5 Recipes to kick off your Passover!

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Happy YASSSletter Thursday! 

Hello beautiful people! We've been running left and right since our arrival back from Israel. The spring is full speed ahead with Passover next week, and Easter soon after. We've got some amazing things in store for you cuties, especially those of you who've been asking for the Matzo Ball & Chicken Soup Recipe.

So without further ado, this week on the agenda we've got all things Passover!

1. 📜 History + Origin: Passover

2. 🥣 Matzo Ball & Chicken Soup Recipe

3. 🐔 Chopped Liver Recipe

4. 🫓 Matzah Shmura Recipe

5. 🌴Haroset Balls

📜 History + Origin: Passover

Passover is an ancient Jewish festival that commemorates the liberation of the Israelites from slavery in Egypt. According to the Bible, God instructed Moses to ask Pharaoh to let the Israelites go, but Pharaoh refused, so God sent ten plagues to Egypt. The final plague was the death of every firstborn Egyptian, but the Israelites were spared because they marked their doors with the blood of a sacrificial lamb.After the plague, Pharaoh finally allowed the Israelites to leave Egypt, and they quickly departed, but their bread did not have time to rise, so they took unleavened bread instead.

Passover is also known as the Feast of Unleavened Bread, and it is celebrated for seven or eight days, depending on the branch of Judaism. Today, Passover is celebrated by Jews around the world with a Seder meal, which retells the story of the Exodus and includes specific foods and rituals, such as matzah and the recitation of the Haggadah.

The dishes served for an Israeli Seder may vary depending on family traditions and regional customs, but here are some common examples that make it to our Seder table:

1. Matzo - the unleavened bread that represents the haste in which the Israelites left Egypt, often served as a side dish or used as a base for other foods.

2. Haroset - a sweet mixture of chopped apples, nuts, wine, and spices that symbolizes the mortar used by Jewish slaves in ancient Egypt.

3. Matzo ball soup - a soup made with matzo meal and chicken broth, often served as a starter to the Seder meal.

4. Gefilte fish - a fish dish made from ground whitefish, pike, or carp, mixed with matzo meal, eggs, and seasonings, served as an appetizer.

5. Chrain - a beet and horseradish spread which represents the bitterness of slavery.

6. Chopped Liver - cooked chicken liver that is finely chopped or pureed and mixed with sautéed onions, hard-boiled eggs, and seasonings such as salt, pepper, and paprika.

🥣 Matzo Balls & Chicken Soup 

I have to admit- Matzo Balls are one of my top favorite foods in the world. Every year I'm waiting for Passover to arrive so I can have the excuse to eat them! I just recently discovered that here in America people eat matzo balls all year long, a habit that I'll definitely adopt from now on. Matzo balls are traditionally served in chicken soup and are a staple food on the Jewish holiday of Passover. I got this phenomenal recipe from my aunt Yonat, who is known for her legendary matzo balls. It's extremely simple and I encourage all of you, Jewish or not, to give it a try! Once you have the chicken soup done, it takes less than an hour from mixing to serving. And it's so unbelievably delicious!

🐔 Chopped Liver

Chopped liver is absolutely one of my favorite Ashkenazi Jewish foods of all times. What can I say, I really love Passover foods. (LOL) There are so many ways to make it, some blend it to a pate, some add eggplants in, but for me- it's my grandma's recipe that always wins. Her version uses chicken livers, hard-boiled eggs, onion, duck fat, a shot of whiskey, strong black pepper and salt. The result is an addictive, complex dish—there’s the rich, funky liver, of course, but it’s layered with the sweetness of sautéed onions and the flavor of the duck fat and whiskey. The eggs, add tenderness make it soft and spreadable, perfect for schmearing on a Matzah. I eat chopped liver all year long, but for passover I enjoy it with a Matzah crackers and a side of a crispy spicy salad.

🫓 Matzah Shmura (Homemade Matzah)

We open Passover season with "Pesah Serie" - the queen- Matzah Shmura. What is Matzah Shmura?? Without getting into too many details, in the Bible, Passover symbolizes the escape of the Israelites from Egyptian slavery, when God "passed over" the Israelite households during the last of the ten plagues. The Israelites didn't have much time to prepare food for the way. With that being said, their bread did not have time to leaven and proof. SOOOOO.... they made a flatbread and baked it immediately. The result? A thin, crisp bread called Matzah! The process of making Matzah is very strict. The whole process (from mixing the ingredients until baking) should never exceed 18 min!! That is not a lot of time people! Now, back to the Matzah Shmura. Industrial Matzahs for the holiday are usually sold in a square shape. While Matzah Shmura has to be made by hand, in a round shape, and of course within 18 minutes! Matzah Shmura is a very important symbolic Passover food. Matzah Shmura is especially important as it used to bless upon at Seder dinner. I decided to share with you this story and the extremely easy and quick recipe!

🌴 Haroset Balls

To be honest, my entire childhood I was scared of Haroset. Firstly, because of its name. Haroset. Secondly, there are many versions of making this dish so you never really know what to expect. Some add grated apples, some add sweet wine, some add both. So I decided to make an easy-going version for you guys, highlighting only the ingredients I like. Dates, nuts, raisins, and spices. The mixture ended up being solid like a stiff dough. So I took a look at the paste and thought: "Let's roll them into balls and eat them like a snack". That's how the Haroset Balls came to be. During the Passover season, people avoid eating bread, so what's better to snack than Haroset Balls - all week long!?

Hope you have a weekend full of YASSS! Until next Thursday Gingis.

Love, Ben & Zikki xx

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