March 14, 2002

New Cookbooks Stir Up Passover Delicacies

Leave a Comment / Celebrations/Simchas / Rahel Musleah

Whether you are looking for a memorable seder gift, new recipes for Passover or a break from cleaning to salivate over what you might but will probably never prepare, enjoy sifting through this refreshing and unusual batch of recently published kosher cookbooks and books that feature kosher cuisine.

“The Foods of Israel Today,” by Joan Nathan (Knopf, $40), wins as most comprehensive new kosher cookbook. Nathan guides readers on her trademark journeys through food, history and culture, visiting different ethnic communities and individual personalities along the way.

Try Iraqi halek (date jam) for charoset, an Iranian recipe with 20 ingredients from hazelnuts to pomegranate juice or an Israeli revisionist charoset featuring the taste of both Ashkenazic and Sephardic cuisine — raisins, toasted pecans and almonds, date paste, apples, cinnamon and wine. Arabic Caesar salad substitutes matzah for pita bread, asparagus comes alive with Jaffa oranges and fresh ginger vinaigrette, Natan Sharansky’s mother shares her gefilte fish recipe and the King David Hotel parts with its recipe for chocolate-covered coconut macaroons.

“The Scent of Orange Blossoms: Sephardic Cuisine from Morocco,” by Kitty Morse and Danielle Mamane (Ten Speed, $24.95), borrows its title from the orange blossom-scented couscous of the last evening of Passover. Mamane, a member of the dozen families remaining in the Jewish community of Fez, converted her unwritten recipes to measures and spoonfuls, urged on by Morse, a cookbook author and Casablanca native.

Following the maxim of Morocco’s Sephardic cooks — “first, you eat with your eyes” — this lusciously photographed cookbook celebrates a distinctive cuisine and heritage. A chapter on basic ingredients and methods precedes menus for the holidays and recipes according to courses. Since Sephardim permit legumes on Passover, recipes feature a cilantro-laced fava bean soup and fava bean salad, potato and meat pie, and lamb shoulder basted with soy sauce. Desserts vary from candied carrots to figs in orange juice, and dates filled with almond paste.

“Jewish Cooking for Dummies,” by Faye Levy (Hungry Minds, $19.99), a practical primer on Jewish cooking, offers an introduction to Jewish cooking, a guide to holidays and preparation tips. The Passover chapter — “What Happened When the Bread Didn’t Rise” — urges cooks to make the most of Passover ingredients to create standards like charoset and matzah balls; side dishes from asparagus and carrots with lemon dressing to Sephardic spinach casserole, and featured treats include pecan chocolate cake and almond macaroons.

In “The Mensch Chef, or Why Delicious Jewish Food Isn’t an Oxymoron” (Clarkson Potter, $18.95), author Mitchell Davis, director of publications for the James Beard Foundation, makes no bones about his mission: “Before I tell you what this cookbook is, let me tell you what it’s not. It’s not a comprehensive cookbook with a year’s worth of recipes and menus for family and friends. It’s not an impressive collection of never-before-eaten Jewish recipes from around the country or around the world. There are no dishes from lost tribes living in Africa and nothing that requires margarine. It’s not a reference book about the laws of kashrut filled with helpful hints about how you can make kosher food taste like haute French cuisine (or Italian, or Chinese)…. I like to think of this book as an Ashkenazi ABCs, a book of good, solid recipes with plenty of explanation for traditional Jewish dishes…. It’s a book for the first time you have to host a Passover seder, and you don’t know what to serve.” Among the many recipes usable for Passover, enjoy farfel with mushrooms and onions,”the secret-is-pears brisket,” chocolate-dipped macaroons, chocolate-caramel matzah crunch and sponge cake.

There’s even a section on Yiddish for cooks. Definition of a mensch? “Someone who makes a nice meal and then gives you the leftovers to take home.”

“Judaikitsch: Tchotchkes, Schmattes, and Nosherei,” by Jennifer and Victoria Traig, photographs by Dwight Eschliman (Chronicle Books, $14.95), is a hilarious and irreverent look at Jewish tradition. Chapters dedicated to different Jewish holidays feature funky crafts and creative cooking from Spice Girls spice boxes to Berry Manilow, a raspberry pudding. A Passover purse that looks like a Manischewitz matzah meal box requires over 10,000 orange seed beads, 6,000 green ones and 4,500 white ones, but the end result is a “one-of-a-kind piece of heirloom kitsch.” Other Passover projects include a stylized ’50s-inspired seder plate and gefilte fish platter. Recipes include “Matzah Meteors” (matzah balls) and “Little Miss Muffins” (popovers).

Jennifer Abadi’s tribute to her Syrian Jewish heritage, “A Fistful of Lentils” (Harvard Common, $24.95), is an “intimate culinary food album” featuring 125 recipes, family anecdotes and stories of Syrian Jewish culture. Abadi’s Passover menu suggests a date charoset, spinach-mint soup (you’d have to leave out the yogurt or use a substitute for a kosher meat meal); roast leg of lamb; chicken with prunes and honey; long-grain white rice cooked with oil, onions and salt (if you’re Sephardic); and mish mosh m’fis’dok — ice-cold apricots and green pistachios floating in a light perfume of rose water.

A number of vegetable-based cookbooks just published by Harvard Common also offer creative suggestions that could be adapted for Passover: “The Roasted Vegetable” by Andrea Chesman ($12.95) and “Mediterranean Vegetables: A Cook’s ABC of Vegetables and Their Preparation” by Clifford Wright ($29.95).

“The Book of Jewish Cooking,” by Denise Phillips, photographs by David Murray (H.P. Books, $12), is a slim volume of 80 recipes, illustrated with step-by-step photographs. Inspired by regional and contemporary cuisine, the recipes are far from the stereotypically kosher entries. Nothing here is categorized by holiday, so page through the recipes to find those that can be made for Passover: cranberry and turkey bites, honey-glazed chicken breast, chicken and garlic potatoes, smoked trout soufflé, chocolate baked Alaska, lime mousse with amaretto. Then drool over the ideas for after-Passover meals: sun-dried tomato tartlets, Stilton and sherry crostini, toffee apple crumble and much more.

