A couple weeks ago I was invited to a Passover Seder by friends who live in Waterford.

As with most Seders, this was mostly family: parents, children, cousins, nieces and nephews and some friends thrown in for diversity. The food was extraordinary given the fact that so many foods are not Passover-friendly, including anything leavened and most anything made with flour, plus no dairy, since it was a meat dinner, during which dairy is verboten. I had made a pot roast with carrots and mushrooms and a made-from-scratch gefilte fish baked in a Bundt cake pan. And there were other entrees and side dishes, including potato kugel, chicken with marmalade, pencil-thin asparagus and broccoli gratin. And the desserts? Just incredible, including coconut macaroons, a granola apricot bar cookie, other sweets and Edie Freeman’s Mud Cookie.

I went home thinking about desserts and things made with oranges, because Passover is a dinner festival and nothing says delicious like chocolate and oranges. Here is the recipe for the Mud Cookies and a recipe for a dip using orange marmalade. Both are also perfect for anyone who is gluten-intolerant. The latter, made with cream cheese, was not available at the Seder—you remember, no meat and dairy at the same meal. But at another time, imagine Cream Cheese Jezebel with matzoh anytime.

Cream Cheese Jezebel

From a picnicker at Summer Music years and years ago

Serves 8 to 10 as an appetizer

1 16-ounce brick of cream cheese, softened

1/4 cup of orange marmalade

2 to 3 tablespoons pineapple jelly

white horseradish to taste

Wheat Thins or any other cracker

Place the brick of cream cheese in the center of a serving plate.

Stir together the orange marmalade and pineapple jelly. Begin adding the horseradish in teaspoonfuls, stirring and tasting as you go along. When it tastes spicy enough for you, pour it over the cream cheese. Surround the cream cheese with crackers and serve.

Mud Cookies

From Waterford’s Edie Freeman who cannot remember where she got the recipe

Makes 2 to 4 dozen cookies

4 cups pecans or walnuts

3 1/2 cup confectioners’ sugar

6 tablespoons cocoa powder

4 egg whites

2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Place nuts in a food processor, followed by remaining ingredients and pulse until mixture is moist but not overprocessed. It should look like rocks and mud. Using a teaspoon, drop the mixture onto a cookie sheet lined with parchment paper. Bake 10 to 14 minutes, depending on size, not more. Remove from the pan, cool and place in freezer on a tray. When frozen, place in plastic freezer bags.

On the Side

After I bought my ticket to see "Amazing Grace," an Aretha Franklin documentary showing at the Madison Cinema, my friend Nancy said she had gotten a reservation at Café Routier after the movie. This is rather exciting, since getting a 7-something at this wonderful restaurant isn't an easy ticket on a Saturday night. But it was the second day of Passover (often called the "second Seder") and Easter Eve, so many people spend those nights with family.

Why had so much time elapsed since my visit here? We had some of the staples — fried oysters remoulade, camp trout, desserts like crème brulee and profiterole — and usually risotto. That evening I had the risotto, with fresh fiddleheads, baby carrots (not those fake baby carrots you see in supermarkets) and baby greens. Over a pinot noir, the risotto was as dreamy and creamy as that crème brulee. Café Routier, itself a shoreline staple, is as good as ever. Maybe even better.

Café Routier

1353 Boston Post Road, Old Saybrook

(860) 399-8700

Lee White lives in Groton. She can be reached at leeawhite@aol.com.