Fun Playing With Passover Food 2010

Once again, we have completed another round of Seders. This year, both were served at our house. And, we had a marvelous, if exhausting, time playing with the traditional - and some not-so-traditional - Passover foods. If you search my blog for "Passover" - you will find a number of posts detailing the preparation of most of my Passover favorites, so I'm not going to repeat them here.

However, with the "give me back that Filet O Fish" jingle still playing incessantly on the TV, it was fun to go from whole snappers and halibut filet to that precursor to the modern processed fish product: Gefilte Fish. The whitefish, pike and yes, carp, that I received from Mister Brisket this year was the best yet - beautifully fresh and sweet.

Meaty Skeletons and Fish Heads Go Into the Soup Pot to Make Fish Stock

Ground Fish Mixture (with onion) Meets Plum Creek Farm Fresh Eggs

Add some matzoh meal (which we grind from whole matzoh in the food processor):

Form into quenelles, poach in the stock with garden carrots, and the fish is ready to chill!

These carrots are from our 2009 garden; they survived the winter in the ground very nicely, thank you.

 

Seder Table

Seder Plate

This year, the part of the lamb shank bone was played by a shoulder bone from our Breychak Farm lamb.

Ah - there's that fish! Astride a big bowl of Bob's garden horseradish, which had a serious kick this year!

Garden Hot Peppers From the Freezer

 

Matzoh Ball Soup

In this blog post on soup-making from 2008, I recounted how I learned about the importance of never letting my soup boil. This year, due to a number of reasons, my soup pot boiled twice - briefly, but enough to cloud the soup a bit. It was, however, one of the best tasting soups we've made - I used the "double stock" method described by Barbara Tropp in her book "China Moon Cookbook." Bob had just made a beautiful chicken-turkey stock the week before. I used that in place of a bunch of the water in the soup pot. The matzoh balls came out very nicely, though a tad more toothy than I like them.

The first night of Passover, our guests included Linda and Fred Griffith, who are accomplished cooks and cookbook authors. (I just saw on Amazon.com that the Garlic book can be downloaded to Kindle - cool!) Linda is cooking less these days, since a car accident left her with lingering injuries, and her kitchen downsized. But on Jewish Holidays, we have great fun each contributing different elements to our festive dinners together. In addition to her signature chopped liver-pate and a lovely North African seasoned brisket (with tomato and coriander), Linda brought a hearty tzimmes (which translates to "stew" or "pudding") in a gorgeous serving vessel:

Tzimmes of Carrot, Sweet Potato, White Potato, and Dried Plums

Linda also made this lovely Spinach Pie:

Sorry, I was too pooped to picture the pate and the meat. Guess that means we'll have to do this again, right? I made my usual Farfel Pudding, and Bob made Brisket and Potato Kugel for our second night; follow the links to see prior incarnations.

For dessert, Linda brought a light, airy Banana-Almond Cake that I wouldn't have believed was for Passover if she hadn't told me so:

Since I had a little more time at the front end this year, I decided to play with desserts a bit myself. I started by making a Creme Anglaise I read about on Michael Ruhlman's blog. Unfortunately, for the second time this holiday season - my attention was pulled from the pot for a few seconds too many, and it boiled. Tasted delicious, but, as you will see below, the texture was ruined.

My motivation in making the anglaise was to, as Mr. Ruhlman suggested, have it accompany David Lebovitz's Chocolate Idiot Cake. Fortunately for me, this cake lives up to its name, and came out beautifully.

Even though I've never made Passover desserts before, I reasoned that so long as the anglaise would use 7 egg yolks, and a macaroon recipe I'd happened upon used 7 egg whites - why the heck shouldn't I make my own macaroons?

Coconut Macaroons 

I've never been a huge coconut fan - and now I know why. As with shrimp - the quality of this ingredient is crucial. We sought out preservative-and-chemical-free product (the heck with "Kosher for Passover") and wound up purchasing Bob's Red Mill Shredded Coconut at Mustard Seed Market in Solon. WOW! What a difference good coconut makes. It costs more and it's hard to find - but it is so worth it!

My Dessert Plate Seder #2: Chocolate Idiot Cake, Anglaise, Macaroon

A sweet end to a lovely set of Seders, filled with good friends, great foods and lots of fun!

