Easter and Passover are coming

[jackal10]

At the supermarket this weekend they were stocking up with Easter eggs, and getting out displays featuring pictures of fluffy chicks..signs of spring...

Its also coming up for Pancake day (Shrove Tuesday)

So what are your favourite Easter (and Passover, and any other festivals at this time of year) dishes and traditions?

Some to start:

Easter lamb

Easter eggs, both chocolate and coloured hens eggs

Simnel cake

Fish pie

Figgy pudding

Hot Cross Buns

Saffron Bread

Pashka and other soft sweet cheescake sort of things

Charoset

Matzo Brei

Chicken soup with Matzo Kleis

Chrain (and gefillte fish)

Egg and Lemon fish

Almond pudding

Cinnamon balls

Macaroons

Coconut pyramids

Any others?

Recipes?

Should there be an eGCI unit?

Edited February 22, 2004 by jackal10 (log)

[Pan]

Pesadicher cake with marzipan and raspberry and apricot jams.

Good homemade matzo ball soup.

My cousin's homemade gefilte fish.

Tzimmes (I like it with a lot of sweet potato).

Chocolate (i.e. chocolate-covered) matzos.

My vegetarian first cousin once removed (father's cousin) makes a great egg salad with raw onions, but I don't like his protose steak.

My local kosher bakery (Moishe's) makes excellent macaroons, and I will bring them to both seders this time no matter what anyone says. Last year, my mother promised she'd bring good bakery-made macaroons and ended up bringing those lousy jarred things sold in supermarkets.

One Passover, we had non-kosher-for-Passover panforte from Siena, which I had taken in my carry-on luggage the previous summer and kept. It was much appreciated.

[puhorst]

My family always did Easter pretty simply. We're from San Fran, so we took advantage of all the wonderful spring produce, also we're Italian - so lamb was the main deal

Roasted, or grilled Leg of Lamb - usually spiked with garlic, and tied with rosemary. Just a little olive oil as fat. My dad would usually take care of this - searing the meat, reducing the juice down with some nice red wine, and maybe a touch of citrus juice.

Roasted new potatoes - usually lightly seasoned with black pepper, salt, and a little rosemary, but not enough to be overpowering for the meat.

Grilled asparagus with breadcrumbs, or maybe some squash or brussel sprouts.

spinach salad with bayshrimp and egg - usually with roasted baby beets.

Maybe occasionally another dish - perhaps something light like sauteed baby artichokes.

Dessert was usually my mom's merangue baskets filled with fresh fruit, and a little sorbet or vanilla ice cream. Usually nothing chocolate - because we're all filled up on chocolate bunnies and marshmallow eggs.

The past 3 years, I've done Easter for my husband and assorted family members livign on the East Coast. I usually do everything like my parents do as best I can - although I do a shortcake instead of homemade merangue (GEEZ that stuff is tempermental). This year we have a vegan, and Atkins follower - so I will be challenged in new ways... any ideas?

[Boris_A]

So what are your favourite Easter (and Passover, and any other festivals at this time of year) dishes and traditions?

Baby goat.

Roasted in clarified butter, with a bunch of garlic cloves "en chemise" (with inner shells).

Served with roasted new potatoes and spring salad.

[ludja]

Pesadicher cake with marzipan and raspberry and apricot jams.

Hi Pan-- I think you already know my weakness for tortes (I loved your earlier descriptions of Hungarian ones)-- can you give anymore details on the Pesadicher cake and where it comes from?

Thanks!

[Pan]

I don't know much about its history, but it seems Middle-European to me. (No doubt, someone else will post more knowledgeably.) Pesadicher cakes can be made with potato flour (which is usually pretty awful) or matzo meal, but must not use leavening. The one with marzipan and jam can be very good when made by people who know and care about good baking.

[jackal10]

The Matzo Gateau I know is matzos soaked in Kosher wine, sandwiched together with chocolate buttercream... Serve in small portions.

There must be better pesachticker cakes...

[Gifted Gourmet]

There are, of course, a virtual plethora of extremely interesting recipes geared specifically to Passover ... many of which can be used by even the most scrupulously observant Jews ...

I will hunt around for some of my favorites and share them with anyone who wishes by PM ....

The lack of certain ingredients only serves to intensify my desire to experiment and seek new alternatives .. some daringly different and some quite acceptably traditional ...

and it is still six looooong weeks away! But who's counting?

[afoodnut]

It was a classic "only in Boulder" scene.

I used to own a takeout food and catering business. Our food was by no means kosher, but a significant portion of the business was based on my recipes for food for Jewish holidays. (How's that for avoiding the "kosher style" quagmire?)

One beautiful afternoon, years after I no longer had the business, I was hiking with a group of family and friends in Boulder Mountain Park/Open Space. We reached our destination at Royal Arch, and were hanging out, enjoying the view. Another hiker reached the summit, and she looked familiar. She also looked at me for a few minutes, and we both recognized each other. She had been a frequent customer of my business.

After we caught up on life, she hemmed and hawed, and finally asked if I would ever consider making my Pesadicher (I'm not sure if that looks obscene or not) chocolate orange wine cake for her, or *gasp* share the recipe. At that point, my daughter walked over, laughing, saying that she couldn't believe we'd be talking about Passover cakes while hiking in the mountains in the fall.

I said I'd share the recipe, and gave my email address. Sure enough, when I got home that evening, there was an email waiting for me, asking for the recipe.

