Reviewing: “Simply Pesach & Beyond, A Gluten-Free Compilation for All Year Round” by Rivky Kleiman. 2025. Mesorah Publications. ISBN 10:1-4226-4250-x/ISBN-13.

Gluten-free cooking is increasing in popularity, making “Simply Pesach & Beyond” a welcome addition to every kosher cook’s bookshelf. The book is beautifully organized and designed, with enough tips and guidelines to add to your knowledge base without being overwhelming. In her third in a series of “Simply” cookbooks, author Rivky Kleiman has once again compiled recipes that deliver the most benefit for the least amount of effort. That doesn’t mean scrimping on flavor. To the contrary, she gives cooks what we need most—guidelines to make delicious meals even when time is short. Using a rating system with one to three icons of utensils, Kleiman gives an immediate visual cue to the complexity of a dish. I don’t want to say “difficulty.” Sometimes a recipe requires steps that demand more time and labor but not necessarily more skill. This is important so that you can take advantage of her suggestion to make some recipes that are more of a “patchke” in larger quantities to use for multiple dishes. Having spent a few weeks cooking up a storm with the book, I know how to use my pareve pots for labor-intensive items like Pesach crumbs, crepes and some sauces so they are ready for several meals whether they are fleishig, milchig or pareve.

I began with a three-utensil dish: Crispy Chicken Scallion Bowls. Step 1 is to make Pesach crepes, which I will make pareve when I begin actual Pesach cooking. The crepes are put in a mold to bake until they are crispy and hold their shape. After cooking and cooling, they are the base for layers of lettuce, portobello mushrooms with wilted spinach and strips of crispy chicken scallopini topped with shallot dressing. I did not have a mold but put the crepes in ramekin cups to bake and they came out with a fine shape. For my tasters, I also served the chicken as I would a main dish, over the spinach and portobellos, with Kleiman’s Herbed Potato Kebabs as a side dish. My tasters loved it both ways. Putting the herbed potatoes on skewers was a great way to easily turn them for crispiness on both sides.

If you like artistic salads with an explosion of tastes and textures, you’ll love the Candied Hazelnut Spring Salad. I couldn’t find hazelnuts anywhere but pecans were a fine stand-in. This salad has it all—sweetness from berries and mandarin oranges, a little bite from diced red onions, a creamy vinaigrette dressing, and the crunchy nuts.

Horseradish Parmesan Sea Bass uses a filet of fish topped with prepared Pesach crumbs. I made Kleiman’s version, which calls for baking a spiced, rolled-out almond flour dough until crisp and then breaking it up into crumbs by hand or with a food processor. The slightly chewy fish and assertive topping were a great combination. I treated my husband and myself to Chilean Sea Bass for this recipe, but you can use another less-expensive fish such as halibut. I also tried it with flounder, which was too soft to stand up to the crumbs. Next time I will make the crumbs pareve so I can also make the Pecan-Coconut Crusted chicken.

Kleiman’s seared tuna salad has a different taste profile from the usual Asian flavors; the slices of quickly seared tuna are topped with a strawberry vinaigrette that is colorful and eye-catching as well as tasty. I make seared tuna as a Shabbat appetizer regularly so I’m happy to add this presentation to my repertoire.

I had high hopes for the Quinoa Pizzettes, thinking I could overcome the quinoa loathing some of my tasters harbor. No such luck. I found the quinoa and egg baked crust a good option as a pizza dough substitute but my tasters said they prefer sticking with matzah pizza. I might make it for myself, perhaps with more seasoning and a thinner base so it is more like matzah.

Beef barley soup is one of my favorites and Kleiman has a Pesach version. Flanken is cooked in a vegetable-rich broth until buttery soft and added back later with riced cauliflower standing in for the barley. Don’t add the cauliflower back too soon. When it gets too soft it loses that barley-like texture.

Since salmon is usually a fixture on my Monday night menu, I was happy to see several options in “Simply Pesach & Beyond.” The Pesto Pistachio-Crusted Salmon doubles the flavor by using pesto as a base for the nut topping. I had more pesto than I needed for the fish, so I added grated parmesan to the rest and used it as a topping for a batch of zoodles (spiralized zucchini), which has become my preferred pasta sub year-round. I also made the Honey and Orange Glazed Salmon. The sweetness of the honey and citrus is balanced by coconut aminos and apple cider vinegar in the sauce. The taste of coconut aminos is similar to soy sauce with fewer calories and less sodium.

I must give a special shout out to the Seared Duck with Wild Berry Glaze. I make duck breasts every so often for a Shabbat or Yom Tov meal. Pelleh Poultry makes packages with 4 frozen breasts that I pick up at Glatt Express in Teaneck, or you can get them shipped from Grow and Behold if you plan menus in advance. Duck breasts are easy to prepare, delicious and impressive. I usually make them with orange sauce but the wild berry glaze is the perfect foil for the rich duck breasts, with its signature Kleiman mix of sweet and spicy. I tried the sauce with another meal of chicken breast cutlets but the combination wasn’t as successful as I thought it would be. Perhaps dark cutlets, which are more similar to duck, would better stand up to the bold, assertive berry flavor.

I almost passed by the Zesty Garlic and Jalapeno Chicken Tenders. After all, what could be new? Plenty. This recipe brings lemon sauce up a notch with the addition of garlic, jalapenos and scallions. If you’ve never cooked with jalapenos, don’t be afraid to try. Half a jalapeno adds gentle heat and spice. Use a whole one if you want to turn up the thermostat.

