Charoset, an apple chutney that’s a
traditional Passover dish. Photo courtesy
BeeRaw.com.

Passover, the holiday that commemorates the liberation of the Jews from bondage in ancient Egypt more than 3,300 years ago, begins this evening. One of the symbolic foods on the Passover seder plate is charoset (also spelled charoseth, charoses or haroseth), a name that comes from the Hebrew word for clay.

Why clay? It represents the mortar that Israelites used while enslaved as builders by the Egyptians.

A kind of apple chutney of sorts, charoset is eaten during the seder with matzoh and fresh-grated horseradish. It is delightful as an accompaniment to roasted meats at any time; we enjoy it year-round on matzoh or toast.

This recipe, which you can whip up in 15 minutes, is courtesy of Bee Raw Honey, a purveyor of artisan honeys. They recommend their orange blossom honey in this recipe; but you can use what you have on hand.

You can enjoy the charoset immediately, but ideally let it rest in the fridge for an hour or longer to allow the flavors to meld. The yield is approximately 4 cups.

CHAROSET RECIPE

Ingredients

 
Preparation

1. HEAT oven to 350°F. Spread the walnuts on a baking sheet and toast in the oven for 8-10 minutes. Toss occasionally and watch carefully; remove the walnuts when they are fragrant. Let cool, then roughly chop.

2. COMBINE the lemon juice, wine, honey, lemon zest, cinnamon and ¼ teaspoon salt.

3. MIX the apples and walnuts with the liquid mixture in a large bowl; toss to combine. Chill until ready to serve.

Passover begins at sunset on Monday, March 25th and continues for seven days. Observant Jews celebrate the first two nights with seders, featuring recipes that have been in their families for generations.

But how about some 21st-century Passover recipes—if not for a seder, then for the other five days? There are more than 60 modern, creative Passover recipes in a new cookbook, Passover Made Easy. Some of the recipes that are calling out to us:

There’s plenty of time to pick up a copy and plan for Passover. Photo courtesy Passover Made Easy.

The easy to prepare, sure to please original recipes were developed and tested by best-selling cookbook author Leah Schapira (Fresh & Easy Kosher Cooking) and co-founder of CookKosher.com, an online kosher recipe exchange; with Victoria Dwek, managing editor of Whisk, a kosher food magazine.

Pick up a copy for yourself or as a gift: it’s just $10.87 on Amazon.com. There are fascinating culinary tidbits, useful preparation tips, full-color photos for each dish, step-by-step plating and food styling secrets, and a wine pairings and Seder wine guide.

As a bonus, all but four of the 60 recipes in the book are gluten-free. And of course, the recipes can be enjoyed all year long. Here’s one recipes from Passover Made Easy to start you off; next week, we’ll publish Matzaroni, the mac-and-cheese alternative:

Eggplant-wrapped chicken, one of the
modern recipe alternatives. Photo courtesy
Passover Made Easy.

RECIPE: EGGPLANT WRAPPED CHICKEN

Ingredients

Eggplant

 
Meat Mixture

 
Chiken

1. PREHEAT oven to broil. Grease a baking sheet. Cut eggplant lengthwise, 1/4-inch thick, to get 6 or 7 slices. Reserve remaining eggplant scraps. Place eggplant slices on prepared baking sheet. Brush slices with oil and season with salt and pepper. Broil 5 minutes per side, until second side is beginning to brown. The slices should appear as if they were fried. Remove and set aside.

2. PREHEAT oven to 350°F. Peel and finely dice remaining eggplant to obtain ½ cup diced eggplant. Heat oil in a sauté pan over medium heat. Add onion, garlic, and diced eggplant and sauté until soft, about 5-7 minutes.

3. COMBINE onion mixture with ground meat in a small bowl. Season with salt and garlic powder.

4. SEASON chicken thighs with salt and pepper. Place a tablespoon of the meat mixture into each thigh and roll up to close. Roll an eggplant slice around each stuffed chicken thigh. Place, seam side down and close together, in a baking pan. Cover and bake for 2½ hours.

Serve with mashed potatoes or your favorite Passover-approved grain,* and your favorite green vegetable, steamed or sauteed lightly with garlic.

*Grains forbidden during passover include barley and all types of wheat. Grains such as quinoa and rice were not known during biblical times so are not forbidden. Extremely religious people will avoid any grain.

