By Tina Wasserman

You’re still eating hamantaschen and I’m about to jolt you into reality — Passover is three short weeks away! Leftover filling is still in the refrigerator from all the shalach manot baskets you filled and the pantry is loaded with pasta and breadcrumbs that must be removed from the house, or at least moved into another room.

Some surmise that the Purim baking was a way to reduce the amount of chametz in the house before Pesach. Italians prepared more pasta dishes before beginning the serious preparations for Pesach by consuming more pasta to rid the house of flour.

The following recipes will help you along in two ways. I give you two recipes that use the leftover fillings from Purim baking and two Italian recipes for pasta, in addition to an easy recipe for making your own pasta if you so choose.

After this, I will start to share recipes that don’t include chametz. Enjoy!

Almond Poppy Seed Pound Cake

I have shared this with you in the past, but last week I received a question from a reader of Jamie Geller’s blog, which shared my recipe, so I thought I would include it.

Ingredients:

• 1 cup unsalted butter
• 1¼ cups sugar
• ½ cup canned poppy seed dessert filling
• ½ cup canned almond dessert filling or apricot filling
• 4 eggs
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• ½ teaspoon almond extract or 1 teaspoon if using apricot filling
• 1 cup low-fat, thick Greek yogurt
• 2½ cups all-purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1 teaspoon salt

Directions:

• Preheat oven to 350F.
• Lightly spray 18 tea cake pans (smaller than mini loaves), six mini loaf pans or one large Bundt pan with cooking spray or lightly grease with vegetable oil. Set aside.
• Cream the butter and sugar together on high speed until light and fluffy and well combined. Scrape down sides of bowl.
• Add poppy seed filling, almond or apricot filling, almond extract and vanilla extract to butter mixture and mix at medium-high speed until all ingredients are well combined. Scrape down sides of bowl.
• Add eggs and beat at high speed until mixture is lighter in color and aerated.
• Add the yogurt and mix on high speed until well incorporated.
• In a small bowl, stir the flour, baking soda and salt together. On low speed add this mixture to the mixing bowl and mix just until the batter is well combined.
• Pour the batter evenly into the prepared pan of choice. If using a Bundt pan, place on a low-rimmed cookie sheet for stability.
• Bake for 25–45 minutes (depending on size of pan) until a toothpick inserted into the center of the cake comes out clean.
• Let cakes cool for five minutes and then remove from pans and place on a cooling rack or on their sides (if mini loaves) or upright (if Bundt cake). Cool thoroughly before covering or freezing for later use.

Yield: 20 servings

Tina’s Tidbits:

• This recipe makes a lot but, no matter the size, the cake(s) freeze beautifully so you can eat them long after Pesach is over.
• I normally make this with full-fat Greek yogurt for my lactose-sensitive family and friends.
• Sometimes you must improvise. I had no plain yogurt on hand and used a small container of Chobani raspberry yogurt with the leftover poppy seed and almond canned filling. It was delicious! Don’t be afraid to experiment.

Sour Cream Strudel

Ingredients:

• 2½ cups flour
• ½ cup sugar
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• ¼ teaspoon salt
• 1 stick unsalted butter
• 1 egg
• ¾ cup sour cream, Greek yogurt or pureed cottage cheese (see Tidbit)
• ½ teaspoon baking soda
• 1 teaspoon vanilla

Have on hand:

• Leftover hamantaschen fillings
• Chopped walnuts
• 2 tablespoons cinnamon mixed with 1 cup sugar
• Crystallized sugar for garnish

Make the Dough:

• Place the first four dry ingredients into a processor work bowl and pulse four times to combine.
• Cut butter into eight pieces and add to the flour mixture. Pulse on and off until the butter is incorporated into tiny pieces. Dough should not be coming together.
• In a small bowl, combine the egg, sour cream, baking soda and vanilla. The mixture might appear foamy — that’s OK.
• Add the egg mixture to the work bowl and pulse on and off until the dough starts to come together and begins to form a ball.
• Divide the dough into three cylinders (about 6–8 inches long), place on a plate, cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate for 30 minutes or longer until ready to fill and bake.

Make the Strudel:

• Preheat oven to 350F.
• Heavily dust your counter or board with confectioners’ sugar. Roll each cylinder into a rectangle about 9×12 inches and about 1/8 inch thick. Work fast to prevent dough from warming up.
• Sprinkle the dough with some cinnamon and sugar.
• Place a thick line of filling about 2 inches from the wide end of the dough. If using nuts, raisins or coconut, sprinkle on top of the fillings.
• Roll dough up jelly-roll style and place on a parchment-lined cookie sheet.
• Repeat with remaining dough. If desired, sprinkle crystallized sugar over logs and gently pat down to adhere during baking.
• Bake for 25 minutes or until dough is golden brown.
• When cool, slice crosswise into ½-inch wide strips.

Yield: 2 dozen pieces

Tina’s Tidbits:

• For many, this recipe will remind them of Schnecken, or rugelach not made with cream cheese.
• If you want to make these into rugelach, divide dough into six pieces, roll out into 5×8-inch rectangles, spread filling all over the dough and then roll up. Slice each roll into 1-inch pieces before baking and place on prepared cookie sheet. Bake for 14–18 minutes or until golden brown and baked through.
• In an emergency, I pureed some lactose-free cottage cheese until it was smooth and then used it in place of the sour cream. It worked great and made these completely lactose-free (butter has no lactose).

