Leave No Crumb Behind: Leket Israel’s Cookbook for Passover & More Passover Recipes from Leket Israel Serving as the country’s National Food Bank and largest food rescue network, Leket Israel works to alleviate the problem of nutritional insecurity among Israel’s poor. With the help of over 47,000 annual volunteers, Leket Israel rescues and delivers more than 2.2 million hot meals and 30.8 million pounds of fresh produce and perishable goods to underprivileged children, families and the elderly. This nutritious and healthy food, that would have otherwise gone to waste, is redistributed to Leket’s 200 nonprofit partner organizations caring for the needy, reaching 175,000+ people each week. In order to raise awareness about food waste in Israel and Leket Israel’s solution of food rescue, we have compiled this cookbook with the help of leading food experts and chefs from Israel, the UK , North America and Australia. This book is our gift to you in appreciation for your support throughout the year. It is thanks to your generosity that Leket Israel is able to continue to rescue surplus fresh nutritious food to distribute to Israelis who need it most. Would you like to learn more about the problem of food waste? Follow us on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter or visit our website (www.leket.org/en). Together, we will raise awareness, continue to rescue nutritious food, and make this Passover a better one for thousands of Israeli families. Happy Holiday and as we say in Israel – Beteavon! Table of Contents Starters 4 Apple Beet Charoset 5 Mina With Ground Beef, Cardamom and Coffee 6 Black Quinoa Salad (Kitniyot) 7 TriColor Gefilte Fish 8 Chimmischug Pesto 9 Roasted Red Pepper Dips 9 Mango Coleslaw 10 Main Dishes 11 Pastrami Meatballs 12 Aunty Rachel’s Beef-Stuffed Artichokes 13 Potato Schnitzel 14 Spaghetti squash with Julienned Peppers 15 Mediterranean Omelette 16 Gondi (Kitniyot) 17 Duck Ragu with Passover Gnocchi 18 Zoodle Bolognese 20 Annette’s Minute Steak 21 Desserts 22 Chocolate Orange Mousse Pie 23 Flourless Chocolate Intensity Torte 23 Strawberry Coulis 24 Passover Orange Chocolate Cake 25 Strawberry Fool 26 My Recipes 27 = Vegetarian Starters Apple Beet Charoset Amy Kritzer is the founder of the modern Jewish cooking blog What Jew Wanna Eat and author of the 2016 cookbook Sweet Noshings. An alternative to traditional charoset for Passover with the addition of beets, dates and candied walnuts! Ingredients: 1 ½ cups chopped walnuts ½ cup sugar 4 medium beets, washed, peeled and diced 1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil ¼ teaspoon kosher salt 4 medium apples, Pink Lady or Gala ½ cup dates, pitted and chopped ½ teaspoon ground cinnamon 2 tablespoons honey 1 ⁄3 cup Manischewitz or sweet red wine Directions: Preheat oven to 350°F. Set aside a piece of wax or parchment paper. Place walnuts in a single layer on a foil lined baking sheet and bake until toasted, about 5 to 7 minutes. Place ½ cup sugar in a medium saucepan on medium heat and mix while melting the sugar. As soon as the sugar is melted, add the nuts and quickly coat the nuts. Transfer nuts to a piece of wax or parchment paper, and immediately break the nuts with a spoon. After you prepare your nuts, get those beets cooking! Toss beets in olive oil and salt, and place on a foil lined baking sheet. Roast for 15 minutes or until tender. Let cool. Peel, core and dice the apples, and then toss with beets in a large bowl. Then add the chopped dates and cooled nuts. Add Cinnamon, honey and wine, and mix Notes: Beets can be cooked ahead of time. Photo Credit: Amy Kritzer Leket Israel’s Cookbook -5- Mina With Ground Beef, Cardamom & Coffee Michael Solomonov is the executive chef and co-owner of Philadelphia’s pioneering Israeli restaurant, Zahav, and the co-author of three cookbooks. Instagram: @mikesolomonov @zahavrestaurant Mina is the ladino word for pie. This Passover dish, common throughout the Sephardic world, is almost too good to be true. Ingredients: Charoset: Mina: 4 carrots, peeled and grated 1 tablespoon canola oil, plus more for ½ an apple, peeled and grated brushing ½ cup chopped walnuts 1 lb. ground beef 1 cup chopped fresh cilantro ½ an onion, diced 2 tablespoons fresh horseradish 5 garlic cloves, minced 2 tablespoons raisins 1½ teaspoons kosher salt 1 tablespoon white vinegar 1 teaspoon finely ground coffee Kosher salt ½ teaspoon ground cardamom 4–6 sheets of matzah Directions: 1 large egg, beaten Charoset: Combine the carrots, apple, walnuts, cilantro, horseradish, raisins, vinegar, and salt in a medium bowl. Toss to combine. Set aside. Mina: Preheat the oven to 400°F. Brush the bottom of a 10-inch cast iron skillet or