Ann's Blog
Portsmouth, Dominica:
March 29, 2010
Passover in Portsmouth
Complications in timing and flights mean that I won’t be celebrating Passover with family in New Jersey this year. Instead, Steve and I will have quiet Seders on Receta. Planning ahead, I had brought back matzoh and matzoh meal on my last trip north. Still, even with that head start, putting together a Seder night in Portsmouth, Dominica that reflects family tradition, is gonna be challenging. Forget hot chicken soup with fat matzoh balls in this climate, and there probably isn’t a jar of gefilte fish or a brisket within 500 miles. Dinner will be chicken marinated in green seasoning, accompanied by West Indian sweet potatoes and local spinach (an entirely different variety of green than the Popeye stuff). Dessert is easy: the spice-infused Local-Chocolate Cake I’d learned to make at the Green Roof Inn in Carriacou. (See p. 261 of The Spice Necklace for the recipe.) Since it consists mostly of butter, chocolate, eggs, and sugar, I can easily substitute matzoh cake meal for its small quantity of flour.
But the Seder plate requires craftier substitutions. With no fresh or bottled horseradish anywhere in Portsmouth, what to use for the bitter herbs? Steve has the solution: wasabi. (We always have that onboard, in case we luck into a sushi-quality tuna.) There are imported apples for sale here, but they’re flavorless, and my walnuts have gone rancid. So I make a charoses that would have my mother turning in her grave: with dried mango, raisins, and pecans.
There’s only one de rigueur Passover item that doesn’t require substitution. To my surprise, it’s easily obtainable in Portsmouth, on the shelves of several of the town’s modest groceries, providing residents with an inexpensive buzz and wandering Jews like me with the (overly) sweet taste of tradition. Figured out yet what it is? See the photo below.
Sign up to be notified by email when I post a new blog