It’s the spring holiday season. With everything going on in the world, there is an urge to sit down together as family and friends and take a moment to celebrate the idea of renewal, of a new season.
Each holiday has its own traditions and rituals: Jelly-bean trails. Chocolate Easter eggs. Matzah ball soup and haroset. Roasted lamb, potatoes, asparagus and salad.
But you don’t have to serve the same holiday meal your parents or grandparents insisted on. You can mix things up a bit.
Instead of the traditional roast lamb or braising a brisket for hours, I’ve reimagined a menu that works for both Passover and Easter and comes together with very little effort or time.
This starter takes under 20 minutes to put together and bake: a thick slice of feta cheese surrounded by cherry tomatoes and topped with Za’atar, a Middle Eastern spice mix, and honey. Serve it with matzah if you celebrate Passover, or warm crusty bread for an Easter gathering.
Next is a main course that works for either holiday: a braised chicken with dates, apricots, green olives, carrots and artichoke hearts. This dish is best made a day ahead of time, freeing you up to be with your family and friends.
Passover has certain dietary restrictions. There is no flour, yeast or leaveners allowed; the story told is that when the Israelites fled Egypt, they did not have time to let their bread rise.
Dessert tends to be the most problematic course at Passover, with cooks making flourless chocolate cake and pavlova (baked meringues). Those are family favorites of mine and both good choices, but this year I decided to try a friend’s Italian almond and orange cookies. Made with almond flour, orange zest and sugar, they are chewy, crisp on the edges and utterly irresistible. An ideal cookie for both Passover or Easter.
Baked feta with Za’atar, honey and cherry tomatoes
This is a simple, quick first course or appetizer you can put together. If you’re serving it as part of a Passover seder, I would accompany it with matzah. If it’s for an Easter celebration, serve it with warm, crusty bread like a baguette. Prep the cheese, cover and refrigerate and pop it in the oven 20 or 25 minutes before you’re ready to eat. The recipe can easily be doubled. Serves 4.
INGREDIENTS
- 6 ounces feta, drained and patted dry
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- 4 ounces cherry tomatoes, cut in half
- 1 teaspoon Za’atar
- Freshly ground black pepper
- 2 tablespoons finely chopped chives, or scallions
- 1 tablespoon floral honey, or good-quality honey
Pro tip: Make your own Za’atar by combining ¼ teaspoon dried thyme, oregano, sumac (if you have it), and white sesame seeds
INSTRUCTIONS
- Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.
- Place the feta in a small roasting pan, gratin dish or ovenproof skillet. Drizzle with half the olive oil. Surround the cheese with the tomatoes. Sprinkle the cheese and tomatoes with the Za’atar, pepper and chives. Add the remaining oil on top. (There’s no need for salt as feta tends to be quite salty.)
- Bake on the middle shelf for 10 minutes.
- Remove and turn on the broiler. Spoon the honey on top of the cheese and broil for about 2 to 4 minutes, or until the cheese is soft (but not melted) and the juices in the pan are bubbling. Serve hot or room temperature with matzah or bread.
Braised chicken with apricots, green olives, carrots, artichoke hearts and dates
This beautiful braised chicken dish bursts with fresh flavors, colors and textures. The chicken is browned and then braised with white wine or chicken stock, apricots, artichoke hearts, green olives, dates, carrots, thyme and saffron (if you have it on hand or want to add a touch of something really special).
The entire dish can be made ahead of time and reheated just before serving, freeing you up to focus on other side dishes for your holiday seder or Easter dinner. Serve with cous cous, pearl cous cous (also called Israeli cous cous) or roasted potatoes. Serves 4.
INGREDIENTS
- 1 chicken, about 3 pounds, cut into 8 pieces, or 3 pounds chicken pieces (I used thighs and drumsticks)
- Salt and freshly ground black pepper
- 2 tablespoons fresh thyme, chopped or 2 teaspoons crumbled
- About 1½ tablespoons olive oil
- 1 medium red or white onion, thinly sliced
- 2 cloves garlic, thinly sliced or chopped
- 4 cloves garlic, peeled and left whole
- Pinch saffron flakes, optional
- 8 ounces carrots, about 6 small or 4 medium, peeled and cut in half lengthwise and then into 1-inch pieces
- ½ cup dried apricots, sliced
- ½ cup pitted dates, sliced
- ½ cup pitted green olives, cut in half of large or left whole if small
- ½ cup bottled artichoke hearts, cut in half
- ½ cup parsley, coarsely chopped
- 3 cups dry white wine or chicken broth, or a combination of both
Pro tip: Traditionally, wine used for Passover must be certified Kosher for Passover.
INSTRUCTIONS
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
- Season the chicken with salt, pepper, and half the thyme on both sides.
- In a large ovenproof skillet, heat half the oil over moderately high heat. Working in batches, brown the chicken, about 4 minutes on each side. Transfer to a plate. Repeat with the remaining chicken and olive oil if needed.
