Passover Foods

Spicy fish, chicken soup with more than just matza balls, lemony chicken and fresh salad - the new Pessah menu
With extended families gathering together around the Seder night table, everyone brings their preferences, favorite dishes and memories from home. Here are a few classic Pessah recipes from different cuisines with added twist, courtesy of a few of the country’s top chefs.

Chef Israel Buke-Polombo, of the Marina Hotel in Tel Aviv, would like to steer you away from your usual sweet gefilte fish and try fish fillet in piquant red sauce, a combination of Asian and North African Jewish cuisines. [...more ]

For those of us who enjoy cholent or hamin on Shabbat, our weekend staple poses a problem during Pessah, especially for Ashkenazim.
The elements common to many cholent pots - meat, potatoes and onions - are fine; however, barley or wheat berries, which many people like in their usual cholent, are avoided on Pessah by both Ashkenazim and Sephardim. Beans or chickpeas, other standard cholent components during most of the year, come under the category of kitniyot, and although used by some Sephardim on Pessah, they are not allowed for Orthodox Ashkenazim. [...more ]

During the days preceding Pessah, preparing lighter, healthier meals is on many cooks' minds, to help prevent the almost inevitable holiday weight gain.

It's common knowledge that the best way to make menus more nutritious is to eat a higher proportion of vegetables relative to other foods. Although this seems time consuming, there are plenty of shortcuts to vegetable preparation that are especially useful during this busy pre-holiday season. [...more ]

Gefilte fish might seem boring to some, but it's easy to liven it up. Make it with salmon, and you get not only a tasty, colorful appetizer but you insert some heart-healthy omega-3 fatty acids into your menu.
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Preparing the Seder plate requires several hours of work. It is advisable to get other members of the house to help so that the work will be completed before the Seder begins. It is best to prepare all the seder foods before the onset of the Holiday in order to avoid halachic questions.

The special foods we eat on Passover are also food for thought. Every item on the Seder plate abounds in meaning and allusion. The Seder plate has six items on it, arranged in a special order. The plate is placed on top of the covering of the three matzot and is placed in front of the head of the household.

The foods of the Seder plate are listed below, with the reason each is included, the method of preparing it, and its role in the Seder meal.