PASSOVER PALATE
Second-Night Seders —
Serve Sephardi Symbolic Foods
LINDA MOREL | SPECIAL TO JE
W henever I’ve hosted seders
on the second night of
Passover, I’ve worried —
probably needlessly — that I should
offer the family and friends at my table
something different than what they
had the night before.

The main course is easy to juggle.

There are alternatives to brisket and
potato kugel. But what about the hard-
boiled eggs, apple and walnut haroset
and gefilte fish?
Two decades ago, I began expand-
ing my Passover horizons. While my
family had come to America from
Germany and Lithuania in the 1880s,
most of my friends also had roots deep
in Ashkenazi countries.

I sought out Sephardi Jews and
researched Passover recipes from
Mediterranean Europe, the Middle
East and North Africa. Because the
Sephardi Jews I met had emigrated
from warm climates, their ceremonial
seder foods were fresh and light, brim-
ming with green vegetables and herbs
and bursting with sun-kissed dates.

Variations started with the kar-
pas, the green vegetable representing
spring. While Ashkenazi Jews dip pars-
ley in salt water to represent the tears of
the Hebrew slaves in Egypt, Sephardim
dip celery into a bowl of vinegar to
symbolize the harshness of slavery.

In Morocco, haroset comes in the
form of balls that are made from ground
nuts, raisins and dates, wrapped in
lettuce, representing the greenery of
spring. One bite creates a burst of
sweetness so much more subtle than
sugar but equally compelling.

Food writer Edda Servi Machlin
describes in her cookbook, “The
Classic Cuisine of the Italian Jews,” the
frittatas Italian Jews enjoy at Passover.

This tempting egg dish can be served
in place of hardboiled eggs and will
enliven any seder menu.

Many French Jews serve cold-
poached salmon and a creamy, dairy-
free herb sauce. More colorful than
its cousin, gefilte fish, this dish has an
20 elegant air that’s so very French.

Because I was mesmerized by an
entirely new repertoire of seder foods, I
simply had to prepare them at Passover.

I knew sharing these foods with loved
ones would not only give them an
adventure in dining, but an oppor-
tunity to step beyond the Ashkenazi
world of Central and Eastern Europe,
where most American Jews are from.

Why is the second night of Passover
different at my house from all other
nights? Because we are trying Jewish
food we never had before and opening
our tastebuds to a real treat.

Moroccan Haroset | Pareve
Yield: 30-34 haroset balls
1 cup each: pitted dates, raisins,
blanched almonds and walnuts
2 tablespoons grape juice
20 lettuce leaves cut in half
Optional: matzah broken into
squares Fit a food processor with a metal
blade. (If the bowl of your food pro-
cessor isn’t large enough to hold all
the ingredients, process the ingredi-
ents in two batches.)
Place the dates in your food pro-
cessor’s bowl, and process them until
they have broken into tidbits the size
of raisins. Add the raisins, almonds,
walnuts and grape juice. Process
until the nuts are finely ground and
the mixture clumps together.

Using your palms, roll the mixture
into balls ½-inch in diameter. If your
palms become sticky, rinse them
under water.

Serve the haroset balls wrapped in
lettuce leaves. Or make matzah-har-
oset sandwiches by placing a har-
oset ball between two squares
of matzah and wrapping lettuce
around it.

Asparagus Frittata | Pareve
Serves 12 as an appetizer
Equipment: 10-inch cast-iron skillet
in good condition and seasoned
(coated) with oil
MARCH 24, 2022 | JEWISHEXPONENT.COM
6 eggs
Kosher salt to taste
Freshly ground pepper to taste
20 asparagus spears
3 tablespoons olive oil, plus 1 or
more 1 medium onion, diced finely
Break the eggs into a medi-
um-sized bowl. Add a sprinkle of salt
and pepper. Whisk until the eggs are
frothy. Reserve. Snap off the fibrous
ends of each asparagus spear and
discard. Cut off the tips. Then slice
the remainder into half-inch lengths.

Reserve them with the tips.

If the broiler feature is inside your
oven, place a rack on an upper rung
but not on the top rung. Close the
door and preheat the broiler.

On a medium flame, heat 3 table-
spoons of oil in the cast-iron skil-
let. Add the onion and sauté until
fragrant, about 1 minute. Add the
asparagus and 1 tablespoon of
oil. Sprinkle on a little more salt.

Sauté until softened but not cooked
through. Add more oil at any time,
if needed.

Whisk the eggs again until they
are fluffy. Pour the eggs into the
skillet. Shake the skillet so the eggs
move evenly between the ingredi-
ents. Leave the skillet on the flame
until the eggs are set at the bottom
but raw at the surface.

Using an oven mitt, move the skil-
let to the broiler. Broil for 5 minutes,
or until the eggs are completely set
and golden brown. The edges may
begin to brown and curl.

Using oven mitts, remove the skil-
let from the oven, and place it on a
trivet on the counter. Place a round
platter over the skillet and turn the
skillet over so that the frittata slides
onto the platter.

Serve immediately or cool it to
room temperature. This recipe can
be made 2 days ahead, if cooled,
covered with plastic wrap and refrig-
erated. Return the frittata to room tem-
perature before serving or reheat in
a 350-degree oven. With a serrated
knife, carefully slice it into narrow
pieces. Chilled Salmon with Herb Sauce |
Pareve Serves 8
Nonstick vegetable spray
Kosher salt to taste
⅛ teaspoon garlic powder
1½ lbs. salmon fillet from the
thickest part of the salmon and
with the skin on
Garnish: sprigs of parsley and dill
Preheat the broiler. Line a broil-
er-proof pan with aluminum foil.

Spray it lightly with nonstick vege-
table spray.

Sprinkle the salt and garlic pow-
der on both sides of the salmon.

Place the salmon skin side up on
the broiler pan. Broil it for 5 min-
utes. Turn the salmon and broil it
for another 7-8 minutes, or until the
salmon is cooked through, pink in
the center, not red.

With a spatula, move the salmon to
an attractive platter. Bring it to room
temperature, then cover it with plas-
tic wrap and refrigerate until chilled,
at least 3 hours.

When ready to serve, decorate the
platter with sprigs of parsley and dill.

Serve with the herb sauce below.

Cut it into 8 slices.

Herb Sauce | Pareve
Yield: 1 cup
⅓ cup fresh dill tightly packed
⅓ cup fresh parsley tightly packed
2 garlic cloves, coarsely chopped
¾ cup light mayonnaise
Place the dill and parsley into a
food processor. Pulse on and off until
they are chopped.

Add the remaining ingredients.

Process them until the ingredients
are completely chopped into a
smooth green sauce.

Move the sauce to an attractive
bowl, cover it with plastic wrap and
refrigerate until serving. JE



wishes you a
happy passover
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