Passover is my favorite holiday. Period. It’s like Thanksgiving, but with singing and telling stories.
I have vivid memories of Seders at my uncle’s house in Boston when I was young. My siblings, cousins and I prepared for the Seder by rolling tinfoil and masking tape into tiny balls and building origami frogs. When it came time to recite the plagues during the Seder, the dining room became Egypt and our parents (the Egyptians) were subjected to all of the plagues including hail, lice and frogs! We acted out plays, sang songs, and of course read the story of how the Hebrews were freed from slavery in Egypt. It was always a lot of fun, even as we got too old to reenact the plagues.
So why would this year be any different? Now instead of rolling tape into tiny balls, I spent hours in the kitchen with my mom preparing the food we would enjoy for my favorite festival. We made a variety of dishes – both traditional and others to accommodate all dietary preferences including matzah ball soup, gefilte fish, honey chicken, brisket, quinoa salad and lots of steamed vegetables. For dessert we had banana bread, date coconut cookies, chocolate covered macaroons and lots of fresh fruit.
I added about 3/4 of a cup of dark chocolate chips to the banana bread. This made the loaf a little more dense, but still very moist and sweet. It was a big hit!
I used almond flour instead of ground oats for the date coconut cookies in order to make them kosher for Passover. They still tasted great, but if you have any leftovers, make sure you store them in the refrigerator because the almond flavor makes them softer than when using the oats.
Buying premade or canned gefilte fish is common. This year we made it from scratch. Turns out it was pretty easy, and with the compliments we got, I don’t think we will ever use the canned stuff again.
Gifilte Fish
Ingredients: (for 1lb of fillets)
1 large onion
1 carrot, peeled
1 lb fish fillets or ground fish (we used white fish fillets)
2 eggs
1 tablespoon matzo meal
¼ cup cold water
¾ teaspoon salt
¼ teaspoon pepper
½ teaspoon sugar
64 ounces fish stock
Directions:
Cut onion, carrot and fish into 2 inch chunks
Process carrot and onion in food processor until finely minced, about 10 seconds
Add fish chunks and process until very smooth, about 35-40 seconds (If fish is already minced, reduce processing time to 20 seconds)
Add remaining ingredients (except fish stock) and process about 15 seconds, until well mixed
Pour fish stock into large bowl pot and add heat
Use hands to form fish batter into small fillets and add to simmering fish stock. It helps if you moisten your hands first with cold water so the fish batter doesn’t stick to your hands.
Cover and simmer for 2 hours.
Remove cover last 30 minutes to reduce the liquid
Cool and remove fillets from broth and transfer to platter
Garnish with the usual and serve
The coconut macaroon recipe is inspired by ElanasPantry.com. This recipe makes 25-30 macaroons.
Chocolate Covered Macaroons
Ingredients:
6 egg whites
¼ teaspoon Celtic sea salt
½ cup agave nectar
1 tablespoon vanilla extract
3 cups shredded coconut
Optional: ½ of 3.5 ounce bar of organic dark chocolate (70% or higher)
Directions:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees
In mixing bowl use electric mixer to mix eggs and salt until stiff and fluffy
Use spoon to mix agave, vanilla and shredded coconut
Use spoons to place 1 inch size balls of batter onto parchment lined baking sheet
Bake for 15 minutes or until lightly browned
While macaroons are cooling, melt chocolate in small pot. Make sure it doesn’t burn.
Remove pot from flame
Use hands to dip tops of macaroons into liquid chocolate
Place macaroon back on baking tray with parchment paper
Place tray in refrigerator to allow chocolate to harden
Serve
