Easy Passover Recipes

Cookbook author Marcy Goldman started baking matzo with her young sons after touring a temporary factory at a local synagogue that produced shmura matzo—the traditional, handmade variety. "As a baker and a Jewish mother, I thought, I can do that," she says. The whole-grain flours in this recipe create a more crackly, sandy texture than white-flour matzo.

Chef David Gingrass swears broccoli haters will love the polarizing green vegetable when it's prepared this way, because it is slowly caramelized to bring out its sweetness, then enlivened with a squeeze of lemon and a pinch of crushed red pepper.

Though you can put this simple tomato sauce together in a matter of minutes, it has a surprisingly complex flavor. The sauce will seem thick, but the juices that come from the fish during cooking will thin it to just the right consistency.

Pastry chef Deanie Fox makes this fluffy granita with buttermilk, which is low in fat, high in calcium and easy to digest. She spoons the creamy, tangy ice over lightly sweetened strawberries, a vitamin C–loaded fruit.

New York pastry chef François Payard's divinely gooey chocolate cookies are flourless, which makes them ideal for Passover baking.

To get fluffy, tasty quinoa, Aida Mollenkamp stirs the nutritious grain with softened leeks, then simmers it in a light vegetable broth.

Mexican chocolate, which is flavored with ingredients like cinnamon, almonds and vanilla, lends a distinct flavor to Stephanie Prida's rich custard. Look for it at Mexican markets and specialty-food stores.

In place of bread crumbs—which, like all leavened products, are forbidden at Passover—Russ Pillar coats the mild fish with well-seasoned matzo meal.

The key to making this simple fruit salad with candied ginger: Use a sharp knife to cut the citrus. "The better your knife, the better this dish will look," says chef Jason Travi.

Sometimes Jacques Pepin makes this simple salad with just one color of cabbage; sometimes he arranges it in alternating rows of color. The tangy-salty anchovy dressing would also be delicious on other crisp salad greens, such as escarole or chicory.

François Payard, of Manhattan's Payard Patisserie & Bistro, layers chewy coconut cake with silky chocolate ganache. The beauty of the recipe is its simplicity: It has only six ingredients.