A Colorful and Festive Passover Seder

Apr 22 2016

by Arielle Goldman

Passover begins on Friday evening, and the seder is one of my favorite holiday meals. I like to include a mix of traditional dishes with new ones, always incorporating the early spring ingredients that are essential to a Passover dinner. And if you don’t celebrate Passover, don’t worry. This dinner is perfect for any spring festivities. Who’s ready to cook?

THE MENU
Lemony smoked salmon dip
Green apple charoset
Beet and fennel salad with orange dressing
Lemon chicken with green olives
Schmaltz smashed potatoes
Toasted hazelnut ice cream

A traditional Passover seder has several courses but since that can be cumbersome I’ve narrowed it down a bit. I’ve left off the matzo ball soup because I got my fill of it while I was sick last week, and I left off gefilte fish because… well if you’ve had gefilte fish you know why. In it’s place, I’m recommending my favorite smoked fish dip. It’s salty and smoky and lemony and you won’t believe how good it is. Just the thing to get a meal started. You can find the recipe here.

One tradition I couldn’t and wouldn’t forgo is the charoset. I make mine exactly the way my mom made it, with walnuts and green apples and a touch of cinnamon. Nothing fancy about it, just the sweet and slightly tart dip I grew up with.