Passover

Editor's note: The recipe and introductory text below are excerpted from Joan Nathan's book The Foods of Israel Today. Nathan also shared some helpful cooking tips exclusively with Epicurious, which we've added at the bottom of the page. To read more about Nathan and Israeli cuisine, click here. Sometimes called Turkish Salad, this typical Israeli salad, served at almost every meal, has many variations. But one thing remains the same: the tomatoes, onions, peppers, and cucumbers must be cut into tiny pieces, a practice of the Ottoman Empire. Two types of cucumber are common in Israel: one, like the Kirby cucumber, goes by the name of melafofon in Hebrew and khiyar in Arabic; the other, called fakus in Arabic, is thinner, longer, and fuzzy, and is eaten without peeling.

The chicken and vegetables are strained out for a clear soup. If you'd like, save some chicken and vegetables to serve along with the matzo balls in the soup.

You'll need to start marinating the meat at least a day ahead. It can be cooked up to 2 days in advance of serving.

Concord-grape wine — a traditional part of the Passover feast — gives this delightful spongecake a fruity, almost floral note.

This fusion of many Sephardic recipes makes an extremely realistic “mortar.” The nuts and spices can be varied to suit individual tastes.

This recipe produces a slightly dry, chunky charoset. If you prefer a more moist version, add extra wine, a tablespoon at a time, until you achieve the desired consistency.

In addition to its traditional role on the Seder plate, this charoset is delicious as a condiment for duck or roast beef.

This slight variation on traditional Ashkenazi charoset calls for deep-frying the walnuts and coating them with sugar. The nuts stay crispier in the final product and have a pleasant, toasty flavor.

Despite the fact that they require few ingredients and little effort, these beans always get raves.

Coarsely mashed vegetables are the main ingredients in this utterly surprising — and irresistible — kugel.

An alternative to traditional gefilte fish, this cold, oven-steamed halibut makes an elegant fish course. Conveniently, it should be prepared one day ahead.

Charoset, a traditional Passover condiment, represents the mortar used by Israelite slaves in Egypt. In this contemporary Mexican version, bananas and other fruit are puréed and cooked down to a sweet spread. "Some people say that the banana was the original 'apple' of the Garden of Eden," says Mexican-Jewish food writer Lila Louli, who collaborated with chef Roberto Santibañez on his Passover recipes. "It's also a very common ingredient in Mexican cooking."

The Ashkenazic and Sephardic traditions feature dishes with sweet-and-sour combinations such as honey and lemon. Serve this chicken with potatoes or matzo farfel, and you've got a great meal.

Goes great with: Couscous flavored with chopped mint, toasted slivered almonds, and grated lemon peel. What to drink: Australian Shiraz or red Faugères from the Languedoc in France.

Relish each step of preparing coffee- and chile-braised short ribs: Searing a brown crust on the ribs before they bake adds a deep caramelized flavor; sautéing the aromatics (onions, peppers, garlic) in the drippings makes the sauce base really fragrant.