Carole Sobell, a leading Jewish caterer in England, has compiled her favorite recipes in “New Jewish Cuisine” (Interlink, $26.95). Again, no Passover-specific dishes, but plenty of salads, meats and desserts to choose from.

The Jewish Cultural Tapestry, by Steven Lowenstein (Oxford, $30), takes a more scholarly look at the diversity of Jewish culture, comparing and contrasting folk traditions and regional customs throughout the Jewish world. Lowenstein explores languages, names, religious practice, cuisine, costume, music, appearance and the influence of modernity. His recipes for holidays and Shabbat features mina de cordero (matzah pie with lamb filling) from Greece and Turkey, matzekloss (matzah dumplings) from Germany, and Uzbekistan Passover soup, with onion, carrot, tomato and coriander.

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A Letter to Tom Friedman

Leave a Comment / Worldwide / Rabbi David Eliezrie

Dear Tom,

I heard you had a great trip to Saudi Arabia. In the privacy of their homes people removed their veils and expressed their true feelings. Even the crown prince, the guy who really runs Saudi Arabia, spent some time with you.

Apparently he has a great new idea. Israel should leave the West Bank, Jerusalem and the Golan Heights and the Arab states will recognize the Jewish state. Sounds great. There is only one problem. This is what then-Prime Minister Ehud Barak offered Yasser Arafat and Syria’s President Bashar Al Assad just a year or two ago.

When Arafat rejected the deal, Barak implored then-President Bill Clinton to use his famous persuasive powers to help him convince Arafat to take the deal. Arafat wasn’t interested. He wanted a few million refugees to fill Israeli towns and cities, displacing the present Jewish population. When Arafat did not get his way, he launched Intifada Two.

It’s a funny thing about you guys on the political left. You don’t seem to learn from your mistakes. From time to time we talk, and I remember telling you two years ago, "Tom, if Israel gives up the Golan and Assad decides he wants to go to war, we will have a serious problem." You said, "You’re right," but you still felt we should take the risk for peace.

Let’s get real. We took the risk. We gave Arafat the land, and today 90 percent of the Palestinians live on land the PA controls. We sweetened the package by giving them guns and training their 40,000-man police force to use automatic weapons (by the way, there is no police force in the United States that carries those kinds of guns). Everyone was told not to worry, Arafat would control the terrorists and peace would reign.

We on the right, who said, "Hey, let’s take a deeper look," were lambasted. When we pointed out that the Palestinian schools teach kids to be suicide bombers, we were told the curriculum is "under development." One those graduates, an 18-year-old Palestinian teenager, blew up a bunch of kids and their parents coming home from services on March 2. When we mentioned the fact that Arafat spoke in English one way, and to his own people he still spoke about war, we were told "he doesn’t really mean it." When we said they would use their land as a base to shoot at Jerusalem again, we were informed the Israeli army could handle any problem. Just ask the residents of Gilo about that.

The Oslo Accords transformed the political equation. By taking Arafat — known for hijacking planes, killing children and murdering Olympic athletes from Tunis to Ramallah — we empowered him. Israel rewarded him for his years of terror; it even helped arrange a Nobel Prize. Instead of the Palestinians seeing the acts as one of strength, they viewed it as weakness. When Israel unilaterally left Lebanon, they said, "We drove the Jews out, and we will soon drive them out of all of Palestine."

Over the last few weeks, while you’ve been floating your Saudi proposal and the left fringe has been raising its head in Israel, again the violence has been escalating. Why? It’s simple: Arafat thinks he’s going to get his way and you guys are empowering him once again.

Tom, we tried your ideas. Your "Land for Peace" approach didn’t work. We gave up the land and we have no peace. What we do have is a weakened military position. The world, especially the Europeans, love us even less. Recently, when Sharon finally started to make a serious effort to eradicate the terrorists, Powell complained. — this as he is bombing Afghanistan.

Today, Arafat is sending the graduates of Ramallah High to bomb us and his police force to shoot at us. His buddies in Hamas are making rockets, and the Fatah that he personally controls launches attacks daily.

It’s time to get real. We tried to be nice and it didn’t work. Unless we transform the political environment once again, things will never get better. It’s time to send Arafat and his buddies back to Tunis. Don’t worry, the PLO has tons of money packed away in banks around the world. They can afford the move. We can even let him take his Nobel Prize along so he can put in on the wall to remember those few fond years he had in Gaza and the West Bank.

As long as we allow his terrorist state to continue to exist, we will never have peace. Today, the Palestinians think Israel is weak, and they dream of taking all of Israel. It’s time to give them a reality check. Israel should take a cue from the United States. They got rid of the Taliban, so, too, the Palestinian Authority must be uprooted. If not, their dreams will continue to be our nightmares. Maybe after we change the curriculum in their schools and shut down their radio stations that spew hatred, a new generation of Palestinians will grow up that will leave the dreams of destroying Israel behind.

With them there might be something to talk about.

Sincerely,

David Eliezrie

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Haggadah Returns to Tradition

Leave a Comment / Celebrations/Simchas / Gaby Wenig

“The Open Door: A Passover Haggadah,” edited by Rabbi Sue Levi Elwell, art by Ruth Weisberg. (CCAR Press, $19.95)

When the call went out to find an artist to work on “The Open Door,” a new Reform haggadah, Ruth Weisberg knew she just had to apply. Weisberg, 59, a noted artist and dean of fine arts at USC, had done a lot of research and given lectures about the Passover storybooks, and they were something that she felt passionately about.

“I felt I had a special insight into what enriching Jewish visual culture might mean to Jewish culture in general,” Weisberg said. “In a sense, visual culture had been somewhat neglected, and we tended to think of the work of interpretation and commentary as textual work. But I thought it did not have to be textual work, it could be images.”

Weisberg worked with Rabbi Sue Levi Elwell, who edited the text, to create a haggadah that both built on traditional Reform practices and encompassed new rituals. They designed “The Open Door,” sponsored by the Central Conference of American Rabbis, United Hebrew Congregations and Hebrew Union College, to be a haggadah that is easy to use but still inspiring and thought-provoking.

