Jewish cooking preserves heritage, as well as recipes

WASHINGTON -- When Joan Nathan serves gefilte fish for Passover, she puts a carrot in the fish head.

For her, the reason is simple: That's the way her mother-in-law always did it.

"This is what her mother did. She died in the Holocaust," Nathan said during a recent interview in the kitchen of her Washington home. "It's my way of remembering her family."

For Nathan, the author of "Jewish Cooking in America" and the star of a 26-part PBS series by the same name, "it's not just about the recipes."

It's about preserving Jewish heritage.

Nathan asserts that "there is every different kind of Jew in America. If you are religious, non-religious, kosher, non-kosher -- that's not important. As a Jew, carrying on the tradition" is what matters.

That's why Nathan, who comes from a family of German Jews, and her husband, a child of Holocaust survivors, have tried to instill in her kids "that Friday night is special."

"In a country with so many pulls, I want my kids to have a sense of who they are," she said of her three children.

When asked how she gets through the monotony of Passover cuisine, Nathan offered some suggestions.

"Try stir-fried veggies with matzah farfel," she said, adding "Jews have always been substituters."

Nathan herself is experimenting with a recipe for merillen knoedle -- balls made from a potato dough that are stuffed with sugar and fruit and then breaded and fried.

With potato flour, the dish can be made for Passover.

"This recipe would have been extinct" had Nathan not discovered it, she said, pointing to the stove where the dish was cooking for the first time.

"There are recipes that are gone for good reasons," she said. But from her firsthand experience, this is not one of them.

"We have an amazing cultural heritage. We could lose it in one generation. I do not want that to happen," she said.

Nathan will host 50 people for her family's seder. Using many of the recipes from her books, she plans to serve chicken soup and matzah balls, brisket, turkey, vegetable kugel, tsimmes and asparagus.

Guests will sample five different types of charoset. As always, she will serve chocolate torte, chocolate roll and almond lemon torte with strawberries.

When asked about her favorite Passover foods, Nathan answered as many would. "At the beginning, I like matzah," she said, her voice trailing off.

Here are two Passover recipes from Nathan's "Jewish Cooking in America."