Skip to main content

Passover Shopping List

Last Sunday morning, some friends and I made a pilgrimage to the ShopRite in Cherry Hill, New Jersey, the grocery store with the most extensive Passover selection in our area. In recent years, most local grocery stores have whittled down their selection to little more than matzah meal, macaroons and beet soup, leaving serious Passover shopping to a smaller number of kosher shopping destinations.

Most of the vegetarian Passover recipes I've made for this blog rely primarily on fresh vegetables and herbs, which don't require any Passover certification. Some other ingredients, like extra virgin olive oil, don't require Passover certification, and some carry Passover certification all year round, like Domino's brown sugar. Matzah, of course, is available just about everywhere at this time of year. But there are some things that are a little harder to find and require a special trip to someplace like ShopRite.

This is the shopping list that I made for my trip to ShopRite this year. It is a surprisingly short list: only 26 ingredients, but of course I bought plenty of other impulse items! I have identified the recipes that use each of these ingredients including a few recipes coming soon, identified with asterisks! And I've also made a few notes about the availability of some of these ingredients.

Onward to the shopping list ...


ITEM RECIPES
Proteins
Quinoa

At one time, some certifiers accepted Ancient Harvest brand without certification, but I think they have backed away from that idea.
  • Spinach-Cheese-Quinoa Fritatta
  • Butternut Squash-Cheddar "Risotto"
  • Mediterranean Zucchini and Quinoa
  • Quinoa Stuffed Peppers
  • Quinoa Stuffed Cabbage

Chopped Nuts
  • Eggplant Parmesan (if used as a substitution)
  • Passover Nut Loaf
  • Vegan Shepherd's Pie *
  • charoses
Cheese and Other Dairy
Cheddar
  • Spinach-Cheese-Quinoa Fritatta
  • Butternut Squash-Cheddar "Risotto"
  • Broccoli-Potato-Cheese Soup

Mozzarella
  • Mediterranean Medley
  • Eggplant Parmesan
  • Potato-Cheese Gnocchi
  • Matzah Lasagna
Feta
  • Matzah Spanakopita
Parmesan and/or Romano
  • Spinach-Cheese-Quinoa Fritatta
  • Mediterranean Medley
  • Eggplant Parmesan
  • Potato-Cheese Gnocchi
  • Matzah Lasagna
  • Zucchini Alfredo *
  • Butternut Squash Matzo Lasagna *
Cottage cheese
Breakstones and other brands are commonly available with KFP certification in many grocery stores
  • Matzah Spanakopita
  • Solyanka Vegetable-Dairy Casserole
  • Potato-Cheese Gnocchi
  • Matzah Lasagna
Butter or Margarine
Breakstones is commonly available with KFP certification in many grocery stores; margarine is more of a problem
  • Creme Brulee Matzah Brei
  • Matzah Spanakopita
  • Broccoli-Potato-Cheese Soup
  • Solyanka Vegetable-Dairy Casserole
  • Eggplant Parmesan
  • Vegan Shepherd's Pie *
  • Zucchini Alfredo *

Cream cheese
Philadelphia brand is commonly available with KFP certification in many grocery stores
  • Zuccchini Alfredo *
  • Butternut Squash Matzo Lasagna *
Plain yogurt
Dannon and other brands are commonly available with KFP certification in many grocery stores
  • Solyanka Vegetable-Dairy Casserole
Starches
Matzah farfel
  • Eggplant Parmesan (optional)
Matzah meal
  • Eggplant Parmesan
  • Quinoa Stuffed Peppers (optional)

Potato starch
  • Matzah Spanakopita
  • Broccoli-Potato-Cheese Soup
  • Potato-Cheese Gnocchi
  • Zuccchini Alfredo *

Stuffing mix
  • Passover Nut Loaf

Liquids
Cooking wine or sherry
  • Creme Brulee Matzah Brei
  • Butternut Squash-Cheddar "Risotto"
  • Charoses (but you'll probably want to use some good wine for this)


