The Jewish holiday of Passover is here and with it, families and friends unite together to celebrate their ancestors independence for seven days all over the world. While tradition and family are most important this time of year, we sympathize with the diet restrictions and challenges to prepare a proper Passover meal that tastes great. With that in mind, Smithtown Today’s Culinary Pioneer experimented with some classic recipes for the Passover Holiday to create fast and delicious recipes for Passover.
Chopped Salad Trifle
To prepare the salad, arrange 4 cups of finely chopped romaine lettuce at the bottom of a large glass bowl or trifle dish. Next layer 2 cups of finely chopped iceberg over the romaine. Layer each of the following ingredients evenly over the lettuces: a half of a cup of chopped radicchio, half of one cup of thinly sliced Belgian endive, 2 cups of finely chopped cucumber, half a cup of diced celery, 1 cup of shredded carrot, 2 cups of diced bell pepper, 4 plum tomatoes diced and seeded, 1 cup of finely chopped red onion, and half of a cup of thinly sliced green onions. Drizzle with dressing. Cover and chill 4 hours or overnight. Before serving, add 2 cups of diced, cooked beets over the green onion layer. Top with 3 sliced, hard boiled eggs.
Passover Salad Dressing: Whisk together a third cup of vegetable broth, a quarter cup of red wine vinegar, two tablespoons of olive oil. Add three cloves of minced garlic, half a teaspoon of salt, one teaspoon of sugar, half teaspoon dried italian seasoning and a quarter teaspoon of ground black pepper. Whisk all ingredients until well combined. Shake before drizzling over chopped salad.
Modern day Potato Kugel
Preheat the oven to 425 degrees. Grease 6 custard cups or oven safe glass dessert cups with a quarter cup of olive oil and arrange the cups on a pan to hold together. Place the pan of cups in the oven and preheat them. Beat together three eggs, 2 teaspoons of kosher salt and a quarter teaspoon of black pepper in a small bowl and set aside. Peel 6 large Idaho potatoes, cutting lengthwise into halves and place them in a large bowl of cold water to prevent browning. Using a vegetable spiral slicer or a food processors shoestring blade, push each potato half through the machine to create spiral like strings. Repeat the spiral process with one large onion. Optional: Add half a bulb of fennel to the spiraling process for a refreshing kick to the potato mixture. Heat half a cup of olive oil in a saucepan over medium-low heat for ten minutes or until oil sizzles when a sprinkle of water hits the pan. In a large mixing bowl, pour the Egg mixture over the bowl with the potatoes and onions and heated oil from stove top, mix well. Remove the preheated cups from the oven and spoon potato mixture evenly into hot, oiled cups. Bake at 425 degrees for an hour or until golden brown. Loosen edges with a knife and unmold. Garnish with fennel or French fried onion.
Crock Pot Brisket
Combine one thinly sliced yellow onion and 2 cloves of garlic, crushed in a crockpot. Trim the fat from a 4 lb first cut of brisket and season with kosher salt and ground pepper. Place the brisket fat side up, in the slow cooker. Pour 2 cups of chicken broth over brisket. Cover and cook on high for six hours or until brisket is tender enough to easily pull or cut with a fork. Remove from slow cooker and thinly slice against the grain of the meat. Recycle the leftover cooking liquid as a gravy for added flavor.
Quinoa Stuffed Zucchini
Pre-heat oven to 400 degrees. Line a cookie/baking sheet with aluminum foil. Cut four zucchini lengthwise and scoop out the center (seeds) of each halve. Drizzle olive oil over the inside of the zucchini and season with salt and pepper. Flip and bake skin side up for 10-12 minutes or until they have softened. Remove from oven and flip scoop side up. Bring quinoa and water to a boil in a small pot. Lower heat to a simmer and cover for 20 minutes or until tender. Use a fork to fluff and keep from sticking. Quickly add 1 cup of fresh spinach and stir so the spinach wilts. Allow the quinoa to cool for 5-10 minutes. Stir in a quarter cup of kosher cranberries, a quarter cup of scallions and 4 ounces of preservative-free Whipped Cream Cheese (Temp Tee is a kosher friendly brand) and salt and pepper to taste. Spoon the quinoa mixture into the zucchini halves evenly to top. Bake for 5-7 minutes at 400 degrees until filling is fully cooked through.