Dips

This is an assortment of the dips I make before Pesach. It’s the first thing I do when I turn over my kitchen, and although I don’t have much pareve equipment all year round, on Pesach, I make sure that I do. This way all my homemade dips, salads, dressings, and condiments can be served at any meal. I serve about three or four salatim per brunch, switching them up based on whatever else is planned for the meal.

My usual assortment of Pesach salatim includes:

Matbucha, mayonnaise, garlic mayo, horseradish mayo, zaalouk (cooked eggplant and tomato salad), Moroccan carrot salad, kohlrabi salad, spicy cucumber salad, Moroccan eggplant salad, almond “techina,” s’chug, tomato dip, marinated jalapeños, pickled onions, roasted red pepper dip, zucchini carpaccio, pickled veggies, and whatever else I muster up from my kitchen on my salatim-cooking day!

Eggs

(Let’s go in order of least to most involved)

• cheesy scrambled eggs
• soft-boiled eggs
• hard-boiled eggs
• crustless broccoli quiche
• crustless four-kinds-of-onion quiche
• shakshuka
• poached eggs

Potatoes/Mains

• hash browns
• cheesy scalloped potatoes
• Tater Tots (to be served alone or turned into nachos!)
• crispy cheesy potatoes
• crepe lasagna
• gravlax
• zucchini fritters

Salads

• lettuce salad with orange-horseradish vinaigrette
• mozzarella-tomato salad
• avocado salad
• salade Niçoise
• Israeli salad
• lemony green slaw

Something Sweet

• almond flour pancakes
• Non-gebrochts French toast sticks
• fruit crisp
• poached pears
• baked apples with nut-only granola

Now it’s just a matter of choosing one option of each category and serving up a delicious brunch so that you have one less meal to cook for.

Ha. Just kidding. No house elves around here. We still need to cook the food. So let’s get to it.

What to Prep before Pesach

Here’s a list of things to do before Pesach to help prep for these brunches:

• Make gravlax a day or two before Pesach since it needs time to cure anyway!
• Make extra crepes for the lasagna.
• Squeeze tons of lemons and store in quart-sized containers for all salad needs.
• Sauté all onions. I’m talking about 30–40 large yellow onions, sautéed until golden and then portioned into small ziplock bags for easy use.
• Make three extra yellow cakes (use whichever recipe you like best) in long rectangular pans and freeze them for the French toast sticks.
• Same with oranges.
• Make three or four batches of Tater Tots. They’re the perfect side dish for saucy meats and chickens, they make a great topping for a Pesachdig chicken pot pie, and of course, no one can resist a batch of Tater Tot nachos.
• Peel tons of potatoes, slice in half lengthwise, and parboil. This is really the biggest time-saver. The potatoes can stay prepped and ready-to-go in the fridge for up to five days. I usually do this on Erev Pesach in the morning so it lasts through Chol Hamoed. Parboiled potatoes make the perfect Tater Tots and speed up the prep time and cooking time for things like hash browns and scalloped potatoes!
• Make a few batches of nut-only granola. Portion into ziplock bags and freeze.
• Prepare poached pears.

Now let’s get down to the nitty-gritty, day-of prep (and what I do the night before to make sure things run smoothly):

The night before, I decide my menu and pull out all the ingredients I’ll need in the morning. Rummaging through Pesach ingredients is an extra step I don’t want to deal with! Then I take a look at my menu and see if there’s anything I can prep the night before.

What to Prep the Night Before

Here’s a list of some of the dishes that can be prepped and what that prep is:

Crepe lasagna: Assemble lasagna, cover with foil, and pop in the fridge.

Shakshuka: Crack open all the eggs and gently place in a quart-sized container; cover and refrigerate. No cracking and checking eggs in the morning is a win for me!

Pancakes: Make the batter; cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate.

Scalloped potatoes: Assemble completely. Cover with foil and pop in the fridge.

Quiche: Sauté onions and stick them right into the greased pan you’re going to cook them in. Cover and place in the fridge. The next day, just add the rest of the ingredients and pop in the oven.

Zucchini fritters: Prepare the batter and place in the fridge. In the morning, a half hour before frying, remove from fridge. If the batter is a little too liquidy, add one tablespoon of potato starch at a time until it thickens.

Now that you have all my tips and secrets to serving (and enjoying!) a successful Pesach brunch, it’s time to plan your menu!

Choose one option from each category per day. Make a list of all the things you can prep ahead and pop them into the freezer before Pesach begins. Each night, check your menu for the next day, pull out what you can from the freezer, and prep what you can for the next day.

Zucchini Fritters

• 4 zucchini, shredded
• 1½ tsp kosher salt, divided
• 4 Tbsp sautéed onions
• ½ tsp pepper
• 4 eggs, beaten
• 2 Tbsp olive oil
• ½ cup almond flour
• ¼ cup potato starch

Mix zucchini in a bowl with ¹⁄₂ tsp salt and let sit for 15 minutes. Use your hand to remove a handful of the zucchini and squeeze to drain liquid. Place drained zucchini into a large bowl. Repeat until all the zucchini is drained.

Add remaining ingredients to the large bowl. Mix well to combine.

Heat a large pan over medium-high heat. Add some olive oil. Drop 2–3 tablespoons of batter into the pan and use the bottom of the spoon to flatten slightly. Cook until the edges are golden, about 2–3 minutes, then carefully flip and cook for another 1–2 minutes on the second side. Continue until all the batter is fried.

Almond Flour Pancakes

• 2 Tbsp butter
• 4 eggs, separated
• 4 Tbsp sugar
• 1 Tbsp vanilla sugar
• 1¾ cups almond flour
• ¼ cup potato starch
• 1 tsp baking powder
• ¼ tsp salt

In the pan you’ll use to make the pancakes, melt butter, then remove from heat.

With electric beaters, beat egg whites until stiff. Set aside.

In another bowl, beat egg yolks, gradually adding sugars. Add the rest of the ingredients, including the melted butter. The batter will be thick. Gently fold in the egg whites.

Over medium heat, pour pancake batter into a buttered pan, and with a spoon make pancakes the size of the rim of plastic cup, not bigger.

Cook for 1–2 minutes on each side.

Serve hot and enjoy!

Tip: These make for an excellent snack to bring on day trips!

Orange-Horseradish Vinaigrette

• ¼ cup grated horseradish
• 3 large (or 4 medium) shallots, halved and sliced very thinly
• 1 cup + 2 Tbsp freshly squeezed orange juice
• 2 Tbsp apple cider vinegar
• 1 tsp kosher salt
• ¼ tsp coarse black pepper

Put everything in a jar and shake to combine!

It’s best to make this a day in advance so the flavors can all come together and the shallots can marinate because, really, the shallots are my favorite part!

Serve it over any salad, and don’t forget to spoon the marinated shallots over everything!

(Originally featured in Family Table, Issue 890)