Hate feeling heavy and stuffed after the Seder? Tired of putting on pounds after a week of overeating? Had enough of spending hours in the kitchen during Passover?
If there's one holiday that's especially associated with food – and lots of it, it's Passover.
Enjoy a happy, healthy and delicious holiday with these tips and recipes:
Serve vegetables at every meal. Use vegetables in salads, soups and side dishes. Add vegetables to matzah brei and kugel. Spread mashed avocado on matzah.
Fruit makes a delicious dessert. Serve fresh seasonal fruit, dried or fresh fruit compote and fruit salad instead of cookies and cake.
Eat fish! Fish makes an elegant and easy first or main course. Our favorite menu is fresh poached salmon, roasted potatoes and a green vegetable.
Chicken and turkey are also healthy choices. Cook your chicken soup early, refrigerate it overnight and skim the hardened fat before serving.
Substitute a portion of whole eggs with egg whites in your Passover cooking and baking. Two egg whites are equal in volume to one whole egg.
Use oil rather than margarine for cooking and baking. Extra-virgin olive oil is healthiest. Walnut and peanut oil, if available, are also good choices. Don't use cottonseed oil, which is high in saturated fat and can contain pesticide residues. Avoid margarine altogether in baking by using recipes based on nuts, like macaroons and nut-based cakes.
Keep meals easy and light. There's no need to prepare huge amounts and endless varieties of food -- for any holiday!
Wishing everyone a happy and healthy Passover.
Chana Rubin, RD
Sweet and Sour Braised Carrots (Parve)
This recipe uses a technique called braising – first sauté the vegetables in oil and then add a small amount of liquid to finish the cooking. The result is a crisp-cooked vegetable in a flavorful sauce.
2 tablespoons olive oil
2 pounds (1 kilo) carrots, sliced diagonally
1/8 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/4 cup unsweetened grape juice
2 tablespoons red wine vinegar
1/2 cup water
1/4 teaspoon salt
Freshly ground pepper
Heat the olive oil in a medium-sized saucepan. Add the carrots and cinnamon and cook, stirring occasionally for 5 minutes.
Add the juice, vinegar, water, salt and pepper to the carrots and mix well. Bring to a boil, reduce heat, cover and cook until the carrots are tender, about 20 minutes.
Serves 6-8
Nut-Crusted Baked Fish (Parve)
Nuts and fresh herbs give a flavorful boost to baked fish. Start with your choice of fresh fish fillets. Choose from walnuts, almonds, hazelnuts or pistachios. Match the nuts with herbs of your choice, such as parsley, cilantro, oregano or basil.
3 pounds (2 1/2 kilo) fish fillet (one whole fillet or pieces)
1 cup raw, shelled unsalted nuts
3/4 cup packed fresh herbs
2 tablespoons olive oil
1/4 teaspoon salt
Freshly ground black pepper to taste
Preheat the oven to 400 F (200 C).
Line a roasting pan or large cookie sheet with foil or parchment paper. Place the fish on the pan and pat dry.
Chop the nuts coarsely in a food processor. Add the herbs, olive oil, salt and pepper and process until the mixture forms a paste.
Spread the nut paste evenly over the fish. Bake for 15-25 minutes, until the fish is cooked through.
Serves 10-12
Turkey Breast with Fresh Herbs (Meat)
Transform ordinary turkey breast into holiday fare with lemon juice, olive oil and lots of fresh herbs. For a large crowd, use a whole turkey breast and double the amount of marinade ingredients. Just be sure to start the recipe well in advance, as the turkey needs to marinate for 24 hours.
1/4 cup fresh parsley leaves
1/4 cup fresh mint leaves
1/4 cup fresh coriander leaves
1 clove garlic, peeled
1/4 cup olive oil
1/4 cup fresh lemon juice
1/2 cup dry white wine
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon freshly ground pepper
Half a turkey breast, about 2 pounds (1 kilo)
Process all of the ingredients except the turkey in a food processor until the mixture is fairly smooth.
Put the turkey in a glass or other non-metal container and pour the marinade over it. Make sure that the marinade covers all of the turkey. Cover and refrigerate for 24 hours.
Preheat the oven to 425 F (220 C). Remove the turkey from the marinade and place it on a roasting tray. (Save the marinade for the sauce; see below.) Cook for 20 minutes. Reduce the oven temperature to 400 F (200 C) and cook until the turkey reaches an internal temperature of 160 F (71C). Let it rest for 10 minutes before slicing.
Pour the marinade into a small saucepan and cook for 15 minutes or until it's reduced by about half. Serve with the sliced turkey.
Serves 8
Almond Macaroons (Parve)
2 cups blanched almonds (whole, halved or sliced)
3/4 cup sugar
Grated zest of one lemon
1 large egg
2 tablespoons sugar
Grind the almonds and ¾ cup of sugar in a food processor until very fine. Add the lemon zest and the egg and pulse until the mixture forms a ball of dough.
Cover and refrigerate the mixture for at least 12 hours.
Preheat the oven to 350 F (170 C) and line two baking sheets with parchment paper.
Place the 2 tablespoons of sugar on a plate. Form the dough into balls and roll each in the sugar. Arrange on the cookie sheets, about an inch apart.
Bake about 10 minutes, just until barely golden. Remove to a cooling rack while still warm to cool completely.
