Passover is here........Bring on the Soul Food Part 1

Now for those of you who don't know me, I'm the farthest thing from a religious person.  But what I really enjoy about the holiday, any holiday, is that it brings family and friends together.  Usually around a meal when it comes to me.  Now the time has come for the Jewish holiday of Passover.

Small History Lesson:

 Passover is the holiday where Jews around the world celebrate the exodus for the evil Pharaoh who kept the Jews enslaved to build the pyramids.  During this time of escape, the Jews had no time to wait for their dough to rise for their bread.  So the bread that they had to eat resembled what we have today as Matzo.  So for 8 days we eat nothing (or try to eat nothing) that is made of flour or rises.  That list includes: bread of any sort, crackers, rice, pasta.  The first two nights are called the Seders.  These nights are meals that are served around a ceremony that really tells the story about how the slaves escaped Egypt.   Growing up and going to my grandparents who are Orthodox Jews, our ceremonies there would last sometimes up to 5 hours.  The ceremony at my house lasts about 15 minutes then onto the eats.

History lesson Over.

For me, this is a time when I have an excuse to entertain.  So this is what I have planned.

As a good entertainer does, I will have nibbles out for people to nosh on while we wait to start the dinner.  I have decided to make my egg salad with mushroom and a Pastrami Salmon.  I had made the Pastrami Salmon once a while ago and it was a huge hit.  So making it again I thought would be great.  I searched high and low for the recipe and couldn't find it.  So I found another one from the chef David Burke and thought I'd give it a try.  It calls for taking a 2 to 2 1/2 lbs piece of salmon with no skin on it and curing it with salt and herbs to sort of cook it.  So I have a 2 lb. piece here.

I kind of mauled it a little when I was taking the skin off.  My original goal was to go to Costco and get their Salmon because it is perfect for this.  Boneless and skinless.

So the recipe calls for 1 cup of salt and 1/2 a cup of sugar to be covering the entire piece of fish.  Then in a food processor puree 1/2 lb. of shallots, 2 bunches of Cilantro and 1 bunch of Parsley. Coat the entire fish in the puree and let it sit for two to three days.

My fish will sit for two days.  Then I'll mix a mustard, molasses, coriander seed, cayenne, and bay leaves and let it sit for one more night before serving it sliced.  With my new low salt diet, i'll be having very little of this but it's very dramatic when served right.  I hope it turns out ok.  You'll see the results either Monday or Tuesday.

For the rest of the meal, we'll be serving traditional Matzo ball soup which Anita makes the best I've had.  I'll be making for the main dish, Brisket, and three chickens done on the grill beer butt style.  our sides will be Broccoli, roasted red potatoes with rosemary and a vegetable medley consisting of Patty Pan Squash, baby organic carrots that are all sorts of beautiful colors, baby Vidalia onions, and baby zucchini.  If it turns out right it will be both beautiful and tasty.  I'm going to season it with honey and cumin.   We will also make a potato dish called kugel which takes almost the same batter as a potato pancake and makes it in a casserole dish.

As usual, Anita will out do herself in the dessert category.  She's got one Chocolate cheesecake made and is currently cooking a regular cheesecake.  we'll have coconut macaroons, and meringue cookies.

it will be a great feast that I'm looking forward to sharing with all of you.  I hope you enjoy reading about it as much as I have enjoyed both writing about it and preparing it.