Passover (Alison's Version) | Home Movies with Alison Roman

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Yes the afikomen is my AirPod case

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a dollar? I won't get out of bed for less  than a dollar I'm expensive [Music] [Applause]

hello everybody Welcome to home  movies I'm Alison Roman and today it's  

Passover [Music] menorahs? different holiday  know I know what would you have, locusts?

Passover is one of my favorite holidays  top two for sure to me it is sort of in  

the spirit of Thanksgiving like a time  to gather and cook for one another and  

sort of like reflect using like a very  specific meal with typically specific  

foods to celebrate you know a marking of time  and and however it is that you're interpreting  

the religious aspect or not of it I think  that at it's core it is a time for dining

traditionally there are foods that appear  on a Passover table matzo ball soup is one  

of them a brisket or braised meat of  some sort is also another one of them

so our brisket is lacking ketchup it is sans  ketchup and I I don't want to be like it's not  

your grandmother's brisket but it's literally  not my grandmother's brisket which was bad

it had lots of ketchup it had lots of onions  and brown sugar and was basically like meatloaf  

profile but as brisket people like that I don't  and that's okay because this is home movies with  

Alison Roman and I just thought well I don't  want to live that way I I want a world in which  

the brisket tastes different than that and so I  created the world that I want to live in and this  

brisket is tangy it's salty it's deeply savory the  sauce is thin not thick it's not like a gravy it  

is punchy there's horseradish but it's pretty  simple like there's no ingredient that's going  

to take away from like the purity of what it means  to just like cook a really beautiful hunk of beef

but there are many ways to braise brisket you  can smoke a brisket you can grill it like you  

can do a lot of stuff with a brisket but I think  the sort of sear in a liquid put it in oven for  

a low and slow time is like it's infallible  it is impossible for it to not be fantastic

everything else to accompany that should sort  of like fall gently into the background we  

have beautiful little dilly carrots there's  going to be a beautiful crunchy very tangy  

acidic savory salad just kind of like your  crunchy palette cleanser-y thing which is  

going to go really well with everything else  because it tends to be on the richer side

a very beautiful little crispy potato  dish that is about as fussy as I get

ooh a cold rice pudding for dessert how  fun it feels very spring it feels also  

to me very Passover it's an unleavened dessert  but it's like at the end of this type of meal  

I don't necessarily have the desire  want or need for like something cakey  

I kind of just want like a little spoonful of  something a little creamy a little custardy  

the cold rice pudding recipe is from  Sweet Enough in stores now as of this week

matzo ball soup is a non-negotiable  for any Passover meal it is meant  

to be served at the start one  to two balls per person with  

or without chicken delicious broth  lots of celery carrots if you like

we've already done a matzo ball soup recipe  in its entirety please head here to watch it's  

informative it's fun we have a blast there's  lots of celery so matzo ball soup check done  

we did it the next thing we would do on our to-do  list our prep list whatever is make the brisket

okay so a good piece of brisket  will have a really good sort of  

combination of meat and fat I like to  choose from the tip point it is the  

end of the brisket it tends to be  thicker and it tends to be fattier

there are parts of the brisket that as it goes  that way become thinner flatter and have a little  

less marbling a little less fat cap on there  but I find that to be a little less delicious

a good way to see if your brisket will  fit is just to put the pot over it and  

I can tell that this is a bit large I'm  just going to trim like a nice thick  

inch off of here which I'll then dice  up and braise and use for pasta sauce

and if you don't have a dutch oven the solution  then becomes to sear your brisket in a skillet  

and then put it in a baking dish and cover it  with foil and when you hear me talk about like  

fatty side down fatty side up you can tell  that like this top part has a bit more of  

like that fat cap I sort of will always  do like the smoother rounder big side up

alright so meat seasoning 101 the average  seasoning that you're going for is a teaspoon  

of kosher salt per pound so if this is five  and a half pounds of meat we are looking at  

five and a half teaspoons of kosher salt and  make sure to get all sides the best piece of  

advice I can give you when buying brisket is  to season it in advance seasoning this with  

salt you can wrap it up or put it on a sheet pan  or a wire rack throw it in the fridge the next  

day sear it braise it let it cool put it in the  fridge then the next day prepare everything else

it will make your life a lot easier and  your brisket a lot more delicious but  

as I said this can absolutely be done all in  one day which is what we're going to do today  