Makes about 30 cookies
(19) Sandra Ross, April 3, 2014 11:01 PM
Beautiful modern recipes!Thank you! < Sandra Ross 6729 N. Avers Lincolnwood,Ill. 60712
(18) jane, March 20, 2013 4:30 AM
substitute for margerine.
I missed the recipe for using egg whites as an alternative for margarine.Please list again,
Thank you
(17) Elizabeth S., March 15, 2013 5:20 PM
Are peanuts kitniyot?
Thank you for all the wonderful ideas? One thing - Many people view peanuts as kitniyot and don't use them for Passover.
(16) TOBY, April 10, 2011 5:17 PM
egg and margarine substitutes
thank you so much for addressing the use of margarine in kosher cooking. most kosher recipes use margarine, which is so bad for you. The chemical laden dairy substitutes in much of kosher cooking also needs to be addressed. Thank you also for the egg substitute, esp for Pesach dishes. More kosher websites need to reflect these healthy eating practices.
(15) menucha chwat, March 11, 2010 9:23 AM
fennel
fennel is on the OU kitniyot list. http://www.oukosher.org/index.php/passover/article/9691
(14) Nechama, March 9, 2010 10:09 PM
Passover LITE
EnLITEned Kosher Coking is not "NUT" free but it is the only Kosher diet cookbook that is adaptable for Pesach with more than 140 kosher for Pesach recipes and Gluten free---our web site has updated information to help ontrol diabetes during the holiday and all year round www.jewishdiabetes.org
(13) Sandra Pickett, April 4, 2009 10:03 PM
wonderful!
THE RECIPES ARE WONDERFUL!!! thank you shalom
(12) Myra, April 3, 2009 7:35 AM
Passover recipes
My granddaughter has an allergy to nuts......Is there a recipe book for Passover that is nut free???
(11) Dvorah, April 1, 2009 12:26 PM
Mitzvah
It's a Mitzvah to enjoy with te best that you have, If the best for you are vegetables, fish or fruit, there's no question. Sometimes people forget what the Creator give to Adam and Eve to eat? It wasn't a steak. He create everithing are we trying to say that part of he's creating is not good for enjoy and make it special for Iom Tov, What aboutto elevate the food with the blessings. Looks that we are loosing the point. The Rab Kaduri "ZLB was vegetarian. Do the meat eater have any objetion with this? And the bottom line, enjoy with the Jag is much more that eat and sleep. Jag Sameach.
(10) Anonymous, March 31, 2009 12:44 PM
meat not a mitzvah for women
The halachah does not state that women should eat meat, simchah is halachichally what makes a person happy. I know that meat does not make me happy and thank G-d, my husband also knows that being healthy makes him happy.
(9) Diana, March 30, 2009 8:23 PM
Another alternative to nuts
I used crushed potato chips as a breading for baked chicken pieces. I haven't tried them on fish, but I will now. Great article!
(8) Anonymous, March 30, 2009 2:22 PM
disappointing
It's very disappointing that people need to be told to eat fruit and vegetables on Yom Tov. Surely substituting poultry and fish for large quantities of red meat is also basic common sense - although one should bear in mind the mitzvah of simchas yom tov, which is fulfilled by eating a kezayis of red meat during the daytime of yom tov. Also i am not aware that there is any problem with ashkenazim eating fennel - maybe the commenter meant that fennel seeds might be problematic.
(7) Aryeh, March 30, 2009 11:51 AM
Fennel / Salt
Fennel seeds are ruled by the Mishnah Berurah to be avoided. The bulb is permitted. And the Rama permitted the seeds too. The turkey recipe includes salt. We get enough salt in kashered turkey and don't need to add any more when cooking. btw: The plural of Yom Tov is Yamim Tovim.
(6) Rich, March 30, 2009 10:11 AM
Fennel is not prohibited to Ashkenazim
Per OU site, Fennel is not Kitniyot and is ok for all Jews, not just Sephardim. Your site needs to do a better job screening posts so that uninformed readers are not misled.
(5) Anonymous, March 30, 2009 7:14 AM
Fennel is acceptable for Sephardim, not Ashkenazim
I believe that the Fennel is one of the foods which are acceptable for Sephardim, and not Ashkenazim. Also, be super careful on Pesach regarding examining the fresh greens (parsley, dill etc.)
(4) Gisele, March 30, 2009 6:52 AM
Thanks fpr providing us with healthy, and
inexpensive recipes that will make our sedarim, and meals easy to digest and manage.Have a great Peasch to all!
(3) Anonymous, March 29, 2009 2:41 PM
the taste of family recipes
I'm always faced with a quandry before all the Yom TOvim but especially Pesach. I want to stay on the healthy eating track but I also like to share the taste of family recipes from less health conscious generations with my children. So I compromise and make less of those items so that they get the taste of Bubbie's specialties amongst the more healthier choices.
(2) Anonymous, March 29, 2009 11:44 AM
not good for allergic families
Unfortunately relying on nuts as a cake/cookie base and as a breading is impossible for those with children allergic to nuts. I use spiced mashed potato flakes as a breading instead.
(1) Gitta, March 29, 2009 9:54 AM
way to go
From a nutritionist perspective this is great advice. thank you for these great suggestions. I wish we could convince people to eat in a lighter way. Why waste time and calories on fancy and fattening desserts, when Hashem gave us a bounty of fruits and vegetables in all colors and shapes, that alone should be enough to satisfy every palate.