Vegetable broth
  • Butternut Squash-Cheddar "Risotto"
  • Broccoli-Potato-Cheese Soup
  • Vegan Shepherd's Pie *
  • Butternut Squash Matzo Lasagna *


Cider vinegar
lemon juice can be substituted, either fresh-squeezed or from RealLemon, which is KFP without certification
  • Solyanka Vegetable-Dairy Casserole


Honey
  • Creme Brulee Matzah Brei
  • use as syrup on any matzah brei


Balsamic vinegar
  • not for any specific recipe, but use this with olive oil to make vinegarette dressing for any salad


Sauces
Tomato paste
  • Mediterranean Zucchini and Quinoa


Tomato sauce (plain)
  • Quinoa Stuffed Peppers
  • Quinoa Stuffed Cabbage


Pasta or pizza sauce
  • Eggplant Parmesan; Matzah Lasagna


Spices
Cinnamon
recipes are on my website, not on this blog
  • Matzah Brie; Charoses


Paprika
  • Solyanka Vegetable-Dairy Casserole


Black pepper
black pepper is also optional in many recipes
  • Solyanka Vegetable-Dairy Casserole


Salt
  • Optional in many recipes
Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Did Moses know he was a Hebrew?

It seems to be a common notion, perpetuated by movies like Cecil B. DeMille's The Ten Commandments  and Disney's Prince of Egypt , that Moses grew up as a high-level member of Pharaoh's household with no idea that he was a Hebrew. But does that notion fit in with what it says in the Bible, or what Jewish tradition teaches about Moses? This week's Torah portion is Shemot, the beginning of the book of Exodus, so it's a good time to examine this question. We actually know very little about Moses' childhood from the Bible. Pharaoh had ordered all male children to be thrown into the Nile River at birth (Ex. 1:22). While that order was in effect, a boy was born to a man of the tribe of Levi and his wife, also of that tribe (Ex. 2:1-2). The parents are later identified (Num. 26:59) as Amram an Yocheved (that "ch" is pronounced like a throat-clearing noise). Yocheved could not bear to throw her beautiful new son to his death, so she hid him away for three mont
Read more

Being Jewish at Christmas

Last March, I heard a DJ talking about March Madness, the annual insanity surrounding a college basketball tournament. She wasn't interested in it, but everyone in her office was obsessed with it. They had an office pool, a constant barrage of emails and parties to watch every game on TV. The DJ didn't want to be a part of it, but her co-workers pressured her to get involved. They tried to get her to participate in the pool, but she insisted that she didn't even know the names of the teams. Her co-workers assured her that it didn't matter who she bet on, it would be fun to play. They wouldn't take no for an answer. She wasn't trying to spoil their fun, but she wanted to be left alone. As I heard her talk about her frustration, I thought, "Now you know how it feels to be Jewish at Christmas." Think of something that you're not interested in but that everybody else seems to be talking about. Maybe it's a sporting event: March Madness, the Superbo
15 comments
Read more

A Very Veggie Pesach: Quinoa Stuffed Peppers; Quinoa Stuffed Cabbage

Quinoa is one of the best, most complete vegetarian sources of protein available.  It looks like a grain, but it's really a seed related to beets and spinach.  It has a mild nutty flavor and an interesting crunch. As I reported on my website , many widely-respected kosher certification organizations have indicated that quinoa (whole seeds, not processed) can be kosher for Passover.  See, e.g., Quinoa: The Grain That's Not (Star-K); Consumer Pesach Q and A (CRC, page 5 indicates that quinoa is not kitniyot, but can be used only if one is certain no forbidden grains are mixed in).  Nevertheless, there is some dispute about whether quinoa is forbidden, so you should check with your rabbi before using it.  See Curious about Kitniyot? (acknowledging that there are differences of opinion, OU does not recommend quinoa, but elsewhere says that if you use it you should inspect it carefully).  A food scientist with the Kashrut.com website has indicated that Ancient Harvest (the gree
3 comments
Read more