Shabbat reading for
pesach day 5, 2024
Shabbat reading for pesach day 5, 2024
This year, Shabbat falls on Day 5 of Pesach.
The Readings come from Parasha Ki Tisa and from Parasha Pinchas.
So what shall we eat?
It’s Shabbat, and it’s also Passover. Ashkenazi Jews don’t eat lamb at the Seder; not since the loss of our temple and the cessation of the Passover sacrifice. Sephardic Jews have a different take. They serve lamb at the seder in order to reenact the first Passover that heralded our liberation and the exodus from Egypt. Personally, although our family doesn’t eat lamb at the Seder, we don’t necessarily refrain from it durning the days that follow. If you don’t use lamb at all during the Festival, or if you are just not a fan, you can make this with ground beef or ground turkey. Although I often suggest using meat substitutes for recipes that call for ground meat, such as the Impossible and Beyond brands, they contain chametz, rendering them a non-option for Passover.
Mina de Maza, or Matzo Pie, is a classic Sephardic Passover dish, for the Seder, or at any time during the week. There are many versions—some with lamb, some with beef, and with any number of seasonings and other creative ingredients. There are even some vegetarian versions, vegetable based/pareve, or dairy. So, for this Shabbat, on the fourth night of Passover, that’s what we’re going to have for dinner. Lamb or vegetarian. As always, the choice is yours.
Now for the soup … On night five of Passover, as much as I love them, I’m a bit matzo-balled out. I want something different.
In my mind, there are two kinds of soup. There are the soups that have a particular name and a particular recipe. I’ve got lots of those in my arsenal. The other kind is what I call refrigerator soup. These are soups that are crafted from bits and pieces of this and that, from the fridge and from the pantry. I love making refrigerator soups after a big holiday dinner because there’s always an assortment of leftover ingredients, and it prevents them from being wasted. I poked around in my larder to see what I have on hand and came up with one large apple left from making charoset, a couple of bags of peeled and roasted chestnuts, some white wine left at the bottom of a bottle, plenty of onions and garlic, and a random gnarly celery root that I didn’t use, so I put them together and made a very tasty soup.
But what to serve with the mina … My family has always used horseradish for the bitter herb on the seder plate, and I think many other families do, as well. Last week, my rabbi explained that it’s not actually the right thing to use here. Horseradish isn’t bitter; it’s hot. And realistically, how can you dip prepared horseradish in charoset? A chunk of the root can’t be bitten and eaten, and a purée can’t be picked up with the fingers and dipped into something else.
So that got me thinking. Dandelion greens are bitter. I like using them in a mixed green salad or in a sauté of greens because the bitter component they add to the mix is quite pleasant. But they’re kind of floppy and won’t be easy to dip. Then the perfect thing occurred to me. Belgian endive! Not only is it a bitter herb, it’s also firm and won’t flop over like a wet noodle. And, it’s shaped like a boat, making it perfect for scooping up some charoset. That’s what went on my Seder plate, and going forward, it’s going to be my standard.
At Trader Joes, heads of Belgian endive come three to a bag. One head was enough to give everyone a leaf and still have a leaf to display on the Seder plate. So, I had two heads of Belgian endive in the fridge. I made a quinoa pilaf and used it to fill the little boats. Three to a plate made a nice side for the mina.
About this pilaf. Something extraordinary happened in 2016. Rarely are there changes made to halacha, but in 2016 the Rabbinical Assembly overturned the 800 year ban on the use of kitnyot for Passover. This ban applied to Ashkenazi Jews; Sephardic Jews never adopted that tradition and many of their classic Passover dishes are based on kitnyot. Items that are considered Kitnyot are legumes, seeds, and other grains such as rice, that are not strictly forbidden during the holiday. This ban began in the Middle Ages, out of concern that these foods are also ground into flour and could therefore be confused with chametz. The way these foods are grown, processed, and packaged these days makes it pretty impossible to make such a mistake, and so the new ruling permits the use of kitnyot during Passover for Conservative Jews. This new position also eliminates the complication of Ashkenazim and Sephardim eating together. Unlike in centuries past, the mingling of these two groups is not uncommon and there are plenty of “mixed marriages.”
So, this pilaf includes green peas. They add a delicious, sweet component to the dish, as well as a nutritional boost and a burst of color. If you’re not comfortable using them, just leave them out.
I’m also going to pan fry 1/4 inch thick slices of white and sweet potato in a little oil, and fan them on the plates.
Dessert is simple. We still have tons of Passover sweets left from the Seder.