Passover Classics

Passover will be here within the next two weeks and home chefs are wondering to go with classic recipes or new spins. There are recipes that straddle both. They have the traditional holiday dishes ingredients but are mixed and cooked in new ways. This creates tasty holiday dishes that adhere to Kosher dietary laws.

Melissa Clark and Joan Nathan wrote about these in yesterday's New York Time's Food section..ms Clark decided to give the traditional Passover brisket a rest in her A Good Appetite column. She opts for another cut from the cow's rear - a more tender and lighter beef tenderloin. A  London Broil cut can also be used too.It only takes thirty minutes to cook up instead of the usual two hours.The sauce with it is a homemade garlic aioli but you can also used bought mayo too.The first is a fresher version made with one whole egg along with a yolk of a second one along with lemon juice for emulsion. . Horseradish is a must on the Passover table and once again Ms Clark changes it up.She replaces the traditional with beet horseradish, a vibrantly magenta topping for the beef. The root has a barely standable flavor as is so the beets add a much needed shot of sweetness.They are grated together and then chopped, pickled with white wine vinegar sugar and kosher salt.It can not only be served with the beef but also with Hillel sandwiches and gefilte fish, along with even tuna, turkey and roast beef sandwiches.

Gefilte fish is another Passover standard however it 's not always the top of the list. Contributor Joan Nathan knows this and offers a spin  on it. She created a very flavorful patty, a complete turnaround from how it 's usually made. The dish came from Eastern European Jews  and is usually made with lake carp., whitefish or pike. Traditional recipes call for the fish carcass to be stuffed with its' meat mixed with matzoh meal and onions. Eggs are used to bind everything together and then it's stuffed back into the fish. Ms. Nathan takes a modern approach to this. The usual white fish is mixed with other scaled and finned fish in accordance to Kosher law.Fatty fish such as salmon, striped bass even trout can be thrown into the stuffing, She eliminates the fish stock that they simmer in and replaced it with a vegetable court bouillon infused with colorful and fresh herbs such as tarragon, dill , parsley and chives. The court bouillon is made with the highly flavorful fennel, celery another onion and carrot. This will infuse the patties with a fresh garden flavor. Another plus of this recipe is that the patties only take twenty minutes to simmer up as opposed to the two long hours for traditional gefilte fish. The result is a firm yet tender patty that won;t fall apart while cooking.

Passover demands traditional dishes. However the tradition can be changed up to create tasty dishes that will highlight the holiday. Try these to create new traditions and new favorites.