Perfect Picnic Treats
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- Written by Kris Legates
Pastry chef Samantha Cilia is a cookie bar buff
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From the June 2022 issue
In summer, Samantha “Sam” Cilia often walks around with grit in her shoes. The Milton resident and her family are frequent visitors to Lewes Beach and Cape Henlopen, where they inadvertently pick up sandy souvenirs.
“Over fall and winter, it all comes out,” she says. “So, I always joke that once all the sand is out, it’s time to refill them.”
Since Cilia is the executive pastry chef for SoDel Concepts, count on her to bring sweets for her son Brantley, 7, and the son of boyfriend Ryan Mortimer, 4-year-old Landon. “I call him my bonus son,” she says of Landon. In addition, she and Mortimer have a third son, 4-month-old Winston.
A Saucy Twist on Chicken
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- Written by Kris Legates
Salon owner Michael Maybroda is a stylist in the kitchen too
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From the May 2022 issue
Michael Maybroda loves good food, and there is plenty of it on the Culinary Coast. But when he first moved to the beach, he lacked funds for dining out. So, he cracked open a cookbook. “I learned to make restaurant-like food so I could eat well,” says Maybroda, who now owns Stephan & Co. Salon and Spa with husband Stephan. The amateur cook mastered the basics, courtesy of Rachael Ray, and quickly moved to more complex recipes.
Fast-forward more than 16 years. Maybroda is the creator of the Facebook page “From This to That.” For each post, he artfully arranges a tableau of ingredients and snaps a photo. A second shot features the finished dish. Recent meals have included pork chops with blue cheese and apples over spinach and whipped potatoes; chicken cordon bleu with mustard sauce; chicken parmesan sandwiches; and filet mignon with mushroom-and-Gruyere orzo.
Prepping for Passover
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- Written by Kris Legates
Mock chopped ‘liver’ and tzimmes are healthy Seder additions
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From the April 2022 issue
When Anita Smulyan and her husband, Samuel, were touring beach homes in 2006, they asked the real estate agent if the area had an active Jewish community. “I think there is a Jewish center on Holland Glade Road,” he replied.
Samuel wondered if the agent was bluffing to make the sale, but the Cherry Hill, N.J., couple, who wound up purchasing a Lewes-area home, soon learned of the Seaside Jewish Community, founded in 1997. “We became very entrenched in Seaside,” says Anita, whose husband died in 2020. “It’s a wonderful thing to have that sense of community.”
In January of this year, Seaside welcomed Rabbi Julie Hilton Danan as its first full-time leader, making this Pass-over season special. The Jewish holiday runs from Friday, April 15, to Saturday, April 23.
Also called Pesach, Passover marks the Israelites’ liberation from slavery in Egypt. According to the Book of Exodus, the pharaoh ordered the Jews to leave the country after the Angel of Death killed the firstborn child in each household — except for those in Hebrew homes. The Jews had marked their doors with lamb’s blood so the angel would “pass over” their houses.
The Seder is a ritual feast to honor and retell the story on the first night of Passover. People set their tables with fine silver and china, and participants take turns reading the Haggadah, the narrative of the exodus. “You go through the story, rituals and ceremonies, and then you have your meal,” Anita explains.
The energetic cook typically starts with gefilte fish (poached fish dumplings) or chopped liver. But because she has health-conscious family members, she now makes a vegetarian version of the liver that passes for the real deal. Matzo ball soup, brisket, noodle kugel and a sweet-potato-and-carrot dish with prunes — tzimmes — are also staples.
You don’t need to wait for Passover — or be Jewish — to try these recipes at home. Like matzo ball soup and brisket, they have a universal appeal.