Effortless Entertaining: Recipe Roundup for Passover

I love Jewish cooking. I don't know if this is because most dishes are dairy-free (if you're kosher, you don't eat dairy and meat together at the same meal and wait between eating them) or if because Jewish foods are comfort foods. Either way I love Jewish cooking. Passover though throws a couple of wrenches into cooking for me. Some of my regular goto dairy substitutes, such as Earth Balance, are off limits.
 

 

A little overwhelmed planning your Passover menu? Bon Appetit has eleven from modern to traditional. Fine Cooking has a traditional Passover menu complete with recipes, grocery list, and meal preparation notes. When sourcing your ingredients, a good resource to figure out which ones are ok or not for Passover is OU Kosher's website. They cover what's ok for Passover and which ingredients while ok for Passover are off limits if you're Ashkenazi (Kitniyot List).
 

 

I've rounded up some recipes that I'm considering for Passover. They're listed in the order they would be served at a seder. Enjoy!
 
Horseradish:

• Joshua Bousel's Homemade Horseradish
• Horseradish Beet Sauce from Sunset
• Gluten-free Horseradish from Elana's Pantry

 
Charoset, Haroset, or Haroseth:

• Wolfgang Puck's Charoset (includes wine)
• Jamie Geller's Ashkenaz Charoset (includes wine)
• Suzanne Jonath's Charoset on Chow (includes wine)
• Dried Fruit and Almond Haroseth (includes wine)

 
Gefilte Fish (from easy to intermediate):

• Lisa Lavery's Gefilte Fish Recipe on Chow
• Joan Nathan's Jewish Cooking In America's Gefilte Fish Pate
• Wolfgang Puck's Passover Gefilte Fish
• Brad Levy of Firefly's Gefilte Fish

 
Matzo Ball Soup:

• from Smitten Kitchen
• from Karen Miner of SheKnows
• from Renee Renner, Savuer

 
Entrees:

• Lemon Garlic Chicken
• Wild Salmon and Potato Casserole from Country Living
• Red Wine-Braised Brisket

 
Dairy-free Flourless Desserts:
If you're Ashkenazi, remember that Earth Balance, which is made from soybeans, is off limits. So, before you go with just any margarine as a substitute, double check that it is indeed dairy-free, many contain lactase. Also avoid any chocolate that contains soy lecithin.

• Smitten Kitchen's Lighter-than-Air Chocolate Cake
• Martha Stewart's Chocolate Torte with Passover Fudge Glaze
• Flourless Chocolate-Almond Cake with Almond-Cherry-Caramel Glaze

 

 

Now that you have some recipes to think about, for creative entertaining ideas for your seder, head over to Martha Stewart. I especially love the idea of incorporating some of the symbolic foods into the individual place settings.
 

What are your favorite recipes for Passover?
 

Bon Appetit!

Eden!

 

Credits: All layouts designed by and images taken by Eden Hensley Silverstein for The Road to the Good Life. Effortless Entertaining is a monthly series, published the third Wednesday of each month, with tips for planning an experience and recipes for stress-free (or minimal stress) cooking so that you’ll spend more time with guests and less time in the kitchen.