by Caron Golden of San Diego Foodstuff

Tradition. It’s what binds one generation to another and creates your family’s unique identity. There’s even a song about it-although those traditional roles in Fiddler on the Roof seem a little quaint now.

When it comes to Jewish holidays, tradition is everything and with Passover, the spring holiday that commemorates the Jews being liberated from the bonds of slavery in Egypt, tradition even comes with its own written text in the form of the Haggadah. This little booklet tells the story of Passover and directs every last minutia of the meal, or Seder, much as a script does for a play. Well, almost. Everyone’s family has its own recipes for the Seder meal and everyone thinks their bubbe’s matzo ball soup or brisket or charosets is the ultimate.

But sometimes it’s fun to try something new, update a longtime recipe or perhaps even find a healthier version of a classic. After all, how many of us are still cooking with schmaltz?

So, let’s first look at some changed-up Seder dishes. Charosets, which represents the mortar that the Jews used to lay bricks while enslaved, is a favorite of mine both during the Seder and through the week, slathered on matzo for breakfast. It’s also simple to make with its chopped apples and walnuts, a little sugar and cinnamon, all moistened with sweet wine or a fruit juice. But over at Elana’s Pantry is a recipe for charosets that combines both Ashkenazi (Eastern European) and Sephardic (Middle Eastern) traditions with the addition of currants. You could also add chopped dates, raisins, dried figs or other dried fruit.

Matzo ball soup appears on the table for many Jewish holidays but it’s one of the essentials for Passover. It’s easy enough to follow the matzo ball recipe on the matzo meal box but if you want to have some fun, watch the YouTube videos of Evelyn Igdaloff showing you how to make it step by step. She’s terrific and makes me miss my Nana.

My mom makes the best brisket, of course, and so does yours. But, I have it on good authority from a food blogging friend that Emeril’s is delicious. And, it’s specifically created for Passover. Who knew?

Who loves kugel? Well, I love noodle kugel (pudding), but that’s out for Passover. And potato kugel can be awfully heavy. But, here’s a kugel of a different kind, sweet and light because it’s made with coconut milk and sweet potatoes. This Jamaican Spiced Sweet Potato Kugel from Michelle Greenwald’s blog, The Magical Melting Pot, goes beautifully with roast chicken or brisket. For a more traditional matzo kugel with apples, raisins and cinnamon, you might not be able to resist Bubbe Lottie’s adorable punim (face) or her recipe. A similar apple-matzo kugel, that had quite the appeal to the seven-year-old set, is on Erika Kerekes’ page on LA Food Examiner.

We tend to stay away from grains like rice during Passover, but quinoa, while resembling a grain is technically a grass and permitted during the holiday. If you’re looking for a healthy, delicious side dish for your Seder, try Connie Mishali’s recipe for quinoa and veggies.

As Eric Schulmiller points out in The Jew and the Carrot blog, there are two themes at play during the Seder-a lot of dipping and a tension between bitter and sweet in the Passover story and the food that accompanies it. He illustrates how this can work in our favor with two recipes by nutritionist Ellie Krieger: a gorgeous Muhammara (red pepper and walnut dip) and an orange, radish and mint salad, which could be a new substitute for charosets.

Want to avoid the sickeningly sweet Manishewitz at your Seder? Avi Hein of HaKerem, The Israeli Wine Blog, has several recommendations for Israeli wines at a variety of price points, all available in the U.S. There are about 200 vineyards in Israel and many of the kosher wines reviewed by Robert Parker were ranked very high.

Of course after the Seder, there’s the whole rest of the week in which we eat food without chametz, or leavening. The blog, Jewish in a Gentile World, answers some of the basic questions about just what is “kosher” to eat during the week, and takes a look at some of the oddities you’ll find this time of year in your grocery store.

One of my great pleasures during Passover is to have friends over for brunch because it’s also a celebration of spring. I always make a crispy pan of matzo brei, or fried matzo, served with salt, sour cream and applesauce as condiments (it’s the same sweet versus savory tug of war families deal with around Hanukah latkes). Cookthink has a good basic recipe. However, the style I grew up with is less like an omelet and more like crispy fried pieces of coated matzo-meaning the ratio of matzo to eggs is two to one in our family. But, it’s a matter of taste and, of course, tradition. With the matzo brei I put out a big bowl of flaming red strawberries and other spring fruits.

But this year may be different. Cooking with Amy’s Amy Sherman offers a marvelous alternative for Passover brunch: delicious gluten-free Passover crepes.

If you scour the web in search of Passover recipes, it seems like nine out of 10 recipes are for desserts. I’m sure we don’t eat nearly as much sweet stuff the rest of the year but for some reason, the Passover dessert train is chugging at full speed. Now, coming up with a truly great dessert can be a challenge given the ingredient limitations, but I utterly trust Zabar’s. Here’s their recipe for Passover brittles made with matzo, chocolate, cashews and almonds.

For those who adore cupcakes and find giving them up for even a week just too great a sacrifice, you must try these flourless chocolate cupcakes from The Cupcake Project. Even better? They have chocolate cream cheese frosting.

Macaroons, of course, are the traditional Passover cookie, but you probably haven’t seen anything like these almond-lemon macaroons that come to us from Israeli Kitchen. There’s not a speck of coconut and, even better, they’re dipped in chocolate.

And, if you’re still craving more and more ideas for Passover sweetness, head over to Smitten Kitchen where Deb Perelman has 17 stunning flourless dessert ideas in living color. We’re talking lemon cheesecake, chocolate-hazelnut truffles, flourless peanut butter cookies and her mom’s lighter-than-air chocolate cake. Now, these should take you through a Seder or two, not to mention the rest of the week.

As always, you can find many more Passover recipes on the FoodieView Recipe Search Engine.

Caron Golden is a San Diego-based food writer who loves to spend time in the markets and the kitchen. She writes the blog San Diego Foodstuff and her articles have appeared in The San Diego Union-Tribune, Edible San Diego, Copley News Service and culinate.com. She’s now also a food columnist for SDNN.com. You can find Caron on the radio as well, both co-hosting the online radio show San Diego Gourmet at signonradio.com and appearing monthly on KPBS radio’s These Days.

This entry was posted on Sunday, March 29th, 2009 at 9:34 pm and is filed under Recipe Roundup. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.