
                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: WEDNESDAY, March 23, 1994                   TAG: 9403240006
SECTION: EXTRA                    PAGE: 3   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: By ALMENA HUGHES STAFF WRITER
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Medium

RITUALLY CORRECT PASSOVER FOOD CAN BE ELEGANT, TOO

The eight-day Jewish holiday of Passover, marking the Jewish exodus from Ancient Egypt, begins at sundown on Saturday. The celebration dates back over 3,000 years, but innovators are ensuring that it also accommodates modern times.

For example, the Seder - a traditional gathering of family and friends held on the first two nights of Passover - retells the story of the Exodus with song, prayer, games, foods and wine. A focal point of the event is the Seder plate that contains specific symbolic ingredients, which could take hours to prepare.

Kineret Foods Corp. cuts the preparation time with The Complete Passover Seder Plate, produced in accordance with strict Rabbinical standards. The Israeli-designed golden plate, suggested to retail for under $10, contains all the Passover Seder elements, prepared and frozen in cups which come with the plate. All the consumer needs to do is defrost everything and place it on the table.

During Passover, no leavening may be used, so a flat unleavened matzo is the base of any bread, flour or cereal needs. Since matzo quickly breaks down in liquids, a crispy bowl of cereal was accepted as unattainable until recently when Jewish cook/inventor Marcia Smith found a way to emulate plain Cheerios, chocolate Cocoa Puffs and fruit-flavored Fruit Loops, using matzo. Smith's Crispy-O's cereals, retailing for about $3.25 per box, are distributed through Brooklyn-based Kedem Foods company. Kedem also, through its HKS Ltd. division, is distributing what it says is the world's first Kosher-for-Passover "light" margarine.

Some cooks say they find cooking using the bland-flavored matzo a challenge. But Susan Friedland in "The Passover Table: New and Traditional Recipes for Your Seders and the Entire Passover Week" ($17, Harper Perennial) with over 40 flavorful offerings meets and overcomes the dare.

To further dispel the myth of Passover foods being bland, in January kosher wines and foods marketers, the Herzog family, hosted a strictly kosher, gourmet "faux" Passover Seder. The event, which included kosher hors d'oeuvres, spirits, liquers and champagnes, as well as a six-course banquet, showed that Passover foods can be elegant and Epicurean, too.

Recipes for:\ ROAST CHICKEN WITH FENNEL AND TOMATOES\ MATZAH SPINACH KUGEL\ PUREED CARROTS AND CELERY ROOT\ DILLY DUMPLINGS\ WILD MUSHROOM CONSOMME\ LACQUERED DUCK WITH PEARL ONION\ AND HUCKLEBERRY RAGOUT\ PEARL ONION & HUCKLEBERRY SAUCE\ DACQUOISE OF BRANDIED FRUITS\ POACHED SALMON - (APPETIZER) - COLD\ STUFFED BREAST OF VEAL\ MINA DE PASAH (MATZO CHICKEN PIE)\ VEGETABLE CUTLETS\ CHOCOLATE-FILLED PASSOVER BLINTZES\ HONEY PASSOVER CHEESECAKE\

by CNB