This is a carefully tested recipe. My mother used to make it every year to break the fast after Yom Kippur. I don't even know if she knew it was every year, because it seems like a side dish--almost a pate--and was rarely the main dish whenever she made it. But I began to associate it with the High Holidays and have made it every year to break the fast for the last 12 or so years.
If you find you have too much for your mold-pan, feel free to keep the extra in a normal Tupperware-style container. It's just as good with a spoon in the middle of the night.
1 can tomato soup
6 oz. cream cheese with chives
2 packets unflavored gelatin
1/2 cup cold water
2 large cans salmon
juice of 1/2 lemon
1-1/2 cups finely chopped celery
1 cup mayonnaise
1 tblsp sweet pickle relish
1/2 tsp dried minced onion
1 tsp prepared horseradish
black olives, sliced in half (optional)
2 hard-boiled eggs, sliced wtih a slicer (optional)
Challah bread
Recipe
Boil soup and cheese till cheese melts and the mixture is smooth. Dissolve gelatin in water (sprinkle over water and allow to soften at least five minutes). Add to soup to melt completely. Add all other ingredients. Pour into greased (sprayed with Pam is okay) mold, and refrigerate until set.
When ready to serve, unmold onto platter.
Garnish by placing sliced olives on the top of the ring at regular intervals, approximately the width of one "slice." And/or place sliced hard-boiled eggs against the outer wall of the ring at regular intervals, approximately the width of one "slice."
Serve on thick slices of fresh Challah bread (toasted or untoasted). If you cannot get fresh Challah, fresh (i.e., not grocery store) bagels work too.