Monday March 25
The first night of Pesach crept up
on us suddenly, when we were still disorganized from our travels. Diane wrote us and mentioned that she was in
town and missing a seder, so we asked her to come over, and then put it all together
at the last minute. Holt even had the hagaddah loaded onto his i-pad.
We disinterred our long-frozen
lamb shank bone for the seder plate, and made some hardboiled eggs. Mr. Gene Green's local horseradish was the moror, fennel fronds for vegetables, and
water crackers for matzoh (since Kroger's only sold the giant 7-day
supply). The final element was Holt's All-American
charoses, a quick simmer of diced cameo
apples, pecans, raisins, dried cranberries, and local honey.
As a main dish, we made a
variation on Claudia Roden's pomegranate chicken: browned lots of sliced onions,
and then three chicken breasts, in purest goose fat (from Christmas goose 2006
- frozen goose fat stays good a long time!).
Then added a big slosh of wine and a couple of dollops of David Warda's
pomegranate jelly, and let it braise under cover until tender and done. Oh, and with it, we drank Wente morning fog
chardonnay, and a Provençal rosé.
Holt made an exquisite dice of
carrot and turnip, and sweated them in goose grease until they were jewel-like. Our salad was a thin-shaved bulb of fennel, dressed
with white balsamic and a few of its own fronds.
For dessert, Diane brought some chocolate
macaroons and Turkish delight, so traditional.
Happy Passover!
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