Kosher cooking mavens Leah Schapira and Victoria Dwek have written Passover Made Easy (Artscroll/Shaar Press, 2013), a cookbook with 60 convenient recipes.
Dwek is Schapira’s boss at Cookkosher.com, which produces a Web site and Whisk, a biweekly food section published by Ami Magazine. “In our book,” she says, “we have tried to create easy-to-do recipes with items that home cooks can make or have on their shelves. Cooking for Passover should be economical, not a strain on the family budget.”
Both women have small children and work odd hours around their children’s schedules. “We want to make dishes that appeal to adults, and also some kid-friendly dishes,” Dwek says. “We have only used four recipes with matzah meal, and about the same number with potato starch, which may be hard to find. We are proud of our gluten-free French toast.”
Kosher for Passover products are not available everywhere and can be expensive. Dwek likes to use fresh fruits and vegetables to flavor her chicken, fish, and meat. “I make my own rubs, not products from jars off the shelf,” she says.
Favorite recipes
Two of her favorite recipes are matzah toffee bar crunch (pages 20-21) and eggplant-wrapped chicken thighs (pages 54-55).
My favorites from reading the recipes are orange soup (pages 30-31), which has no citrus – the color comes from carrots and sweet potatoes – and roasted tomato and eggplant soup (pages 32-33). I also want to try spaghetti squash kugel (pages 80-81), and the matzah toffee bar crunch. Which contains chocolate chips, brown sugar, and slivered almonds. “It’s hard not to eat the whole batch all by yourself,” Dwek says.
“This is one of many varieties of this recipe,” says my Kosher-keeping cousin in Connecticut, Michelle Fanwick. Try this version and see if you like it.
Although the focus of this book is on Passover, any of the recipes it contains can be made any time during the year.
Orange Soup
Yield 10-12 Servings
Ingredients:
3 tablespoon olive oil
2 large onions, diced
3 garlic cloves, minced
1 large (approximately 4 lb) butternut squash, peeled, seeded, and cubed
2 large carrots, peeled and chopped
2 sweet potatoes, peeled and chopped
4 cups chicken or vegetable stock
6-7 cups water, divided
4 marrow bones (optional)
1 tablespoon salt, or to taste
1/4 teaspoon black pepper, or to taste
Note: Chopped cilantro can be added, too.
Instructions:
1. Heat oil in a large stockpot or a heavy cast iron pot over medium heat. Add onions and garlic and fry until onions are soft, about 5 minutes. Add butternut squash, carrots, and sweet potatoes.Stir to combine. Sauté until vegetables soften a bit, about 20 minutes.
2. Add stock, 4 cups water, marrow bones (optional), salt, and pepper. Bring to a boil over high heat. Lower heat and simmer 2-3 hours, until vegetables are tender. Remove from heat and let cool slightly.
3. Using a slotted spoon, remove the marrow bones. Puree soup in the pot using an immersion blender (you can also puree soup in batches in a standard blender). Add additional 2-3 cups water until soup is desired consistency. Taste; adjust seasoning. Return soup to heat to rewarm.
Serve hot.
Spaghetti Squash Kugel
6 servings
1 spaghetti squash
1 tablespoon oil
2 onions, finely diced
1 garlic clove, minced
4 eggs, lightly beaten
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon coarse black pepper
1. Preheat oven to 350°F. Wash spaghetti squash and place into a loaf pan. Bake for 1 hour.
Remove from oven and let cool. Raise oven heat to 400°F.
2. Slice squash in half and remove seeds. Using a fork, scrape the strands of squash into a large
bowl.
3. Heat oil in a sauté pan over medium heat. Add onions and garlic. Sauté until onions are soft,
5-7 minutes. Add onions to spaghetti squash. Add eggs, salt, and pepper. Pour mixture into a 9x13-inch baking pan. Bake until kugel is crispy on top, about 1 hour.
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