Danny’s Macaroons update the classic
coconut macaroon to 21st century flavors.
Photo courtesy Danny Macaroons.

We grew up loving Mounds and Almond Joy candy bars, but as our palate for better chocolate grew, we switched to chocolate-dipped coconut macaroons made by artisan bakers. Ah, sweet addiction!

A brief history of macaroons: Coconut macaroons exist mostly because of Passover, the Jewish holiday that proscribes leavened baked goods, among other foods.

The original macaroons were almond meringue cookies similar to today’s amaretti, with a crisp crust and a soft interior, made from egg whites and almond paste. While details are unclear, some historians believe they were first made by Italian monks in the late 15th century.

Benedictine nuns brought the recipe to France in 1533, where the baked treat later evolved into the ganache-filled sandwich cookies—macarons—that we know and love today.

Meanwhile, back in Italy, Jews adopted the cookie because it had no flour or leavening and could be enjoyed during the eight-day observation of Passover. The recipe was introduced to other European Jews and became popular as a year-round sweet. Over time, coconut was added to the ground almonds and, in certain recipes, replaced them.

Coconut macaroons have remained popular in the U.S. and the U.K., where they appear on cookie platters year-round. Here’s the full history of macaroons and macarons.

Dan Cohen, the founder of Danny Macaroons, learned his craft 10 years ago, baking macaroons for Passover and tweaking his recipe over time. Unlike commercial varieties, the centers of Danny Macaroons are soft and moist, while the exteriors are appropriately crisp.

Following the flavor zeitgeist, Danny developed 45 different flavors, which are available in rotation. Currently on the menu: plain macaroons plus Black Chocolate Stout, Baileys McRoons, Bourbon, Chocolate Almond, Chocolate Caramel, Chocolate Dipped, Guava, Maple Pecan Pie, Red Velvet and Salted Caramel.

Buy them online at DannyMacaroons.com. The macaroons cost from $12 to $18 per half dozen, depending on flavor.

Are they an appropriate Valentine gift? Absolutely!

FIND MORE OF OUR FAVORITE COOKIES AND COOKIE RECIPES.

Matzo “toffee”: white chocolate with pistachios and dark chocolate with almonds. Photo courtesy MysteryLoversKitchen.com.

Passover food and beverages (including wine) are a $2.5 billion to $3 billion industry. It sounds unbelievable, but according to KosherToday.com, some 30,000 different kosher-for-Passover products were produced specifically for Passover 2012. You may see shelves at the supermarket filled with a few dozen items—matzos, matzo meal, coconut macaroons, chocolate-coated jelly rings and other foods. But the ingredients for every kosher-for-Passover food recipe is also included among the 30,000.

There are approximately six million Jews in America, of whom an estimated 70% celebrate the holiday. Jewish law forbids the consumption of fermented grain products and related foods. For the eight days of Passover, there are no bread products except matzo and potato bread, no pasta, no beer, no year-round favorite treats.

Except that we do have a favorite Passover treat that can be enjoyed year-round. Variously called Matzo* Brittle, Matzo Buttercrunch and Matzo Toffee, it transforms bland boards of matzo, an unleavened flatbread, into a crunchy chocolate confection.
 
Here are two variations:

 
We recommend making more than one batch: one for the home, one for a seder gift, one to treat friends and co-workers who have never tasted this addictive confection—which of course, can be made year-round.

*Variously spelled matzo, matza, matzoh or matzah.

Millions of Jews will celebrate a week of Passover beginning Friday, April 6th. The holiday commemorates the biblical story of the Exodus, in which the ancient Israelites were freed from slavery in Egypt, after God inflicted the ten plagues upon the Egyptians.

As the story goes, the Jews had to leave Egypt immediately. They gathered up possessions and livestock but could not wait for the bread dough to rise, resulting in matzo, an unleavened flatbread. Thus, during the week of Passover, no leavened bread is eaten; only matzo (also spelled matzoh, matza and other variations).

So what if you want to celebrate Passover with matzo, but have gluten sensitivities?

Two brands are at the ready:

Gluten-free matzo. Photo by Elvira Kalviste | THE NIBBLE.

 
Seder Idea

The Passover seder, the ritual feast celebrated on the first two nights of the holiday, is accompanied from beginning to end by a reading of the Haggadah (“telling”).

