach and the shochet). If you trust the cook enough to take her/his word for it that the meat is kosher, why not take her word for it that the meat is poultry? This is the point where my rabbi says, "We're rabbinic Jews".

So they're finishing my pantry and decor shelves Friday, and my hood is going in next week. I guess that means I'm really making Seder! I wonder how it would work to make lamb cous cous with quinoa?

I thought soy sauce was off the list because it was fermented.

Hey plllog eich ha ivrit shelach?

Gellchom, thanks. I see the link now and read it.

Yeah, I really wanted to know! I find the history of food and its significance in celebratios and ritual within a culture very interesting.

It usually falls to Jessy and AM to field my silly questions. Bless 'em, they are patient with me. :)

!××! רע

Jessy, it was a long time ago. I could probably still cook ××¢×ר×ת, if I had to, but I have tertiary language interference, and it mostly comes out en español, también mal.

Pillog, where did you live? We lived in J-town twice on sabbatical (Talpiot and Abu Tor). We probably know each other ...

Gelchom, I'm happy to call neighbors with you, though I knew the Ethiopians in Tveria, and mostly lived in Kiryat Shmonah. I had a friend in Jerusalem whom I'd visit for the occasional Shabbat, but never did learn my way around there. That was some 25 years ago. It's changed a lot!! Not to mention the difference from my grandfather's pictures from the '30's, and the stories from my great-grandmother's time.

I've made a new book of our old beloved, falling apart Haggadah/commentary, which was written pre-WWII, and removed the line about longing to see Eretz Yisrael upbuilt. It's pretty darned upbuilt!

Panic is beginning to set in.

Here is a great recipe Jessica gave me, I found it tonight on Ann's recipe sight.

Flourless chocolate torte
=========================
From Jessica

Chocolate Espresso Torte for Passover
1 cup butter or margarine
1 cup sugar + 1 Tbsp. sugar
1 cup espresso + 2 Tbsp. espresso **
16 oz. semisweet chocolate (large package)
6 eggs, plus
6 egg yolks
confectioner's sugar (garnish)
NOTE: can use margarine
**brewed espresso or very strong coffee

Preheat oven to 325 degrees. Grease 9 spring form pan. Place wax paper on bottom of pan.
Grease and flour (use Passover cake meal to dust the pan); set aside. Place butter, sugar and espresso in the top of a double boiler and heat until sugar dissolves. Pour hot liquid over chocolate and stir until dissolved; set aside. Beat eggs and yolks until frothy; add to the chocolate mixture and pour into pan.

Bake for 1 hour; edges should crack slightly. Remove from oven and cool; cover and refrigerate. Remove from pan and sprinkle with confectioner's sugar (must be kosher for passover)

IMPORTANT: this cake is rich and has no flour. It is almost as creamy as cheesecake.
You should only serve tiny thin slices. When you remove this cake from the oven it looks like it is NOT set; and it isn't. It MUST go in the refrigerator at least for 12 hours; SO MAKE AHEAD OF TIME.

I forgot to check back here!

[Denise, want to cook together over the weekend, Sunday? Smart & Final has brisket for $1.25/lb, smallest piece I saw was 14 lbs! Double the ingredients and share the results. Thats a lot of sweet potatoes to peel!]

My family moved to Israel in 1970, when I was 14, with the full intention of making 'aliyah', permanent residency. My mother and my older sister didn't adjust well so we returned to the States in 1974. We were there, living in Jerusalem, during the Yom Kippur war - and that has forever colored my outlook on life - don't sweat the small stuff, family and friends are the most precious commodities in life. I went back for college Jr. year abroad and have taken my family there when my son was ready to be bar-mitzvahed. What a ride! I totally understand about the tertiary language mix-up, I speak a bit of Spanish too. Oh yeah and Arabic, though that is long gone.

Yeee!!! It's almost here! I wrote out my menu and "final" shopping list this morning. Next I gotta figure out the schedule of when I'm actually cooking everything. Since it's Monday night I'll have three uninterrupted days to cook as needed. I'm taking off Monday and Tuesday (for recovery).

Brisket and lots o' chicken are currently defrosting in my fridge. And I'm excited about making gellchom's strawberry mousse for dessert.

Strawberry mousse question: how would it be frozen/served for 16 people? In individual paper muffin cups, of scooped out of a three quart bowl?

Jessica, can't the mousse be served in plastic glasses or something, I'm afraid the paper muffin cups are going to collapse. Or maybe the foil muffin cups, a bit more substantial?

I have a whole week on all of you, I usually cook some traditional Passover food for Easter, Dishesdone started that with me and I'm always an honorary guest at her table, so I remember her and my friends here and expand my family's food and cultural horizons by stealing....um...incorporating your best recipes into my dinner.

Plus, now that I'm married to Elery, his daughter in law Sorah is Jewish although she does not keep kosher, so Elery likes to do special foods for the grandkids too.

I've done matzoh ball soup and haroset and Jessica's tsimmes (which I make other times just because I like them), dishesdone's brisket and even gefilte fish, but that chocolate espresso cake is just calling to me....

