A plant-forward Passover
Calgary-born chef Micah Siva celebrates modern Jewish cuisine
When Micah Siva was growing up in Calgary, her mom, Alyson Grobman, would invite over family, friends, friends' friends and anyone else who didn't have a place to go for Passover. Last year — in the small San Francisco apartment Siva shares with her husband, Joshua Siva, Buckwheat the sheepadoodle and, now, her four-month-old son,
Ari — the chef and registered dietitian hosted three Passover Seders to take care of everyone.
Typically, the matriarch of the family facilitated the holiday meal, Siva says. At 32, away from home, she now does it. “I'm adopting people into my holiday table, even with the baby, and it's important for me to have people there. I'm adapting a lot of the dishes that mean so much to me and make me feel like I'm a part of my family in Calgary — and making them in a way that I want to eat them and I feel comfortable eating them.”
When her mom hosted Passover Seders for 30-plus people, she made traditional dishes from Norene Gilletz's The Pleasures of Your Food Processor. At her table, Siva serves plant-based versions of many of those dishes. She makes vegan “gefilte” cakes and “brisket,” both of which are in her third book and first cookbook, Nosh (The Collective Book Studio, 2024).
“I've turned into my own mother, essentially, is what's happened, but I made it vegetarian, which is scary,” says Siva, laughing.
Siva was born and raised in Calgary. In 2011, at 19, she moved to New York City to study plant-based cooking at the Natural Gourmet Institute (now part of the Institute of Culinary Education). After graduating, Siva set her sights on starting a company focused on fermented foods such as tempeh and pickled vegetables. With her student visa running out, she returned to Canada and got a bachelor of science in nutrition and dietetics from Acadia University in Wolfville, N.S.
Today, Siva specializes in Jewish cuisine “with a modern and plant-based twist,” which she started to pursue seriously in 2018. She and Joshua (who is her co-author on the children's counting book 1, 2, 3, Nosh with Me, The Collective Book Studio, 2023) were living in London, England, when her grandmother, Eva Epstein, died. “She's really the person who got me into cooking, and so many of my memories of her are of cooking with her.”
Unable to make it home to Calgary for the funeral, Siva found solace by making a vegan variation of her grandmother's kreplach.
“At that point, I realized the food connection that I'd been missing by not being able to experience all of the Jewish foods that I grew up with, and it was such a time of looking for community and comfort. That was a big push for me to start looking at Jewish food through a vegetarian lens — so I could continue and re-enter the world of Jewish food, essentially. Because before, growing up, I'd bring my own food to my grandmother's house or to holidays, but it was never like I was trying to take a Jewish dish and rethink it into being a vegetarian dish.”
HERBED HORSERADISH SALAD
Vegan | Gluten-free | Passover-friendly
Serves: 6
Almond crunch topping:
■ 1/4 cup (60 ml) extra-virgin olive oil
■ 1/2 cup (125 ml) almond flakes
■ 2 tbsp (30 ml) fennel seeds
■ 4 garlic cloves, thinly sliced
■ 1 tbsp (15 ml) sunflower seeds
■ 1/2 tsp (2.5 ml) sea salt
Dressing:
■ 1 tsp (5 ml) lemon zest
■ 1/4 cup (60 ml) lemon juice
■ 2 tbsp (30 ml) prepared horseradish
■ 1 tbsp (15 ml) maple syrup or honey ■ 1/2 cup (125 ml) olive oil
■ Salt
■ Pepper
Salad:
■ 4 cups (1 L) torn butter lettuce
■ 1 fennel bulb, cored and thinly sliced
■ 1 head radicchio, thinly sliced
■ 1/2 English cucumber, seeded
■ and cut into 1/2-inch (1.25-cm) pieces
■ 1/2 cup (125 ml) chopped fresh parsley
■ 1/4 cup (60 ml) chopped fresh dill
■ 1/4 cup (60 ml) chopped fresh basil
■ 1/4 cup (60 ml) chopped fresh chives
1. Make the almond crunch: In a small saucepan over medium heat, combine the olive oil, almond flakes, fennel seeds, sliced garlic and sunflower seeds, and cook until the almonds and garlic begin to brown, 4-5 minutes. The garlic should be crisp. Remove from the heat, add the sea salt, and mix well.
2. Transfer mixture to a heatproof dish and let cool to room temperature. Transfer to an airtight jar or container and store in a cool, dark place for up to 3 days.
3. Make the dressing: In a small bowl, whisk together the lemon zest, lemon juice, horseradish, and maple syrup. Slowly drizzle in the olive oil and whisk until combined. Add salt and pepper to taste.
4. Make the salad: Combine the butter lettuce, fennel, radicchio, cucumber, parsley, dill, basil and chives in a large bowl.
5. Toss with the dressing and the almond crumble before serving.
Note: This recipe is a great way to use up leftover herbs. Feel free to substitute any fresh, leafy herbs you have on hand.
Variation: The magic in this recipe lies in the almond crunch topping, which is a Passover-friendly crouton alternative. Substitute your favourite chopped nuts for the almonds, add a thinly sliced shallot or add a chopped chili pepper for extra heat. If you don't eat kitniyot during Passover, omit the fennel seeds and sunflower seeds, and replace them with additional Passover-friendly nuts like cashews or pistachios.