Tempting Tuesday: Noodle Kugel

Warm, creamy, sweet noodle kugel is the stuff of dreams. With all the fuss about macaroni and cheese nowadays, noodles are becoming chic again. I’ll take kugel though, any day, any way, anyhow.  Cinnamon, butter, sugar – what’s not to love?

Usually kugel is baked either in a deep casserole baking dish or a standard 9×13 baking pan. The deeper dish makes the custard in which the noodles are put to bed, makes it creamier. This recipe is the result of a most happy accident. My grandma Ninny, of which I have previously written, was putting together baked dishes for a huge family get-together. She mixed up the kugel and realized…oops. The suitable baking dishes are taken. But, the bundt pan was free and clear. She decided to add the brown sugar and pecans just to give it a little extra bling and by golly, history was made in the kitchen that day.

Hanukah and other holidays need kugel. So does Christmas, Thanksgiving, and the third Sunday in January or February – whenever you want the kitchen to be warm and filled with the aromas of vanilla, cinnamon, and butter. I have sometimes not unmolded this and just served it for people to scoop into with the serving spoon, surprising them with the pecans and praline-y crust. However you decide to serve, enjoy and please, try not to eat too much.

Praline Noodle Kugel
3/4 C (1-1/2 sticks) salted butter, melted and divided
3/4 C packed brown sugar
1 C pecans coarsely chopped
1 pound egg noodles
4 large eggs, lightly beaten
1/2 c. cream
1 tsp ground cinnamon
2 tsp. vanilla extract
1/2 C white sugar
½ c. golden raisins or craisins
2 tsp salt

Start a large pot of water boiling. Preheat oven to 350.
Pour half the melted butter into a 12 cup mold, tube pan, or bundt pan, and swirl around the bottom and up the sides. Mix brown sugar and pecans and press into the sides of the pan into the butter.
Cook the noodles in boiling water, al dente. Drain. In a large bowl, mix hot noodles with a few pats of butter. Mix the noodles with the eggs, the remaining melted butter, raisons, cinnamon, vanilla, white sugar and salt.
Gently spoon noodles into the prepared mold, taking care not to dislodge brown sugar and pecans. Bake at 350 for 1-1/4 hours or until top is brown. Let stand 15 minutes before unmolding. Top will be slightly hard, like a praline.
Serve warm, cold or at room temperature with a dollop of whipped cream.  NOTE: This can be baked in a regular baking dish or casserole. Butter dish and spoon in noodle mixture. Press brown sugar mixture on top of kugel and adjust baking times, until custard Is set, but still jiggely and creamy.  Makes 12 servings.

free clip art photo

Got Eggs? Eggs-ellent Egg Salad

 

A long time favorite at lunch counters, egg salad is a good way to use up dyed boiled eggs at Easter. Please use caution and safety and do not use eggs that have been off refrigeration for longer than six hours for any food purposes.

After Easter, hot summer weather seems to be on us before we have eaten the last Peep in the Easter Basket. I like to keep salads on hand for cool easy meals during hot weather. Southerners love cold plates. I call cold plates “Scoopa” Plates – scoopa egg salad, scoopa tuna or chicken salad, scoopa potato salad, pickled beets, cole slaw arranged on crisp green lettuce leaves. a slice of baguette on the side.  Egg salad is a staple item for quick lunches, impromptu company, open faced for special occasions.

Egg salad can be as plain or fancy as you wish. Below is my basic egg salad. You can leave out the mustard and use curry powder to season or add chopped pimiento stuffed olives, or chopped green onion. dill instead of chives, finely chopped dill or sweet pickle – customize this to suit yourself. Hollowed out cherry tomatoes stuffed with egg salad also make an excellent appetizer or party nosh. Use reduced fat mayonnaise instead of regular mayonnaise. If I am going to be serving immediately, I also like to peel and scoop out the good stuff of an avocado and mash along with the eggs. Avocado egg salad has a lovely pale green tint and is a fresh looking dip or spread for crackers and adds a whole different flavor layer to this basic dish.

Thank you Public Domain Images for photographs!

