Passover brings up fond memories

Everyone has his favorite holiday. Mine is Passover. Just thinking about Passover floods my brain with images. I remember Passover candy at my Bubbies … raspberry hard candy with a soft raspberry center, sesame candy totally disliked as a child, but so great as one ages. Passover lunch could be difficult, unless you lived in Pawtucket where you were allowed to go home for lunch in junior and senior high school during Passover (Everyone went home for lunch in elementary school.) The joy of getting ready for the Seder and being so happy when your younger brother became  responsible for the Four Questions.

As a child, I became excited when my mom brought in the boxes with the Passover food and placed them in the corner of the kitchen until she was ready to put them in the pantry shelves.

We had a small family so our Seder was fairly small. When I was invited to Robert Sock’s family Seder, I was amazed to see at least 40 family members seated around a u-shaped table. Some of what looked like tables were actually doors placed on saw horses and covered with tablecloths. For two evenings, members of the Sock family gathered at Robert’s Zaide’s home on Hidden Street. For me the evening was magical…everyone read…some in Hebrew most in English. There was great laughter and sense of a family that had been gathering for Seder for years and years. As the evening wore on the younger members of the family ended up giggling under the tables after drinking too much wine.

Robert told me his Zaide had truly mellowed since his group of grandchildren were not allowed to behave in this manner.

The Hagaddah was from Streit’s matzah and was small with very small print. When Robert’s Zaide passed away in 1971, Robert and I brought the Seder to our home. Unfortunately, the family divided into individual household groups. Our Seder consisted of my family and Robert’s family. We always invited friends and other guests. Robert organized the Seder with our three sons. We even used the Streit’s Hagaddah until everyone complained that the type was too small. New books were purchased, and our Seder continued.

Every year, I cooked and cooked and cooked. Eventually, I had a rather large collection of Passover cookbooks. I was always looking for something “new and different.”  Early on, I purchased a Passover cookbook from our temple. The cover of this cookbook was yellow and sold for $6. Of all the Passover books in my collection, this one is my favorite. Which brings me to this Passover recipe.

Mena, a Sephardic Passover dish, is from this book. I never serve it as an appetizer but as a side dish to the main course.

When I was asked to make the dish during the year, I refused. I wanted Mena (Passover lasagna) to be remembered as a special Passover treat.

Mena

Ingredients

2 pounds browned ground beef

Vegetables: Celery, green or red peppers, onions, mushrooms, zucchini or any vegetable of your choosing

5 (12 oz.) cans of Rokeach tomato mushroom sauce

4 beaten eggs

4 sheets of matzah

1/2 cup of vegetable oil

Salt, pepper, garlic to taste

Directions

Saute ground beef. Remove from pan when brown and set aside.

Add oil and saute vegetables (the amount of vegetables depends on how thick you want the sauce).

Pour the 5 cans of tomato sauce into a large pot. Add sauteed vegetables and ground beef. Add seasonings to your taste. Cook on low heat (stirring occasionally) until sauce is dark and rich looking.

Spray a 13 x 9 inch lasagna pan with cooking spray. Pour sauce to cover bottom of pan. Run matzah sheets through water (only to moisten not to soak). Place matzah on top of sauce. Cover the matzah with light coating of beaten eggs and cover with tomato, meat and vegetable sauce. Repeat the process. Pour remaining beaten egg over top layer. Bake at 350 degrees for 45 minutes. Cool a bit before cutting. 

This dish freezes beautifully.

You can use  cottage cheese and mozzarella instead of meat for a dairy lasagna. Or try no meat and cheese for a vegetarian and parve lasagna.

I have stopped making the Seder and am thrilled to say that my son Jeffrey and his husband Denny and my son Garrett and his wife Sharon now make the Seders. My children seat me at the head of the table as the acknowledged matriarch of our family. I view the table with appreciation and gratitude for the many blessings, which I have been given. The tradition continues L’Dor V’Dor.

MAY-RONNY ZEIDMAN is executive director of the Sandra Bornstein Holocaust Education Center.