Passover starts this weekend, and, to be honest, I’m not ready. With all of my recent travel and then the inevitable cold, the holiday seems to have sneaked up on me.
You, too? Fear not, because you still have plenty of time to make Joan Nathan’s chicken with artichokes and lemon. Based on a fragrant Moroccan favorite, this easy skillet chicken dish is both festive and forgiving. You can whip it up in an hour on the day of your Seder, or make it a few days ahead of time and reheat it before serving. And it works with either fresh or frozen artichokes, which gives you the options you need amid the preholiday chaos (at least in our house).
Featured Recipe
Chicken With Artichokes and Lemon
If you are celebrating Passover, you’re probably laying in a goodly store of matzos. I’m an egg-and-onion person myself, often spreading the crackers with salted butter as an afternoon snack. Another family favorite is matzo lasagna. It’s molten and gooey like the classic Italian-American version, with tomatoes and three kinds of cheese (ricotta, mozzarella and Parmesan). But instead of noodles, I use matzo crackers to build the layers.
And of course Passover wouldn’t be complete without at least one batch of chocolate caramel matzo toffee, a recipe I adapted a few years ago from Marcy Goldman. I get more excited for Matzo Week every year.
On the non-Passover menu we have Hetty Lui KcKinnon’s vegetarian riff on wat tan hor, a Cantonese, Singaporean and Malaysian dish of rice noodles smothered in savory egg drop gravy. Hetty uses bok choy here, but you can substitute almost any other green vegetables (kale, broccoli, snow peas) to make this gingery, soupy delight, which can also be bulked out with tofu if you’re looking for something heartier. And if you can’t find thick rice noodles, thin ones work just as well. Like most of Hetty’s recipes, it’s wonderfully adaptable.
Want to get fishy? Salmon and anchovies are one of those seafood supercouples, and one that I think deserves more buzz. Cybelle Tondu brings them together in her new recipe for salmon with radicchio and anchovy sauce. Her brilliant twist is to add a little honey to the mustard dressing, which softens the bitterness of the radicchio and the acidity of the lemon. Drizzle the salty-umami anchovy sauce on the salmon’s velvety flesh and crisp skin, and you have a suave dish ready that’s ready for the limelight.
Finally, for a pretty-in-pink dessert that’s perfect for the Seder table and beyond (and happens to be both vegan and gluten-free), I have a new recipe for rhubarb-almond crumble that I’m really excited about. With almond butter in the topping and a jam-like rhubarb filling, its crowd-pleasing, PB&J vibes make for a homey springtime treat.
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I’ll be back on Monday. See you then.
