Passover 2011 and the Weekend of Feasts

How do you know it's Passover?  Well, I've literally used about 40 eggs in the past week.

Sidenote, eleven of those eggs were from Stewart's, which has the cutest sign: "Want fresher eggs?  Buy a chicken."  Maybe people will!

So it's not really a secret that I love hosting Passover.  In 2009 and 2010 you may or may not have been one of the 15-20 people crammed at my makeshift dining room table in the DC area.  You may or may not have your own little green smiling rubber frog "plague" that my mom gave you.

Last year my family decided that with the "real" seder nights on weekdays, we'd convene as a fam, original 4 + grandma + 2 husbands, on a weekend that falls during the holiday.  Last year in Boston, next year in Jerusalem Albany! 

A lot of the usual suspects reappeared--I admit this is somewhat lazy, but I have it on good authority from WaffleW that "if it ain't broke, don't fix it." 

Duet of charoset, always--tradish with apples, wine, nuts (this year, pecans), some honey, and some ginger snow (I have Rachael Ray to thank for that tip, love 'er or not); second is Sephardic charoset like my grandma's, with wine, stewed dates, and orange zest.
Chicken soup with matzah balls--my dad makes the chicken soup with a whole chicken in the pressure cooker, then he picks off the meat for the soup and we add J's matzah balls.  If you're not feeling well, one bowl of this is sure to cure you. 
Salad (spinach, radishes, peppers, cucumber, nothing crazy)
Gefilte fish--not from a jar, but frozen then boiled or baked.  With lots of red horseradish
Roasted eggplant spread--I roast it with garlic for 45 minutes at 400, either whole and punctured or cut in half and face down, scoop the insides into a bowl, mash/stir with fork or pulse with an immersion blender, squeeze a lemon in it, and add salt & pepper.  Ta da!  My sister didn't like the way it looked, but I don't care because I like the way it tastes!
Brisket
Tzimmes Souffle--J enjoyed Saturday's version more than Monday (we brought it as guests) because there was less pineapple.  Other people only liked on Monday because it tasted like pineapple (and not carrot).  My grandma does not like "cooked carrots" (whatever), but she liked this.  It tastes more like carrot cake and cornbread had a baby, and I make it every year.
Roasted root vegetables--yum, great leftovers, and with the above made my table quite orange. Olive oil, thyme, salt and pepper did the trick.
Chocolate drop cookies--straight from the freezer, to die for as per yuzh.
Chocolate chip mandelbreit
Macaroons

Date charoset doesn't look like much (after all, it's basically brown), but it is amaaaaazing.  See also, most of a seder plate's components.  For a beautiful background on Passover, check out The Shiksa's explanations from last year.  Or you can Google it.  <--seriously, watch this video, it's uber cute and has some dayenu in the background.

Sister desperately clings to the hope that after this seemingly last bite, there will be another.


The next morning we somehow were hungry again.  I made two frittata-type situations--one matzah brei (eggs, crumbled matzah, cinnamon & sugar), and one with leftover root vegetables, cheese, and spinach.  Served with salad, whitefish salad, lox, charoset, matzah, and coffee, this was a brunch table to die for, and we put it together in no time at all.

Then, although it's not seasonally appropriate, we put a pumpkin baby hat on my dog niece.

Happy holidays, if you're celebrating, and if not, happy it-was-sunny-this-morning (always a reason to celebrate)!