With Passover having just concluded, and my annual bout of the lung crap finally coming under control, here are a couple of pix of the only Passover food I cooked this year:
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| Farfel Pudding |
I had bought the can of farfel before I got sick. Matzoh farfel is not the small pasta you might be thinking of. It is made by doing the mechanical equivalent of stacking up sheets of matzoh, then running a rolling pin over them. Though I could have returned the can to the store with the five pound package of matzoh that never made it to my folks', my first jar of organic coconut oil had also been acquired on that earlier shopping trip with the Farfel Pudding in mind.
Every year, I would struggle with the Farfel Pudding Dilemma: the original recipe calls for margarine, and given the nature and desired texture of the pudding, a solid-at-room temperature fat is preferred. For years, holding my nose, the Kosher for Passover margarine sticks would be dutifully applied. Then, Mother's stopped making them. I couldn't bring myself to use butter with a Kosher-style meat meal made expressly for a Jewish holiday, so the next option was the "good" margarine sold at Mustard Seed Market, even though it had kitniyot (legumes deemed not Kosher for Passover by the Ashkanazic authorities, such as corn and soy). Feh. It's still margarine, no matter how they slice it.
For a couple of years, I gave in and used butter, which made the best pudding (no surprise). But this year, I was excited to try the coconut oil, which is solid at room temperature, parve (kosher with either meat or dairy) and actually good for you. Then, the crud hit, and Passover got cancelled; it was right out of Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer, without the happy ending. Until I felt well enough to at least throw this Farfel Pudding together:
It came out a little pale. The Brunty Farm eggs tasted great, but didn't add much yellow color, and of course the coconut oil is much whiter than either butter or margarine, so it looked different than usual. The texture was a tad looser also (though it tightened up by the time it became leftovers). But the coconut flavor worked really well with the apricots. We rated this a successful experiment, to hopefully be continued next year. And yes, we've been eating it with the sausage we picked up at the West Side Market last Friday; once you've blown the holiday, it's kind of, well, blown.
I hope that all of you enjoyed happy and healthy holidays, whichever (if any) you observe, and that you got to play with some fun food!
