It’s always a good idea to have a few tricks up your sleeve for navigating the cooking and eating during Passover. Here are a few:
Keep ‘em warm. If you are hosting a big holiday dinner (and this goes for those holding Easter dinners as well), you might enjoy these ideas for keeping multiple dishes warm that The Kitchn posted for Thanksgiving.
Try something new. No need to push aside your favorites, but it’s often rewarding to explore a new recipe around the holidays. Check Jewish Food Experience’s latest ideas from local chefs here.
Buy extra eggs. If you are doing a lot of cooking for the holiday, estimate how many eggs you will need for your recipes and the Seder and buy at least 6 to 12 more. There are so many needs for eggs, and more than once I’ve found myself short.
Hack your matzah crackers. Enliven those cute Passover Tam Tam crackers with some good-quality extra virgin olive oil and seasonings. Quick recipe here (along with my avocado-spinach dip.)
Don’t eat matzah all week. Even if you love it, it’s flour and water baked into a bone-dry flatbread. That’s it. It’s neither nutritious nor particularly kind to your digestive system. Enjoy for the big holiday meals and be sure to make caramel matzah crunch with it, then phase it out as best you can as the week goes on. You will feel better.
Hello, quinoa. Make a big batch of this seed and put it in the fridge to reheat as needed. It’s nutritious and relatively high in protein and makes a great base for a breakfast bowl as well as a side dish or a substitute for pasta if you are making something like brisket or chicken with a pan sauce. If you feel like frying, quinoa can be made into little latke-like cakes.
Choose year-round favs that are naturally Passover-friendly. If you can find decent vine-ripened tomatoes, make the season’s first caprese salad (tomato, fresh mozzarella, basil, olive oil, salt, and pepper). Or how about chicken salad? Or any grilled or roasted meat, chicken, or fish along with sides of roasted vegetables or baked regular or sweet potatoes? Make your salads super salads with dark leafy greens, grilled chicken, nuts, dried fruits in addition to your favorite salad vegetables. It’s easy to get sick of eggs during Passover, but omelets, frittatas, and stuffed eggs are all good options.
On the go. That’s where it can be tough, because the easiest on-the-go foods are sandwiches or wraps. But turn to cheese sticks or individually wrapped cheese slices, little bags of sliced apples and almond butter, vegetables and dip, a few matzah crackers, peeled hard boiled eggs, yogurt.
Indulge a little. Satisfy your sweet tooth with chocolate covered almonds, fruit topped with yogurt or whipped cream, or a nice bowl of ice cream, spiked with whatever you love—chocolate sauce, nuts, bananas, almond butter, some crumbled caramel matzah crunch! Cookies that are naturally gluten-free and Passover-friendly include these chocolate-pecan cookies that I make into ice cream sandwiches or any of the many macaroons. A big batch should get you through the week.
Hope you enjoy the holiday!
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