For my meal, I included: matzoh ball soup, gefilte fish (store-bought), matzah (store-bought), date charoset, potato kugel, spinach kugel, a salad with blueberry vinaigrette, brisket, tilapia en papillote (see previous post), pavlovas, and macaroons (store-bought.) So click on in and read through to find out how to make each one! I'll also tell you when to start and how to prep in advance so that your seder dinner is served warm and on time.
Note: I cooked food for 10 people so many of the portions below are very large. You will want to adjust accordingly if you are cooking for fewer/more people.
Difficulty: Medium-Hard (to coordinate and get all done! easier for individual pieces)
Time: allow at least 12 hrs of cooking time...you'll see below I prepped some the night before and then cooked for about 8 hours on the day of the seder
Salad with Homemade Blueberry Vinaigrette
Time: 5 hrsThe main time sink in this recipe is the blueberry vinegar. Make that the night before because it needs to steep for several hours. I made the vinegar and let it sit in my fridge overnight. Then, a few hours before the seder I mixed together the full vinaigrette dressing. I also tossed the greens with the onions, fresh blueberries, and other salad ingredients. Finally, just before guests arrived I tossed the dressing with the salad so it was ready to serve immediately following the seder service.
Note: This picture was taken before the dressing was added. The dressing is a deep purple in color and makes the salad look very dramatic - and beautiful - when all mixed together.
Ingredients:
3 & 2/3 cup blueberries
1/2 cup white wine vinegar
4 tsp sugar
1 small bay leaf
1 tbsp honey
1.5 tsp Dijon mustard
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp fresh ground black pepper
4.5 tbsp olive oil
3 packages mixed greens
1.5 cups sliced red onion
(this recipe is based upon a similar one from Cooking Light)
First, you need to create the blueberry vinegar. Wash 2/3 cup of your fresh blueberries, remove any lingering stems, and place them in a small pot. Smash with a potato masher or a fork if you do not have one. Add the white wine vinegar, sugar, and bay leaf. Turn the heat on and bring to a boil. Reduce the heat and simmer (covered) for 10 minutes. Then, remove from the heat and keep the pot covered. Let it sit for 4 hours. After that, you can transfer it to a bowl, cover that, and refrigerate overnight to make the rest of the salad the following day.
To prepare the vinaigrette combine your blueberry vinegar (now chilled) with the honey, mustard, salt, and pepper. Mix well. Slowly whisk in the olive oil, adding just a little at a time to make sure the mixture is well combined. You can let this sit for a bit in the fridge as needed but make sure you re-whisk before putting it on the salad.
Put 3 packages of mixed greens in a large bowl. I used arugula, frisee, and mesclun. Add the red onion and 3 cups of fresh blueberries and toss well. Just before serving add the dressing and toss well to achieve a beautiful, purple color.
Spinach Kugel
Time: 1 hr 15 minFor this recipe I prepared the kugel the night before and cooked it 2/3 of the way. Then, just before eating the next night I popped it into the oven for 30 minutes to finish cooking and thoroughly heat the kugel. Just make sure that if you store it overnight it is wrapped well with saran wrap or another airtight cover.
Ingredients:
6 tbsp margarine
2 cups diced onion
1 cup diced celery
1 cup sliced mushrooms
3 cup shredded carrots
1.5 cups matzo meal
2 lbs frozen chopped spinach - thawed and drained
3 beaten eggs
3/4 cup egg beaters
salt
pepper
Preheat your oven to 350.
Melt the margarine in a large pan over medium high heat. I know it's a ton of margarine - and so much of me wants to cut some of it out - but it is needed to hold the kugel together so do not skimp on it. (I have experimented and this is the least you can get away with!) Add the onion, celery, and mushroom and saute for 10 minutes or until soft.
Pour the sauteed vegetables into a large bowl and add the carrots, matzo meal, spinach, eggs, and egg beaters. Add salt and pepper to taste. Mix until well combined. (I find it often easiest to use your hands after washing them well since this is a weird texture to mix.)
Grease a 9x13 baking dish with cooking spray and then pour the mixture in, patting it as needed to get it flat and well stuffed into the dish. If you are serving immediately bake for 40-45 minutes but if you will be serving the next day just bake for 30. Then cool, wrap securely to keep it air-tight, and refrigerate overnight. Then bake 30 minutes before serving.
Potato Kugel
Time:I prepared the potato kugel in the same style that I prepared the spinach kugel. I made the kugel and baked it for about 2/3 of the total time. I stored it overnight and finished baking it the next day. Once again, you can do it all in a row but when preparing for a big dinner party I have learned it is generally easier to do as much ahead of time as possible.
Ingredients:
3/4 cup vegetable oil
12 large Yukon or Idaho potatoes
2 large onions
4 eggs
1 cup egg beaters
1 tbsp no-sodium salt substitute
2 tsp ground black pepper
1/4 cup chopped fresh parsley
3/4 cup matzoh meal
Preheat the oven to 375.