if you were doing this a day in  advance or two days in advance  

you could do the pepper the day that  you're going to sear it in the pan

there's no real measurement for this pepper  I like my things very very peppery all right  

there's our beautiful brisket and I'm gonna  take this Dutch oven and I'm gonna preheat  

it medium high and this is when I will  say it really will benefit you to have  

a pair of tongs the worst burn I ever  got in the kitchen post-professional  

career was when I was trying to flip a  brisket using rubber-tipped tongs it fell  

back into the pot and the hot brisket fat  and oil went all over my hand and my arm

please use the right tools if you own  a pair of rubber-tipped tongs I cannot  

imagine a scenario on planet Earth  where they would ever come in handy  

or be more valuable than a pair of regular  stainless steel-tipped tongs anyone? okay

so I'm just going to add a little bit of canola  oil to the bottom of this pot I like to sort of  

give it a baseline of fat to cook in and start  browning almost immediately and the reason I'm  

doing this side down first is because when I flip  it that's the top of the brisket you'll see that  

it's barely fitting in that pot it is snug it's  not it doesn't have a ton of room to breathe  

brisket has a lot of fat as I mentioned and  as it cooks like all meat it contracts both  

because of loss of fat but also because it loses  water it loses moisture the muscle contracts so  

you'll notice that when we take it out of  the oven it's going to look a lot smaller

also I didn't mean to scare  anybody with that burn story  

there is a there is a world in which you  just sear it on one side and you let it  

roll it'll still be fantastic I promise but  I do think the browning of meat the Maillard  

reaction really contributes so much to the  overall flavor and texture of the brisket

so I'm going to preheat my oven to 275 degrees  I do think you get a better result with a lower  

temperature and a longer time so it's been searing  for 10 to 12 minutes it will depend on the pot the  

size the heat the whatever but I was at like  a medium-ish heat resist the urge to go higher  

than that because what you're trying to do during  this time is not only get browning which needs  

heat but you're also trying to render a little  bit of that fat out from the top which means  

lower and slower rather than hotter and faster  if you're concerned as I currently am mildly  

about flipping this brisket you can use a fish  spatula or a wooden spoon to kind of help you but

just kind of pick it up do it slowly and do it  away from you but see how nice it looks very nice  

very brown very delicious yummy and now we're  gonna continue searing that for another 10 to  

12 minutes before we go ahead add our shallots add  our vinegar add our Worcestershire but not unlike  

in the way that I like my smash burgers with  like onions griddled into it pictured here like  

the abundance of an allium flavor with something  like a brisket is so so delicious and perfect and  

you could use onions red or yellow for this but I  like to use shallots for this because they tend to  

break down into like a bit of a jammy texture  in the braising liquid which not only gives a  

little sweetness to the liquid but it gives  like a really deep savoriness to the liquid

you can peel them you cannot peel them I  traditionally just don't peel my shallots  

because I think if you're going to fish them  out they're nicer looking with the skins on but  

I'm cutting these through the root lengthwise  and if this were an onion you would do it the  

same lengthwise through the root and then the  garlic I'm also going to leave unpeeled so I'm  

going to remove this brisket put it on the  sheet pan while I do my shallots and garlic

this has a lot of fat in it I want to keep some  in there for which to kind of saute the shallots  

and the garlic but this is an elective  fat removal this is not mandatory this  

is something that I like to do I'm keeping some  of the stuff in there and definitely all those  

brown bits and I'm just adding the shallots  and the garlic cut-side down I just want to  

give them like a bit of color and a chance  to kind of begin to soften and flavor the fat  

and if they don't all fit at the same time  that's fine you just want to kind of make  

sure that most of them are getting  in contact cut-side down with the pan

starting to brown but not brown yet not  brown enough and meanwhile I'll measure  

out the rest of my ingredients because once  those are browned we can add the brisket add  

our liquid and put it in the oven so I rarely  use broth I call for it because if you have  

it great but I am almost always using Better  Than Bouillon this will last in your fridge  

for 100 years it's always there when you  need it versus a container of broth that  

like honestly doesn't taste very good it's just  a subpar product I think and that's why I use  

Better Than Bouillon do you have any money?  I will take the money though if you have it

so four cups of water and I'm not going to measure  this bullion I just that's like a pretty heaping  

tablespoon you could add a little more you could  add a little less it's concentrated as advertised  

