Noodle Kugel

Individual Noodle Kugels

 

In my last post, I started out the week of Hanukkah with an offering of bite sized Potato Pancakes or latkes, perfect for serving as a tray passed hors d'oeuvre. In this post, I'm ending the week of Hanukkah with another possible favorite dish of your Bubbe's, served in individual portions.

 

Now it's true that I didn't have a Bubbe, but as a young woman, I lived in New York City. My first apartment was on the Upper West Side, just a block and a half away from the Fairway Produce Market. The store was a delight for me to browse, with big barrels of pickles and all sorts of exotic (to me, anyway) deli items. It didn't take long before I discovered a wonderful new treat- Noodle Pudding (aka Noodle Kugel). I had grown up eating lots of my New Orleans' grandmother's bread pudding, and even the occasional rice pudding, but noodle pudding? This was a whole new world. It wasn't long, though, before Noodle Kugel became a favorite treat of mine.

 

The good news for parties is, that Noodle Kugel can easily be made in individual portions. They can either be tray passed, or served as a selection on a "small plates" buffet (along with demi-tasse spoons) which have become so popular. All you need is a collection of porcelain ramekins or small bowls to bake the kugels in. The BIA bowls I used are available at finer kitchen supply stores, and even upscale grocery stores. For the Noodle Kugel recipe, just continue to the next page...

Noodle Kugel                                                                                              

adapted from The Jewish-American Kitchen by Raymond Sokolov

 

• @ 6 tablespoons butter, melted
• 1 pound of wide egg noodles
• 1 pound cottage cheese
• 2 cups sour cream
• 4 eggs, lightly beaten
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 1/2 cup golden raisins
• 1 cup peeld and monced Granny Smith apple
• 1 cup plain bread crumbs
• 1 teaspoon cinnamon
• 1 teaspoon brown sugar

1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Use some of the melted butter to grease the ramekins.
2. Cook the nooldes in a large qunatity of boiling salted water for 8-10 minutes.
3. Combine the cottage cheese, eggs, sugar, raisins and minced apple in a large m xing bowl. Mix well, then add the drained noodles.
4. Portion the noodle mixture into the ramekins, then place the ramekins of a baking sheet.
5. Mix the bread crumbs, cinnamon and brown sugar with all but 1 tablespoon of the remaining melted butter. Cover the top of each ramekin of noodles with the bread crumb mixture, and then drizzle them with the remaining butter- of course, you can melt a bit more butter if you need it. Bake the kugels for about 15-20 minutes, until the top is nicely browned and the kugel is bubbly.

Yield: @ 12-14 individual servings