Recipe Nights: Kugel Remastered

0 comments holidays, recipe night

Sep 18

no jewish holiday is complete without kugel.  sweet or savory, made with noodles or potatoes, if there’s no kugel there’s basically no reason to celebrate.  there are always big choices to make when considering how you will prepare a kugel.  with nuts or without. sour cream or cream cheese.  graham cracker, breadcrumb or cornflake topping.  raisins – golden or brown or, gasp, none at all. every year, every holiday, i find myself asking these same questions.

but i stumbled upon a new recipe to try for this new year – just a bit of a twist on the traditional with room to make it my own.  for my foundation i used the NEW YORK TIMES JEWISH COOKBOOK‘s noodle souffle kugel – which called for way fewer eggs than recipes i had used in the past, and separated eggs at that.  and then to make it my own i added cornflakes and raisins.

RECIPE NIGHT: KUGEL REMASTERED

ingredients:

  • 3 eggs, separated
  • 1/2 cup melted butter
  • 2 Tablespoons sugar
  • 1 pound creamed cottage cheese
  • 8 oz egg noodles, cooked and drained
  • 1/2 cup corn flakes
  • 2 handfuls of golden raisins
get things started by cooking your noodles as directed on the package.  at the same time, preheat your oven to 375.

in a large mixing bowl, beat the egg yolks until light.  add in the melted butter and sugar and beat until everything is nice and mixed together.  next, stir in the cottage cheese and sour cream.

 

beat those egg whites until they are stiff.  whenever i’m working with egg whites i find myself thinking, this is never going to come together, they look the same as they did 2 minutes ago, nothing is happening, i give up.  and then just as i go to turn off my mixer, all of a sudden i’ve got peaks!  EUREKA!

 

add the egg whites to your noodle, cheesy, buttery mixture, as well as two heaping handfuls of raisins.  if you enjoy other goodies in your kugel – like toasted nuts – go.to.town.

 

transfer that yummy mixture of goodness, sweetness and jewish love into a greased casserole dish.  i added cornflakes on top, for a nice crust, but that’s just personal preference.  again, do as do you, or as your tradition dictates.  that cook that sucker for 45 minutes.

 

due to the separated eggs, this kugel came out much less dense than other recipes i had tried in the past.  it was still sweet, which is what i was looking for, but instead of feeling full after an initial helping, we all opted for seconds.

cold or hot, serve immediately or enjoy leftovers day after day after day – there’s nothing quite like a noodle kugel.

amen.