Passover

This is more of an infusion than a true tea, since it isn't made with tea leaves. You will have leftover spice tea to store.

Can be prepared in 45 minutes or less.

Vanilla bean and brandy accent the cake, and a few raspberries tint the peach topping a delicate pink.

A sophisticated dessert that comes together easily because the pastry, cream and sauce can be prepared ahead of time. Serve the leftover cream filling like a pudding, and top it with fresh fruit.

Dried Fruit and Nut Paste The Passover meal typically includes haroseth, which symbolizes the mortar used by Israelite slaves in Egypt. Recipes can vary greatly, depending on the country of origin. Haroseth is used as a condiment — almost like a chutney — and would be good with many kinds of roasted meat or poultry. This spicy version is based on a recipe from Yemen. Active time: 20 min Start to finish: 20 min

This recipe originally accompanied a story on a matzoh ball taste test.

This recipe, adapted from The Viennese Pastry Cookbook: From Vienna with Love, by Lilly Joss Reich, requires a Rehrucken mold—a loaf pan with a rounded, ridged bottom.

These delicate fish dumplings are steamed and chilled between layers of cabbage leaves to keep them moist. Leftovers can be refrigerated for a couple of days.

If you can't find matzo cake meal, grind batches of regular matzo meal in a clean electric coffee/spice grinder until it has the consistency of flour.

Known as dal in India, this dish is often offered over rice or topped with plain yogurt.

Begin this at least one day ahead. Serve with Potato-Leek Matzo Balls and steamed asparagus. What to drink: A full-bodied red with robust fruit, such as Zinfandel or Australian Shiraz.

Sephardim enjoy these confections on special occasions, especially Rosh Hashannah and Passover. Almost any fruit can be used in this process, but hard fruits require cooking and dried ones soaking. Although fruit is naturally sweet, the sugar in this recipe contributes additional sweetness and also intensifies the flavors, contributes body (so that the paste can be cut into shapes), and acts as a preservative.

This tsimmes created by Chef Lenard Rubin of the Phoenician Club in Phoenix, Arizona, is so good that I sometimes serve it alone without stuffing it into the chilies.

A vegetable and herb filling adds another element to an unusual and impressive version of a classic Passover main course.

These get a lift from allspice, too.

This soup, actually my mother's recipe, is traditionally served at Passover, but it's so good that my family likes to make it all year round. A little chicken stock goes into the matzo balls, and the rest makes up the soup base. You can also use canned chicken broth, but for the best-tasting and most authentic soup, we think nothing beats homemade chicken stock. Active time: 40 min Start to finish: 1 1/2 hr