arts & entertainment

Cookbook Corner

A roundup of new Passover recipes from recent releases.

Gail Zimmerman
Arts Editor

Assemble salad: Combine salad ingredients
in a large bowl. Toss with dressing. Place
sweet potatoes on top right before serving.
Makes 8 servings.
Recipe from A Taste of Pesach:
Trusted Favorites, Simple Preparation,
Magnificent Results. Reprinted with per-
mission from ArtScroll/Mesorah.

A Taste of Pesach:
Trusted Favorites,
Simple Preparation,
Magnificent Results
(ArtScroll/Mesorah
Publications;
$29.99), Yeshiva
Me'On Hatorah

Seven years ago, a group of women
banded together to brainstorm fundraising
ideas for Yeshiva Me'On HaTorah, a Jewish
high school in Roosevelt, N.J. The result
was "A Taste of Pesach:' a recipe pamphlet
series that transformed Passover cooking
for thousands of cooks.
At the urging of its loyal fans, the best
of this popular series, plus many brand-
new recipes, have been compiled into A
Taste of Pesach: Trusted Favorites, Simple
Preparation, Magnificent Results. The new
book is from the publisher of the very
popular Kosher by Design series.
Included are more than 150 triple-tested
recipes for Pesach and all year round. Full-
color photos accompany every recipe, and
more than 140 of them are gluten-free/
non-gebrokts (matzah meal-free).

SWEET POTATO CRISPS
SALAD (Parve)

1 large sweet potato
/4 cup oil for frying
Salad:
1 8-oz. bag Romaine lettuce
'/2 red pepper, sliced into strips
'/2 yellow pepper, sliced into strips
1 8-oz. can hearts of palm, drained
1 small red onion, diced
Dressing:
'/2 cup olive oil
'/3 cup vinegar
'/2 cup sugar
3 cloves garlic, crushed
1 tsp. imitation mustard

3

Prepare sweet potato crisps: Peel sweet
potato. Using a vegetable peeler, continue
to peel wide paper-thin strips of sweet
potato. Heat the oil in a deep skillet. When
oil is hot, add sweet potato strips a few at
a time. When golden and crispy (about
5-7 minutes), remove with a slotted spoon.
Can be made a few days in advance; store
in an airtight container at room tempera-
ture.
Prepare the dressing: Place dressing
ingredients in a small container. Shake to
combine.

68

April 10 • 2014

JN

The Holiday Kosher
Baker: Traditional
and Contemporary
Holiday Desserts
(Sterling), by Paula
Shoyer

There is no longer
any reason to suffer through horrible
Passover desserts that taste like cardboard
when you can enjoy delicious sweets all
week long. Among the 120 innovative and
tasty holiday treats in The Holiday Kosher
Baker by Paula Shoyer, a graduate of the
Ritz Escoffier pastry program in Paris, are
more than 45 Passover-friendly desserts.
Several cookies (including the iconic
black and white cookie), tarts and pies, can-
dies, breakfast pastries, cupcakes, French
macarons, eclairs, mousse cakes, frozen
desserts, one-bowl cakes and fancy cakes —
pretty much any dessert you would want to
serve for any holiday all year round — have
been specially adapted for Passover use.
Passover recipes are labeled easy or
multiple-step and indicate whether they
are low-sugar, nut-free, gluten-free, dairy
or dairy-free.

CHOCOLATE CHIP
COOKIE BARS (EASY)
A delicious Passover chocolate chip cookie
that is super easy, gluten-free and can be
cut into 1- x 3-inch bars to dunk in milk.
2 cups sugar
2 large eggs
1 cup vegetable oil, plus extra for
greasing pan
2 Tbsp. vanilla sugar (store-bought or
make your own)
1/2 cup potato starch
3'A cups ground almonds
1 cup mini chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Grease the
bottom and sides of a 9- x 13-inch pan.
Press in a piece of parchment paper that is
big enough to cover the bottom and sides
of the pan. Grease the top and sides of the
parchment. Set it aside.
Place the sugar, eggs, oil and vanilla
sugar into a large bowl, and beat with an
electric mixer on medium speed until
combined. Add the ground almonds and

