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Last update - 14:45 03/04/2009 Dishing it up / Mamma mia! By Haim Cohen and Eli Landau Tags: israel news, jewish world  "Every conversation or picture reminds you of an Italian anecdote!" The chef said to the doctor. "It's not my fault," answered the doctor. "You keep showing me pictures of Italy." The chef could not see the connection between Italy and the Pesach seder, but he didn't try too hard to figure it out and instead relied on his long-term friendship with the doctor. Advertisement The doctor - graced with considerable wisdom, a comfortable and pleasant manner, a sense of humor and quite a bit of knowledge - has an extremely small family. The chef is blessed with a great deal of talent, humor and endless charm, and the roots of his family tree, are also quite sparse. Therefore, neither of them had many participants in their family seders. Both had heard rumors that the seder is the most family-oriented repast in the Hebrew codex. Something like the American Thanksgiving, when everyone gathers for a festive meal with recipes and other rituals that are part of the family heritage. The seder is endowed with a glorious 2,000-year tradition, a wonderful story of independence and celebration of redemption, spring and unity. The legend and the songs are quite similar among many families. The problem begins with the meal, which is characterized by incomprehensible gormandizing and ends with a long night of heartburn. "In the Italian rabbi's house," recalled the doctor, "there were dozens of family members. The songs resembled ours, but the food," he sighed, "what food ..." The story aroused an outburst of culinary creativity in the chef, and the result was an unconventional but easy-to-prepare seder meal. Most of it can be prepared a day in advance, and the afternoon of the last day of eating chametz (leavened foods) can be spent in healthful repose. The menu consists of gnocchi, chicken soup with kneidlach, roast shoulder of lamb with artichoke, and lemon sorbet. Gnocchi The classic Italian recipe for potato gnocchi can be easily adapted and made kosher for Pesach, and makes a very tasty first course. It can be accompanied by a simple tomato sauce (saute 5 chopped cloves of garlic and a small bunch of basil in olive oil; when the garlic starts to change color, add 2 cans of peeled and crushed tomatoes - about 800 gr. - and cook until the sauce becomes somewhat thick; season with salt and black pepper). Ingredients: 2 kg. potatoes (preferably those with pale brown skin) 1 cup matza meal 2 eggs 1/2 cup ground almonds salt Place unpeeled potatoes on a bed of coarse salt in a pan; bake in a hot oven (180-200 degrees Centigrade) until soft (check with a toothpick). Remove from the pan and the moment they can be handled, halve them and mash them with a masher (a kind of gigantic garlic masher). In the absence of the right device, peel potatoes quickly and while still hot, mash well with a fork or whatever - anything but a food processor. Combine the mashed potatoes with the eggs, matza meal, ground almonds and 1-2 teaspoons salt (depending on taste). You should get a dough that is easy to handle, but somewhat damp; if necessary, add a little more matza meal. Divide the dough into 8 or 10 parts and roll each, on a work surface floured with matza meal, into a kind of "sausage" about 1.5 cm. in diameter. Cut the sausage into short sections of about 1 cm. each. Pat down each one gently and you have wonderful gnocchi. Bring a large pot of a lot of lightly salted water to a boil. Transfer the gnocchi carefully, one by one, into the water. After a few minutes they will float on the surface of the water, and this means they are ready. Cook for another minute and then carefully remove them from the pot and transfer to a bowl with a little olive oil. Mix gently, season or add sauce to taste. On other occasions the gnocchi can be seasoned with sage butter (butter in which you fry a few sage leaves and a little black pepper). They can even replace the traditional chicken soup kneidlach. Chicken soup with kneidlach A beautiful and delicious dish, whose quantities can be increased for more diners. You'll need an entire chicken, without the bones (ask the butcher to take it apart). The meat of the breast and thighs, which will be used for the kneidlach, must be ground once. The bones, the wings and the neck will be used for soup. Ingredients (serves 6-8): 2 carrots 1 onion 3 garlic cloves a small bunch of parsley a small bunch of chives 6 sprigs of thyme 3 stalks of celery (without the leaves, which can be used to garnish the soup) 1 tsp. black peppercorns salt 1 egg 3 tbsp. matza meal 1 tbsp. cooking oil a dash of nutmeg 1/2 cup rice about 20 "unborn" egg yolks (These are available at any central city market, where they're called eilach; they actually come from the ovary of the chicken. You will need 2-3 yolks per person. Anyone who cannot get to the marketplace can use the yolks of a hard-boiled egg, in the last stage of the recipe.) Place the chicken bones, wings and neck in a medium-sized pot; add onion, garlic, parsley, chives, thyme, celery, peppercorns