Passover Food Ideas

By Food & Wine
Updated April 25, 2017
From slow braised short ribs with matzo cholent to classic matzo ball soup, here are delicious Passover recipes and food ideas.
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Slow-Braised Short Ribs with Spinach

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Cholent is a traditional Jewish stew of meat, beans, potatoes and barley. In his version, Adam Perry Lang first roasts short ribs, then braises them in beef stock with porcini mushrooms, until the meat is fall-apart tender. He finishes the cholent by stirring matzo farfel (crushed matzo) into the pan juices until it plumps up. Fresh baby spinach and crunchy sea salt complete the dish.

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Asparagus Vichyssoise

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This creamy soup is best the next day, after the flavors have blended; season it generously before serving.

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Aleppo-Pepper-and-Mint-Roasted Chicken

Credit: PHOTO © QUENTIN BACON
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Passover Matzoh-Ball Soup

Credit: Stephanie Meyer
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“When I make this as a main course, I serve the chicken in sixths with the skin and bone. I will often add kasha (toasted buckwheat groats) or noodles and leave the vegetables in bigger pieces so the dish is more like a poulet pot au feu than a first course for Passover seder.”—Andrew Zimmern

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Grandma Selma's Brisket

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This is Russ Pillar's modern take on his grandmother’s recipe. He experimented with a mix of spices and unexpected ingredients (such as Coca-Cola) to re-create her dish and came up with this version.

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Whole-Grain Matzo

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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.

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Roasted Asparagus with Almonds and Asiago

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Caramelized Broccoli with Garlic

Credit: PHOTO © TINA RUPP
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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.

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Herb-Broiled Fish with Lemon Aioli

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Cod with Tomato Ginger Sauce

Credit: PHOTO © BOBBI LIN
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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.

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Potato Kugel with Fried Shallots

Credit: PHOTO © LUCY SCHAEFFER
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Kugel is a baked pudding, usually made with noodles or potatoes. This version, prepared with shredded potatoes and fried shallots, is crispy at the edges and deliciously creamy in the middle.

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Gail Simmons's Horseradish Brisket

Credit: PHOTO © LUCY SCHAEFFER
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Rubbing prepared horseradish on the brisket and whisking it into the meaty sauce punches up the rich flavors here. Like most braised dishes, this brisket tastes better on the second or even third day.

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Grilled Halibut with Smashed Fingerlings and Tomato Butter

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Sommelier Caroline Styne likes to coat delicate halibut fillets in fresh herbs and grill them until lightly charred; to make a tangy sauce, she cooks cherry tomatoes in tarragon-infused browned butter until they burst with juice.

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Tropical Fruit Cobbler with Coconut Macaroon Topping

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Because they don’t contain leavening (or dairy, which is prohibited at meat-based meals), coconut macaroon cookies are commonly served at seders. Adam Perry Lang wanted to play on the idea of a macaroon in this clever dessert, so he turned the cookie into a fluffy meringue with toasted coconut and ground almonds, which he then uses to top a juicy mixture of pineapple and mango.

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Fudgy Chocolate-Walnut Cookies

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

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