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Passover:  My Favorite Feast

There are plenty of holidays during the year that involve feasting, but none of them are as special to me as Passover.  Most feasts are sit-and-stuff-yourself-until-you-can't-walk affairs, with possibly a blessing at the beginning, but little else to make it special from any other dinner other than the quantity of the food.  Passover, on the other hand, is rife with rituals that require weeks of preparation and hours to perform.

For me, this is the only multi-course family dinner I will serve all year.  It is a real challenge to prepare a menu that will not only be ready on a reasonable schedule, but can wait at least an hour (but no precise length of time) before I start serving any of it.  With slight variations, my menu is the same year after year.  This is how it goes (excluding the ceremonial food at the beginning):

I tried to serve my aspargus warm in the past, this will be my first year serving it cold and marinated.  Also, I think I am just going to cook a couple of kosher chickens this year instead of a whole turkey.  I have not been able to find the kosher marshmallows the past couple of years, but I am still looking.

Here are some of the recipes that I have depended on to get me through Passover:
 

Charoset

This is a Sephardic charoset that I learned to make while in Sicily. Put the dates and the wine in a small saucepan and simmer for ten minutes.  Add the chopped apples, simmer one minute longer.  Take off the heat and stir in the nuts.
 

Fish Pate

Gefilte fish is a nasty business.  If you make it yourself, figure on hours of fish grinding and boiling, with questionable results.  Every time I have attempted it, my fish balls would disintegrate in the boiling stock.  Even with ideal results, what you have is a boiled fish meatball in slime.  Alternately, you can buy it canned, which is faster, but even nastier in taste and texuture.  I'm not sure why gefilte fish is traditional for Passover, other than horseradish tastes good on it.  Last year I found a recipe for a fish pate, which had all the good fish flavor, wasn't boiled to the point of being tough, and wasn't slimey.  I made a few modifications, and it was very well recieved, so it will now be a regular at my table.
  Using a food processor, mince the fish 1/2 pound at a time and transfer to a large bowl.  Mince the onion annd add to the fish.  Mince the carrot and add to the fish mixture.  Add the remaining ingredients and beat with a mixer until you have a nice mushy glop.  Pour it into a half-size bundt pan or metal mold, smoothing the top.  place pan or mold into a larger pan filled with a couple of inches of water.  Bake in a 325 degree oven for a hour, then cover with foil and continue baking, checking every half hour or so to see if it has set.  As soon as it sets, take out of the oven, let cool five minutes, then unmold onto a serving plate.  Refrigerate until ready to serve.  Serve slices or wedges on a romaine leaf with plenty of horseradish.
 

Matzah Candy

This is my very favorite passover recipe, probably because it is my favorite candy that I know how to make. Take a large cookie sheet with a lip and line with aluminum foil (very important!).  Make the matzahs and place over the entire bottom of the cookie sheet with no spaces remaining.  Take the butter and the sugar and heat in a small pan until bubbling.  Pour the butter/sugar mixture over the matzahs, spreading to cover every bit.  Put in a 400 degree oven for 5 minutes.  As soon as you take it out, sprinkle the bag of chocolate chips over it.  Wait one minute for the chocolate to melt, then spread to cover completely.  Chill in refrigerator until hard.  Once hard, break into cookie-sized pieces.  Keep chilled until ready to serve.
Juliet's Recipes

Emergency Cookies

These cookies are fast, almost as fast as using pre-made dough, but they don't have that tell- tale "Pillsbury" flavor. These are items that I usually have on hand, as chips and cake mix seem to always go on sale near the holidays, and I often buy enough for a year.

There is a measure of leeway with these cookies too. You don't have to use the exact combination of chips and nuts as I have put here, just about any combination that totals up to 2 cups will work. You can use broken candy bars, raisins, granola, cocoanut, just about anything you might think would taste good in a cookie. I haven't tried any other flavors besides chocolate cake mix, but I will let you know how it comes out when I do.

Mix together cake mix, butter, and egg. Stir in chips and nuts. Drop by tablespoonfuls onto ungreased cookie sheet, bake at 375 degrees for 9 - 11 minutes. Makes 3 - 4 dozen cookies.

Quick Mini-Quiches

You may have noticed by now that I don't make anything that takes a lot of work. These mini-quiches are no exception to the rule. I like to make them for finger food brunches, along with sliced apples and dip (the dip consisting of equal parts cream cheese and brown sugar, with a touch of cinnamon), and those faux rumaki that are made with water chestnuts and bacon broiled on a toothpick. If you mix the dip and put the rumaki on the toothpicks the night before, you can have this whole meal ready to eat in about 20 minutes, which is also just enough time to brew a fresh pot of coffee to go with it.

Spray a Muffin Head or mini-muffin pan with non-stick spray. Put some of the cheese in each of the depressions, just enough that it barely sticks up over the top edge. Mix the rest of the ingredients with a blender, then pour into the muffin pan depressions just to the brim. Bake at 400 degrees about 10 - 15 minutes. It should be set through and just barely brown at the edges. Serve warm. Makes one pan full.