“The text is organized differently to previous reform haggadahs,” Weisberg said. In “The Open Door,” “you have the service that you follow all the way through, with a considerably larger degree of Hebrew, but with more transliteration, so that there are more ways into the text. There is the complete service, but what you have on either side of the text are extra texts and elective readings that are very rich and extremely varied, and they come from all different sources and different cultures.”

There are Sephardic readings and Ashkenazic readings, and there are Martin Luther King readings. “Every year you can use this haggadah differently, and have it reflect what is going on in the world, or particular concerns of that year,” she said.

The haggadah has been modernized in other ways as well. In an effort to be inclusive, Weisberg and Elwell amended the God language in the text to make it gender-neutral, and while feminist innovations have been added, such as the Cos Miriam (Miriam’s Cup — a parallel to Elijah’s cup, but is filled with water), also included are more traditional observances, such as hand washing, which was absent from the most well-known Reform haggadah, the Baskin-Bronstein haggadah.

“It is probably the most traditional Reform haggadah that has ever been published, but at the same time it is very innovative,” Weisberg said.

As the artist for the project, Weisberg believed that she had more to offer than simple illustrations that accompanied the text. “My ideas for images affected the editor,” Weisberg said. “These were not afterthought illustrations of the text, but were really embedded in the process of bringing this haggadah into fruition. That is really an important distinction, and it is much more interesting to work that way.”

The drawings in the haggadah reflect hours of discussions that Weisberg had with the editor, friends, members of the New Emmanuel Minyan at her congregation Temple Emmanuel in Beverly Hills and Rabbi Laura Geller. Together, they grappled with the text of the haggadah, and her drawings reflect the conclusions they reached.

In one drawing, “Eagles and Gazelles,” Weisberg strived to create a sense of freedom that was joyously uplifting. “There is a text that is used in the Baskin-Bronstein haggadah that talks about ‘eagles wings with the swift gazelles,’ and it is a verse that gives you the sense of what freedom feels like,” Weisberg said.

“It is very buoyant, and in the Baskin illustrations, which I admire, the eagle is very predatory, and it is not buoyant, and it is not about freedom. I really wanted to do an image of an eagle that soared, that had the feeling of liberation, and I feel that I have captured it,” she said.

Weisberg also worked to create images for parts of the text that were usually neglected by other haggadah artists, such as the story of the Hebrew midwives, Shifra and Puah.

The end result is a haggadah that Weisberg hopes will become a classic, but will also be particularly powerful this year.

“Each year, no matter what is happening in our lives and in the world, this story of slavery and freedom always has a special resonance in the world,” Weisberg said. “This year I imagine that it would be especially meaningful for all of us, because I think that we are all aware of the preciousness of our freedom and some of the threats against us.

For more information, please contact the Central
Conference of American Rabbis at (212) 972-3636 or visit http://www.ccarnet.org/haggadah/

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Seder, The Spago Way

Leave a Comment / Celebrations/Simchas / Judy Bart Kancigor

You’d think after serving 1,650 at the Governor’s Ball following the Oscars, chef Wolfgang Puck would take a vacation. But four days later, on March 28, he and wife, interior designer Barbara Lazaroff, will host their 18th annual Passover seder gathering at his famed Spago Beverly Hills.

Despite the $175 per-person price tag (proceeds to benefit Mazon, the international hunger relief organization) the event is always a sellout, with families returning year after year for a seven-course meal that borrows from both Ashkenazic and Sephardic cuisines.

“If I would become Jewish, I would become Sephardic because of the cooking,” says Puck, whose braised Moroccan lamb with almonds and apricots is a perennial favorite. “But just like Thanksgiving without the turkey is not Thanksgiving, Passover without the gefilte fish, without the chicken soup, is not Passover.”

This is not your grandma’s gefilte fish, however. Puck’s is flavored with fresh tarragon and poached in cabbage leaves. Even the matzah gets the Spago treatment, flavored with shallots and thyme and baked in his wood-burning ovens. “We have to make double matzah at least, because everybody wants a CARE package to take home,” he says.

One year, he decided to put chili flakes in the matzah for the Moroccan contingent that shlep from Montreal each year and who love spicy food. “There was so much chili,” Puck recalls, “that everybody was coughing.”

Puck credits his mother-in-law, Ellie, with teaching him the fine art of matzah ball making. “When I used to make matzah balls,” he says, “I would get overanxious to put a lot of matzah meal right away into the egg mixture, and then they got pretty hard, so I watched her make them. She keeps them soft and light.”

The Spago seder is a homey affair with family and friends pitching in, “only instead of for 20, it’s for 250,” says Puck, who recalls one year when he was making the gefilte fish, his mother-in-law was preparing the seder plate and Judy Gethers (of New York Ratner’s fame) was manning the matzah balls. While Gethers left to go to the beauty shop, Puck decided to trick her. “I made her a matzah ball hard as a rock and served it to her. She couldn’t put her spoon in it. Ten seconds went by and she wouldn’t even look up. She thought she was going to die in the chair, until she realized that only hers was dark and everyone else’s was nice.”

This year’s guests will get a bonus as cookbook author Joan Nathan (“The Foods of Israel Today” and “Jewish Cooking in America”) will be joining Puck and help to explain the symbolism of the seder foods. For the first time in 22 years Nathan will not be hosting her own seder in her Washington, D.C., home where guests have included Molly O’Neil, Sheila Lukins and a Moroccan ambassador. “Jean Kirkpatrick comes every year, but mostly it’s just family and friends,” says Nathan. “Before the seder I usually have a gefilte fish-in. A few women bring their pots, and we make gefilte fish together.”

Nathan always prepares five different charosets for the seder. “To me, it shows the wanderings of the Jews. It’s a very good lesson for people on where it began and what it’s become, and so I have one from Israel, Latin America, of course Eastern Europe, which is apples and nuts. The Venetian charoset I really like. Then I like to use an old Sephardic recipe where you roll them into little balls.”

