I hope you’re all thoroughly enjoying your Passover. I know I am, what with all the bread puddings, rich loaves of challah, and mountains of bagels. The bread holiday — isn’t it glorious? We Jews have been blessed with a gift for breadmaking, and we pull out all the stops for this weeklong celebration of all things leavened.
I know what you’re thinking — isn’t Shabbat the bread holiday? Of course it’s traditional to eat challah on Friday nights, but at Passover we’re commanded to fill our guts with nothing but wheaty, floury goodness, thanking God for the harvest.
Earlier this week, I had oatmeal for breakfast, and felt a little guilty about it — I mean, sure you can make bread from oats, but it doesn’t feel quite as appropriate as a stack of french toast or a bowl of raisin bran. So I got over the (Jewish?) guilt, and had all three. I was really full, but it was to thank God, so I dealt with the side-splitting pain of glutenous gluttony and started planning lunch: a strata made with leftover sourdough from the night before.
To commemorate this most fantastic of Jewish holidays, I have a couple of new recipes for you to get your bread fix, as well as a list of tried and true favorites from the Noshin’ kitchen.
Lender’s Tropical Pizza
Serves 6
Created by Food Expert and Multicultural Cooking Network Host Carla Crudup
Ingredients:
3 pre-sliced Lender’s Whole Grain or Wheat bagels (6 halves)
6 tablespoons spaghetti or pizza sauce
3/4 cup pineapple chunks, drained and sliced
2 cups shredded part-skim mozzarella cheese
1/4 cup mushrooms, finely chopped
1/4 cup red bell pepper, finely chopped
1/4 cup green bell pepper, finely chopped
1/4 cup scallions, finely sliced
1/2 cup teriyaki chicken, finely chopped (see recipe below)
Directions:
- Preheat oven to broil. Place bagels on foil-lined baking sheet.
- Spread spaghetti sauce on bagels. Slice each pineapple chunk twice to make slices. Place pineapple slices on each bagel to cover most of surface area. Save a few slices for the top.
- Top each bagel with cheese, pineapple, mushrooms, bell peppers, scallions and teriyaki chicken.
(For Teriyaki Chicken, place 2 skinless chicken breast fillets in a Ziploc plastic bag , pour ½ cup light teriyaki sauce and 2 tablespoons pineapple juice over chicken, and marinade for 30 minutes. Drain marinade from chicken fillets and place on baking sheet. Bake at 400 degrees for approximately 20 minutes or until done. Remove from oven and let cool at least 10 minutes before chopping.) - Place on oven rack in the middle of the oven and broil for 2 to 5 minutes or until cheese is bubbly and slightly brown.
Meyer Lemon & Blackberry Bread Pudding with Meyer Lemon Whipped Cream
Recipe courtesy Bobby Flay
Serves: 10
Ingredients:
16 ounces brioche (weighed after crust removed) about 1 large loaf, cut into 1 1/2 -inch cubes
3 3/4 cups heavy cream
1 1/4 cups granulated sugar
Zest of 1 Meyer lemon
6 large eggs
2 large egg yolks
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 1/2 pints fresh blackberries
1 tablespoon Meyer lemon juice
Meyer Lemon Whipped Cream, recipe follows
Directions:
- Preheat the oven to 325 degrees F. Place the bread cubes on a large baking sheet in a single layer and toast until lightly golden brown on all sides, turning a few times, about 15 minutes. Remove and let cool slightly.
- Bring cream, 1 cup of sugar, and lemon zest, to a simmer over medium heat. Whisk together the eggs and yolks in a medium bowl. Slowly whisk the warm milk into the eggs and add the vanilla.
- Transfer the bread cubes to a 9 by 15-inch baking dish, pour the custard mixture over and press on the bread to submerge in the custard. Let the mixture sit at room temperature for 30 minutes to allow the bread to absorb more of the custard.
- Place the baking dish inside a larger roasting pan and fill the outer pan with warm water halfway up the sides of the baking dish. Bake until puffed around the outside but still slightly jiggly in the center, about 45 minutes. Remove from the water bath and let rest at least 15 minutes before serving. Toss the remaining 1/4 cup sugar with the blackberries. Serve bread pudding topped with macerated berries and Meyer Lemon Whipped Cream.
Meyer Lemon Whipped Cream:
1 1/2 cups cold heavy cream
1 1/2 tablespoons granulated sugar
1 tablespoon Meyer lemon juice
Zest of 1 Meyer lemon
1/2 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
Combine the heavy cream, sugar, juice, zest and vanilla extract in a large bowl and whip with a balloon whisk until soft peaks form.
Other Noshin’ Favorites:
APRIL FOOLS! Chag sameach!
Photos: Emiline220, House of Sims, Idstone777, Carla Crudup on behalf of Lender’s Bagels
this is priceless sara! well done, well done indeed. excellent recipe ideas, err– torture!– can’t wait to try some out *next week!* 🙂
Looking for a firm Passover bread recipe so I can make a Basket out of it….any suggestions?
Ilene – this article is no longer on our front page of the site, so I’m not sure if anyone will see your question. Why don’t you throw it out on our Facebook page and see if anyone responds there? Facebook.com/tcjewfolk. Thanks for reading!