March 3, 2011 - 5:44pm
Some Sort of Seder
BY JORDAN KRISTOPIK
- Big Matzoh, Little Matzoh
I’ll take any excuse to host, plan, or cook a meal. Birthdays, Cinco de Mayo, tax day. Seriously anything. So when Passover came around, I, of course, wanted to cook. I coerced one of my Jewish friends to host a Seder, which is the ritual feast that marks the beginning of the holiday. As most know, Jews can’t eat leavened food (no carbs!) during the week of Passover, so the night presented a baking challenge (no flour!).
My friend took care of the dinner portion of the meal, and made her family’s homemade Matzoh ball soup. This isn’t your typical dining hall soup; the broth was full of flavor and the Matzoh balls were dense, but not soggy. She also made Charoset, which is a sweet, dark-colored, “salad” made of apples and walnuts, soaked in wine. Its color and texture are meant to recall the mortar with which the Israelites bonded bricks when they were enslaved in Ancient Egypt.
Dessert was overwhelming, and I had no idea what to make. I’ve made enough flourless chocolate cake in my life, so I wanted to think outside the standard desserts. I decided to make an apple cake, which ended up being more like a cobbler. It was loaded with apples and pecans, with layers of Matzoh cake running throughout. Matzoh cake may sound gross, but it actually resembles a dense and buttery pound cake, which was perfect for the lightness of the apples. Matzoh cake is made with Matzoh cake meal instead of flour, which is essentially Matzoh crackers ground up super fine. Pretty good, if I do say so myself.
The meal was a success, although we got a little distracted from the tradition and started feasting a little too early. Hey, what can you expect from a girl who only participates in holidays for the food portion?
If you want a great apple cake recipe for NEXT Passover, check out the recipe I used here: http://www.marthastewart.com/recipe/passover-apple-cake