(I'm happy to share the recipe; if you'd like it too, just PM me. )

[Suzanne F]

The only thing I really miss that I no longer have at Passover is my late mother's take on spaghetti and meatballs: meatballs and matzo balls in tomato sauce. I kid you not. She ONLY made it for Passover; served it as one of the many appetizer courses.

Chrain (and gefillte fish)

You definitely have your priorities straight.

[bloviatrix]

and it is still six looooong weeks away! But who's counting?

I'm with you one this. I have to get through Purim before Pesach is even in my realm of thought.

[lcdm]

Easter is my favorite holiday. I'm Ukrainian we get an Easter basket of the Easter food blessed at church on Holy Saturday. The basket usually consists of ham, kielbasa, hard boiled eggs, farmers cheese, horseradish w/beets, paska(sweet bread), butter, and decorated eggs (some people even get their chocolate bunnies blessed). We get to eat the food Easter Sunday served with various side dishes and desserts. I guess my favorites of the meal are the farmers cheese & freashly made horseradish piled on the paska with a slice of ham, yum yum.

[tryska]

cadbury creme eggs.

[slbunge]

Easter always makes my wife dream about the lamb cake that her grandmother served. Yellow cake baked in a two-part lamb-shaped mold with white icing and shredded coconut.

I've seen the molds in an antique store. Perhaps this will be the year.

[sparrowgrass]

Lambie cake, definitely. Pound cake, with white fluffy frosting and lots of coconut. I found my mold in a junk store--aluminum, cost me $8, just like Mom's.

[hillvalley]

Easter is my favorite holiday. I'm Ukrainian we get an Easter basket of the Easter food blessed at church on Holy Saturday. The basket usually consists of ham, kielbasa, hard boiled eggs, farmers cheese, horseradish w/beets, paska(sweet bread), butter, and decorated eggs (some people even get their chocolate bunnies blessed). We get to eat the food Easter Sunday served with various side dishes and desserts. I guess my favorites of the meal are the farmers cheese & freashly made horseradish piled on the paska with a slice of ham, yum yum.

That's so cool. Do you go to church just to get your food blessed or do you have a service as well? I can just imagine everyone trying to pray with big baskets of food at their feet.

It's interesting, although not surprising, that Ukrainians use horseradish at Easter. It plays a major part of the Passover Seder. (By the way, if I remember my Hebrew correctly, seder is the Hebrew word for order. Bloviatrix, am I close?)

[bloviatrix]

(By the way, if I remember my Hebrew correctly, seder is the Hebrew word for order. Bloviatrix, am I close?)

Talk about pressure.

But yes, you've got the translation correct.

[hillvalley]

My Rabbi would be so proud

[jackal10]

I thought it was "order" in the sense of "order of service", the central feature being the "Shulchan Auruch" or "laid table", the meal itself.

"Shulchan Auruch" is also the compendium of halacha or laws originally laid down in the 14th century by Rabbi Yosef Karo of Safed. Thus eating the meal is symbolically also reaffirming the Rabbinic law...

I had a orthodox education, even if I do not believe in any of it...

Doe anyone have a recipe for Paska, or the Russian cheese deserts: Paskhas?

Are they related?

Also to add Columba, the Italian Easter dove-shaped sweet loaves, the Easter equivalent of Pannetone

Edited February 24, 2004 by jackal10 (log)

[Gifted Gourmet]

Doe anyone have a recipe for Paska, or the Russian cheese deserts: Paskhas?

Are they related?

http://www.recipe-ideas.co.uk/recipes-7/Po...ese%20Paska.htm

[bloviatrix]

I thought it was "order" in the sense of "order of service", the central feature being the "Shulchan Auruch" or "laid table", the meal itself.

As in every language, word can have many connotations. So, the simplest translation of seder is order. It applies to Passover in the sense that you mention - the order of the service. The Passover seder follows a very specific progression as laid out in the Hagaddah.

[JFLinLA]

Gotta get past Purim first but, since you asked:

1) Grandma Yetta's matzah farfel muffins.

2) Grandma Yetta's chicken made with Carmel mushroom soup concentrate and ketchup.

3) My MIL's soup with Passover "lukshen" (noodles) made only at this time of year containing only, I believe, potato starch and eggs. (Note to self, learn to make her Passover lukshen.)

4) Any really good desserts. As I like to bake, it is a bit of an obsession for me to find recipes for good, non-hametz treats . . . especially "smaller" items that the kids can take in their lunch boxes. I've got a pretty good stack of recipes so far. While I remove hametz from the kitchen and avoid it for the holiday, mine wouldn't technically qualify as Pesadik but, if you and your kitchen do, then they would. Should we start another thread on the baking board?

[jackal10]

Heck, lets add in Purim recipes as well...

We discussed Hamentaschen last year. I favour the poppy seed filling.

What other Purim foods are there?

[lcdm]

hillvalley,

It is a seperate service usually held in the church hall.

As to the horseradish, my grandmothers villiage in Ukraine was a Jewish&Catholic mix, so it would stand to reason that the foods that they could aquire would be similar.

The paska that my family makes is more bread like (similar to a babka or challah). My recipe is at home if I remeber I will post later today.

[Gifted Gourmet]

Heck, lets add in Purim recipes as well...

We discussed Hamentaschen last year. I favour the poppy seed filling.

What other Purim foods are there?

http://forums.egullet.org/index.php?showtopic=37859&hl=

Here is an apricot hamantashen lead .. but one has to subscribe to the publication to read it, it seems ...