[Sca-cooks] Seder menus?

[Philip & Susan Troy]

Hullo, the list!

For those who follow this sort of thing, I thought it might be
interesting to compare notes. I was present at a seder for the first
night of Passover last night. The family in question are very old
friends, the parents of a high school classmate, and they're Reform
Jews, so some of their traditions are, well, possibly somewhat
liberal interpretations.

We did, however, go through the whole Haggadah service, with the egg
and the lamb shank bone, the salt water, the bitter herbs
(watercress), and the charoset, a very basic apple/nut/honey mixture.
And, of course, matzoh. I can't spell affrikom... aphik... the Main,
Big Piece of Matzoh Whose Name I Cannot Spell...

Here's what we had for dinner:

Matzoh ball soup (Barbara called them kneodeln, and they were
considerably lighter in texture than most of the matzoh balls I've
encountered in my day). Stock was chicken, with parsnips, carrots,
etc.

Cold Poached Salmon. Perfectly cooked, I think in the form of a
fillet scored into portions, skin intact, then the whole skin removed
when cold. Served with green mayonnaise, I suspect with garlic and
watercress.

Broiled, butterflied leg of lamb, marinated in a little red wine,
with sliced onion, garlic, bay leaf, etc. Cooked like a steak, medium
rare.

Roasted asparagus, with olive oil and salt. Some people (i.e. me)
found they were good with the green mayonnaise from the fish.

Two kugel-like pudding/souffle entities, one made with apple and one
with carrots. Allegedly from a cookbook entitled, "Love and Knishes".
Brought by another guest. Good stuff.

Roasted potatoes, with olive oil, salt, pepper, and herbs.

Frisee salad with olive oil, tarragon vinegar, salt, pepper, pitted
dates and pecorino romano. Also brought by the same lady who had
brought the kugels. This was the most obviously illegal maneuver that
I spotted. I gather that they allowed it to be served in spite of the
dairy content, weighing their roles as hosts against their
obligations to the dietary laws. YMMV. It was good, BTW.

A hazelnut torte with a chocolate buttercream-type frosting. It
looked a bit odd, as if some attempt had been made to do this without
butter. It was rather shiny and somewhat granular in texture. Maybe
they used some kind of shortening that lacks enough water to dissolve
and completely incorporate the sugar? Anyway, it was terrific.

A lemon sponge cake made with about a dozen eggs, the juice and rind
of one lemon, sugar, and matzoh cake meal.

Quartered strawberries, with just a little sugar added, and a very
lovely, very ripe sliced pineapple, went with them.

I suspect this is going to be one of those situations where some
people will say, "My, how observant these people were being!", while
others will say something like, "Well, there goes the neighborhood!"

Adamantius