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March 22, 2013 Add a little spice to PesachCYNTHIA RAMSAYLeah Schapira and Victoria Dwek’s Passover Made Easy: Favorite Triple-Tested Recipes (Mesorah Publications, Ltd., 2013) is visually striking. The full-color cookbook features gorgeous photographs with every recipe, as well as illustrations that complement the additional tips and tidbits provided by the authors. Stylishly designed by Rachel Adler, it is a comprehensive guide – including food and wine pairing suggestions, and alternate ingredient ideas – to making a very good meal with relative ease, and not just for Passover. Schapira is co-founder of cookkosher.com and the author of Fresh and Easy: Ordinary Ingredients, Extraordinary Meals (“Cooking made really easy,” jewishindependent.ca, Archives, Dec. 16, 2011). Dwek is the managing editor of Whisk, a weekly kosher food magazine published by Ami Magazine. Passover Made Easy is apparently the first in a series of “made easy” cookbooks by Schapira and Dwek to be published throughout this year and next. It features 60 recipes, all but four of which are gluten-free, as well as fun-to-read culinary trivia and helpful preparation tips. The sections include one called “Building Blocks,” which provides the recipes for items, such as crepes, that are needed for other dishes. Having gone grocery shopping on a recent Wednesday afternoon, I set about that same evening to make a complete dinner, with soup, main course, side dish, salad and dessert. I started cooking at just after 5 p.m., and finished about 10:30 p.m., learning that, next time, I should make the soup and dessert in advance. Everything turned out beautifully though, with a little extra pepper here, a little longer in the oven there – taste and timing issues that generally differ between households. If you had come to dinner at my house late that night, you would have enjoyed Orange Soup, Jalapeño-Lime-and-Ginger Salmon, Spaghetti Squash Kugel and Truffle Grapes. I also made Turnip and Beet Pickles, the ingredients of which have to sit in a jar for a few days, so you wouldn’t have been able to try them that night, but I’m not sure that you would have enjoyed them even a few days later. Despite the vinegar, jalapeño and garlic cloves, the dish tasted bland to me, although it was colorful and it did go quite well with the hamburgers I made several days later. For the “Passover meal,” however, when I make it again, I will try a different salad: perhaps the Citrus Beet Salad with Honey-Balsamic Vinaigrette because the citrus in it should pair well with that in the fish, which is why I’ve included that recipe here rather than that of the pickles. (Space, unfortunately, doesn’t allow me to include the dessert recipe.) B’tayavon! ORANGE SOUP 3 tbsp olive oil Heat oil in large stockpot over medium heat. Add onions and garlic and fry until onions are soft, about five minutes. Add butternut squash, carrots and sweet potatoes. Stir to combine. Sauté until vegetables soften a bit, about 20 minutes. Add stock, four cups water, marrow bones (optional – I did not use them, and the soup was great), salt and pepper. Bring to a boil over high heat. Lower heat and simmer two hours (or less!), until vegetables are tender. Remove from heat and let cool slightly. Using a slotted spoon, remove the marrow bones. Purée soup in the pot using an immersion blender (you can also purée soup in batches in a standard blender). Add additional two to three cups water, until soup is desired consistency. Taste; adjust seasoning. Return soup to heat to rewarm. Serve hot. Makes 10-12 servings. Freezes well. JALAPEÑO-LIME-AND-GINGER SALMON 1 tsp finely grated lime rind Preheat oven to 3500F. Prepare the marinade: whisk together the lime rind, lime juice, oil, ginger and jalapeño. Set aside a teaspoon of the mixture. Place salmon steaks into a dish just large enough to hold them. Pour remaining marinade over salmon and turn to coat. Marinate at room temperature for 15 minutes, turning once. (Do not marinate longer than 30 minutes or salmon will become mushy.) Bake for 15 minutes. Turn over to broil and broil three to four minutes. Fish should flake easily with a fork. Remove to platter and spoon reserve marinade over salmon. Serve immediately. SPAGHETTI SQUASH KUGEL 1 spaghetti squash Preheat oven to 3500F. Wash spaghetti squash, pierce and place into a loaf pan. Bake for one hour. Remove from oven and let cool. Raise oven heat to 4000F. Slice squash in half and remove seeds. Using a fork, scrape the strands of squash into a large bowl. (For a quicker preparation, microwave a whole spaghetti squash for one minute to soften. Slice in half and remove seeds. Place cut side down in a dish with half an inch of water. Microwave for eight to 10 minutes.) Heat oil in a sauté pan over medium heat. Add onions and garlic. Sauté until onions are soft, five to seven minutes. Add onions to spaghetti squash. Add eggs, salt and pepper. Pour mixture into a nine-by-13-inch baking pan. Bake until kugel is crispy on top, about one hour. Makes six servings. CITRUS BEET SALAD WITH HONEY-BALSAMIC VINAIGRETTE 4 large beets, peeled and cubed Dressing Preheat oven to 4000F. In a medium roasting pan, toss beet cubes with olive oil, salt and pepper. Spread in a single layer. Bake until fork tender, about 30-45 minutes. Let cool. Meanwhile, using a paring knife, peel oranges and remove the supremes, i.e. extract and use only the fruit within the membranes, not the membranes themselves. In a medium bowl, combine orange supremes, avocado and jicama. Prepare the dressing: in a small bowl, whisk together oil, balsamic vinegar, honey, imitation mustard, dill, salt and pepper. Toss salad with dressing. Top with cooled beets. (Adding the beets at the end helps keep the salad from turning pink.) Sprinkle with almonds. Serves four. Wine pairing: Jeunesse cabernet sauvignon.
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