Over the years, Rivky Kleiman has made quite the name for herself in the world of kosher cooking. Her first two cookbooks, “Simply” and “Simply Gourmet,” firmly positioned her as the go-to girl for approachable recipes with that little something extra, so it comes as no surprise that her latest book, “Simply Pesach & Beyond,” an ArtScroll publication, is flying off the shelves.
Let’s not kid ourselves. Cooking for Pesach can be a daunting prospect, as you try to put together meals that are a cut above, in a relatively short amount of time, with fairly limited ingredients. But fear not, my fellow foodies, Kleiman’s got us covered with more than 140 recipes that check all the boxes. You want freezer-friendly food that you can prepare in advance? “Simply Pesach & Beyond” has plenty of items that fit the bill. Hate being surprised when a recipe that looked fairly straightforward turns out to be anything but? No worries; all the recipes here are clearly marked according to their level of difficulty, with a graphic of a single spoon atop the ingredient list indicating simpler dishes, a spoon and knife marking those that are a little more complicated, and a spoon, knife and fork delineating the ones for more ambitious cooks.
Of course, the biggest challenge in Pesach cooking isn’t making a fabulous roast, a great salad or a killer potato kugel, recipes that often don’t contain chametz—it’s trying to produce baked goods without using conventional flour. Kleiman offers a full introduction to gluten-free baking in “Simply Pesach & Beyond,” and while the non-gebrokts (aka gluten-free) recipes that have been around for years were always heavy with potato starch and ground nuts, the offerings here are vastly different. Kleiman’s baked goods rely heavily on almond flour, and she lightens up both the texture and flavor with the inclusion of coconut flour, tapioca starch, potato starch, and the occasional inclusion of ground nuts.
Flavor profiles in this book are elevated through an array of ingredients that should be relatively easy to find if you have access to a major kosher supermarket. Kleiman switches things up with a variety of vinegars (white, red wine, apple cider and balsamic), wine, cooking sherry, maple syrup, silan and coconut aminos, a relative newcomer to the Pesach market that makes an excellent soy sauce substitute. And of course, there are plenty of naturally fabulous flavors in “Simply Pesach & Beyond” as well, with judicious sprinklings of spices, herbs and produce in every color of the rainbow keeping things from feeling boring or repetitious.
There are also a number of basics here that are well worth mentioning. Kleiman has two varieties of gluten-free crumbs here—one savory and one sweet, both of which have a much more appealing ingredient list than the pre-packaged ones you buy in the store. The seasoned crumbs do require a little more work—you have to make a dough, roll it out, bake it, break it up and then toss it in the food processor, but the sweet ones take less than two minutes to make. (Of course, if you, like me, have family members who are allergic to almonds, neither of these recipes will work for you, so then by all means, buy the packaged ones and enjoy the convenience factor.) Once you try Kleiman’s homemade chrein, you may never eat the stuff that comes in a jar ever again, though I recommend skipping the step where you cook the beets and just use them raw, which will make everything go much faster. And be sure to try out the Pesach crepes here, which are used in several recipes, including the genius idea of slicing a stack of crepes into noodles and frying them up in oil to use as a crispy salad topper.
As someone who gravitates towards Pesach recipes that let me sauté food in a foil pan on my stovetop of the stove with a plastic spoon, I viewed all the recipes here through two separate lenses. Even as I kept an eye out for easier recipes that I plan to add to my to-be-cooked list, I also made sure to take note of some of the more involved recipes that I am hoping someone else will volunteer to make for me, since I probably won’t make them myself. So, which ones appealed to me most?
On the easy side, I am definitely adding the shepherd’s pie, whose ground beef filling is livened up with apricot jam, to my Pesach menu, although I may just cheat and prepare the recipe in one larger pan instead of making the adorable personal-sized ones that Kleiman has here. Roasted bi-color onions and shallots paired with a creamy maple-garlic dressing is sure to impress, while the butternut squash muffins will definitely be a welcome change from potatoes, potatoes and more potatoes. Also calling my name is the chicken glazed with cranberry sauce, duck sauce, wine and honey, and the onion lokshen kugel made that has spaghetti squash standing in for noodles. And should I decide I want to get fancy l’kavod Yom Tov, I may experiment with the herbed potato kebabs, because doesn’t everything look more enticing when you serve it on a skewer?
There are even baked goods here that look like they will come together fairly quickly, always a draw for me when it comes to Pesach. While I normally consider babka to be beyond my pay grade, this version looks very approachable, and I love the fact that the words “rolling pin” appear nowhere in this recipe. Instead, a dusting of crumbs in the bottom of the pan is topped with alternating layers of batter and filling, the whole thing swirled together with a knife before being topped by an extra helping of streusel. I’m really hoping that the glazed lemon loaf is as good as it looks, because sometimes you just need something a little different on Pesach, and this cake looks like it will definitely hit the spot.
As for the recipes here that I would love to taste if someone else made them, pecan-coconut chicken with a lemon marinade sounds absolutely divine, as does the maple-nut crunch salad, which like every other recipe with three separate components, just has way too many moving parts for me, even if they are simple ones. Similarly, I would love to try the biscotti bite granola and her drool-worthy, amaretto-tinged chocolate mousse pie, topped with a velvety chocolate ganache, if anyone out there is interested in making them for me! And who knows, maybe I will muster the resolve to make Kleiman’s lasagna, which has thinly sliced roasted sliced of zucchini filling in for the usual pasta that holds everything together, because with so many meals to serve, I think everyone is going to want something other than chicken and meat.
Ironically, as I was looking for the super-complicated recipes in “Simply Pesach & Beyond,” I realized that there aren’t too many of these. Nearly all the recipes here are either easy, or not particularly difficult, which really has me feeling confident that I can conjure up a Pesach menu that everyone will get excited about, without spending endless hours at the stove. “Simply Pesach & Beyond” really kicks Pesach food up a notch in with enough options to keep everyone happy, even over a three day yom tov.
As I said, Kleiman’s got our back, giving us the instructions and the inspiration to serve up an entire Yom Tov’s worth of food that is simply delicious!
Sandy Eller is a freelance writer who writes for print and web media outlets, and private clients. She can be contacted at sandyeller1@gmail.com
