The recipes featured below were excerpted from Tamar Ansh’s completely non-gebrochs and gluten-free Passover cookbook, PESACH- Anything’s Possible! (Menucha Publishers)
I know we’re in that last stretch before Passover and there are so many amazing recipes I have to share with all of you! This time, it’ll be fish and chicken and dessert but in ways you may not have tried before.
And no, I won’t tell you to keep your fish in the bathtub for a week, or how to clobber it, skin it, and clean it either. Thankfully, I leave those steps to the fishmonger and welcome it into my kitchen clean, separated, and already ground.
The Best Gefilte Fish Ever (and I should know — I’ve tasted a lotta gefiltes by now)
Photo by Sharon Bentov
I mean, how often do you really make your OWN gefilte nowadays? I used to do this every week for at least six years…and then life got so busy B”H it was a toss-up. What’s going to give – my sanity, my challahs, or making my own fish?
I decided that my sanity just had to stay (no one else out there to replace it). And my challahs…well, if you know anything about me, that is just non-negotiable. (Plus, you know, the mitzvah, etc 🙂
Yet fish, on the other hand, can be bought. Except when it comes to Passover.
That first Seder night when we finally bring out the meal (after the egg in salt water, plus sweeping up the first bucketload of crumbs) and we bite into that first taste of the Passover “best gefilte fish ever” – PLUS my own chrein and even my own mayo – wow – just the smell alone brings on that wave of “Passover. Is. Here.” kind of feelings.
AHHHH. I can’t wait to get to cooking mine myself!
Serves 8-10 (Yields 3 medium loaves or 30 balls)
Ingredients:
Fish:
2–3 medium carrots, peeled
2 medium onions, peeled
5 whole eggs
2 and 1/4 pounds / 1 kilogram ground fish, i.e. carp or cassif (silver carp), or a half-half mix; or a mix of whitefish and pike
1/2 cup sugar 3 teaspoons salt
1 teaspoon pepper
Broth:
1/2 teaspoon salt
3/4 cup sugar
1 onion, peeled and halved
1 carrot, peeled
2–3 fish bones or fish heads, optional
Directions:
Grind the carrots and onions in a food processor together with 2 of the eggs until it is smooth. Put the remaining ingredients into a large mixer bowl and add the blended vegetable mixture to it. Beat this together for 15 minutes on medium speed until it is well mixed and has a thick consistency. Cover the bowl and place it in the refrigerator for at least an hour, or overnight if necessary, before shaping. The mixture can be shaped into balls and cooked right away, or frozen into logs for later use.
Fill a large pot halfway with water. The pot should have room for the fish to expand. Add the ingredients for the broth. When the broth is boiling rapidly, add the fish. Cover the pot halfway, turn down the flame to low, and simmer for about one and a half hours. If you are using frozen fish logs, follow the same directions for the broth, and after the water boils, remove the paper or plastic covering while it is still frozen and place the log in the water. After the fish is cooked, place it in a large plastic container together with some broth and vegetables. To keep the fish balls from getting squashed while storing them, lay them out in a single layer.
Serve with homemade chrein and mayo for fantastic results!
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Let’s go on to a chicken recipe…This one is super great for using up the chicken from your Seder night chicken soup. No one will complain about eating “leftovers.” My best trick? Cut up the chicken pieces when no one is looking. This way, they don’t have to know it lived its first life in your soup!
Photo by Sharon Bentov
Serves 4
Ingredients:
2 cups cooked chicken, cut into small chunks
1 hard-boiled egg, cut into tiny pieces, optional
2 stalks celery, diced
1 scallion, diced
1 small carrot, peeled and shredded
4–6 tablespoons mayonnaise + 2 tablespoons chrein, mixed together
2 tablespoons olive oil
2 teaspoons lemon juice
1 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon pepper
1 teaspoon garlic powder
1/4 cup crushed almonds, toasted
Directions:
In a large, dry skillet over medium heat, toast the almonds for 5-8 minutes until lightly browned. Turn off the heat.