And now, a brief look at some of the leftovers, which made for fun eats also.

Tuesday Brunch

Linda's brisket is resplendent atop her Spinach Pie, with a hearty dollop of Garden Horseradish. Yum!

Wednesday Brunch

Gefilte Fish, Carrots, Hard Cooked Plum Creek Farm Egg, Garden Horseradish, Matzoh



The eggs were cooked using Alton Brown's steaming method: 12 minutes over steam. Creamy, delicious, and a perfect end to this tale of Passover goodness. I wish you all a joyous Spring holiday of your choice - make sure that you play with some food, ok?

Fun Playing with Borscht

Yes folks, you read that correctly. Borscht. Beet soup. A very gross food memory from my childhood, now reinvented. As I wrote on this blog in April 2008:

Most of my memories of borscht, or beet soup, are of disgusting looking glop in a jar that my mother would buy around the holiday [Passover]; not the kind of food I normally play with.

That post celebrated the lovely borscht made by the late, great Antalya Red Square Restaurant in Lyndhurst.

 
 
Jack's Deli, in University Heights, also makes a lovely beef-based borscht.

 

But a recent post on the Cleveland.com Food & Wine Forum gave me a hankering to try and make it myself. Thanks for the inspiration "Foodhead1000".

Of course, the first thing you need to make borscht are beets. Fortunately, we have an ample supply in the backyard garden. Bob ventured out in the snow to retrieve some:

 





Of course, after cleaning and peeling them, I forgot to photograph them - oh well!

Anyway, the next thing I did was simmer a beef stock from bones and flesh overnight in a 180 degree-ish oven:




On Sunday, Mister Brisket Flanken (did I mention they are stilll "sending a salami to your boy in the army" - call 216-932-8620 to join the party!) joined the stock and some shortrib for a "double stock" bath. After all the meat was happy, I added the diced beets, together with chopped onion, garden garlic, farmers' market cabbage, salt and pepper, vinegar and sugar.







After a low and slow simmer - borscht was born!
 
 





After a night in the fridge - dinner was served, with Bob's freshly baked rye bread:

 





Non-Jewish Europeans favor a bit of sour cream in their borscht - even Bob, who usually skips the sour cream, wanted some in his. I broke down and tried it, too, even though the look of it reminded me of the jarred abomination from my youth (parve borscht, meaning without meat or dairy, would always be served with sour cream in a Jewish home; the jarred stuff was parve).







Rye bread:



Prior to the oven.

 




Yum!

Fun playing with Borscht - who'd have thunk it? A delicious way to play with winter food!

Fun Playing with Mother Earth and Slow Food on Terra Madre Day

Every since I gave my first volunteer day to World Hunger Year as a follower of the late singer Harry Chapin, in 1977, I have been involved in the food movement. The "food movement" takes many forms - some fun and tasty,  some serious and life-or-death, and some in between these extremes. The organization that best embodies this movement for the "average American,"  IMHO, is Slow Food. Founded internationally by delegates from 15 countries in 1989, Slow Food in the US

seeks to create dramatic and lasting change in the food system. We reconnect Americans with the people, traditions, plants, animals, fertile soils and waters that produce our food. We inspire a transformation in food policy, production practices and market forces so that they ensure equity, sustainability and pleasure in the food we eat.

Slow Food USA Mission Statement.

Slow Food designated Thursday December 10, 2009 as Terra Madre Day. Members were encouraged to celebrate eating locally, and to celebrate 20 years of Slow Food activism. Events raised the voices of small-scale farmers, fishers, breeders and all those who uphold good, clean and fair food production and traditions in their region, and are working for food sovereignty. And so, in this spirit, Bob and I partook in two fabulous eating adventures that celebrated the locally owned and smaller-scale food producers and providers. And we had fun playing with all of this food, too.

We began with lunch delivered from Mister Brisket to a diverse group assembled in our office conference room - a few of the firm's attorneys, friends, and Slow Food members.


BBQ Brisket on White

Two people ordered this - the perfume was amazing!


The Charles Barr

Since I couldn't decide between corned beef and pastrami, I decided to enjoy both! On rye, of course, with deli mustard. Yum.