Baked Cavatappi with Butternut Squash and 4 Cheeses

Delicious, nutritious and a great recipe for company any time of the year.

Ingredients:

• 10 ounces cubed butternut squash — about 2 cups of ½-inch cubes
• 1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil
• 1 tablespoon white balsamic vinegar or any flavored vinegar of your choice
• ½ tablespoon fresh thyme or oregano
• ¼ teaspoon kosher salt
• 10 grindings black pepper
• 12 ounces cavatappi, fusilli or penne rigato
• 1 15-ounce container ricotta cheese — whole or part skim
• 4 ounces fontina cheese, cut into ½-inch cubes
• 4 ounces mozzarella cheese, cut into ½-inch cubes
• 1/3 cup Parmesan cheese, preferably freshly grated
• 2 teaspoons sugar
• 1/8 teaspoon nutmeg
• ¼ cup chopped fresh basil
• 2 eggs
• Salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste
• 1 quart homemade or good-quality store-bought pasta sauce
• 6 ounces additional mozzarella for topping

Directions:

• Preheat oven to 350F.
• If the butternut squash cubes are large, cut them into ½-inch cubes.
• Combine the squash with the olive oil, vinegar, thyme, salt and pepper and spread on a parchment-lined rimmed cookie sheet. Bake for 25–30 minutes or until squash is crisp-tender but not too soft. Set aside.
• Cook the pasta according to package directions. Drain but do not rinse.
• In a 3-quart bowl combine the ricotta cheese, fontina, mozzarella, Parmesan, sugar, nutmeg, basil, eggs and salt and pepper to taste.
• Place about 1½ cups of sauce in the bottom of a 7×11-inch or 9-inch square glass pan. Cover with one-third of the cooked pasta.
• Spoon half of the cheese filling over the pasta.
• Carefully spoon some sauce over the cheese. Place half of the remaining pasta over the sauce and then top with the remaining cheese filling.
• To finish the casserole, place the remaining pasta on top, cover with the remaining sauce and top with cubed or grated mozzarella cheese.
• Place the dish on a rimmed cookie sheet and place in the middle third of your oven.
• Bake for 30 minutes or until the dish is bubbling and a knife inserted into the center feels hot.
• Let dish sit for 10 minutes before serving.

Serves 4–6

Tina’s Tidbits:

• It might seem odd to add nutmeg to this dish but adding a little of that spice, when cheese is an ingredient, greatly enhances the flavor of the dish.
• Any shaped pasta may be used or even a combination of leftover pasta in your pantry.
• When there are pieces of food in a pasta dish, it is best to use shaped pastas so the ingredients will adhere to the nooks and crannies. Never use angel hair pasta with a heavy sauce.

Ruota del Faraone — Pharaoh’s Wheels

Since noodles and other pasta products can’t be eaten during Passover, Italian Jews prepare this pasta dish on B’Shalach, the Sabbath before Pesach. But this is no ordinary pasta dish — it tells a story. Sauced thin pasta noodles are twirled into mounds to look like the waves in the parted Red Sea and raisins are sprinkled around the pasta “waves” to represent the Egyptian soldiers drowning in the waters after the Jews escaped.

Pot roast gravy makes this dish very easy to make, but I have also included a classic recipe for a meat sauce to be used when pot roast is not served.

Ingredients:

• ½ cup raisins
• ½ cup pine nuts, toasted
• 6 ounces turkey sausage cut into ½-inch rounds, or ground turkey or beef
• 2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
• 2 tablespoons rendered chicken fat (or more oil)
• 2 large leaves fresh sage or 1 teaspoon dried sage
• 4-inch sprig fresh rosemary or 1 teaspoon dried rosemary
• ¼ cup white wine or 1 cup pot roast gravy
• Salt and freshly ground pepper to taste
• 8 ounces tagliatelle noodles
• 1 quart chicken broth
• 1 quart water
• 1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil
• 1 tablespoon salt
• 3 tablespoons dry breadcrumbs
• 1 teaspoon olive oil

Directions:

• If raisins are hard, soak them in warm water while you prepare the pasta.
• Heat a 10-inch skillet for 15 seconds.
• Add the olive oil and chicken fat to the hot pan and heat for another 10 seconds. Reduce the heat to medium.
• Add the herbs and stir once or twice to coat the herbs with oil. Add the meat and sauté until meat is no longer pink.
• Add the wine and cook for 1–2 minutes until most of the liquid is absorbed.
• Meanwhile, in a 4-quart pot bring chicken broth, water, olive oil and salt to a boil. Cook the noodles according to package directions. When done, reserve ½ cup of cooking liquid and then drain noodles in a colander.
• Add the noodles and the reserved cooking liquid to the sauce and gently mix so sauce is distributed well. Add the drained raisins and pine nuts and gently stir to combine. Add salt and pepper to taste.
• Preheat the oven to 350F. Lightly grease a 2-quart oval casserole with a little olive oil.
• Scoop up some noodles into a ladle. Using a fork, twist the noodles into a mound and place it in the casserole. Repeat with the remaining noodles until you have lots of mounds that look like waves in the sea.
• Combine the breadcrumbs with the teaspoon of olive oil and sprinkle over the top.
• Place the casserole in the hot oven and bake until breadcrumbs are lightly golden.

Serves 4

Tina’s Tidbits:

• Canned gravy and leftover beef or chicken cubes can be used as well. The idea is to create the story of the parting of the Red Sea. If you have young children or grandchildren, tell them the story and they will be happy to eat their dinner.