Tuesday, April 11, 2017

Happy Passover!

Our Seder table last night. In front: a special hand-made matzo.


From above, you can see the symbolic foods that remind us of parts of the Passover story of the Jews exodus from Egypt and escape from slavery to freedom:
  • Matzo, because the Jews had no time to allow their bread to rise, so we eat unleavened bread.
  • Charoset, a fruit paste that symbolizes the mortar that the enslaved Jews used to make the pyramids.
  • Salt water, reminding us of the tears they shed, missing their freedom.
  • An egg and parsley because this is a spring festival of renewal.
  • A lamb bone commemorating the Pascal lamb, sacrificed by the Jews to warn the Angel of Death to spare them when the angel came for the first-born of Egyptian families (the final plague). 

Traditional matzo ball soup with carrots.
For a main course for the meal, I made a chicken dish from Ottolenghi's website.
Above: before and after photos of the chicken.
Link: Chicken with prunes, potatoes, and pomegranate molasses.

8 comments:

Jeanie said...

Mae, this looks beautiful and I really appreciate the background of why certain foods are included. And delicious, too. Wishing you a beautiful and sacred Passover.

Kitchen Riffs said...

Hope you're having a wonderful holiday! Happy Passover!

Cakelaw said...

What a beautiful table setting, and thanks for all the information on what the various dishes symbolise.

Tina said...

Very nicely presented and what a spread! Thanks for the explaination of the symbolic foods, I like learning new things.

Beth F said...

Lovely table!

Claudia said...

Your table looks lovely Mae. Mazel Tov!

jama said...

What a lovely table. Enjoyed seeing all those special foods. I'm still hoping to be adopted by a Jewish grandmother someday. :) Thanks for sharing!

(Diane) bookchickdi said...

It all looks so wonderful, Happy Passover!