Ready-rolled all-butter puff pastry cuts into 12 squares (about 12 × 12 cm). Cheese filling: feta + ricotta + egg + parsley + nutmeg + pepper, mashed to a thick paste. Filling spoons onto each square; corners fold across to a triangle; edges crimp with a fork. Brushes with egg wash; sprinkles with sesame and nigella seeds. Bakes for 25 minutes at 200°C till deep gold and puffed.
A mix of white-fleshed fish (carp, pike, whitefish, or a more modern blend of cod and haddock) is ground with grated onion, eggs, matzo meal and a little sugar, then formed into quenelles. The quenelles poach gently in a broth made from the fish skin, heads and bones with onion and carrot. After an hour they are lifted out and chilled overnight in the strained broth; some of the broth jellies as it cools, which is the point. Served cold, on a leaf of lettuce, with a generous spoon of horseradish.
The classic German kartoffelpuffer - grated potato fritter - meets the Middle Eastern tahini drawer. Tahini does the work that egg and flour usually do: it binds the grated potato, and brings richness without dairy. The mixture is spiced confidently with cumin, turmeric, garlic, parsley and coriander, formed into patties, and baked on a tray rather than fried in oil. The result is crisp at the edges, tender in the middle, deeply savoury - a halfway dish between latke and falafel, owing both.
Floury potatoes grate fine; onion grates fine; both squeeze in a tea towel to remove water (the water-squeeze is what gives crisp latkes). Mixed with egg, matzo meal (or flour), salt and pepper. Dropped by spoonfuls into hot oil; flattened with a spatula; fried for 3-4 minutes per side till deep gold. Drained on a rack. Served hot with sour cream and applesauce.
The eight-day Passover diet rests on matzo, and matzo brei is the dish that turns yesterday's plain matzo crackers into a proper hot breakfast. Pieces of matzo go briefly under warm water until they soften (but don't disintegrate), then drain. They get folded into beaten salted eggs, sit a minute so the matzo drinks in the egg, and then go into hot foaming butter. Two finishes: cook flat as a thick pancake and flip, or break up and scramble. Eaten immediately with whichever topping the household votes for.
Aubergine slices salt, drain 30 min, pat dry, fry crispy in olive oil. Eggs hard-boil (or for the traditional Iraqi-Jewish version, slow-cook overnight in a hamin pot, the brown eggs become beigene). Israeli salad: cucumber, tomato, red onion, parsley, lemon, olive oil. Tahini whisks with lemon juice and water to a pourable sauce. Pita warms briefly. Build: hummus smears inside; aubergine slices layer; egg quarters; salad; tahini drizzle; amba spoon; parsley.