E is for Exodus from Egypt

Yes, I know that Passover was nearly five months ago, but I’ve been too busy to blog, until now.  And, yes, I know that I had already done an “E” meal, but this meal was special.  To make a long story short, I had three seders this year – one in Reading, PA with Davida’s family on the Saturday before Passover started (so everyone could conveniently attend over the weekend); one on the first night at the home of friends nearby in Maryland, (Alan and Erica, guests at E is for Ecuador); and one at our apartment on the second night with Noah, Emily, and Becky, Emily’s mother.  The seder itself was fairly simple – lots of discussion and singing, and of course lots of eating, featuring Israeli/Middle Eastern food.  Not much of a stretch this time, in terms of exotic food, but quite an enjoyable meal.  Also, we hadn’t brought any of our Passover dishes to D.C., so we made do with paper plates and plastic ware.  Oh, and the “shank bone” is the wishbone of the goose (see D is for Denmark)!  Talk about making do with what you have!

Charoset:

There are dozens of different recipes for charoset.  While I much prefer the apples/wine/walnut Ashkenazi version that I grew up with, I have experimented over the years with various Sephardi recipes.  These recipes tend to have more sweet fruits, such as dates and raisins.  This charoset recipe seemed to be somewhat of a compromise – it has dates and raisins, like many Sephardi recipes, but also walnuts and apples common to Ashkenazi recipes.  The ginger also gives it a bit of a kick.  Personally, I found it a bit too sweet, but it was very good on matzah.

The Main Dish:

I was really excited when I found this recipe for chicken shawarma!  I just love a good shawarma, and this recipe promised to taste very much like the spit-roasted meat, but made in an oven.  The recipe insists on using some thigh meat, but all we had available was boneless chicken breasts, so it may have been a bit drier than it could have been, but it was definitely tasty.  I did take the recipe’s advice and sauteed the chicken after baking it, which definitely improved the taste.  Unfortunately, we couldn’t enjoy the shawarma with a good pita or lafa, but it’s now in my “keepers” folder, and I’ll be enjoying home-made shawarma for years to come.

The Starches:

This is the first year that I decided to follow the Conservative Rabbinical Assembly’s ruling on kitniyot – much to Davida’s delight, since she could eat rice every day, for every meal.  I have tried to make Persian rice before, where the rice forms a crunchy crust at the bottom of the pot, but without much success.  So I figured, why not try again for my first rice-on-Passover meal.  Fortunately, I found a fairly easy recipe for saffron rice made in the Persian style using Basmati rice, my favorite.  The results were not quite as pretty as the picture on the recipe page, and some of the rice was a little burnt, but it was, nonetheless, very tasty with a wonderful crunchy texture.  In keeping with the Sephardi/Ashkenazi theme of the meal (and being a bit nervous about the rice coming out right), Davida made a traditional potato-zucchini kugel:

·        6 medium potatoes

·        1 medium onion

·        3 medium zucchini

·        6 eggs, beaten

·        2 Tbsp oil

·        1.5 tsp salt

·        1/8 tsp pepper

·        ½ cup matzah meal

Peel potatoes and place in a large bowl of cold water.  Peel onion and zucchini.  Cut vegetables in large chunks and grate in food processor.  Add remaining ingredients and mix well.  Pour into 9x13 pan and bake at 350 degrees until golden brown, about 1-1.5 hours.

The kugel was quite tasty, and a nice complement to the rest of the meal.

The Vegetables:

Sticking with the Passover theme of roasting, I decided to make a roasted vegetable.  This roasted cauliflower recipe looked good, although I eliminated the Parmesan cheese, of course.  When shopping, we chose a head of cauliflower that was way too small, which I didn’t realize until it was time to begin cooking.  I had to throw in some zucchini that was left over from the kugel to make up for it.  I think it would have been better had it just been cauliflower, but it wasn’t too bad, all in all (although, in retrospect, it doesn’t look very appetizing).  To top it off, Davida made an Israeli salad – chopped cucumber, tomatoes, red and yellow peppers, and parsley, with a simple salt, pepper and lemon juice dressing.  It was very refreshing!

The Dessert:

Afikomen, of course!  Love that matzah!!

Up next: Fiji!