I’ve just been informed that Boston University Hillel offers “excellent” meals for lunch and dinner during Passover — you know, if you can’t make the hike to NYC for restaurant dining. Their daily menu is available online.

Update: Harvard Hillel also provides Passover meals through tonight. Sorry for the late notice; let’s remember for next year.

While we stuck mostly with tried-and-true favorites for our Shulchan Orekh wine (we remained wedded to Almog for the four cups), this year’s sedarim did provide two wines worth reporting on. The first, a 2002 Shiraz-Cabernet (55%-45%, respectively) blend (mevushal) from Kolobarra Hills of Australia (Victoria) (image from kosherwine.com)was a good match for our brisket-ish French Roast. It was interesting, though, that the wine tasted a bit off when we first tried it with the gefilte fish. Once properly paired, the wine was quite flavorful, revealing the black cherry and pepper notes that the label claims you’ll find. While not a very red dry wine, per se, I would only recommend it for people who like big red wines and enjoy tasting their way through some complexity.

The big surprise from our seder wines, though, was the 2004 Dalton Unoaked Chardonnay (Galilee, non-mevushal) (image from queenannewine.com). I have been a big fan of Dalton wines for several years, particularly their Sauvignon Blanc Fume. I enjoy Chardonnay, but am rarely particularly impressed by it (generally preferring big reds to whites). However, this wine was truly outstanding and notable. The surprises with the Unoaked Chardonnay began with the first pour: the wine is much clearer/lighter than the average oaked (or often over-oaked) chardonnay, looking almost like water at first glance. Both its scent and taste were very crisp and clean, much more so than most chardonnays. I find that a lot of kosher chardonnays have almost a buttery taste and texture as a result of significant oaking, which is not always a bad thing, but gives them a certain uniformity of taste.

This Dalton tasted like a pure result of quality grapes. The label description reads: “From the vineyards of Keren Ben Zimra, Dalton Unoaked Chardonnay was made from the only the free run juice. A fruity wine bursting with citrus and tropical fruit flavours, Dalton offers a new and exciting facet to Chardonnay wine, in keeping with its Mediterranean origins.” This wine makes for a great drink-right-now for those looking to explore a different and interesting side of chardonnay.

These savory muffins are great when sliced open and slathered with saucy brisket, or served warm with butter. They are very simple to prepare, especially if you have a quality non-stick muffin tin.

FARFEL MUFFINS
makes 12 small muffins, can be doubled

Margarine or shmaltz for greasing pan
1 1/2 C matzah farfel
1 1/2 C boiling water
3 eggs
3/4 tsp salt
1/4 tsp onion powder
1 1/2 Tbsp melted margarine, melted shmaltz, or vegetable oil

Preheat oven to 400 degrees and thoroughly grease your muffin tin with margarine or shmaltz. Cover farfel with boiling water and let sit for 30 minutes. Drain any liquid that hasn’t been absorbed. Beat eggs, salt, onion powder, and melted fat/oil and combine with soaked farfel. Fill muffin tins halfway with batter. Bake for 30 minutes until golden brown.

Over the past few weeks, we’ve had a chance to try several of the wraps featured on Rubin’s new “Gourmet” menu. The menu — made up of innovative wraps and salads — is a nice change from standard deli sandwiches. However, the individual items (priced at $9.99 and served with pickles) range from terrific to terrible.

PILGRIM WRAP
Sliced turkey, bread stuffing, and cranberry sauce: a favorite combination of mine, but this isn’t the best execution. Stuffing was concentrated on one end of the wrap and turkey on the other, leaving me with lopsided bites. Rubin’s stuffing, as usual, is tasty, but too homogenous to be spectacular. This wrap ought to be served with piping hot gravy on the side.

CHICKEN CAESAR WRAP
Lettuce, grilled chicken, croutons, and Caesar dressing. Another lopsided execution, with the dressing concentrated at one end. Grilled chicken tasted too much like charcoal, which scant dressing couldn’t mask.

THAI CHICKEN WRAP
Greens, shredded carrots, grilled chicken, and peanut sauce. The best wrap we’ve had so far, and we’ve had it several times already. Perfect proportions of ingredients, and great flavor from the peanut sauce. Only improvement would be to offer a drizzle of hot sauce for added kick.

TERIYAKI CHICKEN WRAP
Rice, sauteed chicken, broccoli, carrots, and “teriyaki” sauce. The worst wrap of the bunch. Couldn’t finish it due to copious amounts of sickeningly sweet sauce that exhibited no “teriyaki” flavor at all. Also, too much rice and not enough chicken.