- If there is more than 1 tablespoon of fat remaining in the skillet, remove the excess.
- Heat the skillet over low heat and add the onion and the sliced and whole garlic, salt and pepper. Sprinkle on the saffron if using and stir it into the onion mixture. Add the carrots, apricots, dates, olives, artichoke hearts, parsley and remaining thyme and cook, stirring, for 2 minutes.
- Raise the heat to high and add the wine or stock; let it come to a rolling boil. Place the chicken back into the skillet, spooning the other ingredients on top and on the sides. Cover with a lid or foil and bake on the middle shelf for about 40 to 45 minutes, or until the chicken is cooked through, the juices run yellow and not pink when pierced with a small, sharp knife, and the carrots are tender. Remove from the oven, taste for seasoning and serve hot.
Ricciarelli (almond cookies from Siena)
This simple almond cookie comes from my friend, Italian food expert Domenica Marchetti. Domenica and I teach food writing classes in Italy. She has spent the past few years traveling through Italy researching Italian cookies. This one, ideal for Easter or Passover since it uses almond flour and has no leavening, comes from her new book, “Italian Cookies: Authentic Recipes and Sweet Stories from Every Region.”
Siena is famous for its Renaissance sweets, such as panforte, a dense, nut- and fruit-studded spice cake, and these tender almond cookies. Ricciarelli are made with few ingredients: ground almonds, egg white, sugar and orange zest. They have a delicate, powdered sugar-coated surface and a tender interior. When you bite into one, you set off a tiny dust storm of sugar. The cookies are said to be named for their passing resemblance to Persian-style curled-toe slippers. Makes 24 cookies.
INGREDIENTS
- 2 lightly packed cups (200 grams) superfine blanched almond flour
- 2 cups (240 grams) confectioners’ sugar, plus ½ cup (50 grams) for coating the cookies
- Finely grated zest from 1 large orange, or 3 tablespoons minced candied orange peel
- ¼ to ½ teaspoon pure almond extract
- 2 large (64 grams) egg whites
- ½ teaspoon freshly squeezed lemon juice
INSTRUCTIONS
- Sift the almond flour into a large bowl, then sift in the confectioners’ sugar. Stir in the orange peel (or candied orange peel), working it in well. I use my fingers. Sprinkle in the almond extract and stir to combine.
- In a clean stainless steel bowl, beat the egg whites with a hand mixer until they become foamy. Add the lemon juice and beat until the whites billow to soft peaks. Alternatively, you can use a stand mixer fitted with the whisk attachment to beat the egg whites.
- Scoop the egg whites into the bowl with the almond flour and gently fold them in until you have a stiff, sticky paste. Cover the bowl and refrigerate overnight.
- Preheat the oven to 325 degrees F (165 degrees C). Line two rimmed baking sheets with parchment. Dust a work surface with some of the remaining ½ cup (60 grams) confectioner’s sugar. Place the chilled dough on the sugar and roll it into a log about 2 inches (5 centimeters) in diameter and 10 inches (25 ½ centimeters) long. Keep your hands lightly coated with sugar to prevent the dough from sticking to them. Cut the log on the diagonal [a slight angle] into ¾-inch (2-centimeter) thick slices. Shape them into ovals with slightly pointed ends. Set the cookies on a prepared baking sheet, about 12 per sheet, leaving a little space between them.
- Very lightly moisten your fingers and gently press the tops of the ricciarelli to flatten them slightly. Dust liberally with the remaining confectioners’ sugar. Let the cookies sit, uncovered, for 1 to 2 hours to dry out.
- Bake, one sheet at a time, in the middle of the oven for 12 to 14 minutes, or until the cookies’ tops have cracked a bit and they are tinged around the edges with pale gold. They should hardly brown at all. Transfer the baking sheets to wire racks and let the cookies cool completely.
- Arrange the ricciarelli on a decorative platter and dust with additional confectioners’ sugar before serving. Store in an airtight container for up to 1 week.
Recipe excerpted from “Italian Cookies: Authentic Recipes and Sweet Stories from Every Region” by Domenica Marchetti. Photos by Lauren Volo. Reprinted by permission of Gibbs Smith Books.
Other Passover and Easter recipes
Side dishes to brighten up your Easter/Passover celebrations:
- Spring greens soup
- Spring pockets with peas, asparagus and ricotta from Viola Buitoni
- ‘Souffled’ spinach and parmesan roll
Chef Kathy Gunst’s guide to cooking for Passover and Easter in the time of Coronavirus
- Roast holiday ham with orange-shallot glaze
- Citrus and fennel salad with a lemon-mint vinaigrette
- Pavlova with whipped cream and fruit
3 flourless, yeast-free Passover dessert recipes for a sweet end to your Seder
- Coconut macaroons dipped in chocolate with toasted coconut
- Matzah brittle with pistachios, dark chocolate and sea salt
- Passover meringue cake with whipped cream and strawberries
This article was originally published on WBUR.org.
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