Our Family Seder – Passover Fruit Kugel

Growing up, my family did not invest vast effort in celebrating holidays. We didn’t have a barbeque on the 4^th of July and my father was usually asleep by 9:00 p.m. on New Year’s Eve. We weren’t pious by any stretch, so holidays having to do with religion usually fell by the wayside. The one exception was Passover. While we celebrated the religious aspects of the holiday with a Seder service, probably out of tradition more than anything else, I’m guessing the real reason it became so important is because it brought a large number of family and friends together around a meal. Passover was the one holiday that mattered in my family.

Before I was born, my parents started hosting their annual Seder. There were at least thirty guests, and sometimes it swelled to close to fifty. Grandparents, aunts, uncles, cousins, and some friends thrown in, it became a big deal.

The menu pretty much stayed the same from year to year. It started with chopped liver, pieces of matzo serving as the vehicle to transport it from serving bowl to mouth. My father also made hummus or almond dip, and there were olives and roasted red peppers as well to calm the masses as guests gathered.

Everyone then squeezed into our modest-sized dining room for the Seder. It was a long, strategic process to get us all seated since space was at a premium. Once sitting, it was difficult to get up. Passover is a celebration of Jewish freedom from slavery in Egypt and one of the traditions is to relax, be comfortable, and eat on cushions. Unfortunately, our Seder was probably the most uncomfortable meal of the year with so many people wedged into one room. If the fire marshal checked in, I’m sure he would have shut us down.

Once seated, despite my family’s lack of religious devotion, we held a traditional Seder service. We read the Passover story, said the blessings, sang a song or two, and drank wine. It was fun and jovial, with lots of joking. And since it is a holiday celebrating freedom, we always recognized those throughout the world who did not have theirs. The Seder proper lasted maybe 45 minutes after which time people were bored and famished, ready for food.

Unfortunately, Passover is not known for its exceptional cuisine, limited because observant Jews do not eat wheat and other grains leavened with yeast during the holiday. We did our best.

There were hard boiled eggs, parsley, and celery dipped in salt water to represent spring, rebirth, and our ancestors’ tears. We served two kinds of charoset to symbolize mortar holding the bricks together on the pyramids the slaves were forced to build. One was made of chopped apples and nuts with cinnamon, the other a sweet and spicy date chutney. We had gefilte fish – ground carp or pike formed into logs and simmered then sliced – sort of like fish sausage. I was never sure what it signified, but we drowned it in horseradish, which represented the bitterness of slavery. This was followed by matzo ball soup, always with farfel, crumbled bits of matzo toasted in a light coating to give them extra crunch, perfect to add character to the simple broth.

And then came the main meal. Tender sliced brisket with savory gravy, baked chicken in a salty, kosher for Passover, MSG-laden version of Shake ‘n Bake with matzo meal crumbs, and steamed asparagus. My grandmother Jeanette’s fruit kugel – essentially a casserole – was served as a side, since traditional noodle kugel was not acceptable for this holiday. And there was always a salad.

Eventually we got to dessert. We always had sliced strawberries with fresh whipped cream, along with a rich, dense flourless chocolate cake and often an apricot walnut tart. Someone usually brought chocolate in one form or another, and my grandmother always snuck in bright colored jellied “fruit” slices covered in crunchy sugar. My mother made homemade meringue kisses studded with chocolate chips. First the meringue would melt in your mouth with each crumbly bite, followed by the little bursts of bittersweet chocolate.

Despite the size of the event and the limitations on food imposed by the holiday, the meal was always a success. Family and friends were happy to see each other and each year left full and content. It was the one holiday we celebrated as a family, and we did it in a memorable way.

Passover Fruit Kugel

This recipe is from my Grandmom Jeanette’s collection. I’m not sure how far back it goes in my family, but it was always served at our Passover Seder. It can easily be made ahead of time and reheated for dinner. It can also easily be doubled using a 9 x 13 pan.

serves 8 as a side dish, about 1¼ hour, ½ hour of which is active time

¾ lb. dried fruit such as apricots, prunes, pears, and raisins, cut into bite-size pieces

3 cooking apples such as Granny Smith, peeled, cored, and sliced into bite-sized pieces

3 eggs

½ cup vegetable oil, plus more for greasing pan

½ cup Passover cake meal

½ cup plus 1 Tbsp. sugar, divided

½ tsp. ground cinnamon

1. Preheat oven to 350 ^oF.
2. Soak cut dried fruit in enough boiling water to cover them for 10 minutes then drain water.
3. Mix with sliced apples in a bowl.
4. In a separate large bowl beat the eggs. Slowly add oil and mix to combine. Stir in cake meal and half cup sugar and once incorporated, mix in the fruit.
5. Pour into 8 x 8-inch greased baking pan, spreading to the edges with a rubber spatula.
6. Combine remaining 1 tablespoon of sugar with cinnamon in a small bowl and sprinkle evenly over kugel.
7. Bake in oven for ¾ hour until fully set and bubbling.

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