and a generous amount of water to cover everything (1.5-2 liters). Bring to a boil, lower the flame to a minimum and cook for 1 1/2 hours in a closed pot. Add salt to taste. Strain the soup. Toss out the vegetables. Remove the remaining meat from the skeleton, the wings and the neck. Return the meat to the soup (this can be done a day in advance). For the kneidlach: While the soup is cooking, in a bowl beat the egg into a light-colored foam. Add matza meal, oil and 1 tbsp. water, and mix. Add the ground chicken, a little salt and nutmeg; mix. Cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate for half an hour. Remove from the refrigerator and check the mixture. It should be easy to work with (for forming small balls). If it's too liquid, add a little matza meal, mix and return to the refrigerator for at least an hour. Right before the meal bring the soup to a boil. With wet hands form small balls from the matza meal mixture (something like large marble size); place them in the soup as you make them. Add the rice to the soup. Bring to a boil, lower the flame and cook for 10 minutes. Add the egg yolks, bring to a boil again and cook for another 3-5 minutes (depending on the size of the yolks). Chop the celery leaves, add to the soup and serve. Roast shoulder of lamb with artichoke This is an Italian spring recipe converted to suit Pesach. We have replaced the fresh spring artichoke of Rome with frozen artichoke hearts. And another condition: The recipe calls for simple chicken soup stock. The work required to prepare it is minimal (chicken wings and necks, vegetables, seasoning and 1 1/2 hours of cooking) and the reward is maximal (added flavors to all the holiday cooking). If you're too lazy, please use water. Anything but soup powder. Please. Quantities can be adjusted for more diners. Ingredients (serves 6-8): a 3-kilo shoulder of lamb (with the bone), cut into 5-cm. cubes 1/2 kg. frozen artichoke hearts 1 lemon 2 medium-sized onions, coarsely chopped (or thinly sliced) 12 garlic cloves needles from 2 small sprigs of rosemary 6 sprigs of thyme 1 small bunch of nana (spearmint; leaves only) 1 cup chicken stock (or water) salt, pepper olive oil You will need a large, heavy iron pot. If you don't have one, then use aluminum or another thick pot. Heat 3 tbsp. olive oil in the pot and brown the cubes of lamb in it. This should be done in stages, 4-5 cubes each time, so that the oil does not cool. Set the cubes aside. After the meat is browned, place the onion, 10 whole garlic cloves, the thyme and needles from 1 sprig of rosemary into the pot. Fry until the onion is transparent. Return the browned cubes of meat to the pot, together with the juices that have collected in the bottom of the dish where they were kept, the grated rind of the lemon and the juice of half of the lemon. With a wooden spoon, stir and scrape the bottom of the pot to rescue every bit of flavor that has adhered to it. Season with salt and pepper. Add the stock (or water) and bring to a boil. Stir and lower the flame to the minimum. Cook for 1 1/2 hours in a covered pot, stirring occasionally. Add the artichoke hearts; bring to a boil again, lower the flame and cook for another 15 minutes. If there are a lot of liquids in the pot, cook without a lid or cover partially. The sauce must be thick. Use the cooking time for chopping the spearmint leaves together with the needles from the other rosemary sprig, 2 garlic cloves and the juice of the remaining half lemon. Add this fragrant mixture to the pot; stir and continue to cook for about 3 more minutes. Wait at least 5 minutes before serving. Lemon sorbet A very lemony, pure and refreshing dessert. Ideally you prepare dessert right at the end of the meal, when the volunteers are clearing off the plates and the other guests have opened their buttons and belts, and are adjusting their pillows behind them. All you need here is a large, strong blender - one that can crush ice. If the blender is small, prepare the dessert in two stages. Of course, you can prepare the sorbet that same morning or the night before and freeze it, and then transfer it right before serving to a blender and crush it thoroughly. The results will be not bad, but less refreshing than the first technique. Ingredients: 3 lemons 2 egg whites 1/4 kg. sugar 1 kg. ice Grate the lemons. Put the zest aside. Peel the lemons, getting rid of the white inner peel. Separate the slices and remove their thin transparent skin; get rid of the pits. This can all be done before the meal. Place the egg whites, sugar and peeled lemon slices into a blender. Mix on the highest speed until a smooth and voluminous cream/foam is formed. Add the ice cubes one by one and continue to mix/crush until the sorbet is formed. Distribute the sorbet into the dessert bowls. Sprinkle a little lemon zest on each and serve. Bookmark to del.icio.us   Proposed sanctions Dutch Labor Party proposes sanctions against Israel if it thwarts peace process. False alarm Delta flight gets IAF fighter jet escort after pilot activates anti-hijack warning system.

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