Ingredients
6 large hard boiled eggs. peeled and cooled
1/4 cup mayonnaise + 1 tbs
2 tsp. dijon mustard
1 medium-length celery stalk, finely chopped (about 3 tablespoons)
1 tablespoon finely chopped chives
1 teaspoon fresh lemon juice (optional)
Salt and pepper to taste

Put eggs into a bowl and mash with a fork until as smooth or chunky as you choose. Add other ingredients and mix well. Use for egg salad sandwiches, dip or spread for crackers or for stuffing cherry tomatoes.

      

 

 

Simple Sunday Supper – Quiche Lorraine

Tonight for supper is one of the best excuses to cook lots of bacon – Quiche Lorraine. I use turkey bacon but you can also use leftover chopped smoked ham. This recipe is a standby from an Old Betty Crocker cookbook. I like to sprinkle fresh chopped chives on top before putting into the oven. Served with a nice crusty bread, steamed asparagus and a bowl of fresh strawberries, this supper sings Spring!  Leftovers make a good light lunch.  One of my snooty type friends said Lorraine was a region in France without cheese and that this was just bacon and cheese quiche.  Whatever.  It’s good.  A quiche by any other name and all that.

You can make a nice rich pate brisee, use one of those refrigerated pie crusts from the dairy case, or use a thawed, frozen deep dish pie crust. I’m using the latter because it is Simple Sunday Supper.   Bon Appetit, y’all!

Ingredients
1 (9 inch) pastry dough (I use frozen, deep dish thawed and pre-baked)
12 slices bacon, crisply fried and crumbled (I use 6 slices of turkey bacon)
1 cup shredded swiss or cheddar cheese
1/3 cup minced onion
4 eggs
2 cups whipping cream or light cream
3/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon sugar
1/8 teaspoon cayenne pepper

Directions
Heat oven to 450°F. Saute/caramelize onions. Sprinkle bacon, cheese and onion in pastry-lined pie pan. Whisk eggs slightly, beat in remaining ingredients. Pour mixture into pie pan. Bake for 15 minutes at 450°F. Reduce oven temperature to 300°F. Bake an additional 30 minutes. Quiche is done when knife inserted 1 inch from edge comes out clean. Important–let stand 10 minutes before cutting.

 

 

Purin – Japanese Dessert Custard

 

All around the world, there are variants of this recipe – flan, crème brulee’, leche flan, caramel crème…The Japanese version is softer ,  more delicate, less sweet.  It is a delicious end to a heavy meal or an excellent light dessert to serve with a cold plate, salady luncheon.  I like to chill and then unmold on a plate and serve with some fresh cut fruit to garnish – strawberries, blueberries, aspic cutter flowers of thin sliced melons, thin slices or half moons of kiwi….. 

If The Kentucky Bourbon Cake (see recipe under a previous post) is a luxurious and expensive call girl of a dessert, this dessert is a fairy princess.

 Ingredients and Instructions

CUSTARD

2 cups whole milk

2/3 c. sugar

4 eggs

1 tsp. good vanilla extract

Butter (for greasing custard cups/molds) 

SAUCE

6 tbs sugar

2 tbs water + 1 tbs warm water 

Butter six custard cups/molds.  Heat 2 tbs. water in a sauce pan.  Add 6 tbs. of sugar and simmer until the sauce is browned (be careful not to let it burn!)  Carefully add 1 tbs. warm water to thin the sauce.  Pour sauce equally into the molds and carefully swirl around the bottom.  Put milk into a medium saucepan and heat to about 140 F.  Dissolve 2/3 cup sugar in the milk and add vanilla extract. Cut off the heat.  Lightly beat eggs in a bowl.  Gradually add warm milk to egg mixture, stirring so you don’t get sweet scrambled eggs.  Run the mixture through a strainer and scoop out some bubbles from the surface of the egg mixture.   Pour mixture over the sauce in the molds.  Please the pudding in a steamer and steam for about 15 – 20 minutes on low heat. Cut off the heat and let them cool.  Remove pudding from the molds and serve on plates.  If you don’t have a steamer, use bain marie method, covering the whole with foil.  ***Be careful lifting the foil or opening the steamer.