Report on the Seder y'all helped me with

4 years ago

last modified: 4 years ago

ARGH!!!

Okay, I feel better having let that out. They fell like flies. Well, but quarantines and whatnot. Minions in short supply. But it was a lot of fun! Including a running gag relating Pharaoh to a certain figure in the news. I had been prepared for more people, so cooked all the food, but I had enough warning that the poultry haters wouldn't be there, so I just made a couple of whole chickens. Which came out great. as did a small pan of roasted kholrabi slices, but the big tray of roasted veg burnt! Like to a crisp. It would have been fine in my oven. Not-my-oven in Not-my-kitchen seems to be losing its mind and running very hot. Mr. Picky's steak was done when I went to flip it Given all the cold veg on the table, and those that cooked under the chickens, as well as the small company, we didn't actually miss the other veg, but I miss the time I spent prepping it. If I'd made the brisket (which Mr. Picky won't eat!), I would have done the veg in the other oven. You can be sure that I will in the future!

I did make the romesco, and it was great! The recipe was requested. I couldn't find piquillos, so had to substitute some other Spanish peppers, and I added some crushed fire roasted tomatoes (from a can I had open, on top of the charred fresh ones) to balance it out. It's not usually served with chicken, but it was really good. And, if you think about it, except for the matzah thickening, it's like a charoset!

Speaking of which, my pseudo-sister never told me she couldn't have nuts anymore! I make extra charoset for her. I wouldn't have made the romesco if I'd known, as well. So I scrounged around and found a couple little pitted prunes and some ground cloves, so chopped them with a couple of segments of mandarin orange and some Manischewitz concord grape, and she was thrilled.

Instead of the traditional eggs with salt water, I made eggs devilled style, but salty rather than hot. Best Foods mayo, tiny scallions sliced thin, capers rinsed in a steamer basket because I couldn't find the strainer (not-my-kitchen), and little shreds of wild caught, smoked sockeye salmon. It was a little stiff for it, but I put it through my piping gun with a big star tip to make them look fancy, and I think the ridges make it taste better (more surfaces to touch the tongue). Oh, and sprinkled with good paprika to make them devilled-ish.

The soup was a thick, hot asparagus with spring onion and spring garlic. The matzah balls peppery, with herbs. I hadn't realized that the matzah meal was used up. Both the rolling pin and the not-my-food-processor did their parts to meal-ize the matzah, but it was neither so fine nor so uniform. I like the texture a lot, but they took on a lot of water early and were so fluffy, one dissolved! I had been so axious to get them going early because they usually take many hours in the pot to get right. I had to pull them out after two. They were reheated in a cast iron frying pan in the oven, which also helped firm them up. They were really good in the soup.

I ran out of time to make the clementine cake--and it seemed like a bother with so few dining. Instead, I had nice, plump blueberries and made some chewy almond cookies from a friend's recipe. Everybody really liked them and they were quick to make.

Thank-you again for all the help!

I hope you've all had a lovely holiday weekend.

Featured Answer

Rho Dodendron

4 years ago

If everything went according to Plan A there would be nothing to remember afterwards. Sounds like you had an Enjoyable Seder. One year I did make vegetarian soup and matzo balls to be hospitable to several guests but with many guests I'm not as kind as you were---you eats what I serve or you can eat later in your own house.

One of my favourite once-a-year meals is on tap tomorrow for dinner: matzo lasagna!

Colleen I don't know if this will help but I have been known to halve the Matzo Ball recipe from the back of the Matzo Meal box, put a few in the Passover soup and freeze the rest until High Holidays in the Fall.

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Comments (13)

agmss15
4 years ago
Sounds lovely!!
plllog thanked agmss15
l pinkmountain
4 years ago
Man oh man P, gotta admire your dedication!!

No way would I try so many variations to please picky eaters anymore these days. I have in the past but am becoming less and less fond of time in my tiny annoying kitchen so I'm always seeking the path of least resistance.

It's been a long while since I have been invited to a seder. Don't really have anyone local to make it worth doing for just my Dad to celebrate. He isn't religious anyway, like he is not appreciative on anything ceremonial, but then he isn't appreciative of anything so again, I'm not inclined to do anything special for him, he will complain no matter what. I make a lot of matzoh balls for soup at other times, and occasionally matzabrei but only Dad and I like it, so I guess I could have made some of the traditional Passover dishes but no one cares, not even my Jewish dad, so not worth it. I make many of them at other times of the year.

