Around the Passover Table Read Online Free PDF Page B

with Olives and Preserved Lemon
    Lemon Fried Chicken with Tart Salad Topping
    Braised Brisket with Thirty-Six Cloves of Garlic
    Slow-Braised Brisket with Rosemary, Shallots, and Red Wine
    Moroccan-Flavored Brisket with Dried Apricots and Prunes
    Beet-Braised Pot Roast with Horseradish and Potato Knaidlach
    Provençal Roasted Garlic–Braised Breast of Veal with Springtime Stuffing, Plus an Ashkenazi Variation
    Slow-Braised Lemon Veal with Leeks
    Braised Lamb with Artichokes, Lemon, and Fresh Herbs
    Etty Russo’s Lamb Mina from Izmir
    Mozzarella in Matzoh Carrozza
    Salad of Bitter Herbs and Oranges
    Roasted Asparagus Bundles with Toasted Matzoh Crumbs
    Garlicky Swiss Chard and Mushroom Matzoh Kugel
    Wild Mushroom–Potato Kugel
    Crackletop Potato Kugel
    Potato-Leek Matzoh Balls
    Spring Compote
    Toasted Almond–Coconut Macaroons
    Hazelnut Macaroons
    Coconut Jammies
    Hungarian Chocolate-Walnut Torte
    Rich Fudge Brownies
    Italian Carrot-Pecan Torta
    Upside-Down Apricot Hazelnut Torte
    Strawberry-Rhubarb Shalet (Pudding)
    Mango- and Sour-Cherry Macaroon Crumble
    Classic Matzoh Brie
    Savory Artichoke Matzoh Brie
    Cinnamon Matzoh Brie with Toasted Pecans and Warm Vanilla-Maple Syrup
    Matzoh Brie with Prunes and Wine
    Overnight Caramelized-Apple Matzoh Brie
    MATZOHS
    One Passover spent in Paris, I ate thick matzoh, soft and crumbly as a cookie. In shops and restaurants in both the old ghetto area in the Marais and the newer North African–Jewish neighborhood surrounding the rue des Richers in the ninth arrondissement, I came across sweet varieties as well, prepared with wine, orange flower water, and sugar, tasting like exotic tea biscuits. They were, the boxes revealed, made from a secret family recipe from Oran, Algeria.
    A sweltering August morning, strolling through Venice’s Gheto Novo (New Ghetto, actually older than the Gheto Vecchio , Old Ghetto, but that’s another story), my husband, daughter, and I snacked on what looked like quilted pillows of intricate ivory Venetian lace. They were pane azimo, pale matzoh, soft like the ones we’d had in Paris, baked at Panificio Giovanni Volpe, which also offers, even in summer, sugar cookies, delicate macaroons, and other pane dolci, sweets made with matzoh meal.
    Eating these thick, puffy matzohs, I recalled the many Italian and French Passover recipes that specified thick or thin matzoh, and understood how Italian Jews who could not bear to go without their pasta might attempt to re-create lasagne with Venetian-style matzoh.
    For Eastern European Jews, though, the best matzoh is the thinnest. In Abraham Reisen’s story “Matza for the Rich,” the bakery workers expect a generous tip from the town’s wealthy dowager for matzoh that is thin, crackly, and “comes out as if baked in the sun.” Notwithstanding their plainness, when served hot and crisp, these familiar Ashkenazi matzohs can be quite tasty.
    Hot is the operative word here, for hot matzoh—like hot bread—is an amalgam of wonderful toasty flavors and aromas. Watching schmura matzoh (the special matzoh handmade from wheat that is carefully watched over from the time it is harvested) being prepared by the Hasidic Lubavitcher community in Brooklyn, I was captivated by the tantalizing smells of the freshly baked matzoh. And straight from the scorching wood-fired ovens, they were a marvel: gloriously toasty and crisp.
    But when I brought the box home, the matzoh had dulled to a lackluster taste—they had more flavor than the packaged variety, but not much. I’ve learned to reheat matzohs to recrisp them as well as to recapture that fresh-from-the-oven flavor.
    TO HEAT MATZOH
    PREHEAT the oven to 400°F. Wet the matzoh lightly on both sides with cold water (a few spritzes from a water spray bottle is perfect for this). Toast on a rack until dry and crisp, 3 to 5 minutes.
    MATZOH, so central to Passover that it is often called Hag ha-Matzot (Festival of