Dessert Pasta

Page 8: Grandma’s Noodle Kugel

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Grandma’s Noodle Kugel

Grandma, who never heard of ricotta, used pot cheese or farmer cheese. Today’s cooks, who never heard of pot cheese, will use ricotta. If you don’t have ricotta handy, you can use cottage cheese. If you live in the metropolitan New York area, you have access to farmer cheese, which sounds less glamorous than ricotta but is delicious and authentic—and kugel is comfort food, not glamour food (get the salted variety).

There are many sweet kugel recipes: With raisins, apples and other fruits; with cottage cheese or a cream cheese-cottage cheese mix; with cinnamon or more exotic spices. Most can be made and baked within 90 minutes. This one is “marinated” overnight.

The history of kugel: Kugel originated in Eastern European. According to Wikipedia, the first kugels were made from bread and flour and were savory rather than sweet. Around 1200 C.E., German cooks replaced bread mixtures with noodles or farfel (noodle pellets), eventually adding eggs, then cottage cheese and milk to create the custard-like noodle pudding we know today. Sugar became available in the 17th century, creating sweet kugels for side dishes and desserts. Polish-Jewish recipes included raisins, cinnamon and sweetened farmer’s cheese; Hungarians sprinkled their kugels with sugar and sour cream. In the late 19th century, in Jerusalem, caramelized sugar and black pepper were added to the “Jerusalem kugel.”

Kugel can be served an entrée, a side dish (popular with brisket) or a dessert. There are savory kugels (potato kugel with onions and eggs is another main recipe), as well as sweet ones like the recipe below. There are as many variations as there are fruits, vegetables and spices; the common denominator is broad, flat noodles. Most sweet kugels are served cold or at room temperature.

Ingredients

One 12-16 ounce package of broad noodles
4 large eggs
3/4 cup sugar
3 cups whole milk
1-½ cups pot, ricotta or cottage cheese
1/2 cup each dark and golden raisins
2 tablespoons each sugar and cinnamon
1 tablespoon fresh ground nutmeg

Preparation

Spread the uncooked noodles evenly across the bottom of a 9 x 13 inch pan. Distribute the raisins evenly among the noodles, taking care not to break them.
In a 3-quart bowl, combine the eggs, sugar, milk and cheese. Pour over the noodles. Cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate overnight. Be sure all the noodles are immersed in the liquid.
Preheat the oven to 350°F. Mix the sugar and spices, and sprinkle across the top of the kugel. Cover with foil and bake for 35 minutes. Uncover, and bake another 40 minutes, until firm in the center, puffed and browned on the top.

Kugel can be served hot or at room temperature. Leftover kugel can be re-heated or eaten cold.

Continue To Page 9: Romanian Sweet Pasta And Sweet Ricotta & Fusilli

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