A family tradition Nathan hopes to bring to Spago is the little drama her children, now 16, 20 and 24, have staged every year — what son David calls a cabaret of Ten Commandments. “David is usually Moses,” Nathan says. “He stutters very well, and of course everyone fights to be God. It’s hysterical, and we’re going to try to get the kids to do it at Spago. Wolfgang’s kids [Cameron, 12, and Byron, 7] are the perfect age for it.”

The seder itself will be led for the fifth year by Rabbi Arnie Rachlis and Cantor Ruti Braier of University Synagogue in Irvine. “I’m really glad that Barbara and Wolfgang are so committed to Mazon,” Rachlis says. “We’re able to reach a whole group of people who maybe didn’t know that much about it.”

Both rabbi and cantor wear wireless microphones as they make their way through the crowd. “I think of myself as the rabbinical galloping gourmet,” he says. “Barbara has chosen the haggadahs. It’s very playful. People read. There’s humor as well as serious discussion. Many of the guests are Spago regulars. It has become a real fraternity and sorority of friends.”

Venetian Charoset

1 1/2 cups chestnut paste
10 ounces dates, chopped
12 ounces figs, chopped
2 tablespoons poppy seeds
1/2 cup chopped walnuts
1/2 cup chopped almonds
1/2 cup pine nuts
Grated rind of one orange
1/2 cup white raisins
1/4 cup chopped dried apricots
1/2 cup brandy
Honey to bind
Combine all the ingredients, gradually adding just enough brandy and honey to make the mixture bind.
Makes about four cups.

From “The Jewish Holiday Kitchen” by Joan Nathan (Schocken Books).

Wolfgang Puck’s Braised Moroccan-style Lamb with Almonds, Prunes and Dried Apricots

1 boned and trimmed lamb shoulder, about 2 pounds
2 teaspoons ground cumin
1 1/2 teaspoons freshly ground black pepper
1/2 teaspoon chopped fresh thyme
1 teaspoon kosher salt, plus more to taste
3 tablespoons olive oil
1 large onion, coarsely chopped
1 large carrot, peeled and coarsely chopped
1 rib celery, coarsely chopped
2 cloves garlic, thinly sliced
1 teaspoon chopped fresh rosemary
1 cup dry red wine
2 cups lamb or low-sodium chicken broth, plus up to 1/2 cup, if needed
1 medium tomato, trimmed and coarsely chopped
1 cup blanched whole almonds, lightly toasted
1/2 cup pitted prunes
1/2 cup dried apricots

1. Preheat the oven to 450F.

2. Lay the lamb out, skin side down, and sprinkle with 1 teaspoon of the cumin, 1/2 teaspoon of the pepper, and the thyme. Roll and tie well with butcher’s string. Sprinkle the outside with 1/2 teaspoon of the pepper and 1/2 teaspoon of the salt.

3. Heat 2 tablespoons of the olive oil in a large ovenproof casserole dish. Add the lamb and cook over medium-high heat until browned on all sides. Remove the lamb from the casserole.

4. Add the remaining 1 tablespoon oil to the casserole. Add the onion, carrot, celery and garlic. Cook, stirring over medium-high heat until vegetables soften, about five minutes. Stir in the remaining teaspoon cumin, the rosemary and the red wine. Bring to a boil and cook about 3 minutes, stirring with a wooden spoon and scraping browned bits off the bottom of the casserole. Stir in broth, tomato, 1/2 teaspoon salt and 1/2 teaspoon pepper. Return the lamb to the casserole, cover, place in the oven and bake until meat is almost tender, about one hour.

5. Remove the casserole from the oven and take out the meat. Remove the vegetables from the pot with a slotted spoon and place them in a blender. Blend until smooth. Scrape the mixture back into the pot and stir well. Place over medium heat and cook about five minutes to thicken slightly. Return the meat to the sauce and surround with the almonds, prunes and apricots. Cover and bake until the meat is very tender and the fruit is soft, about 15 minutes.

6. Remove the lamb from the casserole, cut and remove the string and cut the lamb into thin slices. If the sauce is too thick, thin with a little additional broth. Divide the lamb among eight plates and spoon some sauce over the top. Serve immediately, passing any remaining sauce separately.

Makes 8 servings.

Recipe is courtesy “The New York Times Passover Cookbook,” edited by
Linda Amster (William Morrow & Co., 1999), and has been adapted from
“Adventures in the Kitchen,” by Wolfgang Puck (Random House, 1991).

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Not Your Grandmother’s Macaroons

Leave a Comment / Celebrations/Simchas / Michael Aushenker

You knew this was bound to happen.

Just this past Purim, The Journal reported about how hamantashen were becoming a hot food delicacy outside of Jewish circles. Now, two enterprising Los Angeles-area women are bent on doing the same for yet another holiday dessert staple — the macaroon.

“They’re not just for Passover anymore!” is the official slogan of Melfer’s Macaroons, the West Los Angeles-based gourmet macaroon business founded by Melissa Sanders and Jennifer Klein. And we have Sanders’ uncle Sid to thank for the original chocolate macaroon family recipe.

“I was the only third-generation person baking,” recalls Sanders, 32, of her childhood. She was only 8 years old when she began baking batches of the delicious family treats.

Before long, Sanders was making the magical macaroons every holiday season and beyond. By the time she was attending McGill University in Montreal, Sanders was sending batches of her family holiday confection to friends at other colleges.

Sanders, who studied sociology at school, recently entered the gourmet macaroon business as “kind of a fluke.” One day, Klein, 36, asked Sanders for the macaroon recipe, and Sanders told Klein to come over and bake some. “I said OK, and we baked a few hundred,” Klein says.

Last December, Sanders and Klein tested the market waters by selling the macaroons at a Wyndham Bel Age charity event. The baked morsels went over well, and the women decided to enter into business together. The friends, who are both single, now spend a lot of time together baking up batches of 50 macaroons at a time, usually in five-hour spurts.

“I don’t think our friends realize the work that goes into it,” says Klein, whose day job is working as a freelance producer on commercials and shows, such as “America’s Most Wanted.” “They’ll say, ‘Oh, you’re baking today.’ But, we’re also packaging and marketing.”

