Passover Recipe Guides

This Friday, April 22nd, is not only Earth Day but also the start of Passover at sunset. If you are looking for inspiration for your Seder table, check out these guides: Celebrate Passover... from Epicurious, The Passover Table from NYT Cooking, and 9 Perfect Plates for Passover from Whole Foods. Plus, for grain-free Paleo Passover options, go to our local yet national favorite, Elana's Pantry and pop Passover into the search box for lots of healthy options.

Boulder A Kosher Wasteland Right Now

Happy Easter and continuation of Passover! We're planning a traditional Easter dinner today, with a beautiful ham from Whole Foods, golden potatoes with caper brown-butter crumbs from Gourmet magazine, and asparagus with balsamic tomatoes from Cooking Light. Since Easter brunch is also traditional but rarely done in the house, I started thinking about how to incorporate and easy one when a rather unorthodox idea for Easter hit me. Thinking about egg dishes, I remembered an old favorite I haven't made for many years, matzo brei, to which I was introduced by the Jewish family of a childhood friend. The basic idea is so simple, essentially a delicious riff on scrambled eggs. As I remember it, you get your raw scrambled eggs ready, then loosely break up an appropriate number of matzo crackers and lightly wet them before incorporating them, more broken up, into the egg mixture. Then just cook much like scrambled eggs, except the matzos will add so much more interest. I might add a bit of diced onion and/or Whole Foods' garlic granules to amp it up.

This idea sent me in search of a box of matzos on Friday, which was not only Good Friday but also the start of Passover that evening. At the Whole Foods on Pearl Street, I found the kosher food section completely bare, and the nice guy stocking an end-cap Passover display with what little they had left said they'd been completely wiped out. Not a matzo cracker to be seen in that store. Onward I went to the Sprouts on Arapahoe, where I wasn't able to locate a kosher section, although it might exist. Seeking help, I asked a stocker if they had matzos, and he drew a complete blank, saying he'd never heard of them (ah, Boulder). But he kindly went in search of a manager for further help, but since he couldn't find one, I struck out there too. In desperation, I moved on to the mammoth Safeway in the Meadows shopping center. There again their kosher section had been completely wiped out. A nice stocker directed me to another display near the bakery, but the only things left there were five pound packages (actually five one pound boxes wrapped together as one) of matzos. For something I haven't made in decades, I wasn't about to buy five pounds of matzos for it. Yesterday, my husband was in the vicinity of the Whole Foods in Superior, where he found a couple of boxes of matzos remaining (noting you had to be at least six feet to see them). Ironically, they were marked as not suitable for Passover, which might be why they were still there, but he fortunately grabbed one since that wasn't a guiding principle for our brunch.

So the moral of the story is that Boulder stores seem to be seriously underestimating the culinary needs of the local Jewish community and/or those of us with interests in exploring a variety of cuisines.

Passover Ideas

Spring is upon us, with this absolutely gorgeous weather. That means Passover is coming up shortly, with Easter right behind it. If you are looking for new ideas for your Seder table, here are a few guides to help you out: a super-green menu from Epicurious, F&W's Ultimate Guide to Passover Recipes from Food and Wine magazine, and the always authoritative source, Passover Recipes from the New York Times, including lots of highlights from the archives.

Holiday Foods From Boulder Farmers' Market Today

With both Passover and Easter occurring at the same time this year, the Boulder Farmers' Market, 8 to 2 today in downtown, is inviting you to complete those meals with something fresh from the market. Here's what they say:

Complete Seder and Easter Meals from BCFM!

 

Spring has sprung at the Markets!!! 

Come and stock up on Lamb, Chicken, Beef, Spinach, Eggs, Breads, Potatoes, Fresh Cheeses, Flowers, Desserts, Carrots, Onions, Bitters, Honey, Wine and Greens galore!!! 

  

 

 

 

Passover Seder Ideas

With the 14th quickly approaching for the start of Passover, here are a few guides for a Passover table: Passover recipes from the New York Times, Passover from Epicurious, and Passover Planning and Matzoh Mastery from Whole Foods.

Passover Recipe Ideas

It seems we've just finished with the winter holidays, yet here we are, with Passover only a week away.  If you're looking for ideas to update your Seder table, here are a few guides to help you out:  Passover Recipes from the New York Times (including several from their Recipes for Health columns, listed to the left), A Perfect Passover from Epicurious, and a Passover slideshow from Food and Wine magazine that also lists related slideshows below it, including the rather Boulder-sounding one, quinoa recipes for Passover.

Gluten-Free Passover Recipes

Speaking of Passover (see the post below), Boulder's own Elena's Pantry is an excellent source for gluten-free ideas for celebrating Jewish holidays. You can check out her Passover Menu, and if you put Passover in the search box, you'll be rewarded with lots of other gluten-free ideas as well.

Some Passover Seder Guides

Are you looking to update your Passover table this year? Here are a few guides to help you out: Passover Recipes from Epicurious, an Italian Passover Seder from Bon Appetit, Celebrating Passover from Saveur magazine, and with Passover and Easter falling so close to one another, Cooking Light's combo feast, A Celebration of Easter and Passover Traditions.

Passover Seder Ideas

Looking for ideas for your Passover table? Check out epicurious.com's Ultimate Passover Meal Planner and Bon Appetit's Passover Guide.