Recipes to Calm a Nervous Cook

Please note: Norene Gilletz is a freelance kosher food writer. The Orthodox Union makes no endorsements or representations regarding kashrut certification of various products/vendors referred to in her articles, blog, or web site.

Each year, Passover strikes an acute sense of panic in the hearts of most homemakers long before the spring holiday actually arrives. Several weeks in advance, the search starts – looking through cookbooks and recipe clippings, calling friends and family members asking about long-lost recipes, or searching the world-wide web for Passover recipes – something old, something new, something borrowed, something tried and true.

Even though today’s modern kitchens are outfitted with a wide selection of appliances to ease Passover preparation, the kitchen needs to be completely cleaned out and then restocked, from condiments to cookies, from sauces to snack foods. To make meal preparation and cleanup easier, disposable foil containers are often used for turkey, brisket, kugels and vegetables, and many people use fancy disposable paper plates, glasses and cutlery for the larger than usual crowds at the Passover table.

Today, a huge selection of prepared and packaged Passover products are available on supermarket shelves to help make preparation easier for those who don’t want to cook – or for those who don’t have the time. Caterers also offer up a variety of menus in large ads in the local newspaper. One might think that a famine wasn’t far away!

Your grandmother or mother may have had a live carp swimming in the bathtub for her homemade gefilte fish, but today you can buy delicious frozen gefilte fish logs and transform them into a colorful, three-layered loaf that will wow your guests. Instead of roasted chicken, you can add bottled Szechuan sauce and canned pineapple to create a quick, elegant main dish that looks like it took hours to prepare.

With a little creativity and the help of some packaged products, here’s how to prepare some scrumptious Passover fare with flair! Your family and friends will never know – unless you tell them!

Tricolor Gefilte Fish Mold (Pareve)

Yields 16 to 20 servings

The layered look is in!

Ingredients:

• 5 medium carrots, cut in chunks (or 20 mini carrots)
• 1 (10 oz.) package frozen chopped spinach
• 3 packages frozen gefilte fish, completely thawed

Instructions:

1. Spray a 12-cup fluted tube pan with nonstick spray.
2. Cook carrots in boiling water until tender, 15 to 20 minutes. Drain well.
3. Microwave or steam spinach for 3 to 4 minutes, until thawed. Let cool, then squeeze dry.
4. In a food processor fitted with the steel blade, process spinach until finely ground, about 15 seconds. Add contents of one package of gefilte fish and blend well. Spread mixture evenly in tube pan.
5. Spread with the contents of the second package of gefilte fish to make the second layer.
6. Process drained carrots about 15 seconds. Add contents of the third package of fish to carrots and blend well. Spread evenly in pan to make the third layer.
7. Place a piece of parchment paper on top of fish, then cover pan with aluminum foil.
8. Bake in preheated 350°F oven for 1½ hours. When done, top should be firm to the touch and edges should pull away from sides of pan. A skewer inserted into fish halfway between centre and outside edge should come out clean.
9. Let cool for 20 to 30 minutes. Loosen fish with a long metal spatula. Cover pan with a serving plate, invert and shake gently to unmold. Wipe up any juices that collect on the plate.
10. Cool completely, then cover and refrigerate overnight. Slice and serve with bottled or homemade horseradish, lettuce, tomatoes and cucumber slices.

This can be made up to two days in advance. Do not freeze.

Saucy Szechuan Pineapple Chicken (Meat)

12 servings

You’ll get rave reviews when you serve this dish to family and friends at your Passover table!

Ingredients:

• 3 onions, sliced
• 2 chickens (3 lbs. each), cut up
• Pepper and paprika, to taste
• 1½ cups Szechuan-style duck sauce
• 1 (19 oz.) can pineapple chunks, drained (reserve liquid)

Instructions:

1. Place onions in the bottom of a large sprayed roasting pan. Remove and discard fat from chickens but do not remove skin. Place chicken pieces on top of onions. Sprinkle lightly with seasonings.
2. Pour duck sauce and pineapple chunks over chicken, along with half of the reserved liquid.
3. Bake covered at 400°F for ½ hour. Reduce heat to 350°F and bake 1 hour longer, basting occasionally.
4. When cool, refrigerate for several hours or overnight.
5. Discard chicken skin and congealed fat from pan juices.
6. Reheat covered at 350°F for 25 minutes.

Reheats and/or freezes well.

Broccoli Cheese Squares (Dairy)

6 servings as a main dish or 8 to 10 servings as a side dish.

Adapted from The NEW Food Processor Bible: 30th Anniversary Edition by Norene Gilletz (Whitecap March 2011)

Easy and versatile! These scrumptious squares make a delicious dairy brunch dish or side dish, with 400 g calcium per serving. A food processor speeds up preparation time.

Ingredients:

• 8 oz. (250 g) chilled low-fat Swiss and/or cheddar cheese (2 cups grated)
• 1 Tablespoon grated Parmesan cheese
• 2 cloves garlic
• 1 medium onion, cut in chunks
• 1 carrot, cut in chunks (or 1 red bell pepper)
• 1 Tablespoon olive oil
• 4 cups cut-up broccoli
• 2 Tablespoons fresh parsley (or 2 tsp dried parsley)
• 3 eggs (or 2 eggs plus 2 egg whites)
• ½ cup matzah meal
• ½ teaspoon salt
• ¼ teaspoon each dried basil and dried oregano

Instructions:

1. Insert Grater in food processor. Grate Swiss or cheddar cheese, using medium pressure. Transfer to a bowl. Remove 2 Tbsp grated cheese, combine with Parmesan cheese and reserve as a topping.
2. Insert Steel Blade in food processor. Drop garlic through feed tube while machine is running; process until minced. Add onion and carrot or red pepper; process with several quick on/off pulses, until coarsely chopped.
3. Heat oil in a non-stick skillet. Sauté garlic, onion and carrot on medium heat until softened, about five minutes. Meanwhile, rinse broccoli thoroughly in cold water; drain well. Microwave, covered, on High for four minutes (or steam broccoli for five to six minutes.) Cool slightly.
4. Process broccoli and parsley with several on/off pulses, until coarsely chopped. Add sautéed vegetables and grated cheese (excluding reserved cheese topping), along with all remaining ingredients. Process 8 to 10 seconds longer, until combined.
5. Spread mixture evenly in sprayed 7×11-inch glass baking dish. Sprinkle with reserved cheese topping.
6. Bake in preheated 325°F oven for 30 to 35 minutes, until golden. Cool slightly; cut into squares.

Keeps 2 days in the refrigerator. Reheats and/or freezes well.

Copyright © Norene Gilletz 2011.

• Click: OU’s 2011 Guide to Passover to order a hard copy or download
• Click: OU’s 2011 Guide to Passover Online to view or search for products
• Click: OU’s Pre-Passover Webcast to get April 5th viewing details
• Click: Ask OU’s Newsletter to read the April column on kitniyos

Norene Gilletz of Toronto, Canada is a kosher cookbook author and food consultant. She is the author of nine cookbooks, which include The NEW Food Processor Bible: 30th Anniversary Edition (Whitecap, February 2011) and Norene’s Healthy Kitchen (Whitecap). Her motto is “Food that’s good for you should taste good!” Her Pickle-icious feature appeared to great acclaim in BTUS Winter 2010/11 issue. For more information, visit www.gourmania.com or contact her at goodfood@gourmania.com.

The words of this author reflect his/her own opinions and do not necessarily represent the official position of the Orthodox Union.