This nice Catholic girl is going to her first Seder in a few weeks and would like some suggestions about something really delicious to bring to the hostess... Please let me know...Also where to purchase it..
Are there any fantastic bakeries with Seder treats? The family is not very religious so I don't have to worry about anything Kosher...
Thanks,
Lisa
My experience with bought passover pastries has never
been that good. As long as they are not very
religious, why don't you consider making something?
One possibility, very out of the ordinary, is a good
and unusual haroseth . Haroseth is a paste said to
resemble the clay or mortar from the bricks in Egypt.
It goes on the seder plate, and is eaten with matzah at
the seder, and also all week long. Every Jewish
sub-group has its variety, but the variations are esp.
interesting among non-Ashkenazic Jews. My favorite is
from the community in Venice. Joan Nathan has an
excellent and easy recipe in her Jewish Holiday
Kitchen. The base is pureed chestnuts (I use canned),
to which you add dried fruits, poppy seeds, pine nuts,
orange rind, brandy, you get the picture. You may like
it so much that you will decide to keep it for
yourself, and buy them something!
Another possibility is homemade macaroons. Either of
these would also highlight your Italian heritage.
If you want to buy something, you could get Shmure
Matzah, which should be available in many passover
stores. This is the opposite of sumptuous (though not
in price). It is large round crisp matzah, baked from
specially supervised wheat to eliminate the possibility
of leavening at any time from when the wheat is in the
field. It is very elemental, and looks spectacular on
the seder table.
Thanks a bunch Alan!!!
Of course I always prefer to cook something, however I haven't had much experience with traditional Jewish food and I especially am not familiar with Seder specialities.
I thought there might be the equivalent of a Kosher City Bakery somewhere that I didn't know about....
Guess not, the Haroseth sounds sublime though....
Lisa
There is at least one if not more Kosher bakeries
on Main Street in Flushing. I'm not sure of the exact
street but I know they are on Main between Jewel Avenue
and Union Turnpike (closer to Jewel). It is an
Orthodox Jewish neighborhood and there are all kinds
of kosher food purveyers there (fish, produce, baked
goods, etc.) Surely, you'll find some delicious
goodies to take to the Seder. Enjoy!
Christina Z.
Lisa,
If you are thinking of cooking something, you could do worse than to buy or check out Susan Friedland's "The Passover Table," a short cookbook with terrific recipes (I've seen it on display at several B&N stores). In the spirit of full disclosure, Susan is a friend.
DF
Last year just before Passover, the NY Times published
an articles on Seder cooking from Sephardic
communities. It included two haroseth recipes, both of
which I made.
One was essentially a fig jam flavored with cardamom
and red wine. Very wonderful and it keeps forever (at
least in my fridge).
The other was a date jam which I thought was too sweet,
but which my wife liked. I don't recall the details:
Lots of pitted dates, some orange (I think) and some
spices (clove?), boiled to mush.
If you are attending a seder at a house that keeps
kosher, boil water in all the pots you're going to be
using and drop in all your utensils, etc. This will
kosher them (according to my mother-in-law).
Hey Lisa, Remember me from Faith Popcorn's place? Hope all's well. Go to Gertel's bakery on Hester Street and be the envy of every other jew in the house. I'm sure they'll have a range of goodies. You could also try Moishe's on Second Avenue and 7th Street. Shalom, and whatever you do...don't bring a challah!
"....whatever you do...don't bring a challah!"
Which reminds me --- My wife's cousin and her family
immigrated from Russia about 5 years ago, jut before
Passover. We were all teary-eyed about their being
with us for the feast of freedom. When my
mother-in-law asked her to come to seder, she said "How
wonderful. I'll bake a challah!"
I then realized something about what it meant to grow
up Jewish in the Soviet Union.
Heya Amy,
Definitley remember you. Had spotted a couple of posts awhile back from a "lucioustarshis" but wasn't sure...
Since our Faith Popcorn days I've spotted snippets of your writing in "Seen" and heard from someone at BrainReserve that you were doing some work for Beard House.
A couple of weeks ago I was at a "Careers in Food" conference at NYU and met two of your colleagues- Yvette Fromer and Mitchell Davis... Both were super nice and Yvette said some nice stuff about you.
Hope all is well. Thanks for the Seder tip...
Lisa
ZenFoodist :)
Good to hear from you. Hope you've read my "Risk Your Life For Food" posting (below)-- it's caused quite a stir ...mmm,there's nothing quite like controversy! Also, if you want a nother great seder suggestion, bring some chocolate covered matzos (you can get them at any major supermarket). Shalom sistah!
Hi Lisa,
There is a place in Boro Park, Brooklyn, the
Orthodox Jewish center of the city, called Schick's.
It has a second bakery only open during the Passover
season. There goods are divine. They have a sort of
rugelach called Krakowski, named after a city in
Poland, that is a cashew, apricot, caramel-y kind of
thing that is so good I would eat it all year. Bring
some and you will always be invited back to Seder. It
is a fun scene, too, with all the old-timers and "new"
yuppie Hasidim.
By the way, I thought your reply to Russel Drecgue
was quite restrained and nice, under the circumstances.
Lisa Rosenberg
Amy, I don't have your E-mail but I wanted to let you know that Mary Kay called me before to let me know that Faith Popcorn will be on Sally Jessy Raphael tommorrow at 3:00 for the entire hour discussing her book "Clicking" ... It'll definitley be fun at the very least so check it out....
Lisa
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