I'm gonna use a cup of white wine vinegar white  distilled vinegar is also perfect in the recipe  

I would just use a little bit less as advertised  this brisket is tangy I prefer almost all of my  

braised meats to be like like very tangy I feel  like it helps you eat a lot more of the meat it  

has a lot more interesting flavor the fattiness  really cuts through that acidity and then I'm  

gonna add a third of a cup of Worcestershire  sauce you could also use soy sauce or tamari  

but all three of those things  will sort of bring a little bit  

something different to the table Worcestershire  sauce has anchovies in it which as you know I love

I'm gonna bring that to a simmer I'm going  to add a little bay leaf because I like it  

people say does bay leaf even do anything?  and I say have you even ever cooked? because  

it does it's fragrant it smells it's like  vaguely like herbaceous sort of eucalyptus-y

when it comes to long braises especially  when there's very few ingredients I think  

bay leaf has an opportunity to like present  itself and let itself be known that said if  

you don't have bay leaf I would use thyme  and instead or don't use anything at all

I just remembered I'm making like eight  other things today everything's fine

last but certainly not least horseradish  horseradish fresh is shockingly easy to  

find I feel comfortable calling for it that said  if you cannot find this you can definitely find  

this and this is prepared horseradish this is  not horseradish sauce horseradish sauce has  

egg or some sort of dairy or a binding agent  or like a xanthan gum or something in it that  

makes it kind of creamy and almost emulsified  kind of like a mayonnaise with horseradish in  

it you do not want prepared horseradish sauce  you just want prepared horseradish Gold's is  

an excellent sort of old school standby brand  and this is just horseradish salt and vinegar

so to prepare the horseradish I am going to  sort of peel it I can already feel it it's  

already doing things if you thought an onion  was wild wait till you grate fresh horseradish  

a thing that is hard to say fresh horseradish

I'm using a microplane horseradish will also  mellow out as it braises it's not ever going  

to be as intense as it is in this moment  but it will sort of still give your broth  

like a nice peppery kick I also recommend  saving some horseradish to serve alongside  

at the end because it's going to be very  very delicious to kind of grate over and  

you know you probably have horseradish on  hand anyway for Passover it is the Maror

all right so I'm going to add the  brisket back this has come to a simmer  

and gently just kind of nestle it in and because  we have a lid that's going on don't worry too much  

about pieces poking out you can kind of arrange  some of the shallots on top to kind of give the  

brisket a bit more space towards the bottom  if there's any juices that accumulate just  

go ahead and add it I'm gonna put the lid on it's  gonna go in the oven I'm going to set a timer for  

three hours and I'm not going to look at it talk  about it touch it open it peek at it until then

for the purposes of having people over a dinner  party serving something like Passover at the end  

of it it's nice to have the dessert done  ahead of time so much like I mentioned  

you could make the brisket yesterday you could  also have made this rice pudding yesterday or  

even the day before that it does wonderfully  in the fridge it's an excellent do-ahead and  

I recommend it if you have the time if not just  make it make sure you have at least I would say  

like three hours for it to properly chill in the  fridge which we do so we are gonna make it now

I have tested this recipe using almond milk and  oat milk it works great be mindful when you're  

using alternative milks that you're choosing one  that doesn't have a ton of thickeners especially  

with regards to oat milk because those thickeners  as they cook and as they interact with the grains  

of rice and they reduce they kind of give you like  a like a gloopy texture that is not desired in  

this rice pudding I like to toast the rice first I  recommend using jasmine rice for this basmati rice  

is a close second all right I'm going to measure  out this third of a cup of rice and I'll just put  

it right in the pot along with one cinnamon  stick again if you don't have cinnamon sticks  

I'm sure you have ground cinnamon and you can use  that at the end but don't add it to the pot now

so I'm going to cook this over medium medium-high  heat basically like when I eat this rice pudding  

