Moroccan Meatballs with Olives for Passover is a delicious, savory dish that’s VERY simple to make. Perfect for olive lovers! Great as a main or a side!!
If you love olives, this Israeli-Moroccan Meatballs and Olives for Passover dish is for you!
The mouthwatering mixture of flavors is so good that you will close your eyes and just savor the taste as you eat.
And since there is no matzo in the dish, you can eat it on the day of the seder!
Eating matzo on the day of the seder
Jews who keep the laws of Passover do not eat matzo or any foods that contain anything from matzo (such as matzo meal or matzo cake meal) the entire day before the seder, which is in the evening.
Some people even have the custom of not eating such foods from two weeks before, beginning on Rosh Chodesh Nissan or even as far back as Purim, which is a month before.
Kosher for Passover Pantry Essentials (Suggestion)
As I learned to prepare more and more recipes for Passover, I also learned which basics and seasonings are good to have on hand to have the ability to make a dish on short notice—especially during the holiday—and not have to run out to the store or borrow from a neighbor.
While I will admit that I am not always prepared when one of my kids will ask for eggplant parmesan or something at the drop of a hat (which they have done), I dislike having to postpone making something just because the ingredients needed to make a reasonable meal were not readily available.
So, I maintain a selection of what I consider “kosher for Passover pantry essentials” in my refrigerator and on my shelves during the week of Passover (some of the dry goods I keep from year to year, stored well).
While, of course, most of the essentials will not be needed just for any one recipe, at least some of them are needed for most recipes, and you would be surprised how many recipes can be made just with this list. So, if you make sure to have whatever you use regularly on hand, it can really save you time and effort.
Everyone has their favorite recipes, preferred seasoning, and just whatever they like to use to cook. Your own list should certainly reflect your own cooking tastes and style. Just make sure that everything is Kosher for Passover (KLP) and if you are Ashkenazi, that list will be shorter than if you are not.
Make sure to check with a qualified rabbi if you have any questions.
The following is a pretty comprehensive list of what you can choose from to keep on hand. I keep quite a bit of it.
Seasoning and flavoring:
- salt
- ground black or white pepper
- granulated garlic or garlic powder
- onion powder
- ground cinnamon
- sugar (granulated)
- brown sugar
- chicken consommé powder
- onion soup mix
- various herbs
- additional spices to adapt taste to preference
Misc:
- oil / margarine / butter / cooking spray
- potato starch as a thickening agent
- baking powder
- matzo cake meal (matzo meal, but ground into a powder)
- condiments, such as ketchup and barbecue sauce
- tomato sauce/tomato paste/canned tomatoes—diced or crushed/pasta sauce
- milk substitute (neutral flavor)
We always have eggs in the fridge and onions and potatoes on our shelves (if we were not Ashkenazi, I would certainly keep rice as well).
In addition, having fresh vegetables , such as carrots, celery, bell peppers (red, green, etc), tomatoes (if you don’t want to use canned), etc. can be very useful when putting together a quick but delicious meal.
It’s also a good idea to have some ground meat or chicken (breast, ground, or in parts) in the freezer for anyone who likes meat dishes in a snap.
Why are these pantry essentials beneficial to have on hand?
Personally, having the above ingredients in my kitchen is very advantageous, as I make a variety of dishes and use most of the items on the list regularly.
Whether or not buying a bunch of herbs, spices, etc., before you know what you are going to make for the week is workable for you depends on your own personal preference.
Of course, the more you cook and the more varied your recipes, the more you will use, and the more you will need.
If you plan your meals ahead for the week, you will be prepared with whatever else you might need that you wouldn’t even normally keep in your Passover pantry.
If you do decide to keep them over from year to year, I would only do so if they can be sealed well (or better yet, stored in the freezer), because not only can weather have an effect on some of the spices and on the chicken consommé powder, but you will be surprised to know just how clever moths are at getting into sealed bags and how hot red pepper powder can attract little black bugs – YUCK!
Food on Passover
Torah-observant Jews do not eat chametz (the fermented products of five grains: wheat, spelt, barley, oats, and rye).
In addition, Torah-observant Ashkenazi Jews do not eat kitniyot (or kitniyos as pronounced in Ashkenazi Hebrew). These include legumes, corn, rice, and similar foods that were deemed forbidden to eat by rabbis in the medieval period and are still not eaten today. Sephardi and Mizrachi Jews do not follow this tradition.
