Forest Feast: Spiced Passover Haroset
Spring has sprung in the woods! Passover is this week and to kick it off, we hosted a first-night Seder. We spent two days cooking all the traditional Jewish dishes: matzah ball soup, haroset (a paste of dried fruit and nuts), farfel (quiche-like squares), tzimmes (a sweet potato carrot dish), plus a roasted chicken with rosemary and lemon.
The seder plate in the top photo has items that represent different parts of the meal and the Passover story of slavery and freedom, including a hard boiled egg, horseradish, parsley, matzah, a shank bone and the modern addition of an orange.
One of the traditional dishes served at the Passover seder meal in Jewish tradition this week is haroset. Sometimes chunky, sometimes like a paste, haroset has a base of dried fruits and nuts.
Spiced Haroset with Figs + Pecans
INGREDIENTS
1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
1/2 tsp ground clove
1/2 tsp ground cardamom
1 tbsp orange zest
1 cup chopped dried figs
1 cup chopped pecans
1 cup dried cherries
1/2 cup chopped dried aprocots
METHOD
Combine all ingredients in a bowl and mix with 1/3 cup of Manischewitz (sweet wine). Enjoy atop matzah!
During the seder, certain foods symbolize different parts of the Passover story of Exodus. Haroset symbolizes the mortar between the bricks that enslaved Jews built in Egypt. When the Jews left Egypt in a rush, they didn't have time to let their bread rise, so in memory, Jews eat matzah instead of bread during the Passover week.
Chag Sameach and Happy Passover!
*This post was originally published on Forest Feast on April 10. All photos and illustrations by Erin Gleeson.
