Around the Passover Table (3 page)

PASSOVER AND OTHER RESTRICTIONS.
Check the dietary customs of your guests (please read
Kosher for Passover?
). Even Jews who eat unkosher foods throughout the year may observe special restrictions on Passover. If you are having vegetarian or vegan guests, see
For Your Vegetarian Son, Your Vegan Niece
, for suggestions.

STARTERS.
Most families begin with eggs. Sephardim serve the roasted huevos haminados, while Ashkenazim customarily dip hard-boiled eggs in saltwater. Our family savored untraditional but wonderful chopped hard-boiled eggs and onions. Because this is such a festive meal, both Ashkenazim and Sephardim often serve two or more appetizers, in addition to the eggs (such as a fish and a soup or a separate vegetable course).

MAIN COURSES.
Choose a main course that doesn't call for last-minute work, so you can join the table for the service. It should be able to withstand a good wait in the kitchen without drying out, especially if your predinner service runs long. Brisket and other slow-braised dishes are ideal.

At the seder meals, observant Ashkenazim often refrain from eating roasted meat or poultry—and some, even roasted vegetables—because they resemble the ancient burnt Passover sacrifice, forbidden after the Temple was destroyed.

For large gatherings, serve two main courses, perhaps a meat and a poultry. It's always nice to provide guests with a choice, and since many main courses can't be doubled or tripled easily, preparing two different entrees usually requires little more work.

LIGHTEN UP THE SIDE DISHES.
Balance matzoh-rich foods with vegetables served in their most natural state: roasted new potatoes dusted with fresh thyme, spinach wilted in olive oil and garlic, asparagus simply roasted or lightly sprinkled with toasted matzoh crumbs and nuts.

THE SECOND NIGHT.
As a child, I anticipated the second seder more eagerly than the first. My sleuthing instincts just might be sufficiently sharpened by then to snare the hidden afikomen before my brother. And my mother prepared a seductive veal chop—nearly the size of the dinner plate, crusty with well-seasoned matzoh meal that was golden-fried in olive oil and napped with lemony tomato sauce—just for me, the most finicky of the children, to lure me back to the table.

If you are making the seders both nights, you'll need to plan a second dinner as well. Some cooks decide to serve the same foods at both, perhaps fashioning some of the leftovers into delicious minas (matzoh pies), while others plan a different menu entirely: one that may be more casual, less traditional (families are often more willing to try new, unfamiliar recipes the second night), or more playful. A lavish dairy feast—replete with cheesy kugels and fritadas, followed by buttery desserts under drifts of whipped cream—makes for a delectable, if unusual, second seder, one sure to please most children.

TIME OUT.
Hosting even a simple seder is a lot of work, and no matter how much you love to cook, there may come a time when you need some quick fixes. A few ideas: instead of gefilte fish, serve smoked fish nestled in endive or radicchio leaves (scatter with capers and stipple with
horseradish mayonnaise
). Or serve
Slow-Roasted Salmon
or cold poached halibut with Beet-Horseradish Relish, and Green Herb Oil, an herbed mayonnaise, or salsa verde. Prepare
Cheater's Chicken in the Pot and Almost-Homemade Soup
or just doctor good-quality, low-sodium purchased chicken broth by simmering it with nubbins of boneless, skinless chicken breast and purchased, precut raw vegetables, then sprinkle with fresh dill.
Chicken Matzoh Balls
are quickest, or simply serve the soup with
seasoned matzoh
, broken into croutons, if desired. Make
Easy Onion-Braised Brisket
the night before the seder, and skim off the fat just before reheating. Accompany with roasted asparagus and roasted potatoes, enlivened with a grating of fresh horseradish. Finish with a crumble of fresh fruit topped with ready-made macaroons and purchased dairy-free kosher-for-Passover sorbet.

Or host a potluck seder, assembling the meal by assigning different dishes to your guests.

SETTING THE SEDER TABLE

After the destruction of the ancient Temple, the table, according to tradition, became our altar. At no time is this truer than Passover. For Hasidim, setting the Passover table and arranging the seder plate are sacred acts.

If at all possible, do try to involve family members—especially children—in preparing the table as well as cooking the meal. They will enjoy the seder service more and participate more actively in it.

