Passover Recipe Roundup

Passover begins next Monday night, April 10. If you're looking for some inspiration for what to make for the seder or to enjoy the rest of the week I've put together a "best of" list of dishes I've written about in the past below. They range from traditional chicken soup to my grandmother's Passover Popovers (which are dreamy).

Mom's Chicken Soup: This is the soup I grew up with, the one she makes for Rosh Hashonah and Passover, for when we're sick, and when there's a chill in the air. It's marvelous, especially tasty thanks to the dill she adds at the end that brings some brightness to the rich broth. Cue the matzo balls!

Apple-Matzoh Kugel: Noodle kugel is out, of course, for Passover. Instead, in come kugel made with matzoh. This delightful recipe comes originally from our temple. It was served at a Women's Seder my mom and I went to and we were so taken by it I was able to finagle the recipe. But, no one in our family sticks to the recipe, so along with tart Granny Smiths we added extra matzoh, dried cranberries, and chopped pecans. Oh, this is a dish to make year round!

Passover Popovers: Okay, these airy, matzoh and egg popovers are my favorite part of Passover. I've been eating them since I was a little kid. My Nana Tillie used to make them big, really big! Sandwich size big and we'd slice them in half, slather mustard on them and layers of bologna. Don't judge until you've tried it. It's been a long time since I've done that. Now, they're strictly for noshing. Again and again and again. Yes, they're that addictive.

Sweet Matzoh Fritters: Love matzoh brei? Then you'll love these Sweet Matzoh Fritters that are the creation of Chef Jeff Rossman of Terra. With lemon zest, currants, and chopped nuts, you'll want to serve them at brunch with a dollop of creme fraiche.

Cured Arctic Char or Salmon: Serving brunch over Passover? This is a perfect main course with a salad and matzoh or popovers. This recipe comes courtesy of Chef Matt Gordon of Urban Solace and Solace and the Moonlight Lounge. Make it year-round but make it!

 Happy Passover!


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Tweak the Seder Meal with an Apple-Matzoh Kugel

Holiday meals are sacred stuff and it's the rare family that likes to change tradition. Passover is certainly one of those meals. In our family, it means chicken soup with matzoh balls (floaters, not sinkers), doctored gefilte fish (Mom adds cooked carrots and onions to the jelly), brisket, matzoh meal popovers, and usually asparagus as our vegetable side. And, of course, all the delights of the Seder table.

Where we tend to fail each year is with kugel. The problem is they tend to be dry and chewy, especially potato kugel.

My mom and I attended our temple's Women's Seder a couple of weeks ago and both did double takes when we took bites of the matzoh kugel served. We could taste apples. It was moist and not too heavy. We kind of liked it. So when my mom found the recipe of the temple's website, she decided to make it for our little Seder and I decided to make it for the Seder with friends I was invited to the night before Passover began.

But Mom did, of course, change it up. She rarely sticks to an actual recipe but instead adds her unique stamp to it. To this she added a couple more matzohs, plus lemon zest and juice, dried cranberries, and chopped pecans to top it. She chose tart Granny Smiths to keep it from becoming overly sweet.

And then she made a mistake, which actually improved the kugel. She'd put it all together and poured about half of the melted butter on top just before sprinkling the cinnamon sugar and nuts--and then realized she'd forgotten to add the dried cranberries. So she folded them in and the melted butter went with them, adding another layer of flavor. She finished it off with the rest of the butter and the topping and in it went into the oven, where it puffed up like a souffle and came out moist and just a little sweet.

I loved the sound of it so much, I made it for my "pre-Passover" Seder. It's as silky as a noodle kugel--one of my favorite dishes. I think this is going to be a new insert into our family tradition.