Place the cut chicken pieces, egg, celery, scallion and shredded carrot into a large bowl. In another small bowl, mix together the “chreiyonnaise”, olive oil, lemon juice, salt, pepper, and garlic powder. Pour this over the chicken mixture and mix it together well, by hand.
Add in the toasted almonds and serve in scoops over a piece of lettuce, with a cherry tomato in its center.
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People are forever asking me where I get my recipes from. The truth of the matter is that Hashem has mercy on me and is the One who is constantly sending me new ideas and sources. This next salad comes from my mother, Mrs. Edith Shachter, who created it just recently. The colors, aroma, and not to mention health factors all come together in this one to make it a real eye and palate-pleaser. No sugar and very little oil give it the added plus of being low carb and lower on the glycemic index as well.
Roasted Beet Salad with Greens
Photo by: Reuven Ansh
Serves 6
Ingredients:
1 large onion, sliced into quarter rings
1–2 leeks, sliced
1 each red, orange, and yellow pepper, sliced
6 medium sized beets, peeled and chunked
1 fennel, chunked (optional)
1/4 teaspoon pepper
2 teaspoons garlic powder
1 tablespoon olive oil
1/2 cup semi-dry white wine
6 cups any mix of greens
1 red onion, sliced into half rings
Directions:
Prepare the onion, leeks, pepper, beets, and fennel and cut them as directed. Put them all in a bowl and toss them together with the pepper, garlic powder and olive oil.
Preheat the oven to 375 degrees Fahrenheit (190–200 degrees Celsius).
Layer the vegetable mix into a lined baking pan. Pour the wine over all. Bake this until the beets are softened, about 45 minutes. If the vegetables start to dry out, add in a bit more wine. Remove from the oven and let it cool. Place it in a plastic container with a lid to refrigerate until serving.
To serve, toss together the greens and the red onion. Divide the greens among the six salad plates; spoon the roasted beet mix on each plate. This does not need additional salad dressing as it is so tasty and healthy as is. If you really, positively MUST, then you can choose to drizzle a bit of olive oil and fresh lemon juice on your plate, but it really does taste wonderful as is. We had nothing left of this one just as soon as the photos were done…
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Now let’s move on to a refreshing ices dessert…made from real fruit and a totally different kind of color!
Oh my goodness, KIWIS! I have such a thing about them! They are one of the most colorful, interesting and just delicious fruits in the world – at least, I think so! Opening one up adds such a splash of color to just about any fruit platter, salad or even…ices.
Photo by: Reuven Ansh
Serves 4-6
Ingredients:
Kiwi Ices:
8 ripe kiwis, peeled and washed
3/4 cup seltzer
1 and 2/3 cups sugar syrup (recipe follows)
Sugar Syrup:
4 cups sugar
4 cups water
Directions:
Prepare the Sugar Syrup:
Boil this together, mixing constantly. After it has come to a boil, continue to simmer it for 10 minutes on a low flame. Cool and use as needed.
Prepare the Ices:
Blend all the ingredients together until smooth. Pour this out into a plastic container and freeze it flat. After about four to six hours, when still partially frozen, put it into the blender again and reprocess it. Refreeze until use. Scoop into ball shapes and serve.
Have a great and tasty Pesach!
All the best,
Tamar Ansh
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Like what you’ve read? Keep in touch, and get your **free** Passover Ebook, with over 11 recipes NOT featured in my cookbook, by clicking right here.
Tamar Ansh is the author of seven books, hostess and creator of The Jerusalem Challah Experience and food writer about, of course, challah – but also, at the opposite end of the chometz spectrum, about Passover and non gebrochs. Pesach Anything’s Possible!, now in its 6th (at least!) printing, and has helped thousands worldwide to cook and serve their very own delicious, POSSIBLE, and easy Passover. It’s perfect for anyone from beginners to fully experienced bubbes, as well as for kosher non-gebrochs year-round use.
So get your copy today and enjoy your Passover and gluten-free cooking!
[Are you in Jerusalem but can’t get out? Shanky’s is selling my book online, here]
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