Passover

PASSOVER - March 27 --> April 3, 2021

Passover (Pesach in Hebrew) is a major Jewish spring festival, celebrating freedom and family as we remember the Exodus from Egypt more than 3,000 years ago. The main observances of this holiday center around a special home service called the seder (meaning "order"), which includes a festive meal; the prohibition on eating chametz (food made with leavened grains, including wheat, barley, rye, oats, and spelt); and the eating of matzah (an unleavened bread made specially for Passover).

On the 15th day of Nisan in the Hebrew calendar, Jews gather with family and friends in the evening to read from a book called the Haggadah, meaning "telling," which contains the order of prayers, rituals, readings, and songs for the Passover seder. The Haggadah helps us retell the events of the Exodus, so that each generation may learn and remember this story that is so central to Jewish life and history.

Passover is celebrated for either seven or eight days, depending on family and communal custom. In Israel and for most Reform Jews around the world, Pesach is seven days, but for many other Jews, it is eight days.

CLICK HERE to learn more about the history and rituals (including the 4 Questions) associated with Passover.

VEGAN CHOPPED LIVER (from Deb Schaffer)
 1 TBS vegetable oil
 1 1/2 cups of chopped onions
 1 cup toasted unsalted cashews
 1 cup of thawed frozen string beans
 1 TBS lemon juice
 Salt and pepper to taste
Heat oil, and sauté onions until golden.
Combine onions with all other ingredients in a food processor. Pulse until smoothe. 
Serve at room temperature with matzah crackers.  Makes 2 cups.

APPLE MATZAH KUGEL (from Deb Sokoler)
 3 - 5 Matzah
 6 eggs
 1/4 - 1/2 sugar
 1/4 tsp cinnamon
 1/2 cup seedless raisins
 1/2 cup chopped or slivered almonds
 4 apples, peeled, cored & shredded or 1 cup chunky applesauce
 juice of 1/2 orange
                                cinnamon-sugar
                                1/2 stick of buttter or margarine, melted
Break matzah and soak in warm water until soft.  Drain well.
Beat eggs, sugar, salt and cinnamon.  Stir in matzah, raisins, almonds and apples.  Pour into well-greased, 1 1/2 quart baking pan.  Pour orange juice over the top.  Sprinkle with cinnamon-sugar and top with drizzle of melted butter.
Bake at 350 degrees for 45 minutes or until nice and brown.  Let sit for a few minutes to solidify before serving.  Serves 6-8.  Freezes well.

RABBI SHPEEN'S FAMOUS CHICKEN SOUP
 Put in the largest pot available:
 8 chicken thighs (ONLY use thighs)
 2 onions, peeled and quartered
 1 sweet potato, peeled and quartered
 several sprigs of fresh dill + 1 bay leaf
 stalks of celery, carrots
 1 leek with some of the greeen cut down + 1 small parsnip
salt to taste (be generous . .forget about the blood pressure...chicken soup is medicine)
Fill pot with water, add all the ingredeints and bring to a rapid boil.  Simmer for at least two hours.  Let stand and cool.  Drain broth (the chicken meat will be tender and delicious to eat!)  Put broth in fridge overnight so fat will rise.  Skim fat off before using broth or freezing.  Add to broth whatever you enjoy . . vegetables, matzo balls, noodles or alphabets.  

SHARA SIEGFELD'S MOM'S PASSOVER BREAKFAST
piece of matzah (or more)
butter or margarine
1/2 cup of room temperature of cold coffee
1/4 cup brown sugar in a cup or bowl
Lightly spread butter or margarine on a full sheet of matzah.  Break the matzah into strips.  Dip a butter strip of matzah into the coffee and then immediately into the brown sugar.  Enjoy a bite and repeat as often as you like!

Some of my earliest and fondest memories of Passover, as a child, included sitting at the kitchen table enjoying this special for Passover Dutch breakfast my mother shared, from her childhood.  There was something magical about enjoying this mix of flavors while listening to music from the Victrola.  Between this breakfast and my father’s matzo brei with salami, most of my holiday meals were covered.  

* Rob Dorkin's Matzh Brei

* Steve Lerner's Kugel

* Carrot Souffle from Cantor Schechtman

*2021 Passover Recipes From the URJ