Primal Passover

Oh, the joys of being a Jew. Most of our holidays revolve around eating and celebrating the fact that we escaped massacre. Good times :) For Hannukah (look, those who are about to bitch, there IS no right spelling, it's a transliteration, so if you don't like it, spell it the way you want to on your own blog :) ) it's food cooked in oil, for Purim it's hamantaschen, and Passover, well, Passover is the mack daddy of them all.

The first night of Passover there are specific foods you must eat. And yes, I break with Primal eating to have a bit of matzoh and charoset (a dried fruit paste bound with sweet wine) at the Seder because the ritual is very important to me. But even beyond the Seder, I keep kosher over Passover, something I don't do at any other time of the year. This year, I am actually trying to eat kosher and Primal. Adventures have and will continue to ensue, I'm sure, but I'm happy to report, it hasn't been that bad.

At the Seder itself, which was a meat (as opposed to dairy) there were the usual suspects, like brisket braised in red wine, veggies, and a few choice Jewish treats I will never be able to get into, like gefilte fish. Let me pause for a second--seriously, sweet fish? Who ever thought that would be a good idea? Anyways, there were also fabulous pickled veggies of all incarnations. Let me just say pickled asparagus, YUM.

As to the rest of the time, turns out keeping kosher and Primal is relatively easy, with the big caveat that I am lucky enough to have access to a steady supply of kosher meat. My plan for the week, at least for right now, is to avoid dairy completely, since I am far more reliant on meat than milk in my day to day consumption, and I hate the whole waiting period between eating milk and meat.

I have roasted off a nice kosher chicken, which is feeding me quite nicely right now, and then I have some hanger steak (post on that soon!) waiting in the freezer once that's eaten. Since I don't eat grains and legumes anyway, chometz and kitniyot, both trayf for the Passover period, aren't an issue. There are some cuts of meat I have to avoid during Passover, like beef tenderloin, and pork is obviously out :( And I cook with schmaltz or olive oil, and yes, I do miss butter. A lot.

But at least I have eggs, and lots and lots of yummy fruits and veggies. I've been having fresh strawberries as my sweet of choice lately, or baked apples doused in cinnamon. Dates are back on the dessert rotation too. I like the parallel, I can imagine the Jews fleeing Egypt eating dates in the desert on their way out.