PASSOVER and fiesta aren’t words we’re used to seeing together.
But that’s exactly what Rosa Mexicano has in mind for the coming Jewish holiday.
From Saturday until April 18, the popular East- and West-Side Mexican restaurant duo is debuting their first Passover celebration, featuring a special menu of south-of-the-border seder dishes along with a cooking class to teach the recipes.
(The first night of Passover is Wednesday, April 16.) Instead of rice and beans, think gefilte fish in pasilla sauce, tahini-matzo-crusted fish, marinated chicken and veal with green tomatillo and guajillo sauce, and chocolate and almond flourless cake.
There’s even matzo ball soup to please traditionalists – but this one’s spiked with jalapenos and coriander.
“We’ll have the traditional dish, but we’ll do it differently,” promises Mexican food authority Lila Lomeli, who’s flying in from her home in Mexico City to teach the class, which will be held Saturday.
“The traditional European dishes are very bland,” she says, “and we Mexicans are accustomed to having more exciting flavors” – like chiles and salsas.
Lomeli, who also worked on the “Rosa Mexicano Cookbook” with restaurant owner Josafina Howard, was born in Mexico City to Jewish parents who immigrated from Lithuania.
So the dishes she’ll be making – along with her daughter Juanita, a chef, and Rosa Mexicano culinary director Roberto Santibeñez – are based on the Ashkenazic specialties of her family, with Mexican variations reflecting the cooking styles of Jewish friends and her own personal touches.
“We learned that we were Jews,” she says, “and we had to adapt and understand this very strong Mexican culture.”
Wherever Jews live, she says, they modify their favorite recipes by adding ingredients from that country – from Italy to South America.
So it was natural for her to develop a seder with a south-of-the-border touch.
“The main idea of Passover is to gather the family to have good food and to remember their liberation from being slaves,” she says.
“It’s a traditional way of keeping Jews together.”
Rosa Mexicano is at 1063 First Ave., at 58th Street, (212) 753-7407; and 61 Columbus Ave., at 62nd Street, (212) 977-7700.
Cooking class is Saturday at 10 a.m. at Lincoln Center location. The cost is $45, including lunch. Call (212) 397-0666, ext. 19 for reservations.
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Mexican Matzo Ball Soup (Serves 4)
For the soup:
2 quarts chicken broth
10 cilantro sprigs
2 mint sprigs
1 jalapeño
1 small carrot
1 celery stalk
1 turnip
For the matzo balls:
½ cup + 2 tbsp. matzo meal
2 eggs
2 tablespoons vegetable oil
5 leaves epazote (an herb sold in Latin American markets)
For the garnish:
2 limes cut in wedges
Cilantro leaves
Boil the chicken broth with the cilantro sprigs, mint and half of the jalapeño for 15 minutes. Strain and reserve.
Make the matzo ball dough (mixing matzo, eggs and oil) as usual, adding the chopped epazote leaves to the dough. Make 20 small balls and boil them in water for 20 minutes or until fully cooked.
Cut the carrot, celery and turnip into a fine julienne.
Fifteen minutes before serving, poach the julienned vegetables in the broth for 10 minutes.
Add the matzo balls and serve. Decorate with some fresh cilantro leaves and the remaining half of the jalapeño cut in a fine julienne. Serve with lime wedges.
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Haggadah love these plates
You’ll wish every night was Passover with the spiffy seder accessories on sale at the Jewish Museum’s newly renovated gift shop, which also sells novelties like matzo oven mitts and a bag of 10 plagues.
* A roasted egg never looked as elegant as on this sleek, polished aluminum plate set that’s perfect for the seder-to-club crowd, $150.
* This Victorian-style antique mosaic seder plate looks like a family heirloom passed down from a non-Jewish grandmother, $325.
* Never mind the four questions: all your guests will want to know is where you got this floral garden ceramic seder plate. Hand-painted in South Africa, $350.
* Celebrations, the Jewish Museum Design Shop, 1 E. 92nd St., (212) 423-3260, http://www.thejewishmuseum.org
