Hidden

Treasure

Whatever It Takes

Discovered in Oakland County

At Passover, cooks must choose
dishes for varied dietary restrictions.

I

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Ruthan Brodsky
Contributing Writer

A

viva and Bob Sandler of
Commerce Township tra-
ditionally host a seder on
Passover. With her years of experience,
Aviva has planning for the event down
to a science, preparing the representa-
tive and symbolic foods and her fam-
ily's favorite Passover dishes.
"This year, Passover poses some
challenging meal planning," Aviva
says. "We have 17 at our table: five
observe kosher-style guidelines, five
are practicing vegans or vegetarians
and several can only eat gluten-free
foods. There are also a few whose
dietary guidelines are a combination
of categories, such as being kosher and
gluten-free:'
Thirty years ago, there were few
products in supermarkets for Passover.
Although much of the main menu
has remained the same for genera-
tions, today's store shelves carry the
label "KFP" (Kosher For Passover) on
hundreds of products that help make
Passover dining more interesting. Even
the variety of matzah has increased
(whole wheat, high-fiber, gluten-free,
organic and various flavorings).
"Last year, I couldn't find any glu-
ten-free matzah meal for the matzah
balls and desserts, so this year I started
grinding the gluten-free matzah pack-
ages using my Cuisinart:' Aviva says.
"During one of my trips to purchase
more gluten-free matzah, I spotted a
box of soup mix for gluten-free parve
chicken soup with matzah ball mix.
"To my chagrin, this box of soup
mix cost about half what I spent grind-
ing my own matzah meal and would
have saved me lots of time. I made
one box of the mix and added the
gluten-free matzah balls to the batch
of matzah balls I had already made.
Interestingly, the matzah balls from
the mix didn't look quite as gray as
mine:'
She has parsed her menu like this:
Kosher guests are having vegetable
parve soup and regular chicken soup
with matzah balls (gluten-free and
not) plus salmon and chicken. Vegans
and vegetarians will have a kugel with
some protein ingredients, roasted veg-
etables and gefilte fish, although she's
not sure the vegetarians and vegans
will eat gefilte fish, but others can have

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tt-4:*
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Aviva Sandler with her mesh bag
of Passover supplies and boxes of
Passover matzah and gluten-free
Passover panko

it as a side dish.
"My favorite gefilte fish recipe
belongs to Gramma Ginsburg, our
friend Carol Fletcher's grandmother"
she says. "It's so good that all other
gefilte fish recipes have taken a back
seat"
One last item will grace the seder
table: A small brisket is a must for
the Sandler's daughter, who insists
it "makes Passover legitimate:' The
omnivores at the table, Aviva says, will
ensure none is left over.
Passover cooking is restrictive
because of ingredients prohibited by
the holiday, plus elimination of specific
ingredients for people with allergies,
lactose intolerance or gluten issues.
On Passover, these medical concerns
become part of the recipe choices.
"Even so, cooking for a seder doesn't
need to be overwhelming" Aviva
says. "For instance, some of the vegan
dishes can be sides for the meat eat-
ers. My secret is to stay organized,
prepare early, then cook and freeze. I
organized by putting all the Passover
ingredients in one place — in a large
lightweight mesh carry-all that's easy
to set out of the way.
"I work at making our seder special
to everyone because I want us to be
together" she says. "Passover is the
time when we renew our efforts to
explain our Jewish history of escaping
from slavery through stories and to
make sure future generations under-
stand our basic values.
"Telling the story of Passover helps
all of us better understand our own
lives and keep our connections to fam-
ily and Judaism. The holiday empha-
sizes our cultural values and helps to
make them universal:'

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