Passover is fast-approaching and lots of folks on the Bon Appétit staff (myself included) are celebrating with a seder. We asked them what they’re cooking for the holiday: Dense or fluffy matzo balls? Chicken or brisket or…meatballs? Explore the recipes, ranging from BA classics to cherished family heirlooms, below. You might even find new inspiration for your table.
Shawarma-spiced carrots
My sister insists on hosting Passover every year. I get Chanukah and Rosh Hashanah if I’m lucky, but she runs the seder and won’t budge. She’ll often make brisket or salmon, matzo ball soup, zucchini kugel, and will ask me and my sibling to bring a side and dessert. Year after year I’ve made roasted carrots and matzo bark. Last year, Maple–Harissa Glazed Carrots. This year, these Shawarma-Spiced Carrots With Date and Herb Salad from old BA staffer Zaynab Issa. One day—if I ever do graduate to Pesach host—this Roasted Salmon With Citrus Salsa Verde is sure to win a spot on my menu. —Nina Moskowitz, associate editor, cooking
Shawarma spices aren’t just for chicken and meat.
Charoset in many forms
This year—and every year—I’m excited to make charoset. I equally love the Ashkenazi version I grew up eating (chunky with chopped apples and walnuts) and the Sephardic rendition (smooth with dates and mixed nuts). But as I’ve continued to riff on traditional recipes, I like to turn the apple version into a salad. I’ll thinly slice apples and combine them with toasted crushed walnuts, drizzled with lemon juice and sprinkled with salt. I’ve also started making the date version very stiff, so it can be rolled into little truffles—they’re especially good dipped in melted dark chocolate. But my favorite way to buck the charoset-tradition is actually to not make it at all. I put together a fruit and nut platter inspired by the dish, complete with dates and dried apricots, apple wedges and grapes, walnuts and pistachios, plus the store-bought macaroons and colorful jelly fruit slices my grandparents always put out during the holiday. —Rebecca Firkser, Test Kitchen editor
Mama’s matzo bark
It wouldn’t be a Passover without my Mom’s riff on Bonnie Stern’s Caramel Matzo Crunch, which we now call Mama’s Matzo Bark. Since I live far away from her, I now make this when I need a little piece of home, a.k.a. this year’s seder. Not only is it so easy to make, but it’s also really fun to eat. Just four simple ingredients (matzo, butter, brown sugar, and chocolate chips) are what make sweet, rich toffee-like bites that make me truly crave matzo. My favorite part of this treat is making it my own: Add a sprinkle of flaky salt, crushed hazelnuts, rainbow sprinkles. It all works! —Abi Lieff, assistant to the editor in chief
Grandma’s sweet-and-sour meatballs
Passover is my mom’s Super Bowl. She makes everything from scratch: soup, chopped liver, gefilte fish, her famous brisket, and my grandmother’s sweet-and-sour meatballs (my favorite). This year, I’m on meatball duty. I’ll be making her tangy sauce, featuring tomato juice, brown sugar, and sauerkraut, and meatballs, made from ground beef mixed with onion, eggs, and matzo meal. They’ll poach in the sauce until glistening and fork-tender. We’ll serve them in my grandmother’s vintage silver soup tureen, though it’s hard to resist eating them straight from the pot. —Emma Jacobson, contributing social media editor
Mom’s unsinkable matzo balls
My mother taught me (correctly) that the ideal matzo ball is light and airy, with a cloud-like texture. Her go-to recipe is strikingly similar to Molly Baz’s No-Nonsense Matzo Balls, with one exception: She ensures each ball floats to the top of the simmering liquid and stays there for the duration of cooking. Any balls that fall to the bottom suffer a miserable, dense-center fate, and that simply will not abide on Passover. We make the soup together and it’s a true collab; Mom handles the balls and I tackle the broth. My specialty is a spin on Andy Baraghani’s exceptional Chicken Soup With Caramelized Ginger. Feel free to steal my tweaks: I start with a rotisserie chicken to save time, removing the meat to plunk in at the end and reserving the bones for the broth. I also triple the called-for amounts of ginger, garlic, and sugar, which gives the resulting soup a tonic-like quality. But warning, you need to really like ginger to go this route. —Rachel Tepper Paley, site director
This straightforward technique delivers fluffy, flavorful results every time.