The Basil Mayo Grilled Chicken is another recipe that at first glance seems routine but has a zippy new flavor. The marinade has mayo for richness, basil for an herby taste, vinegar for a little acidity and silan (date syrup) to balance it all out. I made my cutlets in a grill pan but you could use a skillet, bake them in the oven or put the cutlets on a real grill if you use one on Pesach.

On a day when I had an out-of-town appointment, I tried the Orange Chicken Crockpot Dinner. Chicken pieces are topped with an orange preserves and barbecue sauce combination. At the last minute I threw in some small potatoes. What a great feeling to walk in the door on a late afternoon with the aroma of dinner filling the kitchen! Since I wound up with a little time before serving dinner, I put the potatoes in the oven to crisp up and I thickened the sauce by reducing it on the cooktop, but neither step is necessary. If you’re fortunate enough to go on a Chol Hamoed day trip with the kids or grandkids, and want dinner waiting when you get home, this is an excellent option.

Although I enjoy the taste and texture of medium-rare roast beef, a braised roast is a better choice for Shabbat and Yom Tov when the timing of the meal isn’t precise. Kleiman’s Honey Garlic Square Cut Roast bakes in a braising liquid of predominantly wine and honey for 3 ½ to 4 hours and can doze on the hot plate until you’re ready to serve it.

London broil is also best served medium-rare but safer for a Shabbat or Yom Tov meal since it doesn’t have to be piping hot. The Chili Lime London Broil has a nice spicy crust and the Melt-in-Your-Mouth Split Minute Steak has a luscious, jammy onion topping. Cook the meat to just below the right temperature and then serve it at room temperature or put the sliced steak on the hot plate for about 30 minutes.

I made several veggie sides. Here’s another shout out to a surprise winner: Onion “Lukshen” Kugel. Spaghetti squash stands in for noodles and a hint of brown sugar gives it that slightly sweet lukshen kugel taste. This is definitely a year-round keeper for me since I like spoodles (spiralized spaghetti squash) as well as zoodles.

Szechuan Broccoli tastes almost like the dish you get from your favorite Chinese restaurant. As I mentioned earlier, coconut aminos is a very satisfactory soy sauce substitute. Kleiman uses additional spices and ingredients like lemon juice and vinegar to give it an authentic Chinese taste.

Well-Dressed Roasted Butternut Squash would be at home on any dinner table, year-round. I gave some to one of my tasters who doesn’t like vegetables and she asked for more.

My final foray into recipes for this review was Kleiman’s Best-Ever Pesach Brownies. While I can’t make an accurate assessment of the claim, I can assure you that they were fantastic with just the right amount of chocolate and chewiness. I used a bar of 7th Heaven Chocolate, a wonderful product made with oat milk that you would think is milchig if you didn’t see the label.

There are so many more recipes I plan to try. I want to make the Apple-Nut Kugel and Pecan Crusted Chicken. The Sesame-less Chicken would go perfectly with the Szechuan Broccoli. There are recipes for marinated and poached salmon that can be made in advance and served as a first course right out of the fridge. I am eyeing the recipes for French Onion Soup and Roasted Garlic and Parsnip Soup. Since I’ll be cooking for a crowd on Pesach, I’m looking at desserts like the Triple Chocolate Mousse Pie and Chocolate and Nut Filled Cookie Cups.

There are only eight days of Pesach. But I will keep this book on my shelf for Pesach and beyond.

Best-Ever Pesach Brownies

(reprinted by permission of the author)

Pareve

Yields 1 (8-inch) square pan

Freezer Friendly

The combination of melted chocolate and cocoa powder in these brownies yields chocolate perfection in every bite. I introduced this recipe in my cookbook, “Simply.” I loved it so much, I converted it to gluten-free so it can be enjoyed all year round.

Ingredients

• 7 oz good-quality pareve chocolate, such as Schneider’s or Noblesse
• ½ cup oil
• 3 Tbsp cocoa powder
• 3 eggs
• 1¼ cups sugar
• 2 tsp pure vanilla extract
• ½ tsp sea salt
• ½ cup potato starch

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350°F. Coat an 8-inch square pan with cooking spray.
2. In a double boiler, melt together chocolate, oil, and cocoa powder. Alternatively, microwave at 20-second intervals, stirring between intervals. Set aside.
3. In a medium bowl, whisk together eggs, sugar, vanilla, and salt until slightly thickened. Slowly add warm melted chocolate mixture, followed by potato starch. Continue to whisk until thoroughly combined. Transfer batter to prepared pan.
4. Bake 25-28 minutes on center rack, until slightly puffed. Remove from oven; brownies will become firm as they cool. Cut into squares or bars.

Basil Mayo Grilled Chicken

(reprinted by permission of the author)

Meat

Yields 6-8 servings

Every grilled chicken recipe needs to include three components—something acidic to tenderize and something sweet, complemented by something to give the dish a kick. This recipe is the perfect combination of the three that you’ll keep coming back to again and again.

Ingredients

• 2 lbs chicken cutlets

Basil Mayo Marinade

• ¼ cup mayonnaise
• 1 Tbsp Passover white vinegar
• 1 tsp dried basil
• 2 tsp silan (date syrup)
• ½ tsp sriracha
• 1 clove garlic, crushed

Directions

1. Prepare the basil mayo marinade: Combine all marinade ingredients in a resealable bag. Add cutlets to marinade. Toss to coat; allow to marinate for 10 minutes at room temperature.
2. Heat a large grill pan or skillet over medium-high heat. Coat with cooking spray and allow to begin to smoke. Working in batches if necessary, grill chicken for 4-5 minutes per side, taking care not to crowd the pan, until cooked through.

Variation

To oven bake, place marinated cutlets on a baking sheet; bake for 25 minutes at 400°F.