Here are some foods you can enjoy for Passover, or at any time.
Passover comfort food from MaPa’s
Marci Alt of Decatur started selling her matzoh ball soup, made from her grandmother’s recipe, when COVID-19 hit. People weren’t leaving their homes, and Alt was able to deliver comfort food right to their doors. Demand soared, and, soon, she was delivering soup all over metro Atlanta. She also added knishes, latkes and kugel to her menu. A single parent, she named her business MaPa, since she is both mom and dad for her two children. The soup is full of chunks of kosher chicken, whole baby carrots, sticks of celery, and each quart has at least three fluffy matzoh balls — no sinkers here. The knishes are puff pastry wrapped around garlic mashed potatoes and onion puree. And, the apple kugel just made us swoon. Comfort food, indeed; these are dishes you can enjoy at any time.
$16 per quart of soup, $11 for two knishes, $11 for a 5-inch square of kugel large enough to feed four. Delivery available for $8 inside the Perimeter, $10 outside the Perimeter. Available at the Dunwoody, Avondale Estates, Tucker and Sandy Springs farmers markets, or order by texting 404-822-7789. facebook.com/MaPas-Matzoh-Ball-Soup-101485611513108
Credit: Grateful Pastures Farm
Credit: Grateful Pastures Farm
Organic chicken schmaltz from Grateful Pastures
Shaun Terry and his family raise organic chickens at their Mansfield farm. True to the farm’s principles of using every part of the birds they raise, they take chicken skin left over when they sell skinless cuts of chicken and render it to produce the decadent chicken fat called schmaltz. Since Jewish dietary laws prohibit the use of lard, and butter is restricted to certain uses, schmaltz serves as an all-purpose cooking fat. It just happens that it’s also delicious. The Terrys often use it in place of butter, and our favorite use may be for caramelizing onions and roasting potatoes. The rich smell of chicken married with roasting potatoes? Yum. But, remember: This is one fat that must be refrigerated.
$9 per 8-ounce jar. Available at the Peachtree Road, Morningside and Freedom farmers markets, or for on-farm pickup, and at gratefulpastures.com.
Credit: Alon Balshan
Credit: Alon Balshan
Dessert from Alon’s Bakery & Market
There’s a reason a line stretches out the door and through the parking lot at Alon’s Bakery & Market any time a holiday rolls around. Alon Balshan’s loyal customers know to expect a range of meticulously prepared savory dishes, as well as European-style pastries that taste as amazing as they look. For Passover this year, you can order his roasted lamb, famous brisket or gefilte fish, but we went right for the desserts. We saw his apricot mascarpone chocolate cake on Instagram, and instantly fell in love. The three layers of flourless chocolate cake, filled with apricot compote and mascarpone cream, with the thinnest white chocolate layer on top, did not disappoint. And the Macaroonade, with fresh fruit, combines an almond macaroon base with an almond meringue disk and marries those two crisp layers with mascarpone cream and berries. It was everyone’s favorite, except those busy hoarding their slice of chocolate Louise. This year, don’t even consider making your own Passover desserts.
$42.99 for the Macaroonade with fresh fruit, serving eight to 10; $45.99 for the apricot mascarpone chocolate cake, serving eight to 10; $40.99 for the chocolate Louise, serving six to 10, with many other desserts available. All can be preordered at alons.com and picked up at the Alon’s Bakery & Market locations in Morningside, at Phipps Plaza and in Dunwoody.
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