Many observant Ashkenazi Jews will not even eat the derivatives of these kitniyot, while others do (each family holds their own traditions regarding this).
Then, there are Ashkenazim who don’t eat “gebrokts” (or gebrochts).
Gebrokts (gebrochts) means “broken” in Yiddish, and in this case refers to matzo that has absorbed liquid. Not eating gebrokts is observed by many in the Hasidic Jewish community and Ashkenazim who have taken on this tradition where they basically don’t mix anything wet with matzo.
So, things like matzo sandwiches, fried matzo, and even matzo balls are a no-no for them.
There is a joke that sums it all up:
On Passover, we should remember people who have little to eat on this holiday. They are called Ashkenazim.
Over the years, I have learned to adapt “normal” food for Passover so that my family won’t complain about boring, tasteless, or repetitive meals.
I find that having good food and variety makes the week of Passover a very pleasant experience, and I hope this recipe will help make yours just that!
A little of my cooking background
I really wanted to title this blog “If I can make it, anyone can” because, honestly, if I can make it, anyone can.
I never really liked cooking, and when I was single, a meal for me meant grilled cheese, eggs, tuna, or something else that didn’t require effort or time.
When my kids were young, I was still able to get away with preparing only a small variety of easy meals, but the older they got, the more dishes I learned to make at their request.
Still, I insisted on keeping it simple.
Honestly, I never understood why some cooks unnecessarily complicate meals. I have seen recipes that have several ingredients that don’t really seem to add much, if anything, to the dish. So, why bother?
It has always been important to me that whoever eats at my table will have plenty to enjoy, and that includes my kids (I never agreed with the “You will eat what is served or you won’t eat” ideology), and, because I keep it simple, I can prepare a variety of dishes in a relatively short period of time.
I have a philosophy regarding being a great cook: Prepare food according to the tastes of those who will be eating it, and they will love your cooking!
As far as I am concerned, start with the basic ingredients that make the dish what it is, adapt according to taste, and voila! You are an amazing cook!
The bottom line is that while there are certainly delicate recipes out there for specialty dishes, making delicious meals doesn’t have to be complicated or time-consuming. It’s not difficult to impress—just make sure it tastes good.
While some of the recipes on my blog are more time-consuming than others, they are all tried and true, easy-shmeezy!
Of course, one always has to consider the conditions under which they cook. Weather (humidity, heat, cold), different types of ovens, different qualities of pots, etc.—all of which can affect your cooking and baking.
Nevertheless, as I said, if I can do it, anyone can!
A little about Israeli cuisine
Some people complain about cultural appropriation in cuisine when food from one country is attributed to another country.
However, national cuisine in itself is often a mingling of food from a variety of cultures, often due to a change of ruling countries and a shifting of borders.
Turkish cuisine, for example, goes back to the Ottoman Empire and was a combination of several cultures under Ottoman rule.
When people move from country to country, they will take their cultures with them, and their descendants may adapt their traditional cuisine with that of their new home, and if they don’t, others might.
Chinese food in US restaurants is quite often not really authentic Chinese but American Chinese.
Americans have created a whole variety of types and styles of pizza, and pineapple pizza was apparently created in Canada by a Greek immigrant. Yet, everyone still calls them all “pizza,” which originated in Italy.
Spaghetti is thought to be an Italian food, but many historians believe that it was brought back to Italy from China by Marco Polo.
Apparently, battered fried fish was from the Portuguese Jewish community as a Sabbath food and ended up in England via Holland during the Spanish Inquisition, yet everyone attributes the food to the British.
…and don’t get me started on Hummus.
When one lives in a melting pot, such as the US or Israel, it is just unrealistic to expect that food from a particular culture won’t mingle with that of other cultures.
That being said, “Israeli cuisine” is basically Middle Eastern (as opposed to Eastern European food) that was brought to Israel by Jews when they fled or were expelled from Muslim countries and moved to Israel mostly after the declaration of the State of Israel (collectively known as Mizrahi Jews).
Recipes were passed from generation to generation, and although decades have passed, the foods are still known by the culture they came from, and everyone seems to have their own way of making them.
