Simple Pesach meals! Thai leek soup, red cabbage steak and orange ginger chicken
In a week of food, during which many home cooks are up to their eyeballs strict rules, Denise Phillips shares her recipes to help you prepare snappy interesting suppers
Denise Phillips is a Jewish cook and author
Thai Leek Soup
With coconut milk and coconut cream now kosher for Passover, soups like these can be included during this time. Add the chilli to taste as not everyone likes their food too spicy.
Ingredients
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- 900g leeks – trimmed and chopped
- 2 cloves garlic – peeled and finely chopped
- 4cm fresh ginger – peeled and finely chopped
- 1 lemon grass stalk – trimmed and very finely chopped
- 1 red chilli – thinly sliced
- 1kg red potatoes –peeled and roughly chopped
- 1 litre vegetable stock
- 2 x 400ml coconut milk – kosher for Passover salt and pepper – to taste
Topping:
- 2 tablespoons chopped raw leek, 1 tablespoon desiccated coconut, a sprinkling of chilli flakes
Method
- Heat olive oil in a large saucepan over low heat.
- Add the leeks and cook until softened (about eight minutes). Stir often to keep them from burning. Add the garlic, ginger, lemongrass, chilli and mix well.
- Add potato chunks, stock and coconut milk.
- Bring up the heat to medium-high and bring to the boil. Reduce the heat and let the soup simmer for 10 minutes covered, until the potatoes can be easily pierced with a fork.
- Remove from the heat and season soup with salt and pepper. Use a liquidiser or stick blender and blitz until smooth
Serve hot, topped with finely chopped raw leeks, coconut and chilli flakes
Preparation: 20 minutes – Time Cooking: 30 minutes – Serves 8
Nutty Red Cabbage Steaks
Preparation 15 minutes – Time Cooking 60 minutes
Jewish people love red cabbage, and this is a trendy and different way to cook it that is suitable for Pesach and for vegans. Serve it as a side dish, with salad, or include in the lunch box. This dish is delicious hot, cold or warm.
Ingredients
- 1 large red cabbage
- 2 tablespoons olive oil
- 100g flaked almonds
- 150g skin on almonds
- 150g walnuts
- 75g cherry tomatoes – roughly chopped
- Small bunch of fresh mint – finely chopped
- ½ lemon – zest and juice
- 2 tablespoons maple syrup
- 2 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil
- Salt and freshly ground black pepper
Method
- 1 Preheat the oven to 180ºC Fan/ 200ºC/ Gas mark 6.
- Remove any damaged leaves and cut the red cabbage into 4cm x 2cm thick steaks, leaving the stalk on so they stay intact.
- Brush both sides with olive oil, season well and transfer to a tray lined with baking parchment.
- Roast for 30-40 minutes or until golden and a knife pierces the stalk easily. Turn the steaks over halfway through cooking and cover with foil if they start to brown too much before they are tender.
- Place the nuts on a separate oven tray and bake for about 10 minutes or until golden. Remove and set aside, then roughly chop.
- Tip into a bowl with the cherry tomatoes, mint, lemon zest and juice, maple syrup and two tablespoons extra virgin olive oil.
- Season and drizzle over the steaks.
No Peel Orange & Ginger Chicken Bake
Preparation 15 minutes – Time Cooking 50 minutes
I just love this tasty colourful recipe – it’s perfect for a family Friday night meal. It’s quick to make – and you can prepare it in advance –and easy to serve. You can use chicken breast if you prefer and make double to accommodate extra guests. It’s delicious hot, cold or warm.
Ingredients
- 4 tablespoons No Peel Tiptree orange marmalade
- 2 tablespoons olive oil
- 1 clove garlic, peeled and crushed
- 1 level tablespoon freshly grated ginger
- Salt and freshly ground black pepper
- 8-12 large chicken thighs and/or drumsticks/ skinless and boneless chicken breasts
- 6 clementines, or tangerines (keep skin on)
- 1-2 tablespoons chopped fresh thyme
Method
- 1 Preheat the oven to 200°C/400°F/Gas Mark 6.
- In a large bowl, mix together the orange marmalade, olive oil, garlic, ginger and seasoning or combine in the food processor.
- Spread out the chicken pieces in a large roasting tin and pour over the jam juices.
- Thinly slice five clementines or tangerines (remove any pips), and place over the chicken pieces, pressing some in between the pieces.
- Cover the roasting tin with foil and place in the centre of the oven.
- Bake for 20 mins, then remove the foil and bake for a further 30 mins, basting occasionally, until the chicken is starting to turn golden and the juices run clear when the flesh is pierced.
- Remove from the oven and sprinkle over thyme leaves before serving.
Garnish: Slice the remaining clementine and place on top of the chicken.
Thank you for helping to make Jewish News the leading source of news and opinion for the UK Jewish community. Today we're asking for your invaluable help to continue putting our community first in everything we do.
For as little as £5 a month you can help sustain the vital work we do in celebrating and standing up for Jewish life in Britain.
Jewish News holds our community together and keeps us connected. Like a synagogue, it’s where people turn to feel part of something bigger. It also proudly shows the rest of Britain the vibrancy and rich culture of modern Jewish life.
You can make a quick and easy one-off or monthly contribution of £5, £10, £20 or any other sum you’re comfortable with.
100% of your donation will help us continue celebrating our community, in all its dynamic diversity...
Engaging
Being a community platform means so much more than producing a newspaper and website. One of our proudest roles is media partnering with our invaluable charities to amplify the outstanding work they do to help us all.
Celebrating
There’s no shortage of oys in the world but Jewish News takes every opportunity to celebrate the joys too, through projects like Night of Heroes, 40 Under 40 and other compelling countdowns that make the community kvell with pride.
Pioneering
In the first collaboration between media outlets from different faiths, Jewish News worked with British Muslim TV and Church Times to produce a list of young activists leading the way on interfaith understanding.
Campaigning
Royal Mail issued a stamp honouring Holocaust hero Sir Nicholas Winton after a Jewish News campaign attracted more than 100,000 backers. Jewish Newsalso produces special editions of the paper highlighting pressing issues including mental health and Holocaust remembrance.
Easy access
In an age when news is readily accessible, Jewish News provides high-quality content free online and offline, removing any financial barriers to connecting people.
Voice of our community to wider society
The Jewish News team regularly appears on TV, radio and on the pages of the national press to comment on stories about the Jewish community. Easy access to the paper on the streets of London also means Jewish News provides an invaluable window into the community for the country at large.
We hope you agree all this is worth preserving.