ROAST BEEF TARRAGON WRAP
Roast beef, asparagus, and tarragon mayonaisse. A good choice, but it all depends on the doneness of that day’s roast beef. Ours was rare and delicious. Asparagus was nicely cooked: not soggy, not too crisp. Tarragon gives some subtle, but out-of-the-ordinary zip.

TURKEY COBB WRAP
Sliced turkey, greens, tomatoes, hard-boiled egg, grilled pastrami, avocado. Not bad, but too much going on in this one wrap. Textures of egg and avocado are too similar for use together. Pastrami lacks the smokiness and crispness that bacon usually provides in a Cobb salad.

In addition to this gourmet wrap/salad menu, Rubin’s reports that they’re introducing a “steakhouse” menu soon, which will include “upscale steak entrees such us prime rib, veal marsala, rack of lamb, sea bass, and new chicken & duck entrees.” While these new entrees sound delicious, and I appreciate their desire to fill a critical niche, the hard fact is that Rubin’s ambience just doesn’t allow for “upscale.” Their rib steak is delicious, but it’s hard to enjoy a $27 dinner plate with kids running around, neon signs glaring, and neighboring tables practically on top of you. It makes for a kitschy deli, but a terrible “upscale steakhouse.” For $30, I want upscale service, upscale ambience, upscale china, and upscale wine selection — not just upscale food.

So, enjoy the new wraps and salads, and let’s hope that Rubin’s survives its identity crisis.

Brookline Liquor Mart, on Commonwealth Avenue, is having a sale on their kosher wine until the end of the month. Buy 6 or more bottles and save 20%.

My Passover kitchen accomodates meat only. While we’ll have plenty of cheese on hand, and whipped butter for matzah, there’ll be no cooked dairy for us. There are some tremendous dairy Passover recipes out there, though, and this farfel kugel is one of them, courtesy of my grandmother, z”l. My mother recently made it, and all who tried were quite surprised to learn that it contained no noodles.

A delicious low-fat version can be had by substituting low-sugar preserves, sugar substitutes, low-fat small-curd cottage cheese, and low-fat sour cream for the full-fat, full-sugar ingredients. The topping, though, requires real sugar.

A great recipe for Passover and year-round.

FARFEL KUGEL
Mollie Uliss

* 3 extra large eggs
* 1/4 C sugar
* 2 C matzah farfel
* 2 C cream-style cottage cheese
* 1 C sour cream
* 1/2 C margarine, melted
* 1/2 C golden raisins
* 1/2 C apricot preserves

Topping:
* 1/2 C finely chopped walnuts or pecans
* 2 Tbsp. sugar
* 1 tsp. cinnamon

Preheat oven to 350-degrees F.
In a medium bowl, beat eggs until light. Gradually beat in sugar until fluffy.
Soak farfel in cold water. Squeeze out excess water.
Add farfel, cottage cheese, sour cream, melted margarine, raisins, and preserves to egg mixture and blend well.
Pour batter into a greased 12″ x 7.5″ x 2″ baking dish. (Cooking spray works well for greasing)
Mix nuts, sugar, and cinnamon and sprinkle all over batter as topping.
Bake for 40-45 minutes. Serve warm or cold.

Makes 10-12 servings.

In short — baking soda is kosher for Passover. It’s a chemical leavening agent, it doesn’t work through fermentation like yeast (which is prohibited). Additionally, matzah, once baked, is kosher for Passover, and simply cannot be made “unkosher” for Passover by the introduction of seltzer, eggs, or baking soda. (Note that there are folks who avoid “gebrokts” — matzah that has been prepared with liquid.)

While any year-round baking soda is acceptable on Passover (so long as it’s a new box), baking powder is not acceptable unless it is made without cornstarch and thus specifically marked kosher for Passover.

Of course, especially on Passover, if you’re uncertain about what’s okay and what isn’t, ask your local halachic authority.

DOLE PRE-WASHED SALADS
Dole pre-washed salads bearing a Star-K heksher are not only very convenient, but also kosher for Passover (with the exception of “Very Veggie with Snow Peas”).

QUINOA
In order to use quinoa (keen-wa) on Passover, the entire contents of the package must be inspected thoroughly, identifying each kernel as quinoa, and not another grain. The manufacturing equipment is often used for other similar products (potential chametz).

CHANGE IN INSTANT COFFEE POLICY
Because of maltodextrins, instant coffee should only be used if it bears an acceptable passover heksher. As for normal ground coffee, any year-round source is fine so long as it is unflavored and not decaffeinated.

