Passover Appetizers

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.

Roasted sweet potatoes and onions pair perfectly in this healthy salad—perfect to share as an appetizer.

A generous portion of bay leaves in the steaming liquid here permeates the artichoke leaves and hearts with flavor and provides an enticing aroma as you serve the dish. The scallion vinaigrette balances the sweetness of the artichokes.

Skin-on potatoes, like the ones used for these crispy, low-fat fries, are high in vitamin C and potassium; they're also a good source of dietary fiber and vitamin B.

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.

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.

This quick asparagus dish is done in less than 30 minutes.

For a quick snack or appetizer, try pan-frying cashews with fresh sage and garlic.

Though Shelley Lindgren hasn't cooked professionally—her 20 years of restaurant experience have been front-of-the-house—she has picked up several recipes from hanging out in the kitchens of places where she's worked. This silky, citrus-spiked soup, which can be served warm or chilled, is adapted from a dish from Acquerello, an elegant San Francisco restaurant where Shelley learned the basics of Italian cooking and wine.

Quinoa is definitely a superfood: A grain-like seed, it's a "complete" protein containing all eight essential amino acids (another plus: it cooks much more quickly than most grains). To create a terrific vegetarian main course, Michael Symon of Cleveland's Lola tosses quinoa with arugula, apple, raisins and fresh herbs, then spoons the salad into a halved baked squash (a great source of iron and vitamins A and C).

Eating quinoa is a great way for vegetarians to get protein. Jeremy Fox tosses nutty-tasting quinoa with crunchy shaved vegetables for a refreshing salad loaded with vitamins and minerals.

This delicious, super-healthy quinoa salad is a great meal-in-one; it makes an ideal vegetarian option at the Thanksgiving table.