Passover begins at sundown tonight, and if you’re cooking for a Seder, you’re probably knee-deep in the likes of gefilte fish, matzo ball soup (above) and flourless chocolate cake.
The holiday runs for eight days; what else are you going to eat this week? My answer is matzo, and plenty of it. I leave the box on the counter for easy snacking, slathering the sheets with good butter and salt, or cottage cheese and leftover haroseth.
But the best thing to do with post-Seder matzo is fry up some matzo brei — either a classic recipe or my new version with feta, dill and hot honey. It’s savory, sweet, a little spicy and delicious well past Passover.
Perhaps you’re gearing up for Easter, dreaming about hot cross buns, which, writes Doosie Morris in her article for The Times, “have established themselves as the pumpkin spice latte of Australia, a hotly anticipated, must-consume item of the season.”
The typical hot cross bun flavors of ginger, clove, cinnamon, nutmeg and citrus are showing up in everything from chocolate stout to puppy probiotics. Those Down Under dogs have it good.
Speaking of cute things, here’s an idea for your Easter table: Serve vegetables that bunnies love to eat (perfect for amusing small children and certain bunny-loving adults). Rabbit-appropriate dishes include Ali Slagle’s snappy, juicy roasted radishes, David Tanis’s butter-braised asparagus and, of course, crunchy julienne carrots dressed with a simple vinaigrette. These would all go nicely with Genevieve Ko’s honey ham or Kay Chun’s new recipe for lamb meatballs with pea pistou (which would also make a terrific weeknight dinner).
For this bunny-themed feast, you’ll need a festive, ultra-fluffy dessert: strawberry and cream layer cake. Claire Saffitz’s recipe is a streamlined take on the French fraisier cake; you can watch her make it (and two other spongecakes) here.
As for the rest of the week, keep dinners speedy and low-stress. Herb-marinated swordfish is bright with lemon and capers and is on the table in less than 30 minutes; pair air-fryer chicken breasts with roasted broccoli with vinegar and mustard for an easy multitasking meal.
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I missed you all while I was on vacation, and many thanks to Julia Moskin and Tejal Rao for their brilliance in my absence. I spent a week in Parma, Italy, delving into parmigiano, balsamic, culatello and prosciutto, and refining my fresh-pasta-making technique. I’m especially excited about the baked pasta rosettes I tried in Modena, stuffed with béchamel, ham and cheese, a knockout of a dish I can’t wait to recreate. (It might end up in my column; stay tuned.) There’s nothing better than travel for recipe inspiration, my mind is thrumming with ideas — time to get back to my kitchen!
Sam’s here on Friday, and I’ll see you on Monday.
