We hosted our annual expansive and welcoming seder yesterday – a day early due to some scheduling difficulties.  It’s the first large gathering I’ve tried to host that involved plated service for almost 15 (including the kids.)  It’s also the first time I prepared nearly everything that was served, a departure from previous pot-luck, family-style seders.

In keeping with the traditional symbols of Passover, I planned a menu of lamb shanks braised in homemade lamb stock and red wine, braised romaine lettuce, maple brandy carrots, matzo ball soup (stock AND dumplings hand made, of course!) and a mushroom and green onion kugel for the vegetarians.

The challenge of doing this all not only non-dairy but without chametz (prohibited grains) was, truthfully, much diminished by the culinary education I’ve received up to this point.  This is not to discount the number of tasks completed nor the accomplishment of completing everything well and timing it all effectively; only merely to appreciate how much I’ve learned in a relatively short time.  (I prep things, such as chopping vegetables, much more quickly now as well.)

I’m most proud of the vegetarian entrée because it was an exercise in creative thinking within the constraints of the non-dairy, non-chametz.  To make the kugel, which consists of making a custard to soak the matzo and binding it all together by baking, normally I’d use milk and eggs.  In this case I’ve learned that a custard can be any liquid bound with eggs, and so I substituted soy milk.  I know, soy is kitniyot, or foods that can be confused with the actually prohibited chametz.  I’m personally not so concerned about avoiding soy products, and vegetarians gotta eat, too.

Every year I’m reminded about how much I love the idea of tradition, both as part of a rich ethnic and cultural history but also for tradition’s own sake.  I made an Egyptian date-raisin charoset (fruit-mortar, intended to remind us of the mortar the Hebrews used in slavery to build the structures in Egypt) but also made sure that we had the traditional Ashkenazi apples-and-nuts version on hand.  It wouldn’t exactly be Passover without them.

We always have a symbolic bone on our seder plate, but this year I knew for sure that it was actually a lamb /shank/ bone – because it came out of the lamb cuts I prepared for the meal.  This is my first Pesach as a Jew, my first as a cook with training, and so the richness of the symbolism combined with the seasonal freshness of all of the traditional foods have really heightened my experience of this spring harvest festival.

And I appreciate the freedom that I have to choose to be Jewish, the educational opportunity I always have at my disposal, and I will continue to work and pray for freedom for everyone who still is not free from all types of bonds.

Chag Pesach same’ach!