That said, there are many variations of pretty much any “Israeli” recipe because of background, custom, or even just taste. When choosing a recipe, one has to know what actually constitutes a main ingredient – what makes the dish what it is – and what is left up to individual taste.
I personally find it very arrogant and quite irritating when a blogger (not naming names) will put “authentic” in the title of an “Israeli” recipe, as if all the rest of the variations are mere imitations. What’s worse is when that blogger makes the recipe with her own twist and then calls it authentic!
Adding more or less of a spice or adding a spice that is not in the recipe does not make it less authentic, but calling it “authentic” and then adding unnecessary extra ingredients above and beyond what needs to be there is misleading.
For example, “authentic” Israeli salad (what Israelis call Israeli salad) is diced tomatoes and cucumbers. Sometimes, they will add some oil, salt, and pepper, but THAT’S IT. Anything else does not have to be there, but if you leave out the cucumbers or the tomatoes, you no longer have an “Israeli salad.”
So, find the recipes you like with the ingredients you prefer, add your own twists, and בתאבון (literally translated, “with appetite”)!
Moroccan immigration (aliyah) to Israel
Jews were never considered equal citizens in Arab countries and violence against them was familiar and feared.
With the establishment of the State of Israel in 1948, the Jews of Morocco had even more to fear and in the mid-1950s the violence and terror from the local population intensified as Moroccan independence from France was drawing nearer (Morocco declared independence from France in March 1956).
So, from 1948 to 1956 there was a large wave of immigration from Morocco to Israel via transit camps in Casablanca during which almost 35,000 Moroccan Jews immigrated to the newly formed Jewish state. Once Morocco declared its independence from France, Jews had to immigrate to Israel clandestinely and another 30,000 or so immigrated from 1956-1961.
During a tragic night in January 1961, a ship smuggling 43 Moroccan Jews, and the Israeli representative helping them, sunk and the disaster caused the plight of Moroccan Jewry to make headlines worldwide.
Under international pressure, Moroccan King Hassan II stopped preventing the emigration of Jews from Morocco and, from 1961-1964, 80,000 more Moroccan Jews immigrated to Israel.
Moroccans are the largest group of immigrants to Israel from an Arab country and, over the years, more than 250,000 Jews made aliyah to Israel.
Israel is fortunate to have the wonderful Jewish-Moroccan dishes as part of “Israeli cuisine” and just to give an example of how cultural cuisine is shared, I learned to make this dish from my ex-mother-in-law, who was of Syrian descent. Go figure.
My own table is a combination of American and Israeli foods and my kids have no idea which is which. They just know what they like to eat.
Served over rice or couscous, this dish can make your eyes roll to the back of your head. 🙂
A little about olives
Olives are grown throughout the world, in places such as the Mediterranean, South America, South Africa, India, China, Australia, New Zealand, Mexico, and the United States and areused either sliced or whole in salads, sandwiches, and a variety of cooked dishes as well as being pressed into olive oil.
Olives contain antioxidants (which are believed to help reduce the risk of cancer, diabetes, stroke, and heart disease) and vitamins (such as vitamin E, which is good for the skin and immune system).
Israeli-Moroccan Meatballs With Olives for Passover
Meatballs and green olives in a savory tomato sauce, kosher for Passover
Ingredients
- 2 cups pitted whole olives
- 1 pound ground beef
- 28 oz tomato sauce or canned crushed or diced tomatoes
- 2 tablespoons chicken consume powder
Instructions
- Roll meat into 1-inch balls.
- Place olives in pot, cover with twice the amount of water, bring to a boil, then lower heat to medium.
- Cook until you can easily push a fork through the olives (approximately 45 minutes to 1 hour), then drain water.
- Add tomato sauce and chicken consommé powder, bring to a boil, then lower heat to medium.
- Add meatballs one at a time and cook for approximately 10 minutes until meatballs have cooked through.
Notes
Make sure all ingredients are kosher for Passover.
Nutrition Information:
Yield:
8Serving Size:
1Amount Per Serving: Calories: 371Total Fat: 22gSaturated Fat: 7gTrans Fat: 1gUnsaturated Fat: 12gCholesterol: 78mgSodium: 549mgCarbohydrates: 20gFiber: 5gSugar: 10gProtein: 28g