Health & Fitness
FOOD
Passover By Design
Fishbein's fifth in her kosher series
adapts many year-round recipes.
Tammy Betel
Special to the Jewish News
p
assover By Design, Susie
Fishbein's fifth project in the
Kosher by Design series, is a
hybrid creation, offering more than 130
kosher favorites reformulated and retested
to meet strict kosher-for-Passover standards.
She also worked with kosher caterer Moshe
David for 30 original recipes.
The book was so popular it sold out its
first printing by ArtScroll Shaar Press. The
series has made her kosher cookbooks some
of the most popular out there and earned
her the nickname, "kosher diva."
Some traditional Passover recipes make
it into the cookbook, but Fishbein focuses
instead on eclectic variations.
You will find a tasty spin on your mother's
gefilte fish recipe in her Tri-Color Gefilte
that mixes frozen salmon and regular
gefilte fish loaves into a colorful triple-layer
wedge topped with cucumber. Always with
attention to detail, Fishbein comes up with
unusual ways to garnish. For this dish, she
hollows a slice of cucumber and fills it with
red horseradish.
She also breaks with tradition with her
creative table settings. In a chapter at the
front of the book, she offers ideas, full of
details, you might not have paired with this
holiday. For example, she suggests to "think
inside the box" by utilizing Asian bento
boxes as individual seder plates, complete
with a hand-washing compartment. She
urges readers not to be put off by the bright
colors and contemporary look. She reminds
that this in no way replaces the family's
traditional seder plate as the religious cen-
terpiece.
While some recipes are more labor-inten-
sive, others are easy, with quick preparation
times. Her recipes are very specific, as if she's
walking you through them personally. Most
recipes are accompanied by well-styled pho-
tographs by John Uher.
As an added bonus, most of the recipes
are gluten-free — making the recipes per-
fect for year-round use.
Tri-Color Gefilte
nonstick cooking spray
2 (22 oz.) loaves plain gefilte fish, defrost-
ed in wrapper
1 (22 oz.) loaf salmon gefilte fish, defrost-
ed in wrapper
2 T. fresh dill, chopped
1 lemon
6 cucumbers for horseradish wells, plus a
long cucumber for optional top garnish
prepared red horseradish
mayonnaise
yellow pepper, seeded, chopped into tiny
dice for garnish
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Spray a 9-
inch springform pan with nonstick cooking
spray. Give it a heavy, even coat.
Open each gefilte fish wrapper. Place one
plain loaf into a medium bowl. Add dill and
juice from lemon. Mix thoroughly so the dill
is dispersed evenly. Set aside.
Using a thin spatula, spread the remaining
plain gefilte fish loaf into an even layer in the
bottom of the pan. Top with an even layer of
salmon, topped by the layer of the lemon-dill
fish mixture.
Cover the pan with foil. Bake for 1 hour.
If the fish does not look set in the center,
remove the foil and bake 5 minutes longer.
Let cool and refrigerate overnight. Can be
made a few days in advance. As an optional
garnish, slice a long, unpeeled cucumber by
hand or by mandoline into paper-thin slices.
Lay the slices in concentric circles on the top
Asian bento boxes as individual seder plates.
of the fish.
Release sides of springform pan. To serve
as individual servings, cut into wedges. Trim
any brown edges.
Cut the cucumbers into 2- to 3-inch pieces.
Hollow out the centers. Mix a few table-
spoons of prepared horseradish with a little
mayonnaise to make a pretty pink sauce.
Fill cucumber wells. Serve a slice of fish on a
piece of leafy lettuce with a cucumber well.
Decorate the top and plate with diced yellow
pepper.
Cranberry Chicken
2 medium oranges
1 chicken, with bone and skin, cut into
eighths
1 (16 oz.) can whole berry cranberry
sauce
1 cup bottled French dressing
2 T. dry onion soup mix
Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Zest 1 orange
and reserve the zest. Slice the orange. Slice
the second orange and place all the orange
slices in an even layer in a roasting pan.
Arrange the chicken skin-side-up on the
oranges.
In a medium bowl, mix the cranberry
sauce, dressing and onion soup mix. Add the
orange zest. Mix. Pour over the chicken, coat-
ing all the pieces.
Bake uncovered for 11/2 hours. Transfer to
a plate or serving platter along with the car-
melized orange slices.
Unbelievable Brownies
nonstick cooking spray
4 large eggs
2 cups sugar
1 cup vegetable oil
1 /2 t. fine sea salt
3 /4 cup Dutch process cocoa powder
1 /2 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips
(optional)
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Spray an 11-
by 7-inch brownie pan with nonstick cook-
ing spray. Set aside.
In the bowl of an electric mixer, beat the
eggs and sugar until smooth. Add the oil and
salt. Mix. Sprinkle in the cocoa powder and
mix to make the batter chocolaty. Add the
potato starch and mix to combine. Scrape
down the sides with a spatula. Stir in the
chocolate chips, if using.
Pour into a prepared pan. Bake for 35-40
minutes. Allow to cool before serving.
Tammy Betel of Farmington Hills is a homemaker
with a passion for cookbooks.
Around The World
International recipes give glimpses of Passover traditions in other countries.
Annabel Cohen
Special to the Jewish News
A
s Americans, we are steeped
in mostly Ashkenazi cooking
traditions. Even those with
Sephardi roots, unless strongly rooted to
Sephardi customs, have adopted Eastern
European Passover dishes as de rigueur at
the seder.
I like to tell the story of my Brazilian
father of Turkish parents who never tasted
gefilte fish until he came to the United
States. His Sephardi mother served lamb,
beans and rice during Passover — much
different from my Brazilian mother's fam-
ily, Ashkenazim who emigrated to the
south of Brazil from Poland in the 1930s.
Of course, Ashkenazim and Sephardim
aren't the only types of Jews in the world
— think African and Asian, for example.
Incorporating world flavors into
Passover meals — eight days is a long
time to eat the same foods for every meal!
— is becoming increasingly popular.
Mediterranean cuisine, with an abun-
dance of fresh vegetables and healthy olive
oil is adding fresh flavors and bright col-
ors to those accustomed to brisket, farfel
and potato kugels. The dried fruits of
the Middle East are chopped and served
alongside apple-based charoset.
Of course, all global foods (as long
as they adhere to the rules of Passover
Halachah) are permissible during this
festival — from salsa to crepes to hot-
and-sour soup.
Passover on page B12
April 10 • 2008
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