Captain's Kugel

While Momma Heidi and I were making Matzo Ball Soup, we also whipped up Kugel, a noodle pudding that is served as a side dish. This recipe comes from Momma Heidi's cookbook, "From Noodles to Strudels" and is a family favorite.

 I learned that Kugel can be made literally a thousand different ways. It is wonderfully comforting and this Kugel is sweet but not in a dessert type way - more in a pasta side dish way.  I am excited to make this again at home and to try different variations. If you have a favorite Kugel recipe please share it with me!

Captain's Kugel 
Printable Version


Ingredients
1 pound wide egg noodles
6 quarts of boiling water
3 1/2 teaspoons salt
4 tablespoons sugar
1 pint sour cream
1 cup of milk 
1 pound large curd cottage cheese
6 tablespoons of butter, melted
1 cup of corn flakes, crushed
2 tablespoons of butter
1/2 pound of dried apricots, diced (optional)

Directions
Cook noodles in boiling water with 1 teaspoon of salt. Remove when tender - do not overcook. Drain, rinse with cool water, and allow to cool. Mix sour cream, cottage cheese, milk, 2 1/2 teaspoons salt, sugar, and melted butter together in a large bowl. 

Mix with noodles and add in apricots. 

Pour into a greased 3 quart casserole dish. Cover with corn flakes and bits of butter. 

Bake at 375 degrees for 1 1/2 hours, making sure the corn flakes  do not brown. Serve hot. 

CSN Stories Giveaway Winner & Matzo Ball Soup!

Thanks to everyone who entered my CSN Stores giveaway! I used random.org to pick the winner and here are the results:

Random Integer Generator

Here are your random numbers:

8

Timestamp: 2010-10-25 20:59:09 UTC

The eighth person to comment was Natural N. Congrats to Natural N -- please comment or email me with your email address. Thank you to all who entered the giveaway! I am hoping to host another giveaway for my blogiversary coming up in November, so be sure to keep checking back. 

Now let's get to the good stuff: Matzo Ball Soup!

This weekend I was so lucky to be a guest in the kitchen of my California Mom, Momma Heidi. Momma Heidi is the mother in law of my sister in law - if you are confused, don't worry. Basically, she's a wonderful lady who I consider another Mom. She is so sweet and loving and generous (not to mention fabulous with great fashion sense) and she blesses all those who are in her life. I asked Momma Heidi if she would show me how to cook Matzo Ball soup since it's one of her family favorites. She not only showed me how to cook it, but we also made kugel (recipe to come later) AND she took me to an awesome Jewish deli and bakery  in San Diego called D.Z. Akins  where I got to try my first Hamantaschen cookie. YUM!! I am officially hooked on Jewish food. Momma Heidi and I talked about how a lot of Jewish food is based around carbs -- a great match for me since I'm a huge carb lover. 

If you've never had Matzo Ball soup or never made it you are really missing out. It's like chicken soup but so much better! The Matzo Balls are my favorite part. They are light and fluffy and so good with the chicken and vegetable flavored soup. Momma Heidi and I made the soup pretty thin, but you can modify it to make it as thick or thin as you desire.

Matzo Ball Soup

Love and thanks to Momma Heidi - XOXOX

Printable Version

Ingredients

For the soup:

2 to 3 quarts of chicken broth or soup (*Momma Heidi made her own stock by boiling a whole chicken in 3 quarts of water and then shredded the chicken and added it to the soup)

10 carrots, peeled and chopped into thirds

1 head of celery, rinsed and chopped into thirds

3 yellow onions, peeled and chopped into large pieces

Directions

Bring the chicken broth to a boil and add in the vegetables. Season with salt and pepper. Simmer until the vegetables are tender when pierced by a fork. Ladle veggies into a food processor and puree in small batches until smooth and thick. 

Continue pureeing until all veggies are incorporated. Ladle the veggies back into the broth. 

For the Matzo Balls: 

We used one of these boxes and simply followed the directions on the box. 

When the Matzo Balls are done, ladle them into the soup. 

Taste and season with salt and pepper if needed. Serve immediately.