Kugels

[Pam R]

I'm testing a bunch of kugels for some Passover columns I'm working on and I want to do a sweet-potato kugel. I do a potato and chive kugel that uses boiled potatoes (I use a ricer), so I thought I'd shred the sweet potato for a different texture - but I'm not happy with the result.

I'm also doing a sweet kugel (matzo meal base with fruits and cinnamon) and a vegetable kugel (also matzo meal with assorted veggies) and a mushroom and onion farfel kugel.

What's your favorite kugel?

[Gifted Gourmet]

What's your favorite kugel?

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I shred the potatoes for my regular potato kugel because the taste remains more distinctive in the long shreds, as opposed to the grated potatoes.

Haven't made a sweet potato kugel as of yet but I would think that grating the raw sweet potatoes first and then adding the remaining ingredients might be viable. I don't parboil nor do I use a ricer.

Favorite kugels? Easy! The potato kugel when parve is necessary and a lukshen (noodle) kugel when dairy .. lots of sour cream, eggs, vanilla, sugar, and, of course, fine egg noodles! A hit for break-the-fast after Yom Kippur!

Have also made Vidalia onion kugels (from nearby Vidalia, Georgia), carrot kugels, cauliflower kugels ...

[Pam R]

What's your favorite kugel?

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Haven't made a sweet potato kugel as of yet but I would think that grating the raw sweet potatoes first and then adding the remaining ingredients might be viable. I don't parboil nor do I use a ricer.

Have also made Vidalia onion kugels (from nearby Vidalia, Georgia), carrot kugels, cauliflower kugels ...

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I tried grating the sweet potato and adding the rest of the ingredients - but there is something about the sweet potato - it just did not work! I will have to give it anothing go this week... after I'm done writing my Purim articles.

What is the cauliflower kugel? Sounds like a great idea...

(I also like noodle kugels, but of course off limits for this column)

[Gifted Gourmet]

What is the cauliflower kugel?  Sounds like a great idea...

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Pareve cauliflower kugel from VJ website (Virtual Jerusalem) and, of course, contains neither milk nor meat ... but also not Pesachdik ...

To make for Pesach, boil fresh cauliflower, drain, add salt and pepper, eggs, matzo meal, and either milk (if you like dairy) or pareve creamer ... basically simple!

[bloviatrix]

I recently experimented with cauliflower kugel. I boiled two heads of cauliflower and put them through a food mill. Then added caramelized onions, nutmeg, eggs, s & p and a bit of flour. It had a great deal of flavor and my guinea pigs, I mean guests , liked it.

Use matzoh meal in place of the flour and it's good to go for pesach.

Edited February 7, 2005 by bloviatrix (log)

[bloviatrix]

If you're having problems with the texture of the sweet potato, what about combining it with butternut squash? That might help.

[Rachel Perlow]

I'm also doing a sweet kugel (matzo meal base with fruits and cinnamon)

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I prefer a sweet kugel to be made with egg noodles. Usually apples & raisins or dairy with or without sultanas. Mmm, luchen kugel.

[cakewalk]

There was a Hanukkah recipe for parsnip/carrot latkes that I made into a kugle, and I thought it was great. The flavors really do work well together. I think sweet potato can be difficult in a kugel because it tends to get so mushy, but maybe try it with the parsnips instead of the carrots and see how that works out. The original Moosewood cookbook had a recipe for cauliflower something (I can't remember, but it was a "kugel quality" kind of thing) with a grated potato crust, I used to make that a lot for Pesach. If it has a crust, is it still kugel?

[Swisskaese]

My favourite kugel is my mother's. She makes Marion's Noodle Pudding from the "Elegant but Easy Cookbook". It is good, but calorie ridden and I can't imagine that it would be good if you made it with fat free stuff, yuck! I haven't made it in years.

I will post the recipe when I get home.

Edited February 7, 2005 by Swisskaese (log)

[Gifted Gourmet]

If it has a crust, is it still kugel? 

