Will someone please hire me for Passover?

Funky menu! I grew up Ashkenazi (wasn't until later that we learned I'm about 1/4 Sephardic) and lamb's not traditional for Ashkenazi (and for Sephardim, you could add legumes or rice, which you can't do with Ashkenazim). Yeah, I know lamb for mezuzim, but again that's more of a Sephardic-type tradition. I remember mainly chicken or brisket as a main course. I realize you're generally not going for traditional, but you do have some more familiar touches (the gefilte fish, for example). How about a game bird like squab as an alternative?

Also, I would definitely go for the no-dairy dessert. Pretty much anyone who's observant enough to want kosher for Passover will probably also be separating meat and dairy, I figure.

Passover cooking is so challenging, it's easy to get a lot of it to turn out pretty tasteless or heavy. Your menu looks light and interesting, and definitely takes advantage of what the season has to offer.

jespah, lamb was pretty much traditional in our family, although I knew that chicken or brisket were also staples. Mind you, my family were reform, and a bit snobbish when it came to food. One year, my aunt served sweetbreads

Didn't know that in the Sephardic tradition you could use rice or legumes...would have proposed a red wine-braised lentil or something for a side dish....

Squab would be cool, provided the client would eat it (love it myself, but also know people who eat duck, but not squab, go figure). Lamb is the more popular, conservative choice. The cake contains butter, but no cream or milk...guess that is okay for some, but definitely wanted to include the total non-dairy thing.

Ooh, almost forgot....last year for a family thing, I adapted an old kugel recipe from my grandmother's archives with dried apricots...it was LIGHT! And delicious....already have the folks bothering me for the recipe with my changes. I should post it here once I finish my taxes and can actually find papers, lol.

Ah, kugel - excellent!

Yep, if you're Sephardic, you can have beans, rice, corn and peas, all of which are tref for Pesach if you're Ashkenazi.

You can, um, eat meat 30 minutes after dairy and not be in violation, but the other way around requires a longer in-between time. I think it's 3 hours between eating meat and then having dairy. Can you use applesauce or something else that's pareve instead of butter? I realize you won't get the richness of butter, but you'll get moisture without being too wet. Baking, as you know, can be really challenging. I usually just give up and serve fresh fruit.

I love kugel, irish excath that I am. I'd like that light apricot kugel recipe too...

Dang jespah, being Ashkenazi sounds almost as crazy as being on the Zone diet, what with the protein days, and the carb days...

Osso, found the recipe as originally written, just a list of ingredients...as it has been a year since I made it, I need the brain fog to clear as to how I did it. Should be able to post it tomorrow though

Was fun being Ashkenazi and an ovo-lacto-pesco vegetarian, like I was for 15 years (I'm still A., just no longer o-l-p v.).

No tofu
No sprouts
No tempeh
No beans
No peas
No corn
No rice

I ate a lot of potatoes and fish those years.

K, bit of a delay on the kugel, but here it is:

3 eggs, separated
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 cup matzo meal
3/4 cup water
1 tsp. cinnamon
pinch of salt
1 tsp. vanilla
3 tbsp. oil
1 cup dried apricots
1 cup grated apple
1 orange, juice and grated rind

Now if I recall...the dried apricots should be diced, and the apple chopped up like for haroset, not necessarily grated....this makes slicing the kugel easier. I brought the water to a boil and tossed in the diced apricots and let them soak for about an hour. Threw in the apple and orange stuff. Beat the egg yolks with half the sugar to the ribbon stage, then added the cinnamon, salt and vanilla. Drizzled in the oil slowly. Then gradually beat in the matzo meal. Carefully folded in the fruit mixture when it was cool. Used the other half of the sugar with the egg whites to make a sort of meringue. Folded that into the kugel. Baked at 350 in a parchment-lined 8 inch springform pan for about 45 minutes to 1 hour. A double recipe will fill a 12 inch springform. There it is!