Passover Menu

Holidays meals all celebrate tradition, but the Passover menu is more traditional than all other Jewish holidays, because a lot of the food is required for the ceremony: maror (horseradish), karpas (parsley in salt water), charoset* (apple/walnut mix), my family would have a kanipshin if I didn't serve matzo ball soup! So that just leave the meal to be rounded out with a main dish and some veggies, and a light dessert like meringues.

Seder Plate
1. Bone
2. Egg
3. Horseradish
4. Chroset
5. Non-bitter root vegetable
6. Karpas parsley

Also on the table 

Miram's and Elijah's cups

Wine for kiddish
Parsley in salt water
Matzo in cover
Elijah’s cup
Miriam's cup
Pillows for reclining
Water bowl & pitcher


Menu
Matzo Ball soup
Deviled eggs
Chicken
Veggies
Potatoes
dessert (meringues)

Shopping list
Chicken
Horseradish
parsley
parsnips
carrots
apples
potatoes
onions
walnuts
red wine
grape juice
eggs
matzo
matzo meal
quinoa


3 Days Ahead

• food shop
• make charoset
• make hard boiled eggs

*Charoset recipe
3 medium Gala or Fuji apples, peeled, cored, and finely diced
1 1/2 cups walnut halves, lightly toasted, cooled, and coarsely chopped
1/2 cup sweet red wine
1 1/2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
1 tablespoon packed brown sugar


Fool-proof Hard Boiled Eggs

• Use older eggs, because they are easier to peel
• Put eggs in a pot, fill with just enough water to cover eggs
• Bring to a rolling boil
• Turn heat off, quickly cover and let sit for 10 minutes
• Transfer the eggs to cold water and let sit for 5-10 minutes
• Tap the big end with the back of a spoon to find the air pocket
• Carefully start peeling the shell and inner membrane to reveal the shiny egg white

2 Days Ahead

• Make chicken soup and matzo balls 

1 Day Ahead

• Make the meringues 
• Devil the eggs
• Buy some flowers and put them on the table

3 Hours Before the Sedar

• Cook the chicken
• Set the table 
• Put out the wine

1 Hour Before the Sedar

• Cook the veggies
• Reheat the soup
• Put out the maror, choroset, deviled eggs, parsley

Custom Made Miriam and Elijah's Cups

Miriam's Cup is a relatively new addition to the Passover sedar table. It is filled with water, in remembrance of the prophet, Miriam's miraculous well. Miriam's well followed the Israelites through the desert, moving when they moved, and stopping when they stopped, providing life-giving water.

Elijah's cup is placed on the table to save the place for the prophet Elijah, friend of the poor, and who is expected to announce the coming of the messianic era. We invite Elijah into our home every year when we open the door and say, "All who are hungry, let them come and eat."

Here are 2 lovely etched glasses for Passover that I found on Pinterest. I love them, but they are $52 each. That's way too much for me to spend for use just 2 nights a year. (Yes, I know I have a Lenox sedar plate, but that was inherited from my dear, departed mother)

For Passover this year, I am etching my own Miriam and Elijah's cups. Here are directions and links to the stencil I designed, so you can download them and make your very own personalized glasses for Passover!

Step 1 materials:
2 wine glasses
stencil (word or pdf) printed on Avery 2x4" labels
exacto knife
Armour etch
brushes

I found wine glasses that matched my dishes at a thrift store. I also borrowed the etching solution from a crafty friend.

Step 2 prepare:
Make sure your glasses are clean and dry. Apply the labels to the wine glasses. Carefully cut out the designs. Burnish the labels down well, leaving no air bubbles.

Step 3 apply etching solution:
This is not a craft to do with the kids! Read the precautions on the label. This stuff can burn skin. Apply according to the directions.

Step 4 wash:
After the proper time (I did 5 minutes), wash the glasses thoroughly, and remove the stencil. Wash again with soap and water. The end.

 

Personalize Your Sedar Place Setting

I customized my Passover place settings with matching Hagadda covers and napkin rings. At Shutterstock, I found printable images of matzo and pink rose borders to match my haviland limoges china. The images were put together in PhotoShop, personalizing the napkin rings with guest names, and the book cover with my family name, and in Hebrew "Haggada shel Pesach," which translates to Haggada for Passover.

I thought it would be convenient to have the symbolic foods at each place setting: charosets, moror (horseradish), egg, and karpas (green veggie) in salt water. I found some leaf shaped glass plates, that were divided into 3 sections for the first 3, and small ice cream dishes for the latter.

The table needs to have other items for the seder:
Wine for the kiddish (blessing over the wine)
Matzo in a cover
Elijah's cup
Pillows for relining
Water bowl and pitcher for hand washing
And of course...the sedar plate!

Here's a brief of what some of the symbolic foods represent at a Jewish Sedar

• Maror: Bitter herbs to symbolize the harshness of Egyptian slavery.
• Karpas: Green vegetable represents the flourishing of the Jewish people and the promise of Spring. The salt water symbolizes the tears shed by Jews in slavery
• Charoset: Mixture of apple, wine and nuts symbolizes the mortar that Jewish slaves used for laying bricks for the Pharaoh

Charoset recipe"

• 3 medium Gala or Fuji apples, peeled, cored, and finely diced
• 1 1/2 cups walnut halves, lightly toasted, cooled, and coarsely chopped
• 1/2 cup sweet red wine
• 1 1/2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
• 1 tablespoon packed brown sugar