Sunday, April 24, 2016

Passover 2016

One reason I love hosting Passover is because it makes me feel like an adult. Despite having a mortgage, car payments, and career, I often feel like I'm only pretending to be a grown up. (Surely I'm not the only one who feels this way!) Cooking a big meal and having family over for the holiday makes me feel like I've hit an adulthood milestone.

Like last year, I decided to make a brisket for our main dish. I lost the recipe I used last year but luckily had been pretty detailed in how I cooked it in that blog post, so the blog saved the day!
This year I couldn't find one 5-pound brisket so I got two 2.8 pounders...We have tons of leftovers!
For next year's self: chop a large onion, quarter ~10 tiny potatoes, and scatter a single loose layer of baby carrots in the roasting pan. Put the brisket on top, fat cap up. Mix 8oz tomato sauce and 3/4 container of beef broth in a bowl with Italian seasoning, salt, and pepper. Pour over the brisket. Cover tightly with foil. Stick it in a 300F oven for about 5.5 to 6 hours (this year I did 5.5), basting every two. Take out an hour before serving to rest.
The table.
My grandparents sent us a centerpiece again this year, but the florist delivered it too early. I was worried it wouldn't last until Seder, so the florist sent us a second one! Our table looked very lovely.
The good stuff.
Mom made her usual perfect charoset, and Steph made GF matzah ball soup. The matzah balls were so fluffy and perfect; the best we've had since I was diagnosed with Celiac! And Manischewitz makes gluten free matzoh now, too! Passover has never been so easy!
For dessert I made my usual flourless chocolate cake, which I'd been looking forward to all week.
The most I can say for this health-wise is that it's full of protein - the batter takes 6 eggs! But it sure is delicious.
Our Seders are short and sweet - 20-30 minutes from the Haggadah and then dinner is served! They used to be longer when we lived up north and had lots of family over, but now we like to get down to the good stuff as quickly as possible.
The fam :)
We made Gordon join the picture-taking this year, too.
It was a good evening; all the food turned out successfully and it was wonderful to have everyone over. The best part is that I'll be eating delicious leftovers for the next week!

Which holidays or family traditions do you host?
What's the biggest/most difficult meal you've cooked?

ABK

12 comments:

  1. I now do Thanksgiving. My sister used to, but she works retail, so it's very busy for her. I'd actually rather do it, even if turkey isn't really my thing!

    Your meal looks yummy. I make rack of lamb; although it's been decades since I've actually been to a seder.

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    1. Thanksgiving is so daunting to me because turkey seems like a hard thing to cook correctly! Rack of lamb sounds delicious.

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  2. Happy Passover, Ali! I feel pretty grown up when I have people over for dinner. We used to host a Father's Day picnic but it got to be a little too much as it would stress Paul out. So now we don't have a set Holiday to host. We actually normally go to my brother's house because it is much bigger and they are the ones with kids so it's obviously easier to just go there then to have them come to our house and worry that it is not kid proof... because our house is sooooo not kid proof.

    I bet it was nice to prepare your Passover meal in your shiny new kitchen!!!

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    1. Oh my gosh, it was SO great to make dinner in the new kitchen!! Everything was SO much easier and the house felt so much brighter. Plus, it was easier to lay the food out for everyone to dish out for themselves.

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  3. Happy Passover!!! We do Christmas eve usually and I totally know what you mean about feeling like an adult. I do agree that sometimes it just feels like I'm pretending or no one actually takes me seriously...lol.

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    1. I'm glad I'm not alone!! I wonder at what point we'll begin to feel like we're not pretending...

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  4. Your table looks beautiful! I've actually never hosted a holiday dinner, I guess because it's such a tradition that my mom or sister-in-law hosts. I do birthday parties though. :) Happy Passover!

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    1. Birthday parties are fun to host but they make me nervous for some reason! I guess because I'm worried about people being entertained.

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  5. I was invited to a Passover dinner and thought it was the most beautiful meal I'd ever had. Hooray to being an adult (even if for one day)!

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    1. Oh, I'm glad you enjoyed going to a Seder! Did you sit through the entire thing, or did they just eat? (Some families don't do much of the religious part.)

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  6. Love your dining table and centerpiece! The brisket looks amazing...I can't wait to move into my house and be able to host dinner parties! Hope you had a lovely Passover!

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    1. Hosting is SO much fun and really makes the house feel like it belongs to you. I hope you have many happy hosting holidays in your future :)

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