Pascale’s Kitchen: Last-minute fun dairy options for Shavuot

Shavuot is here, everyone is dressed in white, and the festive dairy dishes are already on the table. Preparing appetizers, soups, main dishes and desserts – all of which are dairy – is one of the most traditional rituals of the Shavuot holiday, which celebrates the giving of the Torah on Mount Sinai, as well as the summer grain harvest. This is a great time to be creative and take advantage of flavorful cheeses to make quiches, salads, crostini and bruschetta.

Most of you will probably have already begun preparations for Shavuot, so this week I am bringing you recipes for dairy dishes that are super easy and quick, that don’t require any special ingredients and can be prepared at the last minute. They are perfect to serve as starters for the festive meals, and I bet that once you realize how simple they are, you’ll end up making these dishes throughout the year, over and over again. 

For more of Pascale's recipes, click here>>

The first two recipes are for bruschetta and crostini. Both of these recipes call for bread, spreads and fun toppings, and you can be as creative as you want to come up with an arrangement that will make your taste buds rejoice. 

The first step is to toast/grill the bread slices so that they come out crunchy. On top of these, you can add colorful spreads; fresh and roasted vegetables; roasted, pickled or smoked fish; salads; cheeses or any other ingredients that will please your palate. 

When making bruschetta and crostini, don’t be afraid to try out new flavors and textures. You can try combining lots of different colored foods and see how they affect your level of excitement about tasting what you’ve prepared. Then, arrange the finished bruschetta and crostini on a serving platter that you can set down in the center of the table so that everyone can choose the one that catches their eye. 

The next dish is burrata, radish and beet salad, with olive drizzled on top. This refreshing dish is perfect for this time of year when the weather is beginning to warm up. 

Lastly, I’ve brought you a recipe for tzatziki, a yogurt soup made with cucumbers that hails from Greek cuisine. You can play around with the ratio of ingredients, depending on how thick you’d like it to be. You can make it light and thin so that it can be eaten as a soup. Or you can make it thicker and serve it as a dip or spread. 

BRUSCHETTA WITH TOMATOES, BASIL AND SALTY CHEESE

Makes 6-8 servings. 

• ½ cup olive oil
• 3 garlic cloves, crushed
• 6 slices whole wheat bread

Toppings:

• 3 tomatoes, peeled and finely chopped 
• 2 garlic cloves, chopped
• ½ cup basil, chopped
• Salt and pepper, to taste
• ¼ tsp. balsamic vinegar
• ¼ cup olive oil

Serving suggestion:

• 200 gr. salty cheese, cubed
• 12 Kalamata olives, sliced

Mix the oil with the garlic, then spread it on the bread and place in a baking pan. 

Heat the oven to grill mode and grill the bread pieces until they brown a little. Alternatively, grill the bread on a ribbed grill on the stove top. 

Mix all the topping ingredients together in a bowl. Spread a little bit on each slice of grilled bread. Then, add the cheese and olive slices. Just before serving, drizzle a little olive oil on top.

Level of difficulty: EasyTime: 20 minutes Status: Dairy

MOZZARELLA CROSTINI WITH ARTICHOKE HEARTS

Makes 6-8 servings. 

• ½ baguette
• 3 garlic cloves
• Olive oil
• 2-3 tomatoes, thinly sliced
• 1 ball (100-150 gr.) mozzarella (or goat’s cheese), sliced into ½-cm. pieces
• ¾ cup artichoke hearts, preserved in oil, sliced 
• 4-5 basil leaves, finely chopped
• Salt and pepper, to taste

For extra spiciness:

• 1 chili pepper, finely chopped
• 1 small green spicy pepper, finely chopped 

Slice the bread at an angle into 1-cm. pieces. Roast the bread in the oven or toaster. Rub the bread with the cloves of garlic and brush them with olive oil. 

Place tomato slices on each piece of bread, then mozzarella (or goat’s cheese) on top. Next, add slices of artichoke heart and pieces of basil. If you’d like them to be spicy, add pieces of chili or small green peppers. Drizzle olive oil on top, and sprinkle with salt and pepper.

Level of difficulty: EasyTime: 20 minutes Status: Dairy

BURRATA, RADISH AND BEET SALAD

Makes 6-8 servings.

• 2 small beets, cooked in water or baked in oven until soft, or cooked vacuum-packed 
• 4 radishes
• 2 scallions
• 2 portions of burrata cheese
• Olive oil for drizzling
• Salt and pepper, to taste

Toppings:

• Mint leaves
• Sprouts

Peel the beets and slice them into eighths. Rinse the radishes and slice them thinly. Peel the scallions and chop them finely. 

Place the 2 pieces of burrata on a serving plate and gently pierce them so that they open up and spill out onto the plate. Add the beet pieces, radish slices and chopped scallions. Drizzle olive oil on top and season with salt and pepper. Garnish with mint leaves and sprouts.

Level of difficulty: EasyTime: 15 minutes Status: Dairy

YOGURT SOUP WITH CUCUMBERS (TZATZIKI)

Makes 6 servings. 

• 500 ml. goat or regular yogurt 
• 2 cucumbers, cut into small pieces or grated coarsely
• 2 garlic cloves, crushed
• 3 Tbsp. olive oil
• 3 Tbsp. dill, chopped
• Salt, to taste
• 2 Tbsp. sour cream 

Toppings:

• ½ cup dill or mint leaves, chopped
• Ice cubes
• 1 cup cucumbers, chopped
• Olive oil
• Mix all the ingredients in a large bowl. Taste and adjust seasoning. 

Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and place in the fridge for at least 2 hours. Taste and adjust seasoning (flavors will intensify in the fridge). It’s important that the soup be served very cold. (You can add ice cubes if it’s not cold enough.) Garnish with dill or mint leaves and cucumber pieces. Drizzle olive oil on top. 

Level of difficulty: EasyTime: 10 minutes (plus cooling time with ice cubes) Status: Dairy

Cheeses: Courtesy Jacobs Farm, Kfar Haroeh

Translated by Hannah Hochner.