Grease two 9x13 glass baking dishes with cooking spray. Pour half of the vegetable oil in each one. Set those aside for now.
Wash and shred your potatoes and onions. This is best done with a shredder blade in a food processor. You'll probably have to work in several rounds to get everything shredded. If so, take a large bowl and place a large piece of cheese cloth in it with the edges draping over the edge of the bowl. As each batch is shredded dump it into the cheesecloth bowl. When everything is shredded place the bowl in the sink. Carefully pick up each corner and hold all the edges of the cheesecloth together so that no potato can spill out. Strain out all of the moisture.
Placed the drained potato onion mixture into a large bowl. Add the eggs, egg beaters, salt, pepper, parsley, and matzo meal. Mix well. (Again, I find it easiest to use this with nicely washed hands.) Split the potato mixture evenly into two bowls.
Place the two baking dishes in the oven and let them heat for 5 minutes. The oil should be very hot at this point. Carefully remove the dishes from the oven. Working with one at a time, pour about 2/3 of the oil into one of the bowls of potato mixture. Stir well but do NOT use your hands this time as the oil will make everything very hot. Put the oiled potato mixture back into the pan from which you poured the oil and even the top/pack as needed. Repeat with the other baking dish/oil/bowl of potato mixture.
Put both glass dishes with the potato mixture back into the oven. If you are serving immediately bake for 55 minutes. The top should be golden-brown and crispy. If you are serving the next day bake for 40 minutes. Then remove, cool, and cover so it is air-tight. Then keep refrigerated overnight and bake for 30-35 minutes the following day.
Date Charoset
Oh date charoset - how great you are. If you are American (or Western European) chances are that you've only experienced apple charoset. Ashkenazi Jews (think Western Europe, Russia, and most American Jews) make apple charoset on Passover. However, I'm Sephardic (think Spanish and Middle Eastern Jews) and we traditionally eat date charoset. Personally, I'm a huge fan of this dish and it's incredibly simple to make. Some whip it up and spread it on some matzah for a delicious meal.
Ingredients:
Pitted dates (3 packages)
Ground almonds (3 packages)
Manischewitz
Place your pitted dates into a small pot. Pour in Manischewitz until it is about 3 inches deep (from the bottom.) Place the pan over medium to medium high heat.
Bring the mixture to a light, slow simmer and stir with a wooden spoon or something else fairly stiff every few minutes. If the wine begins to evaporate or if the dates look like they are about to burn add more wine. You'll need to simmer and stir for a while - probably about 45 minutes. You'll be done when the dates have melted down. There will still be some chunks but the mixture should be thick and sticky yet somewhat smooth and uniform.
When it gets to that point, remove from the heat and stir in the ground almonds. Then let the charoset cool and serve.
Passover Pavlovas
Time: 4 hrsI'm very proud of this picture. I just had to add that.
For this recipe you need to make the pavlovas and then the custard separately. You can even make the pavlovas themselves the night before. Make the custard the morning of and then put everything together after dinner just before serving. I doubled this recipe to make 16 pavlovas.
Ingredients:
1/4 tsp cream of tartar (make sure it's Passover kosher)
4 large egg whites + 1 large egg white
3/4 cup sugar + 1/2 cup
2 large eggs
2 tsp grated lemon rind
1/2 cup fresh lemon juice
1 tsp corn starch (if you are Sephardic, otherwise use potato starch)
2 packages fresh raspberries
1 tbsp powdered sugar
(this recipe is based upon a similar one from Cooking Light)
Preheat your oven to 250.
Measure out two pieces of parchment paper to match cookie sheets. Draw eight 4" diameter circles on the sheets, then flip them over and tape them to the cookie sheets so the drawn-on side is facing down. Use a tape that won't melt, such as masking tape.
Put the cream of tartar and 4 egg whites in a large bowl and whip with a mixer at high speed until the mixture is foamy. Continue beating and slowly add 3/4 cup sugar, but just 1 tbsp at a time. Keep mixing until there are stiff peaks. This will take a while but there MUST be stiff peaks so don't try to skimp here and stop early.
When it's done divide the meringue among the 8 circles you drew on the cookie sheets. Dollop it down and then use the back of a large spoon to make each circle into a nest shape.
Bake for 1 hr, but rotate the cookie sheets top/lower shelf halfway through to cook evenly. After 1 hr turn the oven off but keep the door shut - let the meringues cool in the cooling oven for 2 hrs. Remove from the oven and very carefully remove the meringues from the parchment paper. They will be very fragile and practically weight-less so take care not to crumble them.