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That it most certainly is! On my sweet noodle kugel, there is a top crust made from cornflakes, chopped nuts, cinnamon, sugar, and butter .. makes for a very nice "finish"!

[Swisskaese]

Marion’s Noodle Pudding

1 lb. broad egg noodles

1 pint sour cream

1 lb. cottage cheese

1 C. mlk

2-1/2 tsp. salt

4-1/2 Tbsp. sugar

6 Tbsp. melted butter

Crushed corn flakes

Butter

Cook noodles according to package directions. Drain and rinse with cold water. Mix with all of the ingredients except the last two. Place in greased shallow casserole. Top with crushed corn flakes. Dot with lots of pats of butter. Refrigerate. If you decide to freeze this, do not put the cornflakes and butter on yet.

When ready to cook, bring to room temperature. Bake at 375 for

1-1/2 hours.

Edited February 8, 2005 by Swisskaese (log)

[Pam R]

Thanks so much for sharing some of your favorite kugels. I panicked this weekend when I realized I had to write a Purim article or two before I finished my Pesach ones!

So this week will be hamantashen and alcoholic beverages for Purim, then I'll get back to kugels and other Passover delights next week... with all sorts of new ideas to try.

[bloviatrix]

Pam, what publication are you writing your articles for?

[Pam R]

Pam, what publication are you writing your articles for?

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At the moment I'm writing a bi-weekly recipe/food column for our local paper, the Jewish Post and News.

I've been sending out query letters like crazy though, and a few other publications are interested - I'll let you know if anything happens.... my column could appear in a paper near you soon.

[Pam R]

OK. With the exception of making some hamantashen at work for some orders, I'm pretty much done with Purim this year and I can now devote the next 2 months to Pesach.

This means that I shall devote much of this week to Kugels. A few of you gave me a great idea, and I will try a few of my latke recipes in kugle form. I rarely use matzo meal in latkes (i prefer to sqeeze as much liquid out of the potato/vegs as possible and just use a little flour as a minder).

For those of you who have converted latke to kugel - would you suggest taking the recipe and adding eggs and matzo meal? I think the latke 'batter' would be too dry as a kugel? Oy!

[JFLinLA]

My favorite Passover kugel is a fruit kugel with apples, pitted prunes and lots and lots of cinnamon. Due to all the fruit, we omit the sugar. It's moist and yummy.

[Mooshmouse]

Marion’s Noodle Pudding

1 lb. broad egg noodles

[snip]

Cook noodles according to package directions.  Drain and rinse with cold water.

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Michelle, I'll definitely have to try your recipe as it sounds delicious... low-cal be damned! With the egg noodles, am I to assume that 1 lb. is a dry measure?

On my sweet noodle kugel, there is a top crust made from cornflakes, chopped nuts, cinnamon, sugar, and butter .. makes for a very nice "finish"! 

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Melissa, may I ask what the rough proportions are of these topping ingredients in your recipe? And which nuts do you find taste best?

Thanks to you both.

[Swisskaese]

Marion’s Noodle Pudding

1 lb. broad egg noodles

[snip]

Cook noodles according to package directions.  Drain and rinse with cold water.

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Michelle, I'll definitely have to try your recipe as it sounds delicious... low-cal be damned! With the egg noodles, am I to assume that 1 lb. is a dry measure?

Yes, it is a dry measurement.

Enjoy the recipe. I think I am going to have to breakdown and make it myself. It has been years.

[emsny]

I wonder whether, if you're using raw sweet potatoes, your regular potatoes shouldn't also be raw rather than mashed.

Me, I'm a grating, not shredding, man, both for kugel and for latkes. Grating to a near-puree, in fact, on my late mother's Acme "safety" grater. The "safety" part is amusing, because I always remember a small amount of blood being a key ingredient in my mother's latkes - the Acme grater is very hard to use without breaking one's skin.

[NancyH]

Sorry to chime in so late; I'm so behind on my EG Mail!