And as if this feast wasn't enough - local farmer Courtney McLeod (also known as Herbthyme on the local chat boards) brought us two lovely dessert choices from her farm kitchen  - banana bread and chocolate pumpkin bread.

Sorry the banana bread got short shrift - I was shooting across the table.

After about 5 hours of digestion, it was time for part 2 of the festivities, which would include many of the same folks who shared our lunch - a Meet the Farmers' Dinner at The Greenhouse Tavern.

Our evening began in the intimate downstairs room, with the farmer-guests seated at the Chef's Table alongside the open kitchen.  The tables were set with bread from On the Rise Artisan Breads and the most creamy looking spread - I thought for sure it was cheese or a dip from Lake Erie Creamery (one of the featured farmers) - but the server informed us that it was butter churned in-house! And a delightful start it was!

The amuse was served to each diner, then a platter was set on the table for anyone who wanted more!

Arincini with Parmesan & Chives

This succulent bite was served with an Aperol Cocktail with Prosecco. As we enjoyed, Chef-Owner Jonathon Sawyer welcomed us.

Our first course featured Lake Erie Creamery cheeses:

Endive Tarte Tatin with Fresh & Aged Goat Cheeses and Roasted Grapes

 

I've never thought to roast grapes - but what a wonderful idea! The tatin melted in the mouth - it was a shame that farmer Mari Ann Janosko was unable to join us, so she could hear those lip-smacking sounds for herself!

Old Overholt Rye & Pimm's Highball

Chef Jonathon decided to go all over the map with the drink selections - after the prosecco cocktail that began the evening, we enjoyed Brother Thelonious Belgian Style Abbey Ale with our first course, and this cocktail with our second. The rye liquor complimented the rye flavors in the salad course perfectly.

Caraway & Rye Roasted Seed Carrots with Assorted Greens, Pumpkin Seeds and Bacon

The greens and beets were supplied by Farmer Peter McDermott of Urban Farms and they were simply marvelous - the carrots had an extra shot of sweetness infused into them by the recent frigid weather snap, and the greens conversely had been harvested "just in time" to avoid being frozen.

The next two courses were served family style:

40 Clove Garlic Chicken, Whole Fryed, with Lemon, Thyme & Pomme Puree

The chicken, from Hickory Acres farm in Oberlin, was incredibly crispy and moist, and the deep fried lemons added a new taste twist. Farmers Fred and Chris Thaxton delivered with the most heavenly organic garlic, which was roasted to perfection.

Eat your heart out, Colonel Sanders - the herbs and spices complimented the fresh poultry  to a tee.

Thaxton's garlic was especially wonderful mashed into the pomme puree:

Sorry - too busy eating to photograph the combination - but you get the idea!

The last meat course was sourced from Farmer Aaron Miller and featured his grass-fed beef!

Braised Beef Shortrib with Pearl Onions

 

My portion.

My table-mate's portion.

Unfortunately, I was so fixated on the beef that I didn't photograph the Yorkshire Puddings when they came out, nor did I snag one. Chef Jonathon said that more were coming, so I didn't worry about it. Bob and I finally snagged the last two from the initial batch, that were sitting on a serving plate on the far side of the tables.  Since I knew more were coming, I didn't photograph it (it was already getting pretty cold). Trust me that the puddings were beautiful to look at and delicious to eat - but when the additional batch came out, the emphasis was more on taste than looks:

These were every bit as delicious as (and a lot warmer when I got to taste them than) the first ones!

For dessert, Chef Jonathon combined some of Lucy's Welhausen's magnificant Ohio Honey with Ohio Grenache for a warming glogg, which complimented the honey-based dessert very nicely:

 

Fennell Pollen Panna Cotta with Ohio Honey

A light and succulent ending to a fabulous celebration of some of our finest local farmers and their wares! The flavor of the fennell pollen cut through the rich panna cotta, and brought out the honey notes.

I hope that you found some local food to play with on Terra Madre Day. And it's ok if you didn't - no need for event psychosis - every day can be Terra Madre Day if we take a little time and effort to consider where our food comes from and how it is made. We are very lucky in the Cleveland area to have so many fine sources at the farm, retail and restaurant levels to play with food that is made with love, on so many levels.