It is spring. And with spring come Pesach (Passover) - my favorite holiday. We clean our homes and rid them of all evidence of chametz (wheat, products of wheat and grasses, and all leavening agents). Tomorrow we will gather with friends and family and have the Seder - a very special meal where we will recite the account of our escape from bondage and our journey to freedom.
It is an exciting story. I make no claims about its veracity but it is very compelling and whether or not is true, it is an essential part of our origin story.
When I was a child my parents were very strict about keeping the dietary laws prescribed for the holiday. We discarded all the old food and removed all the dishes from the kitchen. My mother scrubbed the cupboards and lined them with fresh paper. Mom and I went down to the fruit cellar and dug out the boxes of pesadicke (kosher for Passover) dishes. We unwrapped them and washed them and placed them in the newly scrubbed cupboards.
We lived in Saskatoon, a small city in the Canadian prairies with a small Jewish community. At Pesach we ordered our food from Winnipeg - the next largest city with a significant Jewish community. We had no dairy foods, no vinegar, no mustard, no rice, no pasta .... We lived off of meat and fish, fresh vegetables, chicken soup, horseradish, schmaltz and matzoh. It was hard but it was wonderful.
My whole adult life I followed these rules. Of course when we lived in New York, I had access to many more options and I no longer had to go without dairy, but the principles were same - until we moved to Tel Aviv. Pi-tom (suddenly) we learned that the ban on keetnyot - seeds, lentils, beans, rice, pulses - was an Ashkenazi (Eastern European) tradition. It was not even a Halachic (religious) law. While we refrained from pretty much everything, Sephardim (Spanish/Turkish) and Mizrachim (North African/Levant, Indian) Jews enjoyed dahl and rice and all the sunflower seeds they could eat.
Having made a new life for ourselves here, we have also added keetnyot to our Pesach diet. However, we have not abandoned our love of Ashkenazi favorites. So, below please find Passover recipes for Carrot Tzimmes and Chickpea, Fennel and Pumpkin Stew.
BT's Passover Tzimmes
Ingredients:
3 pounds (1.4 kilo) multi-colored carrots
2 tablespoons fat (olive oil, ghee)
1 tablespoon harissa
3 tablespoons dark honey
1 lemon - zest and juice
1 teaspoon potato starch
2 tablespoons water
2 cloves garlic - pressed
1 teaspoon dry oregano
1 sprig fresh oregano or za'atar
1 small bunch fresh parsley
1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
2 grinds black pepper
Directions:
In a heavy bottom frying pan add fat and harissa
Turn heat on to medium
Peel carrots and slice them in coins (rounds)
When harissa begins to sizzle add sliced carrots
Do not stir. Leave carrots "to fry" in the pan
Check the carrots after 2 minutes. When they are slightly brown, toss to redistribute
Add salt, pepper, garlic and honey
Reduce heat to low and cover
Cook carrots until they are barely tender
Remove from heat
Mix lemon juice and water with potato starch to make a paste
Stir paste in with carrots
Return pan to burner on very low heat
Sauce will thicken
Remove from heat
Chop fresh oregano or za'atar and sprinkle over carrots
Add lemon zest
Serve at room temperature or reheat in oven right before serving
Enjoy! !בתיאבון
BT's Passover Chickpea, Fennel and Pumpkin Stew
Ingredients:
8 creamers (small white potatoes)
1 large Jerusalem artichoke tuber
1 medium sweet potato
1 small celeriac
2 large fennel bulbs
1/2 very small pumpkin - about the size of a butternut squash
1 1/2 cups (500 grams) cooked chickpeas
3 tablespoon vegetable oil
1 teaspoon harissa
1/8 teaspoon cloves
1/8 teaspoon nigella
1/8 teaspoon nutmeg
1 tablespoon turmeric
1/2 teaspoon cumin
1/8 teaspoon dry thyme
2 teaspoons sugar (optional)
2 ounces (60 ml) Arak (optional)
2 sprigs fresh thyme
2 bay leaves
1 small sprig fresh rosemary
1 tablespoon kosher salt
2 cups (480 ml) filtered water
1 lemon - juice and zest
Directions:
Peel Jerusalem artichoke and celeriac and reserve in acidulated water
Wash potatoes and cut in half and add to acidulated water
Cut pumpkin in half. Remove seeds and chop 1 half into large pieces
Remove outer leaves of fennel and chop into large pieces
Add oil and harissa and turmeric to heavy gauge cocotte
Turn flame to medium
When spices begin to bubble add pumpkin
Sauté until pieces are thoroughly coated in spice
Add fennel and sauté, coating pieces in spice
Remove Jerusalem artichoke, potatoes and celeriac from water
Chop artichoke and celeriac into large pieces
Add artichoke, potatoes and celeriac to cocotte and coat with spice
Add salt, cloves, nigella, nutmeg, cumin and thyme to stew
Sauté for 2 minutes, stirring several times
Add Arak and sugar
Sauté for 2 minutes to burn off alcohol
Add water, fresh thyme, bay leaf and rosemary
Add half of chickpeas to stew
With remaining chickpeas, smash into a paste and then add to stew
Place cocotte in 375 F. (190 C.) oven to bake for 1 hour
Discard thyme, bay leaf and rosemary
Add lemon zest before serving
Enjoy! !בתיאבון
Enjoy! !בתיאבון
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