Passover Apple-Matzoh Kugel
From Congregation Beth Israel, Adapted by Evie Golden
Serves 10

8 Matzoh
12 eggs, 2 separated
¾ cup sugar
1 teaspoon salt
½ teaspoon cinnamon
1 ½ teaspoon vanilla
3 large Granny Smith apples, peeled
½ cup dried cranberries (or other dried fruit)
1 teaspoon lemon juice
zest of one lemon
½ cup melted butter
Cinnamon-sugar mixture
½ cup lightly toasted, chopped pecans

• Pre-heat oven to 350 degrees.
• Break up matzoh and pour boiling water over the pieces in a bowl. Let sit for about 5 minutes, then drain and squeeze out excess moisture if necessary.
• Grate apples and add lemon juice and zest.
• Beat 10 eggs, plus 2 yolks, and the vanilla. Set the whites aside.
• Combine the sugar, salt, and cinnamon and add to the eggs. Stir in the matzoh and apple mixture. Blend well.
• Beat the egg whites in a separate bowl until thick. Fold into the egg/matzoh mixture. Add the cranberries and half of the melted butter.
• Pour into a 9 X 13 greased casserole dish. Pour the rest of the melted butter over the top. Sprinkle with the cinnamon-sugar mix and pecan pieces.
• Bake at 350 for 45 minutes to an hour.

You can make this ahead of time and bake half way, then freeze. When reheating make sure it’s thawed completely and then bake for at least 30 minutes.

And, here's a wish for a happy, healthy Pesach to my Jewish friends! Gut Yontiff!


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Passover Popovers: The Perfect Bread Substitute

For you MOT (members of the tribe) who are looking forward to Passover this week with a mix of excitement (love the Seder!) and dread (oy, matzoh for an entire week!), I may have something for you that will excite you a little more and ease the dread. Matzoh meal popovers.

I was introduced to these buttery puffs of heaven as a child by my Nana. My grandmother somehow made hundreds of these and they were huge -- big enough to slice horizontally and use to make sandwiches. And I don't know how she did it because you can't just double the recipe; for more, you have to make each batch separately. She must have spent days making them.

But they're easy to make. A little boiling, a little stirring, a little baking... Few ingredients. And, yum. They're so good and so puffy that many years ago my late cat Sequoia who loved all things baked took an opportunity while they were cooling on the counter to pounce into them and take bites from almost every one when I left them to run to the market for more eggs and butter (and then I had to go out again, of course). They're so good that once when I brought them to a Seder, some Israelis who were also guests chided me for bringing treif to the Seder table. They'd never seen a "bread" before that you could make rise with eggs. They certainly hadn't seen these before and, in fact, I haven't seen them elsewhere. They're kind of a signature Passover dish for my family. But, I've gotten requests so I'm sharing this truly cherished family recipe now.

A couple of tips:
1. As I mentioned, make only one batch at a time; don't double or triple the recipe. The popover just won't rise as well.
2. Make sure you let the dough cool twice -- once when you add the matzoh meal so you don't cook the eggs and the other after adding the eggs to let the dough relax and firm up.
3. When you remove the popovers from the oven, my mom suggests poking a small hole on the bottom of each one to release steam and keep them from collapsing. Seems to work.
4. If you store them, don't cover them. The moisture from a plastic bag or container makes them soggy and moldy. Keep them in a paper bag or an open plastic bowl. You can also reheat them to good effect.

Tillie's Passover Popovers
Makes about 15

Ingredients

2 cups water
2 tablespoon sugar
1 teaspoon salt
1 stick of butter, cut into 8 pieces
2 cups matzoh meal
6 extra large eggs (if smaller, add 2 extra egg whites)

1. Pre-heat oven to 450 degrees.
2. Combine the water, sugar, salt, and butter in a medium-size pot and bring to a boil.
3. Remove from heat and stir in the matzoh meal. Transfer to a bowl and let cool.
4. Beat in eggs, one at a time. I'm now in the habit of using my KitchenAid stand mixer to do this instead of by hand and it's made a huge difference. I also just bought this great beater blade for the KitchenAid that has little spatula-like wings and really scrapes everything along the sides of the bowl so I don't have to stop and do it manually.
5. Refrigerate for 15 minutes until cool.
6. Spoon onto greased cookie sheets or into muffin tins.

7. Bake at 450 degrees for 13 minutes, then turn down heat to 350 degrees and bake another 30 minutes. When brown, remove from oven and place on racks to cool. Use a toothpick or skewer to poke a hole on the bottom of each.

For those of you celebrating Passover, I wish you a good Seder with family and friends.

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