My mom swore the secret to good kugle was the same as the secret for latkes - use the smallest holes on the grater (and, of course, the little bit of knuckle that goes with it . We thought she was nuts, until we tried it - it creates a truly pudding-like consistency in the final product. We have since learned that you can use the smallest grating wheel on the Cuisinart (the one for grating hard cheese, that doesn't actually have holes in it) to get the same effect.

[Pam R]

Sorry to chime in so late; I'm so behind on my EG Mail! 

No need to apologize! I'm still in the middle of testing and was going to update soon (maybe with some pictures?)

I have tried two VERY different kind of sweet potato kugels - and I have decided that while I like the IDEA of a sweet potato kugel (And I love sweet potatoes) I HATED both attemps. So I am forgetting that idea

I was very successful though with a multi-veggie / cheddar cheese kugel. Broc, cauli, carrot, onion, potato, cheddar, matzo meal, eggs, s&P, thyme. Everybody in the family gave this one 1 thumb up.

I also did a 'greek' potato kugel - sauteed onions, spinach, garlic, shredded potato, oregano and all the fillers. I liked this one, but family thought maybe without the oregano.. so I'll be trying that one again later this weekend.

That's all I have for now, but next week will be more kugels!

[Pam R]

The final kugels (for now) From top to bottom:

Squash and Leek (which now that I typed it sounds kind of odd... but consists of zucchini, butternut squash - both grated, lots of leeks. matzo meal etc.)

Potato and Chive - this is the non-grated one. Use a ricer - kind of like a twice-baked potato kugel.

Cheddar Veggie Kugel

Potato and Spinach

One day I will get a sweet potato kugel that I like... just not any day soon

[Gifted Gourmet]

On my sweet noodle kugel, there is a top crust made from cornflakes, chopped nuts, cinnamon, sugar, and butter .. makes for a very nice "finish"! 

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Melissa, may I ask what the rough proportions are of these topping ingredients in your recipe? And which nuts do you find taste best?

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Don't actually measure any of this but if I were to make a wild guess here perhaps:

2-3 Tbsp sugar

1 tsp cinnamon

3 Tbsp butter

1 Cup cornflakes

a handful of either pecans or walnuts, chopped but not too finely ...

Process roughly to distribute the ingredients evenly and top the noodle kugel ...

do not weigh yourself after consuming said kugel because it will take all pleasure out of the "fressing" and noshing!

[mizducky]

I am trying in vain to remember my mom's potato kugel recipe, probably because she didn't make it very often. I'm pretty sure she would have used the grater, because that's what she used also for latkes (and yeah, it wasn't the real deal in my family unless you skinned your knuckles--we used to joke that the faint pink tint of the oxidizing grated potatoes was actually a little of the grater-weilder's blood ). I'm pretty sure she put in an egg or two to hold it together. I clearly recall her cooking it in the same pan as roast beef--kugel in the bottom of the pan, roast suspending on a rack above, not unlike an old-school Yorkshire pudding. I'm not recalling whether she had the kugel in there for the entire roasting period, or put it in when the roast was partway done. I suspect the latter.

Some time ago, a cooking buddy and I compared notes on our respective families' noodle kugels, and came up with a version whose sweetness came from golden raisins only, with no added sugar--not that we had anything against sugar as such, but we both did have a thing against overly-sweet non-dessert dishes. I'm not remembering the exact proportions right off--it was one of those "put stuff in till it looks right" recipes. In with the noodles went cottage cheese (whole-milk, if you please!), an egg or two, and the golden raisins. Once loaded into a buttered casserole, we'd generously dust the top with cinnamon before baking in a medium oven for something like a half-hour to 45 minutes.

[Toliver]

In the April issue of Bon Appétit is a recipe for "Cauliflower-Leek Kugel with Almond Herb Crust". No dairy and no flour (uses matzo meal).

Of course, now I'm wondering if roasted cauliflower could somehow be transformed into a nice kugel.