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,4 Pesach, Sephardic Style
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By LISSA HURWITZ
The annual seder is a familiar
friend, with the same traditional
foods my mother and her mother
before her prepared year after year
— charoset, gefilte fish, matzah ball
soup, and the hard boiled egg in
salt water that presented the biggest
challenge of the seder ... holding it
still enough to cut into. I assumed
as I was growing up that every Jew
in the world had a seder just like
mine.
It was only as an adult that I
discovered a new-world — or
should I say old world — of Jews
who trace their ancestors to such
places as Turkey, Egypt, Bulgaria,
Greece, and ultimately to Spain.
Imagine my shock (as I imagine
my grandmother's!) to find that
these Jews with roots in ancient
Spain, called Sephardim, serve fried
fish instead of gefilte fish,
accompany their hard-boiled eggs
with vinegar instead of salt water,
and even have a whole fish head on
the seder table to remind us to
"always have your head forward
instead of backward." But the shock
quickly dissipated, and was
replaced with a fascination for our
Sephardic "mishpachah" and their
customs.
This Passover, why not make
your seder a voyage into the world
of the Sephardim with some
traditional Passover recipes from
such lands as Turkey, Africa, and
some that go back as far as 8th
century Spain.
Special thanks to Shirley Behar,
whose father, Jacob Chicorel,
founded the Sephardic community
in Detroit and provided recipes from
her personal collection.
Pescado Con Agristada
(fish in lemon sauce)
(Recipe from Judith Louza
Chicorel, Izmir, Turkey)
2 medium-sized fresh water fish,
completely deboned (whitefish
and sole are excellent) and
cut into quarters
2 eggs, seasoned with a pinch of
parsley and a sprinkle of
lemon juice
Approx. 1 cup matzah meal,
seasoned with salt, pepper,
parsley flakes and garlic
powder to taste
Sauce:
2 eggs
2 C water
1 /4 C flour
1 tsp. salt
juice from two lemons
1 /2 cup of oil from frying the fish
L-4
FRIDAY, MARCH 27, 1992
out and allow to dry. Cut up fine
and sprinkle lightly with salt. Mix
together 1 beaten egg, 1 1/3 C
mashed potatoes and 1/2 C grated
cheese; mix into spinach.
Meanwhile, soak matzahs in pan of
water for about 2 minutes, then lay
out on cloth and sprinkle with water
before covering with another cloth.
Let stand approximately 15 minutes.
Grease a baking pan or pie plate
with 1 T oil and heat pan in
preheated oven at 350 degrees.
Line hot plate with matzahs,
bottom and sides, and spread
spinach filling evenly over matzahs.
Cover with remaining matzahs. Mix
2 beaten eggs with remaining
potatoes, cheese and the other T of
oil, and spread on top of the
matzahs.
Bake for 1 hour, or until top is
lightly browned. May be served as a
supplement to a dinner and is also
good with syrup or jam. Serves 6.
Dip the fish quarters first into
the egg mixture, then into the
matzah meal, and back into the egg
mixture. Fry in very hot oil in a pan
1 /4 filled with oil until both sides are
brown and fish is tender. Remove
fish to paper towel.
To prepare the sauce, combine
the eggs, water, flour, salt and
lemon juice. Boil on medium heat
until the sauce thickens. Add 1/2 cup
of the oil from the fish frying pan to
the hot sauce and serve over the
fish.
Mina de Espinaca
(matzah-spinach pie)
1 bunch of spinach
(approximately 4 C), chopped
salt
3 eggs
1 1/3 C mashed potatoes
3 /4 C grated Romano cheese
4 matzahs, or enough to line
bottom of pan and cover
filling
2 T oil
Wash spinach, drain, spread
Simple to prepare, these
bimuelos are traditionally served for
breakfast during Passover.
2 C finely crumbled matzahs
3 eggs
pinch salt
oil for frying
chopped nuts for sprinkling
Syrup
1 C sugar
1 C water
1 tsp. lemon juice
Syrup: cook sugar and water
for 15 minutes. Add lemon juice and
cook 1 minute longer. Let cool
before dipping bimuelos.
Wet matzah and drain. Add
eggs and salt. Fry, dropping batter
into frying pan with tablespoon to
make size desired. After frying, dip
immediately into prepared syrup for
just a few seconds. Remove and
sprinkle with chopped nuts. Serve
hot. Serves 6.
Lissa Hurwitz is communications
director for the Jewish Community
Council.
Bimuelos Con Muez
(matzah pancakes with nuts)
WORD SCRAMBLE
Did you read your L'Chayim section very carefully? See how many of the words about the
Sephardic Jews you can find from the list below. Words may appear up or down, at any
angle or even backwards! Some letters may be included in more than one word.
Here are the words
hidden in the puzzle,
in no particular order:
Sepharad
Converso
Spain
Edict
Expulsion
Italy
Turkey
Greece
Algeria
Ladino
Exile
Fritada
Adapt
Sail
W L
0 J
Y B L
F T 0 K J T K
E S P A I
L 0 G B
N L U X C 0 R M B E
P A L H U M P E P K E D R A
E
G F C E S
H P B E T R P H A E K E L
R E G L A
M Y F C S
N G R E E C E O L H Y D E R X U G R K Y
P 0 I G E D K B I T A L
K B I F S A M
F A I T E G C Q P H S R P 0 A H L J
G T W S N B C E I F L
S A A K U A E M C
H F S D L
I A S M C S D R D 0 Y D L
D A N Y
U B ✓ R S A L F A P I
I
D I S X I A W
Puzzle Answers On Page L-7
F D
T B ✓ 0 G X Y
M H G C E 0 S R E V N 0 C H 0 F I L
P H T F E S F K V J
F K
T W Q
L G S C X R P K 0 T H G D P C K N L
K H ✓ L
F S
F U
0 F Y K C 0 D R 0 J