Good morning. Passover, which begins on Saturday at sunset, commemorates the escape of the enslaved Jews of Egypt to Mount Sinai. Those who observe will clear their homes of leavened foods — chametz, in Hebrew — to recall how their ancestors, in the rush of the exodus, had no time to wait for bread to rise. Unleavened matzo takes center stage at the Seder table, to accompany many, many other delicious things, including classics like crispy potato kugel, brisket, matzo brei and Joan Nathan’s five-star matzo ball soup (above).
Featured Recipe
Matzo Ball Soup
I like the prompt, even if it’s not my practice. I’ll keep my flour, but take the weekend to purge my pantry and freezer of winter’s relics — stale spices and ancient stocks, old heels of dried-out cheese — and use up the last of this and that to welcome a new season.
So, for instance, here are the sesame seeds I have left over from a run at Kenji López-Alt’s recipe for miso-sesame vinaigrette. There’s a half-can of chipotles in adobo beneath a tinfoil hat in the back of the fridge. Also some chicken cutlets from the freezer and a dusty can of crushed tomatoes from the pantry. That’s enough to get going on Paola Briseño-González’s recipe for sesame chicken with creamy chipotle sauce, an easy and deeply satisfying weekend feed.
I found some frozen bananas behind the chicken. I’ll roast those (you can roast fresh ones if you’re not a pack rat like me) for a banana lassi for breakfast (mangoes would work as well). I’ll follow it with a tuna salad sandwich for lunch, made from the can I found by the crushed tomatoes. And, because I found a pint of trotter gear in the freezer, too, I’ll knock out a Guinness pie for dinner, one last wintery meal before we turn to the bounty of spring.
It’s satisfying to do this a few times a year: to deep-clean the kitchen, to bring your shelves and cabinets to order, to dispatch what’s left behind in the service of a meal or two. It’s a fresh start at a time when a fresh start is welcome, and you won’t regret the time spent bringing it to bear.
Other things to cook this weekend: maybe a roasted tarragon-Cognac chicken (that’s the last of the Cognac gone!); some ramen carbonara; a cheesy, spicy black bean bake.
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Now, it’s nothing to do with deep-fried Oreos or toast slathered with European butter, but I want to alert you to an event my colleagues on the Well desk are mounting next month in New York, the Well Festival, a day devoted to the exploration of how to live your healthiest life. Join us.
Kent Russell joined the Guardian Angels, and wrote about the experience for Harper’s. It’s sort of amazing that the Angels are still around.
I love a book review that gets me rushing to acquire the title. Joumana Khatib’s rave for Katie Kitamura’s new “Audition,” in The New York Times Book Review, did just that.
Finally, here’s our Jon Caramanica with a video review, recorded in his car, of Drake’s new song “Nokia.” Jon’s in his element, driving. More, please! I’ll see you on Sunday.