There’s marketing and then there’s taste: The freshly baked treats live up to their promise — far superior to anything one might find on the supermarket shelves around Passover. Consider the exotic flavors Melfer’s offers: original chocolate, chocolate chip, white chocolate chip, chocolate truffle, chocolate cappuccino, chocolate orange, white chocolate pina colada.

There are also monthly novelty flavors. February’s was white chocolate raspberry, which capitalized on Valentine’s Day. Sanders and Klein even whipped up a batch of candy cane-flavored macaroons just this past Christmas.

These macaroons even look different — far more textured and attractive to the eye. Call it a Passover makeover.

Currently, Melfer’s Macaroons are only available through Vicente Foods and through the official Melfer’s Macaroons Web site. And if you’re allergic to chocolate, you need not apply. Melfer’s Macaroons’ gourmet flavors are all chocolate-based. However, the pair are working on a sugarless recipe for diabetics.

Melfer’s also produces gift baskets, which run in the $50-$83 range and contain a dozen macaroons packaged with an assortment of items, such as bubble bath, bath soaps and salts, champagne flutes, hot fudge and hot cocoa mix, gourmet coffee, herbal teas and salmon paté.

Although the macaroons are already made with only natural, kosher ingredients, the ladies are presently pursuing official kashrut certification for their mouthwatering morsels, so that they can get Melfer’s Macaroons into Los Angeles’ kosher stores.

Judging by the current word-of-mouth on their product, Sanders and Klein should be spending a lot more time together in the months to come.

“Thank God we haven’t become bored of each other yet,” Sanders says.

For more info visitwww.melfersmacaroons.com

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Bittersweet Music

Leave a Comment / Celebrations/Simchas / George Robinson

Despite its air of celebration, Passover is a bittersweet remembrance, one in which the joy of liberation is marked by the pain of recollection of what we were liberated from and what we lost on the way from Egypt to Eretz Yisrael. Our seder liturgy reflects that ambivalence, although it may require hearing some unfamiliar music to remind us.

Two recently released CDs offer an excellent opportunity to reflect on the delicate balance of this festival. One is largely a reminder of the jubilation we feel at the seder table, yet, because it is specifically a tribute to Yiddish Passovers past and present, it inevitably has a certain appropriate somberness underlying its up-tempo party feel. The other is a collection of songs written about the liberation of Mauthausen; not surprisingly, its joys and sorrows are also mingled.

“Songs My Bubbe Should Have Taught Me, Volume 1: Passover” marks the debut on CD of singer Lori Cahan-Simon. Cahan-Simon has put together a sprightly collection of Yiddish Passover songs, the vast majority of which I haven’t heard before. Those who grew up in the secular socialist Yiddish world — Workmen’s Circle, the Farband and the like — will undoubtedly recognize many of them with great pleasure. She has also assembled a terrific group of musicians, most of them fellow Midwesterners, including fiddle player Steven Greenman, percussionist Alexander Fedoriouk and singer Michael Alpert.

Cahan-Simon has one of those delightful rough-and-ready soprano voices, expressive even when it’s not conventionally pretty and very flexible. She makes a wonderful pair with Alpert’s reedy tenor and my favorite cuts on this charming record are their seven duets. The musicianship is very high caliber, with some beautiful fiddling by Greenman. Best of all, these songs haven’t been recorded to death, so if you are looking to add some unfamiliar spices to your seder table’s musical mix, this is a great place to start.

There’s even a version of the Four Questions I’d never heard before, and a “Dayenu” that veers between big-band swing and Beethoven-on-the-rocks.

The fine Greek composer Mikis Theodorakis was himself a captive in German prisons during WWII. His close friend Iacovos Kambanellis, a poet, was interned in Mauthausen. In 1965, Theodorakis set four of Kambanellis’ poems about that hellish experience to music. The resulting piece has gone through many evolutionary stages. Its most recent incarnation is “Mauthausen Trilogy” (Piano). In this CD, the Greek versions of the poems are sung by the great Maria Farantouri, a frequent collaborator with Theodorakis, the English versions by Nadia Weinberg, the Hebrew by Elinoar Moav Veniadis. The recording closes with a 1995 speech by Simon Wiesenthal delivered at Mauthausen.

There is a family resemblance to be found among the songs of the Mediterranean, and many of Theodorakis’ warmest melodies could just as easily have been written by and for Jewish musicians. Farantouri’s plangent, hoarse contralto is particularly well suited to his laments, finding the perfect balance between the agonized and the triumphant.

Perhaps this is not a CD to play for the children at the seder; they’ll have much more fun with the Cahan-Simon (although they will probably miss some of its musical nuances). But “Mauthausen Trilogy” is powerful stuff and would make my short list of great music about the Shoah.

On the other hand, if you are looking for unfamiliar Pessah music suitable to your own seder table, two recent albums of North African music, imported from France, offer some interesting alternatives: Alain Scetbon’s “Haggada de Pessah — Tunisian Passover” (Ness) and Elie Zerbib’s “Haggada de Pessah — Algerian Passover” (Ness). These two CDs include French narration by the artists putting the musical selections in the larger context of the seder, but you probably won’t need the help (assuming you understand French in the first place). The Scetbon and Zerbib sets have the intimate and slightly rough feel of an evening at a friend’s home. The music on both is quite interesting, very reminiscent of Arabic music from the Maghreb, and will be unfamiliar to most readers. How much does professional slickness matter to you? I would opt for the two French sets for authenticity and kavanah (sincerity); at their best they have a tremendous power.

The above CDs range in price from $16.98 to $19.98.
Exclusive distribution in the United States by Hatikvah Music, www.hatikvahmusic.com or (323) 655-7083.

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One People, Two Cuisines

Leave a Comment / Celebrations/Simchas / Beverly Levitt

Because my ancestors were from Eastern Europe, specifically Latvia, Lithuania and Vilna, I am Ashkenazi. Just as I thought all Jews spoke Yiddish, a language I delight in because it’s so colorful, I grew up thinking Jewish cooking was my mother’s brisket and carrot tzimmes, my Granny Fanny’s chopped liver and my Aunt Dorothy’s blintzes with sour cream. That’s not to mention the dishes my brothers and I used to giggle about because their names were so amusing — knaidlach, kreplach and knishes.

