6 New Passover Recipes From Chefs Who Celebrate
When I picture my extended family, we’re all seated around a seder table that’s covered in matzo crumbs and Manischewitz. My dad strums “Ma Nishtanah” on the guitar while I snack on salt-slicked parsley and lock eyes with my sister, silently asking when the prayers end and the meal begins.
Each spring Jewish families gather to recount the biblical tale of Exodus, when the Israelites escaped bondage in Egypt via locust swarms and parted seas. Passover is a festival of stories and song, ritual and resistance. And because we’re Jews, it’s symbolized with food. At the center of the table, a decorative platter—the seder plate—displays the foods that have guided the night’s ceremony for generations: matzo, roast shankbone, bitter herbs, spring vegetables, and charoset studded with nuts and fruit. And for eight days (or seven, if you’re in Israel), we go without the usual bagels and pita, cleansing our homes and diets of leavened foods—and, depending on the family and their heritage, grains, legumes, and seeds as well—to represent the haste of leaving Egypt without enough time for bread to rise.
Matzo may be known as the bread of affliction, but the Passover meal is a feast. As a kid growing up in Los Angeles, seder meant sweet sliced brisket, The Silver Palate’s Chicken Marbella, and kebabs from a Moroccan restaurant on Westwood Boulevard. Dessert was tangerines (from the garden) and sticky coconut macaroons (from the deli), while the grown-ups broke out mezcal. But no two seders are the same, and the canon of beloved Passover dishes is as expansive as the Jewish diaspora itself. We asked seven chefs to share the recipes that define their own celebrations, where their tables are perfumed with fenugreek, harissa, and schmaltz. —Aliza Abarbanel
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Photograph by Emma Fishman, food styling by D’mytrek Brown, prop styling by Elizabeth Jaime1/6Yuzu Kosho Deviled Eggs
“When I’m cooking for Passover, karpas (a green vegetable, often parsley, representing spring) is always my inspiration—it was my first taste of the seder plate. I grew up in Minneapolis without a religious education—my parents are immigrants from Argentina, where they had a very secular lifestyle—but when I was in first grade, a generous family in our neighborhood invited us over for my first seder. What I remember most was dipping the parsley in the salt water (to symbolize the Israelites’ tears in Egypt)—it was delicious. I’m still attracted to those flavors, on display here.” —Alex Raij, chef-owner of Txikito
Photograph by Emma Fishman, food styling by D’mytrek Brown, prop styling by Elizabeth Jaime2/6Yemeni Chicken Matzo Ball Soup
“I grew up in a religious home in Israel, raised by a Persian mother and Yemeni father. When I was a child, Passover would include 30 or 40 people because I had 26 cousins. We followed a funny Persian tradition: We’d pass out scallions and when we sang ‘Dayenu,’ we’d hit each other over the head with them. We ate this Yemeni chicken soup every Friday night, with a special version for Passover. For seders at my old restaurant, Balaboosta, I served a riff on it along with other dishes that combined the cultures of Ashkenazi Jews in Eastern Europe and Mizrahi Jews in the Middle East and North Africa. Showcasing the flavors of where I come from serves as a bridge between Jewish cultures.” —Einat Admony, chef-owner of Taïm Falafel
Photograph by Emma Fishman, food styling by D’mytrek Brown, prop styling by Elizabeth Jaime3/6Alicha Denich
“I’m a classic melting-pot story: I’m an Ethiopian married to a Yemeni man, and I cook all kinds of food at home in Tel Aviv. On Passover, we always make this potato and cabbage dish. Like many Ethiopian recipes, it does not contain many expensive ingredients but is rich in flavor and texture. Somewhere between a soup and a stew, it’s the perfect accompaniment to a larger meal with a meat component. The vegetables are roughly cut so that they maintain their shape and soak up the garlicky, spicy, gingery broth.” —Fanta Prada, chef-owner of Balinjera
Photograph by Emma Fishman, food styling by D’mytrek Brown, prop styling by Elizabeth Jaime4/6Mushroom Matzo Kugel
“Most of my mom’s recipes are rooted in the time before she emigrated from Soviet-era Belarus, where making dishes related to Jewish heritage was discouraged. So this casserole is one she learned to bake when she moved to Chicago, after a cousin made it for Passover. Now my mom serves it every year. While her version uses cream of mushroom soup and frozen spinach, I go with homemade mushroom stock, Swiss chard, and crème fraîche.” —Bonnie Morales, chef and co-owner of Kachka
Photograph by Emma Fishman, food styling by D’mytrek Brown, prop styling by Elizabeth Jaime5/6Slow-Roast Lamb With Harissa and Apricots
“Leetal’s Turkish grandmother loved to make lamb before she emigrated to Israel, but when she got there it was so hard to find that she reserved it for holidays. We use ras-el-hanout, harissa, and preserved lemons on the meat as a nod to Ron’s Moroccan heritage. Because fennel is a springtime vegetable and Passover is a spring holiday, it’s also a must. We love to put the lamb in the oven before bed and wake up to its aroma. It’s the most delicious thing in the world.” —Ron and Leetal Arazi, co-owners of New York Shuk
Photograph by Emma Fishman, food styling by D’mytrek Brown, prop styling by Elizabeth Jaime6/6Flourless Chocolate Cake With Café de Olla Ganache
“I grew up in a tight-knit Jewish community in Mexico City and Passover was a very big deal—we’d swap out our dishes, silverware, pots, everything. One of my aunts, Adela, started making this Passover dessert 35 years ago and it’s now become a part of my holiday table. At Masa Madre, we add a café de olla ganache as an homage to our Mexican heritage. It’s flavored with piloncillo, cinnamon, and coffee, which plays off the chocolate in the cake.” —Tamar Fasja Unikel, co-owner of Masa Madre
