Passover meal gets a modern twist

Passover is a millennia-­old story of freedom that continues to inspire celebration. But if you're finding holiday menus a bit ho-hum, turn to the latest batch of Jewish cookbooks for some fresh ideas and vivid flavors. Mix some modern dishes in with old favorites at Passover, which begins at sundown on April 3.

"Fix the things that are the deal breakers, the things that have to be there, and then feel free to experiment," says Leah Koenig, author of "Modern Jewish Cooking: Recipes & Customs for Today's Kitchen."

"Add one new thing this year. It may become the thing your family can't live without."

Koenig, a Brooklyn, N.Y., resident raised in Oak Park, Ill., says that addition can be a new ingredient in a familiar recipe or a new dish. Look for inspiration and flavor in what she calls "the global Jewish food canon."

Passover can present challenges in adapting recipes and menus. Some cooks may be reluctant to tinker with traditional holiday foods for fear their families may disapprove. Still, the new thing can be something as simple — and startling — as Koenig's matzo balls spiked with chopped shallot and jalapeño.

"It takes something people are familiar with and tweaks it a little bit," Koenig says. (Her book has Ashkenazi, Sephardic and vegetarian Seder menus as well as a weeknight meal and breakfast suggestions.)

Adhering to traditions while playing with flavor is also the strategy of Paula Shoyer, whose latest work, "The New Passover Menu," offers an updated Ashkenazi Seder menu featuring banana charoset, fresh salmon gefilte fish and Peruvian roasted chicken with salsa verde. (She also offers an international Seder menu, an Italian vegetarian menu and even a barbecue dinner menu.) Taking traditional recipes and making them healthier and lighter is her goal. She wants to offer dishes that fit modern sensibilities and connect back with Jewish tradition.

Jeff Morgan, co-author with his wife, Jodie, of "The Covenant Kitchen: Food and Wine for the New Jewish Table," says they were raised in "extremely secular Jewish homes" and he's "not willing to sacrifice flavor for spirituality, and there's no reason you have to."

The Morgans, co-­owners of the kosher Covenant Winery in Berkeley, Calif., write that they like "to push the envelope" with their Passover Seder menu. The Jewish home kitchen has come of age, they add, with a "new focus on international Jewish cuisines."

"Americans are used to big flavors," says Joyce Goldstein, the San Francisco­-based chef, restaurateur and cookbook author, explaining the new emphasis on global ingredients and tastes. Traditional Ashkenazic fare, based on Central and Eastern European cooking, can seem "pretty bland" and "heavy" and not offering a lot of vegetables, notes Goldstein, who is working on a new book of Mediterranean Jewish cooking for the "modern palate."

"Chefs are trying to liven it up,'' she says.

Take Shoyer's recipe for Moroccan spiced short ribs as a delicious example of what's possible today, thanks to spices, herbs and barbecue sauce.