Up Until Midnight-4/14/09

Last week, my friend Devi asked if I could watch her girls one day as she had to go back to work before they went back to school from spring break. I said I'd watch the kids contingent on her allowing me to make her family the Passover menu from April's Gourmet. For some reason, she thought that was a great trade;). Daycare and dinner!

The most interesting thing about making a meal for Passover was the fact that I did not use a single dairy or wheat product in the entire menu. I know a little about Kosher regulations but I have never cooked with them. It was great to see how creative you can be without these key ingredients. Wheat and dairy are also common food allergens and all of these recipes would be a great choice for people with these allergies. It was also great to have Devi and her husband, Dan explain to my family the significance of the Haroseth that represents the mortar the Israelites used to build the pyramids while captive laborers for the Egyptians. I was a little nervous that some of the flavors would be too strong for the kids, but all the adults are adventurous so I knew they would at least try each dish.
A number of the dishes in this menu had to or could be made ahead and since I knew I'd be responsible for 3 children under 5 during the day, I made 6 of the dishes the night before. Yes, it took me until almost midnight but I was having so much fun and there was this bottle of white wine that was just going to go bad...

The Moroccan Spiced Olives were one of the easiest recipes on the menu and because of the harissa, were very flavorful. They were a good spice note, though I don't think anyone ate more than one or two at a time.

The Lemon Mint Braised Artichokes were a real eye-opener. The flavor was very similar to that of good canned artichoke hearts but I'd never actually trimmed a whole artichoke before. The amount of waste was incredible. I did only 6 artichokes and my sink was at least half full of leaves and peelings. I'm glad I did it but I don't think I'll need to trim a whole artichoke again for awhile. That's a lot of work for not much food!

The Catalan-Style Fresh Sardine Escabeche was also a learning experience. I bought mackerel fillets at Super H Mart and deboned them. That is also a lot of work. I actually had watched an episode of the Bravo show, Top Chef, where the contestants had done a similar thing so I had a vague idea of what to do. Some of the fillets looked awful, I'd pulled almost all the meat off in an effort to get the bones but by the last few fillets, I was getting pretty good. I almost took a picture of my second-to-last one, it looked so pretty. What I was proudest of was the fact that not a single person complained about a bone when they ate the dish. As for flavor, it was a little much for the non-fish people, namely Richard and Dan, but I thought it was relatively mild and the breading was light and crisp. My dad absolutely loved this dish and ate most of the leftovers.

The Spice-Rubbed Cornish Hens with Haroseth Stuffing and Sherry Jus were good but I found the skin almost overpoweringly spiced and I bet Devi will be smelling it for days as it permeated the whole house. The meat was moist and had the familiar gamey taste of Cornish hens. I didn't taste the Haroseth stuffing with mine but Richard did and said the stuffing in the bird was excellent. I had the Apricot, Date, and Pistachio Haroseth on the side and found it a very nice accompaniment to the whole meal. It was not as sweet as the more traditional apple haroseth that Devi had made but I liked the tart of the dried fruits and the crunch of the nuts.

The Saffron Rice Pilaf was the safe dish that I knew everyone, including the kids, would like. It was actually a little dry, I wouldn't have minded a bit more oil or other spice combination but given the already spicy nature of the menu, this was probably by design.

The Parsley Mint Salsa Verde was the one dish that left me a little lost. It tasted fine but none of us could figure out what to put it on as all the other dishes had sauce already. I've found that many of the big menus given in cooking magazines have one recipe like this that doesn't seem to fit well.

The Sweet-and-Sour Celery was interesting. I was pretty neutral on this dish. It had good flavor but was pretty discolored after the braising which was a little off-putting. Ruth Riechl, the editor of Gourmet, mentioned in her editorial that she found this dish addicting. I wouldn't go that far.

The Simple Spring Green Salad was hardly a recipe. Rip up lettuce and drizzle it with olive oil and salt. I know that the quality of the olive oil, salt, and for that matter, even the lettuce, does make a big difference but I found this addition a bit over the top. There were enough dishes in this menu without adding lettuce.
The dessert for this menu was perhaps the most creative since very few desserts have no wheat or dairy. The Orange Flan was made with almond milk and orange-flower water and lots of eggs. Back in February, I needed orange-flower water for the Orange Polenta Cake and Richard put the kibosh on ordering the orange flower water online so I used orange extract instead. I was a little short on sugar late at night, I actually burned my first attempt at caramel, so the caramel was enough but did not run down the sides attractively like the picture showed. I actually put the Almond Olive-Oil Tuiles on the top of the flan for two reasons. One was that the top was a little dry because of the small amount of caramel. The second was that I used a stone cookie sheet and the directed cook time was not enough. Those stone cookie sheets take longer and I always forget that. My tuiles were not crisp but they were still very good. I just wish the recipe had made more. I only got 8 cookies from this recipe, not 18 like they said. Was it worth staying up until midnight? I thought so, and I hope everyone who ate the meal agreed!

Moroccan Spiced Olives-B

Calories per serving-904 total

Catalan-Style Fresh Sardine Escabeche-B

Calories per serving-391

Lemon Mint Braised Artichokes-B

Calories per serving-158

Spice-Rubbed Cornish Hens-B

Calories per serving-424

Apricot, Date, and Pistachio Haroseth-B

Calories per serving-266 for a 1/2 cup

Parsley Mint Salsa Verde-C

Calories per serving-171 per 1/4 cup

Saffron Rice Pilaf-B

Calories per serving-514

Sweet-and-Sour Celery-B-

Cost-Calories per serving-107

Simple Spring Green Salad-C

Calories per serving-47

Orange Flan-B

Calories per serving-245

Almond Olive-Oil Tuiles- B+

Calories per serving-70 per cookie (if you make 18)