Happy Passover on Cafe Liz

It's that time of year again, and hopefully you're ready for Passover. Well, it doesn't really matter, because Passover starts tonight whether you like it or not. Hopefully you like it. If you're like me, you've been eagerly anticipating Passover food for weeks now. I haven't gotten around to trying out new recipes before the holiday, though, so this is my round-up from last year, with a few additions.

Either way, hopefully some of my Passover recipes can make your holiday just a bit brighter. And I'll be posting a few more as the holiday progresses. Here are both holiday recipes, as well as everyday recipes that just happen to fit the spirit of the holiday:

Seder plate classics:

• My mother's charoset recipe, in traditional Turkish style
• Cranberry charoset, a new-world inspired version
• Homemade horseradish, for when the store bought stuff isn't hot enough

Family staples:

• Sweet Turkish bimuelos, my favorite Passover food and a recipe that has received much interest in the past few years
• Mina de espinaka, a Sephardic spinach-cheese pie and another family staple

Modern twists:

• Matzo ball soup with Middle Eastern spices
• Matzo balls in Persian fruit soup
• Mushroom bechamel croquettes

Desserts:

• Chocolate Passover biscotti, which you won't be able to stop eating
• Chocolate covered caramelized matzo, which you also won't be able to stop eating

Post-Passover (it's never too early to plan):

• Moroccan mufletas

Of course, then there all all the other, non-holiday specific recipes that just happen to be kosher for Passover. Everything free of chametz (grains, namely wheat, barley, oatmeal, rye and amaranth) appears in my Sephardi Passover recipe list (or see it in chronological blog format), while everything free of both chametz and kitniyot (legumes, rice and corn) appears in my Ashkenazi Passover recipe list (also in blog format). (Let me know if I've mislabled anything.)

Lots of Passover recipe roundups by others:

• Mimi on Israeli Kitchen
  
• Martha Stewart (I particularly like the matzo granola idea, though I haven't tried it)
• Some creative ideas on What Jew Wanna Eat
• Tons and tons of stuff on Kosher Blogger

If that's not enough, here are some Passover posts by others that I enjoyed:

• Faye Levy on Yemenite-fusion matzo balls
• Miriam examines seder customs, particularly Yemenite customs, and ponders what the holiday means to her
• Cara rethinks the seder plate
• Sarah blogs in Judeo-Spanish a.k.a. Ladino (love this blog!) and presents a Sephardic matzo ball recipe and a haroset nearly identical to my own
• A friend of my friend Ben recounts their seder in Malawi

Hag sameach!