I'm reminded of horchata and I think part  of that is that like roasty toasty flavor  

and that cinnamon stick but you see the rice  grains they're not all evenly golden brown  

but enough of them have changed color but it  basically smells like popcorn with a whisper  

of cinnamon because of that cinnamon stick three  cups of whole cow's milk and then I'm also adding  

two cups of water just regular water it's just  to me like the perfect amount of richness it's  

not too thick the rice cooks through it stays  milky it doesn't get creamy if that makes sense

if you'd like you can add a vanilla bean you can  use half a vanilla bean you can use a quarter of  

a vanilla bean it goes a long way see how it kind  of looks like a straw it's a pod and inside are  

like millions of little tiny seeds and that's what  gives you like the vanilla fleck so to get those  

out you split this pod lengthwise using just  like a tiny sharp knife I always go to the nub  

so it's like held together like that and then  take the non-sharp side of your knife and press  

and just scrape as much as you can and once  this hits a liquid especially fat they will  

all release and that's when you get the like  constellation of vanilla bean flecks because  

otherwise it's just like this concentrated  paste and you'll notice I threw the pod in  

there because it also has a ton of flavor  that just gets cooked with everything you  

can pluck it out before you chill it and then  I'm gonna add half a cup of granulated sugar

and a small pinch of kosher salt all  desserts should have a little bit of  

salt it brings out the flavor  of sugar it intensifies the  

flavor of whatever it is that you're  using i.e rice milk cinnamon vanilla

milk dairy if you've ever cooked with it baked  with it you know that if you put it in a pot  

and it boils it boils over and it like scald your  stove ruin your day and it happens really quickly  

so you gonna watch it and basically during this  stage of the rice pudding process we are cooking  

the grain of rice we are cooking it in the water  and the milk the liquid is reducing and then  

during that second sort of cooking period of 10 to  15 minutes where you're stirring it's almost like  

making risotto you're encouraging the  starches to release you're like really  

kind of creating a thickened liquid  for that rice to finish cooking in  

I'm gonna turn it down right now it's  it's going to medium low now oh God  

I like everything hot and fast and as a result  you play with fire you're gonna get burnt you know  

it's been about 20 minutes with this pudding but  you can see like the grains of rice have cooked

and they are confirmed tender before it  gets too thick I'm going to take out the  

cinnamon stick and the pod

brisket's in the oven rice pudding's  on the stovetop things are happening  

and basically from now we have our  three vegetable sides we have our  

crispy potatoes our peppered carrots  and our celery and sour apple salad

oh Sean was trying to tell me something  and I was ignoring his warnings  

so see where we're at the milk is thickened  considerably the rice is plump it's cooked  

through and we're still like a medium medium  low heat but your bubbles should look like this  

and rice pudding will seize up considerably once  it chills so see how it's like milky starchy

as advertised this is cold rice pudding  so I'm going to chill it make sure you  

have at least I would say like three hours  for it to properly chill in the fridge I'm  

thrilled to eat this later I think to  start a meal with matzo ball soup and  

end it with rice pudding is my final  meal I don't know how to divide it but  

like there's a portion of individuals in  the world who really like a pudding skin

guilty is charged already you  can see it forming a skin and  

that pleases me yeah oh yeah oh  yeah skin baby okay skin to skin

words of the wise if you're making this  rice pudding put this in the fridge and  

then wash your pot right now wash it right  now I'm gonna wash it right now because  

that stuff that starch that business  is gonna like be basically glue  

and you're gonna have a hell of a time cleaning  it later so do yourself a favor clean it now

don't look in here

okay so we're gonna use Yukon Gold  potatoes we're gonna thinly slice them  

we are not going to peel them I don't  care if you're using all tiny potatoes  

or all baked potatoes three pounds is  three pounds and this is three pounds

you don't have to do this in a round I think  it's nice because it looks like a little cake  

but you could also do this in a sort of  rectangular baking dish if you like let's  

get to mandolining you could use just a knife  if you're confident in your knife skills it's  

like an eighth of an inch I have this mandolin  because it is my favorite mandolin I've had this  

for years it stayed really sharp but this  is a kitchen tool that I could justify the  

purchase of and strongly recommend that  every household have it's just really  

handy and especially if you're doing like one  ingredient a lot there's a lot of potatoes and  

even thickness is important in baking something  like this because you want everything to kind  

of cook at the same time this can actually  really help you and you know me I I rarely  

recommend something if I feel like you're only  going to use it once I use this pretty often

just be careful don't get cocky  

use your palm of your hand it's fun it feels  relaxing to me because this doesn't stress me out

oh a plague

[Music]

oh God that is horrific and that was  

horrific it's part of nature it's part  of life I'm going to replace it with an  

equally sized potato yeah all right so these  potatoes are sliced I'm gonna cut the onion  

and then I'm gonna melt the fat prepare the pan  and then the fun part begins where we get to layer

