leavened and unleavened
comforting in drizzly weekend weather.
Later that afternoon, I approached the tall stacks of books in piles around the apartment, turning the oven back on to roast tomatillos and pork shoulder, tossing halved brussel sprouts and cauliflower in toward the end while the freekeh (roasted green spelt) steamed before spinning a green chimichurri sauce together for Sunday roast.
On Monday night, I went with my friend Kevin to Seder with the family of a very close childhood friend in the neighborhood where he grew up, and Walter and Marjory’s table was spread with all sorts of interesting things—
plague masks,
frogs being distributed,
to cause later mayhem during the meal,
bitter herbs (and charoset),
and the homemade horseradish from another arriving friend of the family.
There were flowers,
a meaningful cloth on the table,
and then Passover muffins to begin what was a night of traditional words, readings, four cups of wine (the final one is after the meal), and songs in a specific order,
surrounding a matzoh sandwich with charoset, chicken soup with matzoh balls (wonderful flavor), roasted asparagus, matzoh stuffing, turkey, cranberry sauce, and then desserts to look forward to: slices of a pumpkin pinwheel cake and a sponge cake that defied gravity with warm strawberries.
Very intrigued with Marjory’s skill in airy baked goods without the use of a leavening agent and her beautiful boiled eggs colored with onion skins, I decided to begin by learning more about matzoh this week.
I do like the typeface on the box (and yes, I will buy the plain “real” ones next time):
and I crumbled matzo over a sieve this morning, then ran the bits under running water per the instructions in Ruth Reichl’s recipe to make Matzo Brei for breakfast.
Intriguing in its salty simplicity, you cannot tell where the matzo leaves off and the eggs begin, as the ingredients have all been folded together, as families are as they sit around the Passover table—opening the door for Elijah, and also for those new to the tradition.
Related posts:
- chicharrones, alliums, an opened garden
- cipollini onions and guinness cheddar
- the woman in the yellow hat
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Posted by Kristen Taylor on Wednesday, March 31st, 2010, 4:34 pm * Filed in Food, holiday. * Tags: brei, kristen, kthread, matzo, passover, taylor. Follow responses through the RSS 2.0 feed. Leave a response, or trackback from your own site.
April 2nd, 2010 at 3:43 pm
That is a wonderful Passover party. I love the mix of tradition and fun!
And be it mackerel or bread, no one makes a salt crust like you do, Kristen!