Now that we’ve all grown up, I’m not sure what was so funny. Maybe that’s the joy of childhood — you laugh at anything. Recently I’ve become fascinated by Sephardic cooking — maybe because I didn’t grow up with it, maybe because the combinations are so creative, maybe because its evolution is so interesting.

What is the difference between Ashkenazi and Sephardi cuisine?

Ashkenazi cuisine evolved in smaller, contained areas in Eastern Europe and therefore was insular and specific. It left little room for interpretation when it was presented to Jews in the United States, Canada, South America, South Africa, Palestine and the Western European countries of Belgium, England, France and Holland. According to Claudia Roden in “The Book of Jewish Food,” the Ashkenazic tradition of “poor food” — from people whose life had been filled with poverty and insecurity — greatly impacted the new communities, which embraced these life-sustaining recipes that had been passed down from generation to generation.

In contrast, the Sephardim have always encouraged those who moved from one area to another to establish a unique congregation in their new community.

When they migrated to areas as diverse as North and South Africa, the Middle East, India and later to the Mediterranean countries of Spain, Italy, Portugal, Bulgaria, Greece and Turkey, they embraced the customs and traditions of their new homes and incorporated not only the customs and cuisines of the areas they settled in, but the varied ingredients and cooking styles.

Sephardi cuisine is eclectic and regional, differing from country to country and city to city. It encompasses styles as diverse as Maghrebi Jewish — Moroccan, Tunisian, Algerian and Libyan; the Judeo-Arab cuisines of Syria, Lebanon, Iraq and Iran, and the Mediterranean. Therefore it combined sweet with sour, added nuts and fruits to meats and salads and encouraged experimentation with unusual fresh fruits and vegetables.

Because the Sephardi incorporated cooking traditions from both the economically and culturally deprived peoples in Islamic lands, as well as the aristocratic elite from Baghdad, Spain and the Ottoman world, some of the recipes are primitive and peasantlike, while others are refined and sophisticated. But even the “depressed” countries offered dishes requiring elaborate procedures, delicate flavorings and appealing presentations.

Fermenting agents such as yeast are banned, as are the five types of grain: wheat, barley, rye, oats and spelt. Bread, cakes, biscuits and all foods containing ingredients made from these grains are chametz. The Ashkenazim also forbid rice, dried corn, dried beans, peas and lentils, although the Sephardim allow them.

Because of the demands of cooking without grain or leaven, a whole range of ingredients are used in nontraditional ways. Instead of stuffing poultry and meat with breadcrumbs, we use matzah farfel, mashed potatoes, fruits, vegetables, nuts and seeds. While Ashkenazim don’t use grains, Sephardim use cracked wheat, ground rice and a variety of other cereal seeds.

Pastries are made from ground almonds, walnuts and hazelnuts; potato flour; potato starch; matzah meal, and matzah cake flour. The favorite cookie at Passover is macaroons, made of coconut, ground almonds, sugar and egg white. Fritters are made of matzah meal. And pancakes are replaced with matzah brie, using sheets of matzah soaked in beaten eggs.

Sephardim in Morocco barbecue during the holiday to remind us that our people left Egypt in such a hurry, they grilled foods over a wood fire. A popular Sephardi dish at Passover is fava bean soup because it was a favorite of the Egyptian slaves.

Many of the following recipes are by Toribio Prado, chef/owner at Cava Restaurant in Los Angeles who hosted a Sephardic Passover Dinner for many years.

MOROCCAN PASSOVER CHICKEN SOUP

Chicken soup knows no boundaries and is equally popular with both Sephardi
and Ashkenazi. When done well it is as highly prized as a vintage wine. The
variations are endless.

2 tablespoons olive oil
2 onions, sliced
2 leeks, sliced thin
3 carrots, sliced into rounds
1 2-pound chicken breast, boneless and skinless, sliced
2 quarts chicken stock (see recipe)
1 cup fava beans, dried and rehydrated with hot water
3 stalks celery, thinly sliced
2 cups water
1 cup white wine such as chardonnay
1 tablespoon ground coriander
Pepper to taste
1 cup cooked chickpeas
Kosher salt and white pepper to taste

Heat a large stockpot until very hot; pour oil into
pot. Add onions, leeks and carrots; heat until onions start to become
translucent. Add chicken breast to vegetable mix. When chicken is no longer
pink, add stock, fava beans, celery, water and wine. Add coriander and pepper.
Let soup come to boil; turn down to simmer. Skim soup for residue on top every
10 minutes or so, until it is clear. When vegetables are al dente add chickpeas,
salt and pepper. Serve hot. Serves six.

CHICKEN STOCK
8 pounds chicken bones
6 quarts cold water
1 onion, halved
2 stalks celery, halved
2 carrots, quartered
1 packet bouquet garni or
1/2 teaspoon each dried thyme, whole peppercorns, garlic and parsley stems tied in a cheesecloth.
Kosher salt to taste

Combine bones and water. Bring slowly to boil. Skim surface for coagulated residue. Simmer stock for five hours. Add onions, celery, carrots and sachet. Simmer for one hour more. Strain, cool and store in refrigerator until used. From Toribio Prado.

INDIAN SALADE COCHIN
(INDIAN TOASTED MANGO SALAD)

The simple combination of mangoes and cucumbers is at once sweet and tart, aromatic and pleasing. Regular cucumbers may be substituted if English cucumbers aren’t available.

1/4 cup fresh mint, chiffonade
1/4 cup freshly squeezed lime juice
Zest of 2 limes
1 tablespoon ground coriander
1/2 cup vegetable oil
1/4 cup walnut oil
1/4 cup red wine vinegar
1 teaspoon ground cumin
1/2 teaspoon white pepper
Kosher salt to taste
10 English cucumbers, skinned, seeded and sliced thin
3 large mangoes, peeled, sliced into 1/2-inch pieces

In a large mixing bowl add first nine ingredients. Whisk together until smooth. Add salt. Toss cucumbers with dressing. Brush mangoes with a little oil; grill until a nice brown color is achieved. Dice and add to salad. Serves six. Adapted from Toribio Prado.