I wish all my friends here the happiest and best of Passover celebrations.

Annie

It's noon and still foggy here and I just don't have the heart to do more cleaning. Most of the shopping for Monday is done. I found some tiny yellow and purple potatoes, the size of pearl onions, for the tzimmis, and baby turnips the size of raddishes. And Mardi Gras raddishes in all kinds of colors. Tiny heirloom tomatoes.

Gotta go finish the proofreading...

Awww, thank you, Jessica! I have a cooking date with my mother in law Sunday. In fact that's what sent me hunting for this thread. She requested the recipe for the flourless torte and I thought it might be on here. When it wasn't, I thought it should be.

jessyf, I have always just put the mousse into a big trifle bowl. It fits exactly. We put most of the food on a buffet, so I set it out there with some little bowls. I've never tried the cupcake papers, so I couldn't say. If you have the freezer space and tons of little bowls or ramekins, you could freeze individual servings that way.

For a flourless chocolate torte, try that one I posted above. It's absolutely fantastic -- we aren't even big sweet eaters or chocoholics, and we were fighting over the last piece -- and VERY easy; you don't even have to separate the eggs.

Here is another really great one I used to make:

Passover Chocolate Parcel Torte

8 oz. butter/margarine
8 oz. semisweet chocolate chips
8 oz. sugar
8 eggs, separated
whipped cream/nuts (optional)

Melt butter/margarine with chips; remove from heat. Add sugar; add yolks, one at a time; beat after each. Beat 10 minutes until very thick. Fold in beaten egg whites. Pour 3/4 of the batter into greased and "floured" (with potato starch) pie or spring-form pan. Leave remaining batter in bowl; do not refrigerate. Bake at 325 F 35 minutes; cool. It will fall to form a shell. After cooled, pour in the rest of the batter and refrigerate. Top with whipped cream and/or nuts if desired, but it doesn't need it. You can also make it bigger by using crushed macaroons mixed with melted margarine for the crust.

lowspark, I just finished making the strawberry mousse. I did indeed use the wire whisk attachment on the KA for the whole thing. I works fine; in fact, I am afraid the regular paddle might not pulverize the berries. The whip gets almost every bit, and I kind of like the few little shreds that are left.

But I bet it would work either way. After all, some people don't even have whisk attachments.

That is the most fun recipe to make.

Enjoy!

gellchom you weren't kidding when you say it 'grows'. My trifle bowl won't fit in my freezer (wonder why....ahem). I agree about the muffin cups, you had mentioned them at first, so I had it on my radar. I think a bowl works fine!

FWIW this was whipped with a wire whisk in my KA and yes there were bits of strawberry floating in it and stuck at the bottom (now what should I have done with those..). I'm thinking of blueberries, raspberries....

This will be served tonight to shabbat guests. Bottle of wine to the left of the bowl is for proportion purposes.

Now, I need a nut-free cheesecake crust, KFP. Anyone? Also, DH is set on his torte. He likes to make meringue cookies with the leftover whites, its kinda his ritual. If he bails I'll make yours!

Oh wow!! Thanks for posting that picture Jessy, and for the reassurance from you and gellchom. I will definitely use the whisk attachment. I can't wait to make this. After all the heavy food at the seder, this looks like the perfect dessert!

jessyf, funny you should mention raspberries and blueberries. It sounds good to me, too, but two days ago my friend told me that she tried it last year with blueberries and blackberries, and it wasn't good at all. The color was awful, and there may have been some texture issues, too -- anyway, she said she was going to stick to strawberries from now on. It's surprising about the color, but then again the color of the strawberry mousse (mine looks just like yours; maybe fewer "bits") isn't at all the color of the fresh strawberries, either, so maybe there is a chemical reaction involved. Maybe raspberries alone. But raspberries mean summer to me, and strawberries, like asparagus, make me think SPRING, which is why I always serve both for seder (and avoid them for several weeks before).

For a non-nut crust (I'm assuming coconuts don't count as nuts), try 2 1/2 cups crushed macaroons (any flavor) and 1/3 cup melted butter or margarine -- or you could even skip the butter if you don't want it to be oily. Press into springform pan and bake at (preheated) 375 for 15 minutes.

Or: Mix 1 1/2 cups flaked coconut with 3 T margarine or butter. Press into pie pan and bake 325 until it gets gold (around 15 minutes)

But it depends whether your filling would taste good with coconut. I happen to love coconut, so to me, it's good with just about anything!

Well thanks gellchom, you just saved me an experiement with other berries!

Thanks for the crust ideas, no go on coconut either (%*$#@!!! picky kids)

I made my mousse yesterday. WOW.

It grew and grew and grew and grew!

I turned off the mixer at the point where it was JUST about to overflow. I didn't do a good job of making it look pretty after I put it in the bowl. I was overwhelmed by the size of it!

On your mark get set...never mind, it looks like you all are already set.
Wishing you a Pesach filled with happiness!