Saturday, April 3, 2010







TSIMMIS ANYONE???






One of the constant Passover traditions in my family was the food. It has been many years since I have tasted Tsimmis so I decided to make it this year for our Church Sedar and for the family. This dish is very labor intensive so making it is usually for a special occasion.
This labor of love begins with peeling white potatoes, sweet potatoes, and carrots. Then cutting them up in pieces, no special size, whatever meets your fancy.
The meat is usually beef flanken that you can get from your butcher, mostly around the Holidays. We were not able to get it so chuck stew pieces and short ribs are a good substitute.
First you brown your meat in some oil and then put in a stew pot with a little water, salt and pepper. Stew the meat until tender adding the carrots and some brown sugar.
While you are doing that, put your potatoes in a baking pan, spread out and pour honey over them. Take some of the stewing liquid and put that in also. Cover with foil and bake at 375 until the potatoes are tender. Add the meat, carrots, and pitted prunes. Continue baking until all the ingredients just meld together.
This is a sweet dish so you would add honey and brown sugar during baking to your taste.
Jenifer, Noah and I went to the Sedar at our Church which was okay but not authentic. Actually I am glad since an authentic Sedar would be hours and hours long instead of just the 3 hours that we did. Imagine the children of years past having to sit all those hours, smelling the delicious aromas of the promised foods wafting through the air!
A typical Passover dinner for my family started with a piece of gefilte fish on lettuce. Then a small plate of chopped liver. Then a delicious bowl of homemade chicken soup with a matzo ball. THEN - if you could find the room - a delicious dinner of leg of lamb, string beans and tsimmis, always served with Manishevwitz wine and ginger ale. The children were always allowed a tiny sip. Desert was always honey cakes and macaroons.
I miss those days.

7 comments:

Mechelle said...

Happy Passover and Easter Sue!

Anonymous said...

That looks delicious! I'm glad you were able to go together! Have a blessed Easter!

Anonymous said...

That sounds like a lot of good food! Hours of cooking, but good food!
Bloomfield Beads

Christie Cottage said...

That looks GOOD! I am so glad I ate right before I came i here or I would be starving!

{{hugs}}

Happy Easter Sue!

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SHEILA said...

Yummy Sue! I really like meat and veggie dishes that have a little sweet taste to them, so I bet I would enjoy this!

Knitkit said...

Happy Passover and Easter Sue! The dish looks so delicious!

sammysgrammy said...

Sue, this story reminds me of something I used to tell one of my boys when he was little in order to get him to eat some veggies. I told him (I lied) that those were not carrots that I was offering him, they were tsimmis. I did this to fool him into trying a veggie. I also told him that beets were red cucumbers for the same reason. A ploy to get him to try.

He's gwon up now and loves veggies

Rita