Something New for Passover

This posting goes out to a friend sick of matzah. Since we have precisely two nights of Pesach remaining, it goes out in a hurry. Madame Politics, this one's for you.

Perhaps those who attended two seders this Pesach can identify with me. I ate the exact same (although admittedly delicious) meal both nights, even though I ate at different homes. This is mystifying. I saw nothing in the Haggadah that the Shulchan Orech had to be laid out with the familiar regularity of the seder. It becomes like counting the ten plagues, a bite of food for each meal we remember from the year before and the year before that: 1)Matzah ball soup, 2)Chopped Herring, 3)Brisket, 4)Chicken...

It's familiar, it's expected and it's slightly boring. Many people dread Pesach for the matzah, but I believe that we are so locked into believing our food choices are severely limited that we neglect to see with fresh eyes the wide range of possibilities. And I'm not talking about things to do with matzah - my mother has a Canadian cookbook called Matzah 101 which contains, you guessed it, 101 variations on achieving constipation - and having looked through it I decided that the established mindset requires some major tweaking.

To that end, this recipe is a start. It is easy, fun and unexpected, and kosher for Passover. It has also only been made once, and I didn't make notes nor measure how much of each ingredient I put in so it may require a little ironing out. No matter. As with any recipe I or anyone else proposes, taste and adjust. And let me know how!

Roasted Vegetables with Hot Honey Sauce
Serves 18 as a side dish

6 Bell Peppers, ranging from red to yellow
2 Medium Eggplants
2 Large Green Chili Peppers, like Anaheim or Poblano
1-2 Medium Red Chili Peppers, like New Mexico or Serrano.
1/2 cup olive oil
1/4 cup honey
1 T Balsamic Vinegar
1 lime, for juice
1 t Salt

Preheat the oven to 400 F. Set aside 1/3 cup oil and rub the vegetables with the remainder. Puncture the eggplants liberally with a fork. When the oven is ready, put the eggplants in on an oven-proof dish. After 20 minutes, add all the peppers to the same dish. Remove after 15-20 minutes. The eggplant should have imploded a bit and the peppers should be sweating and slightly charred. Turn the oven down to 200 F to keep the dish warm until it's ready to serve.

Slice the chilies thickly from the tail up. Make sure you remove all the seeds, since they are the primary source of the heat. Keep these separate and add them to the sauce only if you want more spice. With a blender, mix the oil, honey and salt thoroughly. Add the chilies, vinegar and half the lime juice and blend briefly so that the chili colors are retained. Taste and add a little of something, if needed.

When cool enough to work with, slice the bell peppers in half and remove their seeds. Slice them into strips about 1/4 inch thick, keeping each color separate for a better presentation. Do the same with the eggplants. Arrange the vegetables on a platter as you desire. I had three colors of pepper and separated each color section with slices of eggplant. In the center I put a bowl containing the sauce. My apologies for the lack of photo.

Be sure to warn your guests if the sauce is hot!