We figured something out last night: It’s a lot easier to test Passover recipes than to bake or cook on Passover itself. The primary reason for this is that you’ve got all the regular equipment on hand, whereas Passover baking and cooking tend to be a more ad-hoc undertaking, where drinking glasses, coffee spoons and handfuls replace our more exact everyday measuring devices.
We came to this conclusion last night while we were busy in our test kitchen, trying out recipes from today’s Passover Foods section, “No Potato Passover“. We settled on a dessert and side dish, one from each of the section’s feature stories. For the full range of recipes included, contact Carol ([email protected]) for a copy. There’s lots more kugel recipes, plus a lovely rosemary-walnut crusted salmon. In the meantime, let us know if you try either of the recipes below, and if you found them as tasty as we did!
Blueberry Crumble
Ingredients
Fruit Filling
- 4 cups fresh blueberries
- 1/4 cup white sugar RMJ: do not add sugar if blueberries are naturally very sweet
- juice of 1 lemon
Crust and Crumb Topping
- 3/4 cup white sugar RMJ: we recommend only using 1/2 C or even 1/3 C
- 1/4 cup brown sugar
- 1 tsp. baking powder
- 2 cups ground almonds RMJ: we used only 1 cup!
- 2 cups matzah cake meal RMJ: we used only 1 cup!
- 1/4 tsp. salt
- zest of 1 lemon
- 1/4 cup unsalted butter or margarine, cold and cut into cubes
- 1 egg
- 1/4 cup toasted slivered almonds RMJ: we left these out
Instructions
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Preheat the oven to 375° and grease a 13 x 9" baking pan. In a mixing bowl combine the blueberries, 1/2 cup sugar and lemon juice. Stir until well mixed and set aside.
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In a separate bowl, mix together the 3/4 cup white sugar, brown sugar, baking powder, matzah meal, ground almonds, salt, and lemon zest until well combined. Add the butter and the egg and use a pastry cutter to blend the ingredients until well combined and you have still have pea-sized chunks of butter. Add the almonds and mix them in.
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Place half of the crust mixture into the baking dish and press it firmly into the bottom. Spoon the blueberries over the crumble, careful not to add too much of the liquid. Crumble the rest of the crust mixture over the blueberries so that it is evenly distributed. Bake for 50 minutes until the crumb topping is golden brown.
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Let cool for at least an hour before cutting so they set. Cut into 24 squares.
Recipe Notes
They are best served just slightly above room temperature but store any leftovers in the refrigerator.
As you can see from the picture above, we substituted raspberries for blueberries in the recipe simply because raspberries were easier to find. But really any berry or sliced fruit will work well in this recipe. We did make some slight changes to the recipe, all noted in bold. To find out more about Kanoff and compare our crumble with hers, read Larry Hankin's "No Potato Passover".
Passover Cauliflower Kugel with Mushrooms
Ingredients
- 1 large cauliflower, about 2 lbs.
- salt and pepper to taste
- 3 to 4 tbsp. olive oil
- 1 medium onion, chopped
- 4 to 6 oz. mushrooms, quartered
- 2 large eggs
- 1 tbsp. matzah meal, optional
- 1/2 tsp. paprika
- 1/3 cup coarsely chopped walnuts, optional
Instructions
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Preheat oven to 375°F. Divide cauliflower into medium florets. Cut peel from large stalk and slice stalk. Boil cauliflower in large saucepan of boiling salted water 8-10 minutes or until stalks are very tender. Drain well and cool. Puree in food processor, leaving a few chunks. Transfer to a bowl.
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Heat 2- 3 tbsp. oil in medium skillet, add the onion and sauté approximately 5 minutes. Add the mushrooms together with the onion over medium heat about 5 minutes or until mushrooms and onions are light brown. Remove from heat.
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Add the eggs and matzah meal to the cauliflower mixture. Season well with salt and pepper. Lightly stir the mushroom mixture and any oil in the pan into the egg/cauliflower mixture.
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Grease a shallow 9-inch square baking dish. Add cauliflower mixture. Sprinkle 1 tbsp. oil over top. Sprinkle with paprika, then with the walnuts. Bake 30 minutes or until set. To serve, cut carefully in squares and run knife around edges. Use spoon to remove portions.
How was the cauliflower kugel? Looks nice in the photo.
The cauliflower kugel is a perfect side. Really tasty. We used almonds instead of walnuts (as it’s what we had on hand) which seemed to work just as well. Happy Pesach!
Berries coming into season! Perfect time to try this recipe!