This year I had the pleasure of cooking Seder dinner for my clients The Velkes', a happy tradition of Jewish holidays that we've continued on and off through the years. One of the most memorable of these was a Rosh Hashanah that took place in the dark by candle light due to a downed transformer in the neighborhood (note my spelunking headlamp). They are my first ever clients and have become great friends over the years.

This dinner started with the mini latkes above. I served them with domestic paddlefish caviar and salmon roe over a dollop of crème fraiche.

After a relatively short Seder reading (40 minutes), (I recently spoke to my artist friend Josh (www.josh-peters.com) and he was attending a Seder at a rabbi's house that he said was going to take four hours!) the dinner started with a kabocha squash soup that was garnished with arugula pesto. I wanted to add crispy rye croutons to this, but alas they would not be kosher so we had to leave them out.

Next up were halibut fish cakes with horseradish salsa verde. These are our take on the gefilte fish that you often see on more traditional Seder tables. I usually serve the halibut cakes with a little frisée salad, but could not find frisée in any store (or market) I went to. Liza had the great idea of using mini romaine wedges instead so I dressed them with a meyer lemon cream and watermelon radishes; our mini version of an iceberg wedge!

The main was beef brisket braised in red wine and green garlic. Sides were artichokes barigoules, roasted carrots and beets with sunflower sprouts and cumin yogurt, and potato purée. Of course, I made too much horseradish salsa verde for the halibut cakes, luckily this green sauce was also delicious with the beef. All the guests were encouraged to bring dessert. The beautiful plates are handmade by my friend Colleen Hennessey. Check out her stuff here.