the "f**k tradition" passover special
because i was feeling jew-ish!
so i’m not a religious person. in fact, part of the conditions of me having a bar mitzvah was that my parents would never force me to step foot in a temple again. however, there are some cultural things about judaism i love (mainly food related) and i haven’t had a dinner party in a while so i decided passover would be the perfect excuse to cook and have friends over for dinner. however, think of my seder as more of a passover themed dinner party than an actual religious ceremony…
my goal was to have a very non traditional dinner, but to incorporate a lot of the traditional foods that would normally be served and shown on the seder plate like matzo, horseradish, bitter herbs, etc. i also chose which traditions of the seder i wanted to keep or change – the reading of the haggadah (out), the drinking of four glasses of wine (very in, in fact, let’s double it!).
without further adieu, here was the menu breakdown:
Starters:
Fried artichoke hearts with a lemon vinegar drizzle
Halloumi with apples, honey, and candied walnuts
fun, easy starters for people to munch on, i fried the artichoke hearts beforehand so just reheated them and this all came together in 5-10 mins so I could actually enjoy hanging out with everyone.
Main Course:
Matzo Ball Soup - okay, so my boyfriend Blake makes the best matzo ball soup I’ve ever had. while it is an Alison Roman (queen) recipe, the fact my texan blondie makes matzo ball soup that blows my mind is… wild (titillating?) (spooky?) to say the least. he makes the broth and the matzo balls from scratch and adds lots of herbs, celery, and carrot, just how I like it!
balls deep in this matzo ball soup prep i’m not sure the process of converting to judaism, but if making matzo ball soup was part of it – this texan goy would pass with flying colors. (I also just know Charlotte in SATC would have knocked this test out of the park too!). he did in fact forget to serve the soup with lime, out favorite non-traditional tradition, but it was delicious nonetheless.
Blistered Green Beans with Horseradish - this was delish, just seared green beans with salt, pepper, EVOO, garlic, and then topped with a generous heap of horseradish and tossed! i’m definitely making again for non-passover dinners and for nights when i am feeling really lazy.
A “Seder Plate” Salad - bitter lettuces and herbs with egg, bleu cheese, and a celery vinegar dressing. this one was the most experimental and i knew i just wanted to incorporate a lot of the seder plate into this and that it would be the easiest to do so in a salad. we did mixed greens and radicchio for biterness, along with lots of parsley and dill for the bitter herbs. typically there is a hard boiled egg on the seder plate, so thought i would take this in a cobb salad direction. i added this amazing bleu cheese from Cato Corner (who appears at many NYC weekend farmer’s markets) and a Tart Celery Vinegar as the dressing since both vinegar and celery have appeared on seder plates in the past for me!
Mashed Parsnips with Ramp Butter - my latest recipe obsession has been mashed parsnips (similar to this NYT recipe) as a substitute for mashed potatoes. It is officially ramps season, and now that I had some at my disposal, I made a homemade ramp butter for the recipe using a 1 lb. log of butter (for scale below) from the farmer’s market, two bunches of ramps, some EVOO, lemon zest, salt and pepper! I used the method in this video, and the butter turned out perfectly, with enough to send all of my friends home with some!
Pan Seared Cod with Dill - i don’t eat brisket, so i decided to make a fish as our main protein. given all of the other flavors going on with the other dishes, i kept things really like with some cod (also lightly basted in the ramp butter) and some dill on top!
Dessert:
Charoset Apple Crumble - one of the traditional passover foods is charoset, which usually includes a mix of apple, walnuts, cinnamon, and sweet wine. all sound like ingredients that make for a delicious crumble, which is what my friend did and then we ate it with vanilla ice cream! *cue the insulin shot*
so there you go – my non-traditional passover dinner! there was one boyfriend, two best friends, three courses and four questions and more than four glasses of wine. this was the most fun passover i’ve ever had…so much so, i think i might do it again next year and start a new tradition out of it! ;)
xx
ur so cuteee <3
(also obsessed with the parsnip mash rn)
This meal and these people are the best! <3 officially out of ramp butter if you could re-up!