a baking dish with oil. Heat the 1 tablespoon of oil in another large skillet over medium-high heat. Add the ground beef and cook, stirring to break up the meat, until it begins to brown, about 5 minutes. Add the onion, garlic, and salt and continue cooking until the vegetables have softened but not Photo Credit: Michael Persico browned, for an additional 5 to 8 minutes. Add the coffee and cardamom and stir to combine. Soak the matzah in warm water until pliable, about 1 minute. Line the bottom of the oiled cast iron skillet with the matzah, breaking up the pieces as needed to completely cover the bottom and sides of the skillet. Spoon the beef mixture over the bottom and cover the top with more matzah, pressing at the edges to seal. Brush with the beaten egg and bake until the mina is golden brown and crisp, about 30 minutes. Let stand for 5 minutes. Invert the mina onto a serving platter. Slice into wedges and serve topped with the charoset. Mina with ground beef, cardamom and coffee is excerpted from Zahav by Michael Solomonov and Steven Cook. Copyright © 2015 by Michael Solomonov and Steven Cook. Used by permission of Houghton Mifflin Harcourt. All rights reserved. Leket Israel’s Cookbook -6- Black Quinoa Salad (Kitniyot) Chef Zissie runs numerous exclusive and special events and classes for her clients, specializing in flavor. She cooks and teaches in a unique way of using fresh ingredients to create flavor fusions that will wow you. Facebook: Chef Zissie Instagram: @chef_zissie Ingredients: 1 cup black quinoa 2 cups water 4 chicken breasts very thin 3 teaspoons garlic powder 2 teaspoons Himalayan pink salt 1 pomegranate, seeds removed 1 box shimeji mushrooms ends cut off 4 scallions, chopped ½ cup balsamic vinegar 2 tablespoons raspberry jam or honey ¼ cup extra virgin olive oil 1 tablespoon toasted sesame oil ½ cup fresh cilantro, Photo Credit: Chef Zissie roughly chopped (optional) Directions: Add quinoa and 2 cups of water to a medium sized pot on high heat, and bring to a boil. Reduce heat to low, cover and simmer until tender, and most of the liquid has been absorbed, around 15 to 20 minutes. Prepare a grill pan on high heat. Marinate chicken with 1 tablespoon olive oil, garlic powder and 1 teaspoon salt and place on grill pan. Grill for 3 minutes per side. Remove and add mushrooms to the grill pan for 1 to 2 minutes, until golden. In a large serving dish add the remaining olive oil and 1 teaspoon salt. Add the vinegar, sesame oil and jam (or honey), and whisk well with a fork. Add quinoa and mix well. Place chicken, mushrooms, pomegranate and scallions (and cilantro if using) on top of quinoa, and mix only right before serving. Notes & Tips If you want to serve this salad as a side dish or vegetarian option, feel free to leave out the chicken! Shimeji mushrooms are beautiful unique mushrooms that are intense in flavor only when cooked. If you can’t find them then use any mushrooms instead! Leket Israel’s Cookbook -7- TriColor Gefilte Fish Susie Fishbein is a world-famous kosher cook and author of the Kosher by Design cookbook series, which has sold over 500,000 copies worldwide. Ingredients: 2 (22-ounce) loaves plain gefilte fish, defrosted in wrapper 1 (22-ounce) loaf salmon gefilte fish, defrosted in wrapper 2 tablespoons fresh dill, chopped Juice of 1 lemon 6 cucumbers for horseradish wells, and 1 extra-long cucumber for the top as a garnish (optional) Prepared red horseradish (optional) Mayonnaise (optional) Yellow pepper (optional) Directions: Preheat oven to 350°F. Spray a 9-inch spring form pan with nonstick vegetable spray. Give it a heavy even coat. Open each of the 3 gefilte fish wrappers. Add the dill and juice from the lemon into one of the plain gefilte fish loaves, to create a lemon dill fish mixture. Mix thoroughly so the dill is dispersed evenly. Set aside. Using a thin spatula, spread the plain Photo Credit: ArtScroll Mesorah Publications gefilte fish into an even layer on the bottom of the springform pan. top with an even layer of the salmon gefilte fish. On top of the salmon gefilte fish, spread an even layer of the lemon dill fish mixture. Cover the pan with foil. Bake for 1 hour. If the fish does not look set in the center, remove the foil, and bake for 5 additional minutes. Let cool and refrigerate overnight. Can be made a few days in advance. As an optional garnish, slice an extra-long unpeeled cucumber by hand or by mandoline, into paper thin slices. Lay the slices in concentric circles around the top of the fish. Release the sides of the spring form pan. To serve as individual servings, cut into wedges, like a pie. Trim any brown edges. Cut the cucumbers width wise into 2 to 3-inch circles.