I'm using a regular nine inch cake pan and no  matter what you want to line it with a little  

bit of parchment which will just make it easier  to lift out and slice I'm going to use chicken  

fat because it's so delicious to me and my two  favorite things to eat with chicken fat matzo  

balls and potatoes so our chicken fats melted you  want to coat the bottom the bottom is going to be  

the top this is an inverted potato situation  so the bottom to me gets like the most fat  

and so from there the world is truly  your oyster you want like slight overlap  

because that will be it will make  it compress you know I'm not a fan  

of pattern in general I'm more of like  organized chaos but for this I kind of  

do find peace in the concentric circle  really stepping outside my comfort zone

Dan: do something that scares you every day

Yeah dance like no one's watching keep in touch

Dan: have a great summer

never change

so we have our layer of potatoes we're gonna  do not quite a full layer of onion this is  

onion goes a long way like the flavor of  onion especially in this context where in  

the in between layers it never sees color  so it really just is there for like flavor  

savoriness punchiness that undeniable  allium each layer will get salt and pepper

and a good drizzle of fat and then go ahead and  just repeat and from this moment forward I like  

to kind of like make sure that I'm pressing a  little bit when it comes out of the oven I like  

to press it again because I like my I like these  potatoes to feel like very compact and as with any  

vegetable that has water in it you are cooking  that water out and as you cook the water out  

it shrinks and when you're doing it you can kind  of press and see like okay are there places that  

are feeling thin places that are feeling thick go  ahead and just make sure you end with the potato

the final season final fat if I were to  just put this in what would happen is the  

top would get very brown perhaps the bottom the  interior might stay a little crunchy it's a lot  

of layers of potato between here and there  so by covering it with foil not unlike the  

way we covered our brisket I'm sort of making  sure that things are completely cooked through  

before we begin the browning process okay so  I'm going to cook both the final stage of the  

brisket and these potatoes at 425 degrees you  may recall our brisket has been in the oven  

for about three hours I'm going to take  it out so we can see what it looks like  

oh mama yeah yum delish this sort of test to  be like how's is your brisket on we don't know  

any sort of knife fork should be able to  insert it like it should feel zero resistance

I want to show you the brisket that we made  yesterday just to kind of give you an idea  

also of like if you made it yesterday and  you chilled it overnight what you do now

so an easy way to sort of from this moment if  you're like okay I made this yesterday I'm ready  

to reheat it how do I reheat it what's the best  way this is solid a nice thing to do and this  

is really why I like to do braised meats a day  in advance it gives you the opportunity to like  

really skim the fat in an extremely satisfying way  that is also easier and more efficient because it  

just kind of comes up almost like wax from a  candle that's a lot of fat I just get rid of  

a majority of it I don't worry about like these  tiny bits in there part of the reason we like  

brisket is because it's fatty this is I could not  imagine a more satisfying task cold meat juice  

tastes really good though like really really good  if you want to right now take off some of the fat  

it's much harder but the fat will be on the top so  the fat will always rise to the top and anything  

that is water-based i.e the water we've added the  Worcestershire the soy sauce the juices from the  

meat are a water not a fat so see as my spoon  goes in I'm starting to get some of the liquid  

and I might say like okay I've  done enough that's like a pretty  

good amount of fat considering the fact that  I've already eliminated a quarter cup if not  

a little bit maybe like a half a cup of fat from  the initial sear followed by this which is almost  

a cup that's like I feel good about removing  that fat there's still like a beautiful thick  

layer here it you won't ever miss it and this  is going in they're both going in for an hour

and at the end of that hour  the brisket will come out  

the potatoes will stay in but  I'm going to take the foil off  

and they'll continue to roast for like another  half hour it's a thick layer of potatoes and 425  

seems high but it's really not and a potato can  like really take the heat and the time I promise

okay so this dish is simple it's carrots it's  pepper it's dill and if you're not into dill sure  

use chives or parsley just rename the dish I love  carrot tops I love the way they taste they taste  

like carrot-flavored parsley so for these carrots  I'm going to reserve some ends and I'm going to  

add them I'm going to mix them with the dill sort  of like an herby salad otherwise I'm just going  

to trim leaving a little bit of the top because  I like the way it looks but I'll cut these up  

in a minute all right I'm gonna set these aside  carrots are not something that I cook with that  

often because I have a sort of slight aversion to  sweet foods in the savory realm but I do find that  