T’FINA CAMOUNIA (TUNISIAN ROAST
LAMB)

This dish has a strong delicious flavor thanks to the combination of garlic, mint and sugar. The amount of garlic depends on your taste but it’s best to use sweet, young garlic. Those who love garlic call the dish “thoumia” (thoum means garlic). It takes two days to prepare so allow enough time.

1 3-pound leg of lamb, bone in, with fat trimmed
2 tablespoons fresh mint, chopped
2 tablespoons fresh rosemary, crushed
2 tablespoons fresh oregano, chopped
2 tablespoons brown sugar
2 tablespoons kosher salt
1 tablespoon fresh sage, chopped
1 tablespoon fresh thyme, chopped
1 tablespoon freshly ground black pepper
6 cloves garlic
1 tablespoon ground cumin
1/2 teaspoon turmeric
1/4 cup port wine
1/4 cup olive oil

In medium bowl, mix together all ingredients. Let sit overnight. Rub spice mixture all over lamb. Place in baking dish. Cover and let stand in refrigerator overnight.

Preheat oven to 375 F. Put lamb into oven, uncovered, for 30 minutes or until meat temperature reads 100 F. Turn oven down to 325 F. Bake lamb about 1 1/2 hours more. Lamb will be medium rare when internal temperature is 135-145 F. Serves six. Adapted from Toribio Prado.

AROMATIC COUSCOUS

The most famous of North African foods, couscous is served at all celebrations — from elaborate weddings to Sabbath dinners to Passover. Unfortunately, it is virtually impossible to find the unprocessed grain outside North Africa. Try to find couscous that is commercially “rolled” but not precooked. Although grains are a familiar sight on Sephardic tables during Passover, they are forbidden among the Ashkenazi.

4 cups chicken stock
Pinch saffron threads
1 tablespoon ginger, peeled and chopped; or 1 teaspoon ground ginger
Dash of ground cloves
2 teaspoons ground cumin
1 teaspoon ground coriander
1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg
Olive oil as needed
1 1/2 cups onion, diced
8 garlic cloves, peeled and chopped
2 cups couscous
1 cup Italian parsley, coarsely chopped

Place stock and spices into large stockpot. Bring to boil. In another pan add oil, onions and garlic. Sauté until soft and browned. Add onion and garlic mixture to water. Add couscous to stock. Turn fire off. Stir a little and cover. Add parsley. Let stand until liquid is completely absorbed. Break up cous cous with fork when ready to serve. Serves 6. From Toribio Prado.

POULET AUX DATTES (CHICKEN WITH
DATES)

This Moroccan combination has roots that go back to medieval Baghdad. It is important to taste and adjust the seasonings, because the right balance of flavors is a delicate matter in this dish. It usually needs plenty of black pepper to counteract the sweetness.

6 chicken quarters
4 tablespoons peanut or sunflower oil
2 large onions, coarsely chopped
2 teaspoons cinnamon
3/4 teaspoon mace
1/2 teaspoon nutmeg
1 tablespoon honey
Salt and plenty of black pepper to taste
1 cup pitted dates
Juice of 1/2 to 1 lemon
A pinch of saffron
1/2 cup blanched almonds, toasted or fried

In a large pan, sauté chicken pieces in oil for a few minutes, until lightly colored, turning them over once. Remove chicken. Add onions; cook on low heat until tender. Stir in cinnamon, mace, nutmeg and honey; pour in 1 3/4 cups water.

Stir well; add chicken pieces. Bring to boil, add salt and pepper; lower flame and simmer for 25 minutes. Add dates, lemon juice and saffron; cook for another five to 10 minutes or until chicken is tender. Place on serving platter, sprinkle with almonds. Adapted from “The Book of Jewish Food” by Claudia Roden, (Knopf, 1996).

TEZPISHTL (TURKISH ALMOND-NUT TORTE) WITH FIG
TOPPING

The perfection of this dish depends on the freshness of the nuts.

Syrup
2 cups sugar
2 cups water
2 teaspoons lemon juice
Cake
5 eggs
1 cup sugar
1/4 cup corn or sunflower oil
Juice and zest of 1 orange
2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
1 1/4 cups Passover fine matzah cake meal
1 1/4 cups almonds, blanched and finely chopped

To Make Syrup

In a saucepan mix sugar and water together; bring to boil. Add lemon juice; simmer over low heat for 10 minutes. Cool.

To Make Cake

Beat eggs until frothy; add sugar; continue to beat until golden and well mixed. Add remaining ingredients, one at a time; stir into batter. Pour into oiled and floured 13″ x 9″ x 2′ cake pan; bake at 350 F for 30 minutes. Test if it done with a toothpick. Remove cake from oven; pour cooled syrup over it. Let cake stand for two hours before serving to allow syrup to be absorbed. Makes one cake, about 18 pieces.From Toribio Prado.

HONEY AND MARINATED FIG TOPPING

1/2 pound dried white figs, washed and dried well
1 bottle port wine
1/2 cup sugar
1 teaspoon lemon juice
1 cup honey
Pinch of nutmeg
Pinch of cinnamon

Place figs and port wine in large bowl; marinate overnight. Drain figs; reserve wine. In large saucepan add sugar, lemon juice and honey. Simmer, being careful not to burn sugar. Raise flame to medium. Add reserved port wine, nutmeg and cinnamon. Reduce by half and add figs. Stir well. Serve with torte.

EARLY AMERICAN SEPHARDIC CHAROSET
BALLS

3 cups raisins
2 cups whole almonds, blanched
1 green apple, peeled and cored
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon or to taste

In a food grinder, coarsely grind raisins, 1 1/2 cups of the almonds, apple and cinnamon. If using a food processor, grind in quick pulses so as not to over-process. Set aside in bowl. Using your hands, press mixture into balls the size of large marbles. Press one of the remaining almonds into each charoset ball. Makes about four dozen balls. Adapted from “Jewish Cooking in America” by Joan Nathan, (Knopf, 1998).