In addition to festive linens and tableware and fresh spring flowers, you will want to include most or all of the following:

•
Candles: at least one pair. Kindling them signals the festival has begun. Sometimes, the hosts may set aside an area for each guest to light a candle for someone they miss: The seder service glows with their light.

•
A Haggadah for each guest.

•
Matzohs. Three perfect plain matzohs are separately placed in a special sectioned matzoh cover or a tray with individual compartments. Or arrange the three matzohs in the folds of a cloth napkin. Two matzohs recall the double portion of manna the Israelites gathered before the Sabbath; the third matzoh is broken in half, one piece to be eaten as the “bread of affliction” during the service, and the other used for the afikomen. The matzohs also represent the three communities of the Jewish people: Kohen (priest), Levite (assistant to the priest), and Yisraelite (all other Jews).

•
Elijah's Cup. If you do not have a special ritual Elijah's Cup, use any attractive goblet, but preferably one that is larger than the wineglasses on the table. Some families begin the service with the cup filled; others ask guests to spill a little of their wine into the cup at the appropriate time in the service, symbolically making certain that everyone contributes to the redemption of the world.

•
Miriam's Cup. A recent addition to many seder tables, honoring Moses' sister, this is filled with water and placed in the center, next to Elijah's Cup. You can use any nice wineglass, if you don't have a special Miriam's Cup.

•
Cup of Remembrance. When my brother-in-law Larry's brother-in-law passed away suddenly, Larry initiated a ritual in remembrance. Every seder we now fill a cup for Marty, ensuring that the adored man whose presence had graced all our past seders would always remain a part of our celebrations to come.

•
A glass for the four cups of wine or grape juice that each participant will drink. (If, for health reasons, a person cannot drink either wine or grape juice, you can substitute another drink.)

•
Pillows or cushions. Placed on the chair of each participant (or in some families, on the seder leader's chair only), these symbols of comfort remind us that we can recline as free people.

PREPARING THE SEDER PLATE

Most of the symbolic foods (some of which are eaten, some not) are arranged on a special seder plate,
k'arah
in Hebrew. Throughout the ages, beautiful dishes have been fashioned from silver, pewter, brass, painted porcelain, and glass, with designated spaces, indented compartments, or little bowls for the ceremonial foods. If you don't have a seder plate, you can display the foods on a pretty tray or platter. Decorate the platter with fresh spring blossoms or herbs. Celebrants who are including new ritual foods will probably have to present them on a platter, since there may be no designated place for them on a traditional seder plate.

If you are having a lot of guests, you may want a second seder plate for the other end of a large table.

These are the traditional seder plate items.

KARPAS
This is a vegetable to celebrate spring and new growth, rebirth and the beginning of new life: the sweet taste of freedom. It is usually a green vegetable, such as celery, sweet lettuce, or a spring herb like parsley or chervil. Some Sephardim choose celery leaves, if they will not be using the leaves for the maror (the same vegetable cannot be used for both karpas and maror). A few Eastern European Jews may use boiled potato, a reminder of the harsh early spring in that part of the world, making their karpas—the first of the ritual foods eaten during the service—a more substantial “snack.”

If there is no room on the seder plate for enough karpas to serve all your guests, place a representative amount on the seder plate and put the remainder in a separate dish.

The karpas will be dipped in a bowl of tears—symbolic not only of the Israelites' suffering, but, some say, of God's pain when slaying the Egyptians. Ashkenazim use salted water, while many Sephardim prefer vinegar, or lemon or lime juice. The bowl may be put on the seder plate or placed alongside it.

MAROR
Recalling the misery of the Israelites' slavery and oppression and the suffering that continues in our day, this bitter herb may vary from community to community, even from one family to another. Asheke-nazim favor freshly ground or sliced fresh horseradish root, prepared grated horseradish, or romaine lettuce. Sephardim prefer bitter greens, choosing among endive, escarole, chicory, sorrel, arugula, dandelion, purslane, watercress, and so on, either singly or in combination. Some Sephardim choose celery leaves, which tastes sweet at first but then turns bitter in the mouth—a metaphor for the Israelites' sojourn in Egypt. And others have used wasabi, mustard greens, or, in a multicultural family, even the spicy Korean condiment kim chee.

Maror is eaten by all the participants, so if you do not have room on the seder plate for enough maror, put the additional in a separate bowl.