On the flip side, I have attended many wonderful seders in the past, at the home of friends and family. My late Aunt hosted wonderful seders in her beautiful, gracious home, but she is long gone as are most of the dedicated seder participants in my life. So G-d bless you for taking the time and trouble to continue the traditions!! Don't feel to sorry for me, there are nearby seders and nearby synagogues I could have attended if I had been feeling better and felt like going. I didn't even attend the Easter service at the local Episcopal church I belong to, I just wasn't feeling up to dealing with groups of people and presenting a social face to the outside world right now. Oh well, next year in Jerusalem!!
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l pinkmountain
4 years ago
Oh, p.s. when you were describing serving romesco, I immediately thought, "Oh, charoset without the fruit . . . " (The kind I am used to making is chopped not pureed, just personal taste . . . )
Jasdip
4 years ago
Oh your food sounds good! Mr Picky doesn't like brisket? I've never made one, but I've been sorely tempted.

Too bad about your veggies, but you didn't lack for food thank heavens.

I have to laugh at all your not-my-kitchen points. LOL
plllog thanked Jasdip
colleenoz
4 years ago
Sounds llike you had a delicious Seder meal! I wish I’d been there 🙂

I really liked matzo ball soup when I was in the US, but DH doesn’t care for dumpling type things and it’s too much work for one person eating it. There isn’t a big enough Jewish population here for there to be any restaurants serving Jewish food, so I’m out of luck there too. What a blob the veggies over-roasting after all that work 😕
plllog thanked colleenoz
colleenoz
4 years ago
RhoTho, it it’s a kind thought, but places that sell matzo meal are pretty thin on the ground here as well due to the tiny observant Jewish population here.
Fun2BHere
4 years ago
last modified: 4 years ago
Sounds like you had a memorable time even if not everyone could attend. Sorry about the ruined vegetables. I have to cook Christmas dinner in not-my-kitchen which has only an electric cooktop. To one accustomed to a gas cooktop, it's a tough transition. I finally figured out that I could set the four burners to different temperatures and switch the pans around as needed...much easier than dealing with the inability to quickly adjust the temperature on each burner. (Wow, sorry I went way off topic there.) Glad the romesco worked out. I've got to give it a try!
plllog
Original Author
4 years ago
last modified: 4 years ago
No problem, Fun2BHere! I think your strategy for the cooktop is fantastic! Like turning it into a traditional Aga or huge French top. I grew up with electric coil, and have gas and induction now, so the only thing that throws me is that electric doesn't really have a low, even on "lo". Your temperature control is genius.

So, on the special menu needs, I don't go overboard, but part of the joy for me is making sure everybody is fed. There are occasions when I don't want to bother with Mr. Picky and tell him to bring his own dinner. He gets take out and is content doing his own thing. But that's not okay for Seder. So, I wash and foil wrap a couple of potatoes and stick them in a corner of the oven while the dinner is cooking. When the meat comes out to rest, I put a grill pan in, and when we're starting to dish up, I put his steak in. He wants it plain. No seasoning, no sauce, especially no butter. Just a quality plain prime New York. The other things he likes are fiddly and I've tried making ahead and reheating, but when I'm making the real meal, I do a bad job of the reheating. Steak is easier. I think it pleases him to have homecooked food, though he'd never say so. He doesn't want to be a bother, and will often cheerfully just eat a roll at a feast, if that's all that's on his limited desires. He is an odd individual, but beloved by all, and I really don't mind going out of my way a little for him.

For the pseudo-sister who forgot to tell me she couldn't have nuts, two minutes to chop two prunes and two mandarin segments is not exactly onerous! That way she could take part in the ritual and she said it was delicious. :) (I'm not fond of prunes, so I was glad to hear it!)

As for the rest, the give-me-red-meat cousin is always very polite if there isn't any, and doesn't say anything. He also doesn't care for stews. He's also beloved. One knows the quirks and foibles of such people. Another cousins' wife is a meat and potatoes kind of person, and quite a few of the guys think it isn't a feast without red meat, whereas a number of the ladies and older people prefer poultry. When there are 30=35 people at the table, I have to make MORE. So rather than two turkeys, I'll make a turkey and a brisket. My original plan was to make shortribs for all for this tiny Seder, but then it grew with out of towners, so I changed to brisket and chicken, and then there was the contraction (of my guest list--as far as I know they didn't actually contract Covid-19), and I'd already ordered the chickens (and steak), but not the brisket, so we had chicken. It would have been chicken no matter who came at that point, but by happy chance it was people who like chicken. :) And they were really good chickens. Bigger than I've ever seen from this grower! So I had some leftover---yay!

