Tag: Passover

Haroset!

HarosetHaroset

Continuing along the Passover theme here: When we returned from Tucson, I was craving some haroset. It’s one of my favorite passover foods, and a great snack to have throughout the week. So much better than chips and salsa (in my opinion). For those of you who don’t know, Haroset is simply a combination of the following: apples, walnuts, cinnamon, and wine. I’ve also seen it with raisins, pears, other spices, and sugar. But today we’ll just keep it simple. Here’s what you’ll need:

Haroset

Ingredients

4 granny smith apples
1 cup walnuts
1/2 cup (more or less) sweet red wine (this is where Manischewitz comes in handy)
1 Tbl brown sugar
1 1/2 tsp cinnamon

Instructions

Peel, core, and finely dice the apples. I peeled them and cut them into chunks, then threw them in the food processor and pulsed them a few times. It worked really quite well and got the pieces smaller than I would have been willing to go if I had been chopping them by hand. Put the apples in a medium mixing bowl. Chop your walnuts too (I did these in the food processor too), and add them to the apples. Now pour in the wine, mixing so that the apples become a light pink. Feel free to add more wine if you want. Just don’t add too much; You don’t want a bunch of liquid sitting at the bottom of the bowl. Stir in the cinnamon and the sugar, and you’re done! Eat it on top of some matzoh with a bit of horseradish (not too much!) and enjoy!

Bubbe’s Chicken Soup

Chicken Soup

Chicken Soup

Once again, it has been a while. But this time I have a real excuse: Passover. I was busy cooking and cleaning last week for the family I nanny for and THEN on Thursday Jonah and I left (very early in the morning, mind you) for Tucson, AZ to be with my Dad’s side of the family for seder. Passover is one of my favorite holidays. I love the storytelling that’s involved, plus the singing, plus the amazing food. I love that the food you eat (or at least the food on the seder plate) isn’t arbitrary, that it represents all these parts of this story that took place so long ago. I love the celebratory feeling of the seder, that we (Jews) are remembering where we came from and celebrating the miracles that happened and the hardships our ancestors went through and then were freed from. It’s just so dang cool. Plus the food is ridiculous.

My aunt held the seder at her house. She is known for putting on beautiful seders full of fun props (Slingshots and marshmallows for hail? Bouncing toy frogs? Locust masks?) and parodies of famous songs. My bubbe (grandmother in Yiddish) made her famous matzoh ball soup. While I have her matzoh ball recipe hidden away somewhere, I thought I’d at least give you the recipe for the chicken soup part. Because who doesn’t love chicken soup?

Chicken Soup

Ingredients

2 chickens (can be cut up or whole)
1 parsnip, peeled and cut into bite size pieces
1 turnip, peeled and cut into bite size pieces
2 large onions, cut into bite size pieces
as many carrots and celery stalks as you like, cut into bite size pieces
fresh dill (probably about 1 Tbl)
fresh parsley (probably about 2 Tbl)
peppercorns
1 Tbl salt

Instructions

Cover the chickens with water in a large pot. Bring it to a boil, and skim. Add all the other ingredients, and simmer the soup for 2-3 hours. Strain it, to get all the big pieces out, and you have just broth. Let the chicken cool and take the meat off the carcass (it shreds pretty easily). Add the vegetables (and chicken) back to the soup as desired. Season with salt and pepper to taste! The chicken also makes really good chicken sandwiches or chicken salad. Enjoy!