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A Family Passover

Leave a Comment / Celebrations/Simchas / Beverly Levitt

Of all our family traditions, the Passover seder is the one we look forward to the most. We all fight over who will host it, but no matter, everyone pitches in with the cooking, making sure the seder plate is appropriately filled, the multicourse table properly set. My father and brother, Dennis, share responsibilities for hiding the afikomen and rewarding the lucky child who finds it. Although my father leads the service, with Dennis by his side, all generations participate, down to my 6-year-old granddaughter, Tiara.

Although we love retelling the story of the first Passover — we use our best Hollywood voices — and are often moved to tears at the horrors endured under Pharaoh, like any good story, we are lightened by the happy ending and the unique way we obtained our freedom. The only problem with poignant storytelling is that it is endless and it is often two hours before we get to the main course.

Because we are starving, we gratefully pass the parsley around, anxiously dipping it in salt water and hungrily stuffing it into our mouths. Next comes the hard-boiled egg, although I hate filling up on eggs when I know my favorite brisket isn’t far behind.

For most of us, the most fun is making the charoset sandwich — mixing the sweet fruit and nuts with the bitter horseradish and piling it between two pieces of matzah to symbolize the bitterness of slavery and the sweetness of freedom. The trick is to put just the right amount of horseradish, or else we are caught quite breathless and giant tears overwhelm our eyes.

Tiara always wants as much as the big people. But, I caution her to look at the other end of the table at her cousin, Joey, who is coughing and choking — he thinks he is impervious to his grandmother’s horseradish. When we are finally finished experiencing the trip through the Red Sea, out of Egypt and singing about the joys of spring, all of us matriarchs hurry to the kitchen to serve up the best meal of the year.

Baked Brisket

1 4- to 5-pound beef brisket
Kosher salt, to taste
Ground black pepper to taste
1 teaspoon paprika
3 to 4 onions, sliced
1 cup water
1 cup dry red wine
3 medium carrots, cut into chunks
3 to 5 whole garlic cloves
2 to 3 celery stalks, sliced
8 to 10 small new potatoes
1 tablespoon chopped fresh thyme
1 bay leaf

Preheat oven to 350 F. Rub both sides of meat with salt, pepper and paprika. Spread half the onions over bottom of a shallow roasting pan. Place brisket, fat side up, in the pan; top with remaining onions. Add 1/4 cup of water. Bake, uncovered, basting occasionally, until meat and onions begin to brown, about one hour.

Pour in enough of the remaining water and wine to reach halfway up the sides of the meat. Add remaining ingredients, cover and reduce heat to 300 degrees. Cook until meat is fork-tender and the thickest part of the brisket registers about 175 F on a meat thermometer. Cover brisket loosely with foil; let stand for 20 minutes before carving. Slice brisket diagonally against the grain, about 1/8-inch thick. Brisket can be prepared up to two days ahead and reheated in the gravy. Serve with horseradish or whole grain mustard. Total cooking time is about three to four hours (one hour per pound).

Adapted from "The World of Jewish Entertaining” by Gil Marks, (Simon & Schuster, 1998).

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Small Sacrifices

Leave a Comment / Torah / Rabbi Avrohom Czapnik

This week, we begin "Vayikra," the first book of Leviticus, the third book of the Torah. This section of the Torah is filled with many fascinating and important Torah concepts that we can relate to, including the laws of lashon hara (the prohibitions against speaking ill of others), kashrut (keeping kosher) and the well-known phrase: "Love your fellow as yourself."

One concept in this week’s parsha that some of us have difficulty understanding is that of korbanot (animal sacrifices) that were brought to the Temple in Jerusalem. You might ask, "How would the ritual sacrifice of an animal on the Temple altar help me atone for my inadvertent sins?"

Let’s start at the beginning. The very beginning. Sages tell us that during creation of the universe, Adam and Eve were created last to teach us the nobility of man as well as humility.

How does creation teach us these two concepts? Though it may not be politically correct, in Judaism, all things are not created equal. We are taught that there is a hierarchy of creation, and in it, man reigns supreme. God first created inanimate objects, followed by plant life, animals and, finally, man. Only mankind was created in the Almighty’s image and only man was given a divine mandate by God. Only man has the ability to choose freely between good and evil. Only man was put on this world to study the Torah and fulfill God’s commandments.

By serving the Almighty in this way, we perfect our souls, control our base instincts and elevate even mundane tasks into holy ones. Thus, mankind was created last in order to show us that all of creation was prepared for us — and is here to enable us to accomplish our noble purpose of serving the Almighty. If, on the other hand, we don’t live up to our potential and don’t fulfill our divine responsibilities, then we become in a sense less than the animals.

Animal sacrifice is a reminder that we are not equal, that we are elevated above all creatures and that we need to behave in a way that befits our status. Consequently, the act of sacrifice should bring us to repentance and regret.

The feelings of compassion we have for the animal being sacrificed remind us of our special role and can motivate us to repair the spiritual damage our actions have caused. This can be the noblest of all human endeavors, for only mankind can make a conscious decision to change himself and not act solely on instinct. Only man has the ability to break bad habits, change one’s attitudes, responses, and behaviors and thus elevate himself.

Furthermore, the concept of sacrifice becomes even clearer when we look at the actual translation and mistranslation of the word "korban." Korban really has little to do with sacrifice and much more to do with the Hebrew word karov (to be close). One didn’t just pay for the animal, sacrifice it and expect to be absolved. Part of the process of getting closer to God also included viduy (confession), sacrifice and self-examination.

This teaches us an important practical lesson: Sometimes people feel they have to sacrifice to live a religious life. In fact, the Almighty doesn’t expect us to sacrifice but rather wants us to make the right choices to bring us closer to Him.

People don’t say, "I sacrificed watching the ballgame to see a beautiful sunset." Rather they say, "I chose the sunset and as a consequence, I didn’t see the ballgame." So, too, we shouldn’t say, "I sacrificed going shopping to keep Shabbat," but rather, "I chose to be close to God by observing Shabbat, and the consequence was that I didn’t go shopping."

Studying about korbanot can help us remember our nobility and purpose in this world, while helping us re-prioritize so that we don’t "sacrifice" to serve God but attempt to come close to Him with joy instead.

May we be successful!

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