arts & entertainment >> food From Traditional To Modern Suzanne Chessler Contributing Writer W bile Adele Grossberg-Bark returns to the traditional Hungarian favorites she learned from her grandmother long ago, Aviva Kanoff has come up with some inno- vative dishes of her own for seders and the rest of the holiday. In The No-Potato Passover: A Journey of Food, Travel and Color (Brio Books; $29.99), Kanoff sought to create a low- carb Passover cookbook and introduces her own approach in a selection of recipes for soups and salads, sides, meats, poultry, dairy and parve entrees and desserts. In The Rebbetzin Cooks: 40 Recipes for Passover and Beyond (available on Amazon for 99 cents), Grossberg-Bark recalls the tastes she first experienced as a child in the Flint home of her family. Kanoff, 28, a New York artist as well as personal chef, decided to challenge herself with a first book. "Because potatoes are such a staple at Passover, the challenge became developing recipes without them',' she says. She abandons the much-used spuds for Two new collections of Passover recipes take cooks in very opposite directions (plus something for the kids!). colorful salads and vegetable side dishes and "I decided on 40 recipes to represent does a lot with quinoa and spaghetti squash the number of years the Israelites wan- to replace rice and pasta, forbidden for those dered in the desert after escaping from strictly following religious dietary laws. Egyptian bondage." As a visual artist, Kanoff prefers colorful Grossberg-Bark, whose maiden name recipes. "Maybe that's why I'm not as fasci- _ was Rosenbaum and whose second hus- nated by white potatoes as I am by rainbow band (Nathan Bark) is a retired Reform chard or golden beets:' she says. rabbi, lives in Florida and is used to In addition to coming up sharing recipes. with recipes, Kanoff matched If anyone has dinner at them with her own travel her home and compliments pictures from the places that what has been served, she inspired the cooking con- sits down and writes out the cepts. ingredients and directions With meatballs and spa- for putting the selections ghetti squash, for instance, together. she joins camera work from a "Some of the recipes visit to Italy. can be used throughout Kanoff, who is Orthodox, the whole year:' explains is a graduate of the French Grossberg-Bark, who didn't Culinary Institute as well as Hunter get them in writing from College, where she earned a bachelor's her grandmother. She had degree in studio art. Roasted cauliflower is to work from memory and among her favorite choices. ingredient trials. "Sometimes, the simplest things are the "My grandmother, Lena best:' she says. "The secret is fresh ingredi- Krauss Feldman, made ents:' cooking an art," she says, "Paprika is the key ingredient in remembering the popular- Hungarian recipes:' explains Grossberg- ity of the woman's baked Bark, 74, who moved to Detroit from Flint goods at bazaars planned by Flint's and graduated from Mumford High School Congregation Beth Israel. "I believe her and Wayne State University before teaching secret was using the sweet Hungarian in Detroit, Southfield and Pennsylvania. paprika instead of the more bitter ver- From The No-Potato Passover; Brio Books; 2012 Hardcover; $29.95 eggs in a bowl, and dip salmon fillets in egg. In a separate bowl or pan, mix walnuts, rosemary, salt and pepper, and bread salmon in this mixture. Fry salmon on medium heat for 5-6 minutes per side for thick fillets, 2-3 minutes per side for thinner fillets. Mix all ingredients for garlic aioli in a bowl, and serve on the side. ROSEMARY WALNUT CRUSTED SALMON WITH GARLIC AIOLI Salmon: 6 salmon fillets (about 6 oz. each) lemon juice 2 eggs 21/2 cups ground walnuts (or 2 cups ground walnuts mixed with i/2 cup matzah meal) 1 Tbsp. dried rosemary salt and pepper, to taste Garlic Aioli: 1 /2 cup mayonnaise 2 cloves garlic, minced 1 Tbsp. lemon juice 1 /2 tsp. imitation mustard salt, to taste Pour lemon juice over salmon fillets. Beat 66 March 29 • 2012 CAJUN CARROT FRIES 8-10 large car- rots, peeled and cut into thin slices, like "fries" 1 Tbsp. olive oil 1 /4 tsp. cayenne pepper salt and black pep- per, to taste Preheat oven to 450 degrees. Grease and/or line a large cookie sheet. Toss the sliced carrots with olive oil, cayenne pepper, salt and black pepper. Arrange the fries in a single layer on the baking sheet, bake for 15 minutes then flip the fries over and bake for another 10-15 minutes, until crisp. Serve warm. sions in main dishes." Whether matzah ball soup, Passover rolls, orange cake or cucumber salad, Gossberg-Bark prepares them with what she considers the same devotion and enthusiasm as her grandmother. "An uncle used to tell me to put the recipes in a book:' she recalls. "After a recent conversation with my daughter, I finally got it done." In addition — and not to leave out cooking with the kids — A Sweet Passover (Abrams Books for Young Readers; $16.95), written by Leslea Newman with illus- trations by David Slonim, offers a recipe for Passover French toast — or, the "Best Matzah Brie in the World" (as told to the author by her father). The charming story, about a girl growing tired of matzah-dominated foods, shares Passover traditions and ends with the girl making the breakfast treat with her grandfather (the book's recipe has detailed instructions so even novice cooks can share the experience with their children, too). El From The Rebbetzin Cooks: 40 Recipes for Passover and Beyond HUNGARIAN MATZAH BALLS 1 1 cups matzah meal 6 large eggs 1 /2 cup vegetable oil 1 /2 cup cold seltzer water 1 /4 teaspoon white pepper 1 /4 teaspoon Hungarian sweet paprika 1 Tbsp. dry parsley flakes 2 Tbsp. kosher salt for water 3 Tbsp. vegetable oil to oil scoop Combine matzah meal and salt in one bowl. In another bowl, whisk eggs, oil, seltzer water, pepper, paprika and parsley. Slowly mix the ingre- dients from the second bowl into the first bowl. Cover with plastic wrap, and refrigerate 3-4 hours. Fill two large pots 3 /4 full of water, add Tbsp. of salt to each, bring to a boil and then to lowest heat possible. Place vegetable oil in small ramekin, oil a medium ice cream scoop as needed, and form matzah balls the size of a walnut. Carefully drop 10 or 11 matzah balls into each pot. Set burners to a light simmer, cover with tight lids and cook 45-50 minutes. Check after 25 minutes to make sure water is still simmering and matzah balls are expanding. To make sure matzah balls are completely cooked, remove one with a long-handled, slotted spoon, and cut in half. If the color and texture are not uniform, cook for 10 more minutes and test again. When finished, place matzah balls in colander and let cool.