especially in early April springtime Passover time  that carrots feel like really good and in season  

and like they're tender they're crunchy and I  think that for me the key is to not winterize  

them I'm springifying them these I'm going to  do something with another another day another  

time and if you're not the kind of person who's  gonna ever do anything with this try and compost

holy **** BONGO

wow look at that brisket go ahead take a look  beautiful so brown so crispy so gorgeous so bubbly

so similarly to that brisket we want to make  sure that everything is cooked through because  

the last stage is really just browning so you take  a knife or a fork or whatever and kind of pierce  

through periodically make sure nothing is met  with resistance I will sneak off a little slice  

that is a beautifully cooked potato so  what I'll do is I will take the foil  

just put it in direct contact and before  I do the browning phase I then press it

a gentle compression like this will kind of just  keep everything really tight and stacked without  

any sort of big gapes so this is going back  into the oven 425 degrees for 20 ish minutes

let's keep going with these carrots I  don't like to disturb the shape but as  

you see we have different shapes of  carrots obviously this is going to  

cook at a different rate so what I end up  doing is any carrot like thicker than this

I will sort of cut in half  

so you have whole carrots half carrots a nub of  a carrot and if it feels especially thick you  

can also quarter the top so if you have say one  beautiful bunch of tiny carrots but you're like  

oh I the rest of my carrots are really massive  then it's totally cool to just be like okay well  

I'm gonna treat half of them like baby carrots  and half of them like big carrots like that  

because they'll cook roughly the same time and  if some cook quicker than others that's okay you  

then you get like the variety of textures some  that are really soft some that are a little bit  

crunchier and I really love that again similarly  to the potatoes it's carrots plus fat be good

I'm gonna heat my large skillet medium-high  heat and I'm gonna use chicken fat because  

I have it I'm gonna let it melt if this  were butter same thing let it melt if it's  

olive oil just letting it get hot reason  number 472 why I love this Unicorn pepper  

mill because the pepper that comes out of  the mill is the perfect coarseness for me

so we're blooming our spices in the fat  and then I'm going to add the carrots  

we're not trying to get any color on these  carrots we are just trying to get them tender  

I don't want to add them all right now they'll  shrink a little bit as they cook all right I'm  

not going to fuss with these too much I'm going  to just kind of like periodically give them a  

shake and these won't cook for that long we're  looking at like an under 20 minutes which sounds  

like a long time but it's pretty inactive you're  not like standing over the stove the whole time

and our potatoes are done

meanwhile I'm going to as promised prepare our  dill so I'm taking uh the dill and the carrot  

tops and I'm chopping it very very roughly I want  it to maintain its like integrity these carrots  

are really beautiful they're getting a little bit  more tender you can feel it just like in their  

malleability as you stir them well those are good  those are done I'm gonna let them hang out a bit

similarly to dill if you thought that I was going  to make a whole Passover menu without heavily  

featuring celery more than once you were sorely  mistaken I have learned in my time as a celery  

profit celery profit? I'm not celery patriot um  celery evangelist that I a lot of people don't  

like it if you don't like celery use fennel if  you don't like fennel make a different salad

it's sort of like a if you think of it as  like a slaw or something in that it's just  

hard vegetables there's no lettuces  in this salad but I do like to save a  

lot of the leaves they function as like an  herb for me and just sort of reinforce the  

celery flavor with a different texture so I'm  going to toss everything together in this bowl

for the onion you could do thin rings  and if you're sensitive to alliums or  

raw onions especially you can do one of  two things you can omit it all together  

you could use scallions in its place which  tend to be a bit more gentle or you can  

thinly slice the onion and then give it a  brief shock in some ice water which I'll do

our apple I am using a Granny Smith apple and  apple I almost never ever call for not with baking  

not with cooking but with salads I do really like  it its juiciness and its sourness is unparalleled  

and I really love that like hyper-acidic  combination especially with celery and  

especially with something like the brisket  but you you're kind of going for like  

equal-ish part celery and apple here

a winning combination where my  green juice heads at am I right?