This year, participants at our seder are coming as witnesses of the Exodus. Each of us will provide a few minutes of insight into the desires, hopes, frustrations, fears and domestic lives of our characters. Participating will be will be Moses, Pharaoh, a nameless Jewish slave and an Egyptian, along with Rabbi Elazar ben Azariah, a first century scholar who appears giving commentary in the Hagadah.

We are going as a baker, faced with feeding the exodus masses without the time to leaven the bread. The result: matzo.

Here are some egg safety tips from the USDA, for everyone planning an Easter egg hunt or cooking eggs for the Passover seder.

Hard-cooked eggs for Easter and Passover celebrations should be prepared with care.

EASTER EGG TIPS

As pretty as they look, hard-cooked eggs can
only be out of the refrigerator for two hours
at a time. If you want to decorate eggs for display, use uncooked eggs. With a needle,
punch a tiny hole in each end and blow out the contents before decorating. Photo courtesy McCormick.com.

PASSOVER EGG TIPS

 
GENERAL TIPS

How to boil eggs.

The Jewish holiday of Passover begins Monday evening, the 18th of April, and continues for seven days. It commemorates the liberation of the Israelites from enslavement in Egypt, which many scholars agree took place in 1476 BCE. Moses led his people to Canaan, and God parted the Red Sea so the Israelites could escape from the pursuing Egyptian army. Here’s more about Passover.

Observers of Passover must avoid a variety of foods for the duration of the holiday: grains (wheat, rye, barley, oats and spelt) and fermented products such as alcohol, among other things. Any permitted food, from milk and cheese to matzoh, must be certified kosher for Passover.

These rules can leave one scrambling for ingredients and enough products to keep things interesting for seven days.

This year, The Manischewitz Company has introduced more than 25 products to expand the possibilities. There’s Buttery Spray for baking and stove top pans. There are tasty macaroon pie shells in coconut and chocolate, making it easy to whip up a pie—think banana cream, chocolate silk or key lime.

A small sample of Manischewitz’s new products
for Passover. Photo by River Soma |
THE NIBBLE. Placemat and tray by
PacificMerchants.com.

You can make kosher-for-Passover cupcakes with the Magic Max Cupcake Fun Kit, nibble on Chocolate Covered Biscotti (not hard and crunchy like the conventional kind, but a fine nibble nevertheless), start the day with Honey Almond Crunch cereal and Brown Sugar Hot Cereal and end the day with chocolates, from Chocolate Covered Cherries to Mint Creme Candies.

See all of the products at Manischewitz.com.

Passover begins tomorrow night at Sundown.

We have an excuse to make some of our favorite Passover specialty dishes:

Don’t forget the chicken soup and matzo balls.

Veggie Matzo Brei, the 8th variation of our
matzo brei recipes. Photo courtesy Cabot Creamery.

The Manishewitz Matzo Ball Mix is an easy shortcut with the dry ingredients pre-measured as a time saver. It makes matzo balls as good as Mom’s if you (a) add three eggs instead of two, (b) use schmaltz (rendered chicken fat) instead of vegetable oil and (c) refrigerate them for a day before serving (keep them apart from the soup).

But to make matzo balls as good as ours, you’ll also need to add a tablespoon of chopped parsley, dill or a combination of both, to the batter.

Dean’s Sweets, one of our chocolate gift picks for Holiday 2009, has chocolate truffles that are both dairy- and gluten- (and grain-) free. While they’re not certified kosher for Passover, they are in keeping with the dietary restrictions of Passover.

Until April 1, you can order artisanal, hand-dipped orange or coconut truffles. Dean’s Sweets truffles are made in small batches without any preservatives. There are no nuts or nut derivatives in any of Dean’s Sweets.

To get your “Passover truffles,” call 1.207.899.3664 (Eastern Time: 11 to 6 Monday, Wednesday and Thursday, 11 to 7 Friday and Saturday, 11 to 4 Sunday, or leave a voicemail). The price is $17.50 for 8 pieces, $27.50 for 16 pieces; any combination of flavors.

See the truffles online at DeansSweets.com.

If you have favorite Passover chocolates, please let us know.

Bring them to a seder or enjoy them
at home. Photo courtesy DeansSweets.com.