Patch Picks: Passover Recipes

Passover is a holiday with great food and good family times filled with feasting, tradition, and rituals.  While we might not be able to help you with the influx of relatives headed for your doorstep, we can save you time by offering these five Minnesota Passover recipes for easy preparation. 

Matzah Lasagna

(Courtesy of www.jewishminnesota.org)

• 6 large onions, chopped
• 1.4 cup oil
• 3 lb. chopped meat
• 6 eggs
• 1 cup white wine
• 8 matzahs
• 1 cup tomato-mushroom sauce
• 1 cup ketchup
• Salt and pepper to taste
• Mushroom sauce (see below) 

Sauté onions until tender. Add meat and cook until brown. Add tomato- mushroom sauce, ketchup, salt, and pepper. Beat eggs and add wine. Grease a pan. Dip matzah in egg-wine mixture and line the pan with matzah. Add 1/3 meat mixture, place more soaked matzahs on top. Continue layering matzah and meat, ending with matzah. Pour any remaining egg-wine mixture over all. Cover with aluminum foil and bake in preheated 375 oven for 1/2 hour. While it's baking, make mushroom sauce. 

Mushroom Sauce

(Courtesy of www.jewishminnesota.org)

• 3/4 to 1 cup cold water
• 3 large onions, chopped fine
• 1 lb. fresh mushrooms, chopped
• 1 tbsp potato starch
• 1/4 cup oil
• Salt and pepper to taste 

Sauté onions in oil until tender. Add mushrooms. Dilute potato starch in cold water and add to mushroom and onion mixture. Stir well. Add salt and pepper to taste. After lasagna has baked 1/2 hour, remove foil, pour sauce over top, and bake 15 minutes more.

Mock Macaroni and Cheese

(As posted on tcjewfolk.com)

• 3 large eggs
• 3 1/2 cups of matza farfel (or 6 matzos broken into small pieces)
• 1/2 pound of cheddar cheese
• 1 cup of milk
• 1/4 tsp white pepper
• 1 tsp salt
• 1 pint of sour cream
• 1 stick (1/2 cup) of butter cut into 16 pieces

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease a 2 quart casserole dish. Beat 2 of the eggs well with a whisk and pour over the matza farfel- blend lightly. Cut up cheddar cheese into small pieces. Combine the milk, salt & pepper. Beat the remaining egg with a whisk and stir into milk, salt and pepper mixture. Layer into casserole dish as follows: 1/2 farfel mixture, 1/2 cheddar cheese, 1/2 sour cream- in dabs, 1/2 butter- repeat. Make sure to distribute each layer evenly! Pour milk mixture over the top.  Cover casserole dish & bake 10-15 minutes until brown

Cauliflower Pizza (can be doubled)

• 1 cup cauliflower
• 1 cup shredded cheese of your choosing (cheddar or mozzarella)
• 1 egg
• A little bit of your favorite seasoning and garlic if you are so inclined

Preheat oven to 450 degrees Fahrenheit. Spray a cookie sheet with non-stick spray. In a medium bowl, combine cauliflower, egg and mozzarella. Press evenly on the pan. Bake at 450 degrees for 12-15 minutes (15-20 minutes if you double the recipe). Remove the pan from the oven. To the crust, add sauce, then toppings and cheese. You can top it with anything you like. Place under a broiler at high heat just until cheese is melted.

Easy Challah

(Courtesy of tcjewfolk.com)

• 2 1/4 tsp dry active yeast
• 1/4 cup sugar
• 1/2 cup oil
• 3/4 cup lukewarm water
• 2 eggs
• 3 3/4 cup flour (bread flour is best, but all-purpose flour will work just fine)
• 1/4 – 1/2 tsp salt

Mix yeast with 3/4 cup flour and some of the sugar. Pour water over mixture, mix well and let sit for about 20 minutes until it puffs up. Add oil, eggs, and sugar. Mix well, then add the remainder of the flour and salt and mix for a few minutes. Add a little more flour if too sticky. Let the dough rise for a couple of hours. (Try making this much Friday morning before work, then finish in the evening).  Knead briefly (2-4 minutes), then form shapes on a baking sheet. Although braiding is traditional, it is difficult so you can form a long oval with the dough, then fold the closest two sides into the center, then pull the ends over those to the middle and flip it over on the baking sheet to secure them.   If you want to add raisins or nuts, do it when you knead the dough. You can coat the bread with seeds (sesame, poppy, etc.) after you shape it. Bake on a baking sheet at 350 degrees for 35-40 minutes.

Golden Coconut Macaroons

(As posted on bukisa.com)

• 1 package sweetened shredded coconut                      
• 2 large eggs
• Pinch salt
• 2/3 cup sugar
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 2 cookie sheets covered with parchment or foil

Preheat oven 350 degrees. In a food processor fitted with steel blade pulse coconut 6 to 8 times at 1-second intervals to chop not grind. In bowl, whisk eggs with salt. Then whisk sugar in stream, then vanilla. Fold in coconut. Drop rounded teaspoon on prepared pans. Leave 2 inches all around each. Bake 12-15 minutes. Slide papers from pan to rack. Stir cooled macaroons between sheets of parchment or waxed paper in a tin or tight-fitting cover.