Now, it's time to make the custard. Combine the 2 eggs and remaining 1 egg white in a medium bowl and whisk well. Put 1/2 cup sugar, lemon rind, lemon juice, and corn starch in a small or medium bowl over medium high heat. Mix and heat until it is 180 degrees or small bubbles form at the edge. Slowly add this hot mixture to the eggs you have in the bowl, stirring with a whisk as you add it.
Pour the juice-egg mixture back into the pan and cook over medium heat for 2-3 minutes, stirring constantly. It should get thick. Remove from heat, spoon into a bowl, and chill.
Finally, when you want to eat your pavlovas divide your raspberries among the nests. Top with the lemon curd, dividing evenly as well. Sprinkle with powdered sugar. Serve and enjoy immediately.
Brisket
Time: 4.5 hrsThat's right - we're at the main feature. Brisket. There are next to no meat recipes on this blog but I pulled out all of the stops for my passover seder and there just had to be brisket. Luckily, while this was my first brisket experience I learned from the best and this turned out well.
Ingredients:
brisket (mine was about 6 lbs)
olive oil
1 cup pitted prunes
salt
cinnamon
ground nutmeg
1 large onion
2/3 cup honey
lemon juice
Note: Many of these do not have amounts. I'll do my best to compensate for that in my description but much of this is by feel.
Heat a tablespoon of olive oil in a large pan over medium high heat. Cut the brisket in half if you need to in order to fit it in the pan and sear well on both sides until brown. This will take about 5 minutes.
Remove from the heat and take the meat out and set on a cutting board. Throw out any extraneous fat. Then, put the pan back on the heat. Put a little bit of water in the pan and scrape with a spatula to get up the little brown bits. Then, put the brisket back in the pan and add enough water just to cover it. Bring to a boil. If you let it boil for about 15 minutes the scum will rise to the top (white foam like at a dirty lake.) Skim it off and throw it away.
Turn the heat down to low, cover the pan, and let the brisket cook for 30 minutes. Add the prunes, salt, a lot of cinnamon, a lot of nutmeg, onion (cut up), honey, and lemon juice. Keep in mind there is a lot of meat so you need a lot of spice/sauce to affect the flavoring. Mix well, cover again, and let it simmer gently on low for an hour.
Remove the brisket after that from the pan (leaving the sauce in the pan) and let it cool on a cutting board.
Preheat the oven to 350.
Once the brisket is cool slice it in very thin slices against the grain. Put the slices in a greased 9x13 glass baking dish. Pour the gray over top. Cover and bake for 30 minutes. (Note: You can let it sit for a bit when cooling/in pan with gravy before baking if you want to time things correctly.)
Matzoh Ball Soup
Time: 1.5 hrs
Sadly I forgot to take a picture of this before it was devoured but Matzoh Ball Soup is about the most amazing thing ever. If you haven't tried it, do so immediately. And if you but it wasn't homemade- well, it just wasn't the real thing.
Note: I did 2.5 times the recipe below for 10 people but since I am guessing you do not want to make it in such large portions I have made it normal-sized below.
Ingredients:
6 cups vegetable broth + 2 tbsp
2 eggs
2 tbsp unsalted butter (melted)
1/2 cup unsalted matzo meal
1 tbsp parsley, minced
1/2 tsp dried dill
1 red bell pepper, chopped
1 stalk celery, chopped
3/4 cup carrots
1 bay leaf
2 bunches of green onion, chopped
salt
pepper
First, we'll start with the matzo balls. In my case I made the matzo ball dough first and left it in the refrigerator for several hours as I prepared other parts of the meal. Then, shortly before guests arrived, I prepared the broth and simmered the matzo balls. I covered them with foil to keep the heat in and let the broth stay on the burner but turned the heat down to low. That way it stayed hot through the seder service and we assembled the soup right afterwards.
To prepare the matzo balls, lightly beat the eggs in a bowl. Add the butter, 2 tbsp vegetable broth, matzo meal, parsley, dill, and about 1/4 tsp salt. Stir until well combined and refrigerate. You want to keep it in the fridge for at least 15 minutes but can leave it for up to 8 hrs.
To prepare the soup, combine the vegetable broth, bell pepper, celery, carrots, and by leaf in a large pot. Bring to a boil. Reduce the heat and simmer (covered) for another 20 minutes. Add the green onions, salt, and pepper. Simmer for another 10 minutes. Then, remove the bay leaf and add more seasoning if needed. (I only recommend adding pepper since salt is bad for you!)
Finally, you need to cook the matzo balls. (This can be done after or while you are preparing the soup.) Bring a pot of water to boil over high heat. Wet your hands so the dough won't stick and form the dough into 1" balls. Drop them gently into the boiling water, one by one. Then immediately reduce the heat and let the balls simmer for 30 minutes. When they are done remove them with a slotted spoon.
To serve, place two matzo balls in a bowl and add the soup.
I felt like I was right there in the kitchen with you! Thank you I really like your commentary while cooking!
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