I'm into lemon zest again new slash  I'm back into lemon zest there was a  

period of time where I wasn't using lemon  zest I think it's because it's the middle  

of winter I'm really craving that zesty  freshness that only lemon rind can provide

so I'm gonna juice two lemons into this bowl we're  talking like a quarter cup-ish of lemon juice  

say you're shy some juice you can supplement or  use vinegar instead white wine vinegar would be  

my preference or apple cider vinegar would  be cool too I'm gonna add the onion back in

and then last but not least of course our  gorgeous celery leaves our gorgeous parsley  

and then from here as always please  be keeping it leafy spriggy coarse

and this would be a really good salad any  time of year for any time you're eating  

like a roasted chicken a pork shoulder  short ribs and you could start here and  

go in a lot of different directions you could  add fresh horseradish to this you could add a  

spice like sumac to this you could add like a  fennel bulb and maybe crushed fennel seed you  

could add the whole lemon which you know  I love to do this is like the 1.0 version

so here are carrots these are room temp  they're not hot anymore I'm gonna add  

our dill and our carrot tops and if you're  noticing the theme here in all the dishes  

present for this meal it's sort of like less  is more simple is best letting ingredients  

sort of speak for themselves the beefiness  of the brisket the rice and the milk of the  

pudding the carrots and the dill here it's  sort of like each dish is very very simple  

and the ingredients like are really  allowed to speak for themselves and  

I think that that to me is like a beautiful  way to cook and to kind of construct a menu

so to do your potatoes just like you would an  upside-down cake this is no longer hot and flip

oh no potatoes are coming with it

ah God that was the most  satisfying thing I've ever done

now it's the brisket's turn this brisket  is fragile right now it is wobbly it is  

custardy it is soft it is barely holding  it together you basically just need support  

so using like a spoon and a fish  spatula or whatever is your best bet

um wow beefy no other way to describe it  just like any cut of meat brisket does  

have a grain and you can kind  of see it's running this way  

so we're gonna cut against the grain depending on  the knife that you have how long your brisket has  

been sitting it might not let you slice it it  might just want to be shredded but I always try

I am really like emotionally  attached to the idea of tradition and  

if it's like the once a year I make this meal  and like there's always a brisket there's  

always a crispy potato there's always a carrot and  there's always a salad and like from there things  

can change and evolve and you can like put your  own little here and there into it but like that  

to me is what makes this meal Passover and like  it's sort of as important as like the Seder plate

so tender so delicious so hot

sort of nice hunk of meat I like  to use as like the display meat  

a phrase I hope to never utter again in my sweet  sweet life and then this sort of end piece here  

tends to break off a bit differently  more difficult to slice but  

you know it's kind of like the shreddy  part but probably the most delicious part

that bay leaf really came in  handy what'd I tell you and  

then now I'm just gonna take those  like really beautiful jammy shallots

these are meant to be eaten alongside so anything  I ever cook say roasting alongside a chicken or  

braising alongside a brisket the intention is  that it's being eaten with the meat it's it's  

not always just for flavoring and to me these  shallots are almost as good as the meat itself

this liquid by the way which you may have  an abundance of is great to save as like a  

jumpstart for the next time you make a soup  or beans which if it's been more than a week  

since your last pot of beans what are you even  doing? to finish I'll do a little salt pepper

and then if you feel like it which  I almost always do sort of finishing  

it with more of that parsley if you  taste this juice it has like faint  

vague horseradish flavor but it's really  lost a lot of its heat and its spice so I  

like to circle back with more horseradish  just to reinforce why it's there to begin  

with and that freshness will sort of play a  different role than the cooked in the sauce

so everything is done the rice  pudding is made the brisket is  

braised the carrots are cooked the dill  is scattered and sort of the last thing  

to do is just heat up that matzo  ball soup so we're gonna do that

and this isn't like full-blown  Thanksgiving-style like no one's  

coming over we're gonna actually just I've  asked the Home Movies team to stay and help  

me eat all this brisket so we're going to  dine together which will be really nice

but whether or not you do one three or  all of the recipes here today I feel  

like it's a really good place to start  for any sort of Passover celebration

I think the sort of like moral of the story is  it's nice to punctuate your year with holidays  

that like are sort of centered around  having a meal with each other and that  

looks very different in different parts of the  world different cultures different religions  

etc but for me this is like a harbinger of  spring and sort of the antidote to coming out  

of the winter time and wanting to host again  and celebrate and be together so I'm thrilled

Dan: dayenu

dayenu last time I hosted Passover here by the way  

I got a text from my neighbor and he  just texted me dayenu question mark  

and I was like because we were like screaming  the song [Music] it's my favorite song