HAROSET
This is the fruit and nut dip symbolic of the clay or mortar the Israelites used to construct the pyramids; for fun, if your haroset paste is stiff enough, sculpt it into a pyramid shape on the seder plate.

Today some hosts like to offer two or three harosets from different communities, reflecting the diversity of the Jewish people (see
Classic Ashkenazi Haroset
,
Grandma Dorothy's Haroset
,
Date Haroset
, and
Tangy Haroset Bites
for suggestions). You'll need plenty of haroset for everybody; serve the extra in a separate bowl.

HAZERET
Many seder plates call for a second bitter herb in addition to the maror, to be used in the traditional Hillel sandwich: matzoh enclosing a filling of bitter herbs and haroset. This may be any of the bitter foods not used previously for maror. Plan to have enough hazeret for each guest, since it will be eaten during the service.

ZEROA (FOREARM)
The roasted shankbone recalls the ancient Paschal lamb sacrifice in the Temple. It also starkly represents the protective arm of God: the Israelites marked their doorposts with blood from the lamb slaughtered on the eve of the Exodus. Seeing this sign, the Angel of Death “passed over” their homes, sparing them from God's tenth and final plague, the slaying of the firstborn males.

A lamb shank, poultry wing or neck, or, for vegetarians, a beet (mentioned in the Talmud, because beets “bleed”) may be used; the zeroa is not eaten at the seder. It is roasted and scorched to simulate the burnt sacrificial offering. To prepare it, place the bone under the broiler or on a sheet of heavy-duty foil in a very hot oven until it is browned all over. Or spear it with a long-handled fork and char it over an open flame on the stove. Roast the beet, if using, on a sheet of foil, unwrapped, in a hot oven, until browned at the edges.

BEITZAH
This roasted egg is symbolic of the festival sacrifice each Jew brought to the ancient Temple, as well as a complex metaphor for spring, life, mourning, and rebirth. The egg, like the shankbone, is not eaten during the regular seder service, though many Sephardim put one of the
Huevos Haminados
here that all the celebrants will later eat at the beginning of the meal. Ashkenazim use a roasted hard-boiled egg. To prepare it, hard-boil an egg then wrap it, still in its shell, in heavy-duty foil, and place it in a hot oven until lightly charred. Or use tongs to hold the hard-boiled egg (again, unshelled) over an open burner flame, or place under the broiler just until lightly burnt. Whichever method you choose, be sure to hard-boil the egg first—otherwise, you'll end up with an egg explosion.

Vegans who do not use eggs can substitute spring flowers like potted crocuses and daffodils or violets.

Arrangement of the ritual foods on the seder plate varies not only according to tradition, but also from place to place; in fact, Jews in Holland may use three different plates for the ceremonial foods, while Greek Jews set the foods in a basket and Yemenites place them directly on the table. But most commonly, the seder plate is assembled as follows:

Picture the plate as a clock. The zeroa (shankbone) is placed at 2 o'clock; haroset (fruit and nut paste) is at 4; if the second bitter herb (hazeret) is used, it is set at 6 o'clock; karpas (spring vegetable) is at 8 o'clock; and beitzah (the egg) is put at 10. Maror (the bitter herb) may be placed at either 12 o'clock or set in the middle of the plate.

“Everyone who adds their interpretation to the story is worthy of praise,” the Haggadah tells us, and many Jewish families include new, nontraditional items on the seder plate. Here are two of the most popular.

POTATO PEELS
Survivors of the Holocaust and their children, recalling what a blessing it was to have a potato peel—it could mean the difference between life and death in the concentration camps—began including the peels as a symbol of the Holocaust and today's hunger and famines. For many Jews fleeing the famines of Ethiopia, potatoes—in amounts small enough for their shrunken bodies to accept—were the first food tasted when they immigrated to Israel.

ORANGE
Some new seder plates are designed with a special place for an orange. Theologian Susannah Heschel, in “Orange on the Seder Plate,” explains that in the original ritual she created based on a story she had read in a feminist Haggadah, she asked everyone to take a segment of a tangerine, “say the blessing over it, and eat it to symbolize our solidarity with Jewish lesbians and gay men as well as with others who are marginalized within the Jewish community [including widows, like her mother]. Since each tangerine segment has a few seeds, we added the gesture of spitting them out . . . repudiating the sin of homophobia.”