With Passover and Easter coming up fast, many of my students have been asking me after class what they should make for the holidays and the timing of everything. Timing, timing, timing!! It seems to be the reason for so much anxiety and for good reason. Timing is everything! This is my first year doing Passover, but I’ve plenty of experience preparing Thanksgiving and multiple other holidays and dinner parties, so Passover shouldn’t be any different. Although my husband’s family is traditional and likes to observe two nights, which means two dinners back-to-back! So here are the two menus I am doing with the corresponding timeline. If I have a recipe posted, I have linked to it. If there’s no link, I’m winging it or I just haven’t posted it.
I have actually gotten a few things done already because I still have to teach classes this week and post recipes to the blog, so I need to be uber organized! Feel free to post any questions down below and I’ll do my best to respond as quickly as possible!
Friday, April 3rd
- Chicken and matzoh ball soup
- Fish with caramelized leeks
- Onion-braised brisket
- Cauliflower Mashed Potatoes
- Roasted asparagus
- Sweet potato casserole (with nut topping instead of cornflake topping)
- Salad with endive, oranges, radishes, avocado
Desserts:
- Lemon Ice Torte x 2
- Paleo Chocolate Cake with frosting
- Banana carrot almond flour muffins made into 2 9-inch cakes with cashew cream frosting
- Coconut macaroons x 2 (half dipped in chocolate)
- Cashew cheesecake
Fruit salad (my friend is bringing)
Saturday, April 4th
- Chicken and Matzoh Ball Soup
- Braised chicken with artichokes
- Onion-braised brisket
- Roasted rutabagas with balsamic
- Puree of broccoli
- Potato kugel (I’m trying this recipe for the first time, but if anyone has a great one, please share!)
- Spring salad
Leftover desserts from night before
Up to a week in advance:
Mother-in-law asked to bring matzoh balls on Friday
Make stock and freeze (homemade chicken stock recipe here)
Make coconut macaroons batter and refrigerate
Make Banana carrot almond flour cakes and freeze
Make cashew frosting and refrigerate
Make salad dressing for spring salad
Make Paleo chocolate cake and freeze
Tuesday March 31st:
Prep cauliflower into florets for mash
Segment citrus (how to segment citrus here)
Make dressing for endive orange salad
Make base for lemon ice (for torte)
Wednesday:
Make lemon ice in ice cream maker
Assemble lemon ice tortes and freeze
Wash broccoli and cut into florets for puree
Slice cabbage for spring salad
Chop fresh parsley for garnish for chicken
Make nut topping for sweet potato casserole
Bake macaroons, dip half in chocolate, store in airtight container
Thursday:
Salt chicken (the secret to great tasting chicken article and how to season ahead here)
Wash lettuce
Wash microgreens
Slice radishes for both salads and carrots for spring salad, cover with water to keep fresh
Wash and slice leeks
Defrost desserts (banana-carrot cakes, chocolate cake)
Defrost stock for soup
Defrost fish
Wash and prep berries for torte
Make sweet potato casserole minus topping and refrigerate
Prep veggies and chicken for matzoh soup
Make chocolate whipped cream and ganache for cake, ice cake, and refrigerate
Make brisket and refrigerate
Prep asparagus and refrigerate
Friday:
Peel and cube potatoes for cauli-mash, place in water
Frost banana carrot almond flour cakes
2-3 hours in advance: Remove chocolate cake from fridge and let sit at room temp
4 hours in advance: Top sweet potato casserole with topping, bake at 350 degrees for 40 min
4:00 pm: Make cauliflower mashed potatoes and place in bowl over simmering water to keep warm.
Remove lemon torte from freezer, garnish with berries
Caramelize leeks and let sit off heat until ready to serve fish
Slice brisket and reheat on stove
6:00 pm: Place soup and matzoh balls on stove on warm
Roast asparagus at 400 degrees for 12 minutes and leave at room temp
Slice endive and avocado
Assemble Endive orange salad and dressing
Saturday Morning:
Make broccoli puree and refrigerate
Peel potatoes for kugel and place in water
Peel and cut onions into wedges for kugel
Peel and cube rutabagas
Slice onions and garlic for chicken
Measure out artichokes, stock, bay leaves, mustard, capers in same bowl
Wash and chop chives for salad
Tear lettuce into pieces and assemble salad
Slice brisket and reheat on stove
6:00 pm: Place soup and matzoh balls on stove on warm
When serving soup, bake fish for 12 minutes
Make potato kugel and bake at 350 degrees for 45-55 min in small oven with Broccoli Puree 350 degrees for 45 min to reheat
Brown chicken, saute veggies and deglaze pan, meanwhile roast rutabagas 425 degrees for 40 min in big oven.
Braised Chicken 375 30-35 minutes in big oven, pull out to rest and turn up big oven to 450 to finish rutabagas
Dress salad
Other recipes I like for Passover:
Dairy-free Creamy Asparagus Soup (sub potatoes for the oats)
Cauliflower and Roasted Garlic Soup
Easy No-fail Whole Roasted Chicken
Orange-rosemary Glazed Chicken (use coconut aminos in place of shoyu/tamari)
Poached Salmon with Cucumber Yogurt Sauce
Maple-Mustard Roasted Vegetables
Asparagus Salad with Mint Dressing
8 Comments
Thank you for this post! I am making the chocolate zucchini cake for satrday night’s seder. Should I make it friday night and keep it in the fridge or make it saturday and leave it out? We will be driving 1 hr to the seder. Thanks!
You’re welcome! Make it whenever it is convenient for you. The cake holds up quite well. You don’t even need to keep it refrigerated from Friday to Saturday, unless you are worried people will eat it before the seder!
Thank you so much for this post! If you are able to share any details on the endive salad I’d love to hear, sounds delicious. One of my favorite Passover desserts (I actually make it year round) I have been making for a few years is : http://toriavey.com/toris-kitchen/2011/04/chocolate-crackle-cake/
Happy Holidays!
Hi Dina! THanks for sharing the dessert link. I checked it out and it looks amazing! Endive salad is with orange segments, avocado, radishes and the dressing is with orange juice, white wine vinegar, olive oil salt and pepper. I also finish the salad with Maldon salt and I am teaching it this month in my classes with a pumpkin seed brittle!!
Thank you!!! I just emailed my mother who always does Passover. This year she has 36.
My pleasure! I hope your mother is getting a little help. 36 is a lot!
So happy to read this and realizing that it really is all in the planning. Im having 42 people- crazy but true – and am intrigued by your pureed broccolli. Can you give any more info on how you prepare that? Thanks so much! See you in class next month!
42?? Wow! I am impressed! It will be so much fun. Pureed broccoli is simple. It’s a matter of blanching broccoli florets in salted water until tender. Drain and immediately puree in a food processor with unsalted butter and a little salt and pepper to taste. Sometimes I add lemon zest. I can’t really say how much butter I add since I wing it. When I had an 11 cup food processor, I would almost fill it with broccoli and then add a couple Tbs. of butter and puree. You can make it a day ahead and reheat. My kids and husband love it!