potato starch, and mix well. Add the choc-
olate chips and mix to distribute.
Spoon the mixture into the prepared
pan, and use a spatula to spread it evenly.
Bake for 35 minutes, or until the edges
are brown, or a toothpick inserted in the
center comes out with just a few crumbs
on it. Let cool. Lift out the parchment,
and then cut into squares or bars. Store
at room temperature for up to 5 days, or
freeze for up to 3 months.
Makes 24 2-inch square bars or 39 1- x
3-inch bars.
Note: On Passover, dedicate a coffee grinder
exclusively to grinding nuts. I find pre-
ground nuts are expensive, and desserts
taste better if you grind the nuts fresh.
Recipe from The Holiday Kosher Baker.
Reprinted with permission from Sterling.

Eating the Bible: Over
50 Delicious Recipes
to Feed Your Body
and Nourish Your Soul
(Skyhorse Publishing; EATING THE BIBLE
$24.95), by Rena
Rossner
Rena Rossner, raised
in Miami, also lived in
Canada and Ireland before settling in Israel,
where she wrote a Jerusalem Post cooking
column titled "The Weekly Portion:' which
combined recipes with biblical verse.
In Eating the Bible, her recipes are divid-
ed into biblical chapters (Genesis, Exodus,
Leviticus, Numbers and Deuteronomy).
The easily prepared dishes use thematic
foods, such as red lentil soup, to enrich the
meaning of biblical verses while encourag-
ing discussion and debate.
Rossner's accompanying commentary
— she holds a master's degree in history
form McGill University in Montreal and
a bachelor's degree in nonfiction writing
from Johns Hopkins — is culled from her
own curiosity and the answers gleaned
from scholarly works.
Each recipe comes with suggestions for
alternative ingredients and a question to
ponder.

AEN

OSSN

BRICK-SHAPED TURKEY
MEATLOAF WITH
CRANBERRY CHAROSET
Cut one slice of meatloaf, then cut it in half.
Spread the charoset as the mortar between
the two halves, then sandwich them together
again. Serve extra sauce on the side.
Meatloaf
1 onion, finely chopped
2-3 cloves garlic
1 Tbsp. olive oil
1 carrot, finely chopped

1 cup mushrooms, finely chopped
1 tsp. salt
'/2 tsp. pepper
2 Tbsp. fresh parsley, chopped
2'A lbs. ground turkey
1 cup matzah meal
3 Tbsp. ketchup
2 eggs

Cranberry Sauce (Charoset):
1 15-oz. can whole berry cranberry
sauce
2 cups coarsely chopped apples
'/2 cup walnuts
'/2 cup orange juice
V4 cup sweet red wine
1 tsp. cinnamon
sugar to taste
Prepare meatloaf
Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
Saute onion and garlic in oil until onion
is soft, 3-5 minutes. Add carrot, and cook
5 more minutes. Add mushrooms, salt and
pepper, and cook 5 more minutes. Stir in
parsley, and set aside.
Stir together ground turkey, matzah
meal, ketchup and eggs; then add veg-
etable mixture.
Form into a brick either by using a loaf
pan, or by molding a brick with your hands
in a greased baking dish. Spread with addi-
tional ketchup, and bake 45 minutes.
Make charoset: Combine all ingredients
in a bowl, and refrigerate.
Serves 4-6.
Recipe from Eating the Bible: Over 50
Delicious Recipes to Feed Your Body
and Nourish Your Soul. Reprinted with
permission from Skyhorse Publishing.

Gluten-Free Goes
Gourmet (Moznaim
Publishing; $35.99),
by Vicky Pearl;
and Nosh on This:
Gluten-Free Baking
from a Jewish-
American Kitchen
(The Experiment,
paperback, $19.95),
by Lisa Stander-
Horel and Tim Horel
NOSH oNTHIS
The rising incidence
of gluten intolerance
and sensitivity in the
American population,
as well as a height-
ened focus on wellness and healthy eating,
has spurred a demand for easy-to-follow
delicious recipes and meal ideas. Passover
can be especially hard for those with food
sensitivities.
In her new cookbook, Gluten Free Goes