LOOKING FOR SOY SAUCE SUBSTITUTE
Is there a pesadik substitute for soy sauce? Share you strategies for Passover stir-fry by posting a comment.

BEHIND THE UNION SYMBOL
The special Passover edition of the OU’s Behind the Union Symbol (PDF) is an interesting look both at how manufacturers handle Passover production requirements and at how the OU markets its services to manufacturers.

NYC RESTAURANTS OPEN FOR PASSOVER
New York’s saving grace — its kosher restaurants — once again come through to satisfy your craving for fine Passover dining. The following restaurants will be open to varying degrees; see their websites for details: Abba’s Cafe, Le Marais, Levana, Circa, Mendy’s (certain locations), Prime Grill, Solo

GOURMET PASSOVER PRODUCTS ONLINE
Online retailer KosherGourmetMart has a wide variety of Passover foods, from traditional macaroons and matzah, to decadent foie gras and flourless cakes, including several French cheeses from Rue Lafayette. With some Rakusen’s matzah crackers and a few bottles of fine wine, start a new tradition and throw a Passover wine and cheese party! (Order by April 18!)

Thanks to all who wrote in with news and questions.

As Pesach approaches, it is time for newspaper food and wine sections to give their annual nod to kosher kulture. The April 8, 2005 edition of the Wall Street Journal includes their reviews and discussion for this year. Rather than canvassing the world of kosher wine, this year Gaiter & Brecher chose instead “to focus solely on the world’s greatest grapes - Cabernet Sauvignon and Chardonnay.”

The narrative portion of the article discusses kosher wine generally and their tasting process for these wines, but also has an interesting note on the exotic tasting menu and pairing that the authors enjoyed at Mike’s Bistro in Manhattan. I have never been to Mike’s, but have now put it on my list of places to check out in NYC.

Anyway, the chardonnay’s that made the cut are, interestingly, all Israeli: Very Good (best of tasting)- Barkan Wine Cellars ‘Reserve’ 2002 ($15); Very Good/Good (best value)- Golan (Golan Heights Winery) 2002 ($12.99); Good-Yarden (GHW) 2002 ($18). Of these, I am most familiar with the Yarden and agree with the review, which describes the wine as “big and rich” and notes that it is for those who “like oaky wines.” The Yarden chardonnay is a thoroughly enjoyable wine and it will well-complement your Shabbat chicken, seder turkey, or any weekday fish.

The field of Good or better CabSav was larger, yielding six picks with solid geographical diversity: two Israeli wines, two American, one Australian, and one French. Yarden’s 2000 Galilee CabSav won out, receiving a “Very Good/Delicious” rating and “best tasting” note. Priced at $26, the Yarden was less expensive but better reviewed than the two Herzog “Special Edition” bottles that made the list, both from the U.S.: Warnecke Vineyard Chalk Hill 2000 at $60, and Alexander Valley 2000 at $33.

I look forward to the NY Times kosher wine article, which I expect in this week’s Dining section on Wednesday. Those who would like the full text of the WSJ article should email me and we’ll figure something out.

At delis and markets in this area, the knish labeled as the “Boston” variety is rectangular with rounded edges, filled with beef or potato, and covered on all sides with a thick golden dough. “New York” varieties are often larger and open on the ends; the dough is a bit flakier, and may have a reddish hue. Understandably, I’m partial to the hometown pastry, so it was with great excitment that I noticed in our local Super Stop & Shop that American Kosher Products (of West Bridgewater, formerly of Mattapan) has produced kosher-for-Passover glatt beef knishes (certified by the Orthodox Union).

The flavor is right on, though the texture is quite a bit gummier due to the use of seasonal ingredients like cake meal, matzo meal, potato starch, and potato flakes. Plus, the dough is a little thinner than usual and thus gets dried out more easily; notice the cracks developing in the photos. Despite the Passover backflips, this is a quality product which should prove a tasty and convenient snack or hors d’oeuvre during the holiday.

You may have recently seen a Passover Menu (PDF) from Whole Foods Market in the mail, online, or as an insert in the Jewish Advocate. As a public service, the Kosher Blog would like to stress that the items marked as “kosher” (by Kosher Technical Konsultants) in the menu are not kosher for Passover! The menu indicates that they aren’t K-for-P, that they’re only “Passover style,” but the text is small and someone could easily be deceived when reading a “Passover” menu with “kosher” items.

The only Kosher for Passover item on the menu is the Payard Flourless Cake, certified by Rabbi Michel Gugenheim.