I've frozen matzah balls too. The trick for me is that they have to be fully cooked. I learned from someone in CF, probably Cloud Swift, that it doesn't matter what fat you use, same measurement, because it's proportionately so small. I realized that the schmaltz I'd been saving was roast duck fat, not chicken fat rendered with onion, and it didn't smell right (i.e., duck rub rather than onion) for matzah balls, and there wasn't enough fat on my two little hens, so I used EVOO for flavor. :)

Colleen, if you can get matzah, you can make matzah meal the way you would bread crumbs. If I had time to fiddle, I'd have sieved mine and it would have had the normal texture. It's the oniony schmaltz and fearless pepper, plus boiled in chicken soup, that make the classic ones so good, however. I agree that the full on experience might be a lot of work if it's just for yourself. If you're making chicken stock, however, have have some fat otherwise going to waste, you can render it, and save the murky last quart of stock. Then you could make matzah balls, or just matzah ball flavored flour dumplings, boiled in the murk (I save that bit just for the purpose and so label the freezer container). Other than the hours of boiling the matzah balls, it wouldn't be that much more work and then you could freeze some. But the Jewish deli ambiance might be a lot harder to reproduce. :D
l pinkmountain
4 years ago
Oh lordy, my aunt clued me in to Manischewitz matzo ball mix back at one of the aforementioned Seders which was the secret to her famous ones. I've never looked back, you can mail order the mixes, and call me a heretic but now I too am famous for my delicious, light matzo balls which all my Jewish boychick friends rave about if they come to dinner at my house . . . just like Bubbe . . .

https://www.amazon.com/Manischewitz-Matzo-Ball-5-ounce-boxes/dp/B008B14KE2

Last week I saw a recipe for ricotta matzo balls in roasted tomato soup, apropos of nothing . . .

https://18doors.org/roasted-tomato-soup-with-ricotta-matzo-balls/

Oh, and to be clear, I'm not dissing the wonderful home made ones, just joking around and saying if you are really jonesing for matzo balls, there are easy options, if one is willing to squint really hard and settle . . .
plllog
Original Author
4 years ago
I once used an Osem latke mix when we were staying somewhere with no kitchen at all. They looked funny because they started as powder, but they were fried the usual way, albeit in a tiny pan, and they tasted good. Salty, but good. AFIC, matzah meal is matzah ball mix! Add eggs, schmaltz, salt and pepper, boil until they sink then rise to the top. Also available mail order, but at what price? (I couldn't find any on Amazon in Australia, and the one kind of matzah they had was $10 (aus) per pound! (deliverable to Alice Springs, being the most remote place I could think of, and AFICT, outside of Melbourne and Sydney, there isn't much at all. In the USA, for decades, doctors have recommended matzah to patients with a bunch of different ailments, since it's yeast free wheat and water and nothing else, so it's available year round, and just about anywhere, here. Sometimes it might be marked not kosher for Passover, but that just means the wheat wasn't under special rabbinic supervision for the holiday.)).

The secret to the Manischewitz mix is baking powder—if you want to save a buck and make ’em like your bubbe's, just add GF BP. Or separate the eggs, soft peaks on the whites, yolks in the dry, fold together, don't squish while making balls, don't need baking powder.
l pinkmountain
4 years ago
You had me at schmaltz and separating the eggs . . .
plllog
Original Author
4 years ago
last modified: 4 years ago
ROTFL! Okay, they won't be as fluffy, but you can do olive oiil (any tasty oil)) and some kind of aromatic herbs, like I just did. Just don't use onion powder. It comes out bitter. And if you just whip the eggs whole in a food processor or mixer, they'll be fine. Not as fluffy, but if you're okay with the baking powder in the mix, that'll all you need for lightness.

So as of eight minutes ago, everything is sorted and put away. There was a minion at Not-my-house who washed all the heavy duty stuff and cleaned the kitchen. I put the things away today. I've left leaves and crunchies on the counter here, at home, to encourage myself to make chicken salad. I'm trying to persuade myself not to put the solids from the charoset in it. I may los that fight. But I really must let it drain really well. :)

Report on the Seder y'all helped me with

Rho Dodendron

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