“When I’m cooking for Passover,” says chef Alex Raij of Txikito in New York, “karpas (a green vegetable, often parsley, representing spring) is always my inspiration—it was my first taste of the seder plate. I grew up in Minneapolis without a religious education—my parents are immigrants from Argentina, where they had a very secular lifestyle—but when I was in first grade, a generous family in our neighborhood invited us over for my first seder. What I remember most was dipping the parsley in the salt water (to symbolize the Israelites’ tears in Egypt)—and it was delicious. I’m still attracted to those flavors, on display here.” Raij’s recipe includes a silky homemade mayo (using raw egg*), but you can use 1 cup of store-bought mayo in its place. And when it comes to presentation, Raij recommends arranging the eggs on a plate covered with shiso leaves—she likes to wrap the leaves around the eggs for a delicious, easy-to-hold bite.
* Raw egg is not recommended for infants, the elderly, pregnant women, people with weakened immune systems...or people who don’t like raw eggs.