The upside of all this is that the Whole Foods in Brighton will once again be having an “Ask the Rabbi” session from 11AM-3PM this Sunday (April 10) with Rabbi Posner of the Kenmore Chabad. Samples of English cholov yisroel cheeses (suitable for Passover) will be available.

The other night, we needed a quick meal so we decided on pasta, but I was tired of Barilla’s reliably tasty tomato sauces. I hunted around the pantry a while before realizing that in my refrigerator I actually had both pesto and mascarpone left over from an Italian-themed birthday dinner we hosted several weeks ago. I figured they’d be excellent parties to a simple sauce.

I don’t have the proportions down right, but mascarpone’s intensely neutral flavor, pure creaminess, and meltability makes a perfect base for a cream sauce. Plus, mascarpone has a shelf life of 60 days, so it’s more convenient than maintaining a supply of cream in the fridge for the occasional sauce.

I’m aware of at least three brands of kosher mascarpone commonly available in Boston-area stores: Vermont Butter & Cheese Company’s certified by Kof-K, BelGioioso’s certified by the CRC, and Polenghi’s certified by the OK.

After Pesach, I’ll work on an actual recipe to post here, but in the meantime, put a dollop on your hot pasta and mix in with pesto, or smoked fish, or some interesting combination of herbs and spices. Of course, report any surprising results!

The Atlantic Monthly (subscription required, and I actually don’t have one) has published an article in its May issue about the growing market for kosher food for reasons practical and spiritual.

Hat tip to DovBear.

Any suggestions on where to buy a large quantity of quality lox in the Boston area? (I noticed Trader Joe’s offers a 16 oz. pack for $10, but maybe the wholesale outlets like BJ’s or Costco have cheaper mega-packs.)

One of the greatest things that happened on my mother’s birthday, March 31, was the long-awaited post on Kosher Blog detailing the locations where Neshama sausages could be purchased in the New York area. Now, while most people spend the bulk of their time working and dedicate an off-day to charity, I work for a charity, so I dedicated an off-day to working - that is, embarking on the search for the elusive Neshama sausage.

My first attempt was an immediate success: Eli’s Supermarket at 1411 3rd Ave (at East 80th St). Upstairs, Eli’s has a separate kosher fridge with kosher cheeses and meats, and they had Neshama tucked away behind some other hot dogs — it took some searching. There was only one option, the Apple-Walnut-Cranberry Breakfast Sausages. They were quite pricy though, $11.99 per package.

Next - Fairway: no success. Plus, it was crowded, pushy, difficult to navigate. They did have a nice kosher selection, but no Neshama. However, this was the location on 74th St., and the KBlog posting of “Fairway Wholesale Uptown” was sufficiently vague to include the possiblity of either the 74th St. or the 132nd St. location.

Next attempt: Zabar’s. Success! Bingo! The nexus of the Jewish Neshama. Although there was a temporary failure because the first door is actually a treif lunch place, I eventually realized there was a grocery next door. The kosher section was quite spacious, and the Neshama was abundant. Four different kinds — they had the same Apple-Walnut-Cranberry that Eli’s had, but they also carried the Country Apple Sausages, the Mild Italian, and the Spicy Italian. Plus, each was priced at only $7.99 per package. Great deal! I bought a whole bunch.

The rest were all failures — Whole foods on 89th, while they were friendly and helpful, did not carry Neshama. Kosher Marketplace on 90th, while they do have a nice kosher selection and would be a great Thursday evening shopping store, did not even know about Neshama (at least the 2 people I spoke to), and Fairway on 132nd also did not carry (though their selection of other kosher meats was enormous - and in Harlem?!) Amish Fine Foods - I didn’t try, but I was surprised to find out that they actually do have a website.

In the end, Zabar’s wins at 2245 Broadway and West 80th. They have the most options and the best price. After a long meaningful search, it’s great to have found one’s Neshama.

Though this will be the second Passover we’ll engineer for our family, this year has the added obstacle of a motzei-Shabbat first Seder. More than ever, the schedule demands meals that we can prepare almost entirely in advance and reheated in the time it takes to go from Kadesh to Shulchan Oreich. Last year’s gefilte fish, chicken soup, and brisket are ideal candidates to repeat this year, but there are still holes to fill. Do I stick with a freshly cooked vegetable? Do I serve the brisket on both nights? (Oh, and I should mention we’ll be having 11 guests on the first night, and 6 on the second.)

So, friends, as my wife and I are new to this, what are your tried-and-true strategies for a Saturday night seder? Any elegant reheatable vegetable dishes out there? Any suggestions for a second-night main course, or will it be 21 servings of easy-to-make, easy-to-heat brisket?