Serving up comfort

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Amy Silverman’s Noodle Kugel (luchshen kugel)

Ingredients
One bag medium-width noodles
1/4 pound butter
3 oz cream cheese
4 oz cottage cheese
3 extra-large eggs
1/2 cup sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla
2 cups milk

To make: Heat oven to 350 F. Cook noodles and drain. Mix in butter and cheeses and place in an 8-inch-by-10-inch buttered casserole dish. In a bowl, beat the eggs well, add sugar, vanilla and milk and beat for one minute. Pour over the noodles and bake for 50-60 minutes. Top with cinnamon and sugar, if desired.

Bruce Brown’s Philadelphia Brisket  

Ingredients
5 pounds first-cut brisket

3 onions, cut-up

2 carrots, cut-up

2 stalks celery, cut-up

1 clove garlic, minced

Salt
Pepper
A few cloves
A few bay leaves
Paprika

To make: Heat oven to 500 F. Place unseasoned brisket in a covered roaster and bake for 45 minutes to sear in the juices. Remove from oven and pour off the fat. Decrease oven heat to 350 F. Add the cut-up vegetables and 3/4 cup water to roasting pan and season heavily with salt, pepper and paprika. Add a few bay leaves and cloves as desired. Cover and place back in a 350-degree oven for at least three hours, adding a cup of water after the first hour or as needed. Baste occasionally and cook until the meat tests tender. (Bruce Brown: “Sometimes, my brisket can cook 4 hours or more until it tests tender. Don’t be in a hurry.”) Let sit for 20 minutes before slicing, or cover and cool in the refrigerator overnight. It slices much better and evenly when cold. To serve, bring the brisket to room temperature and reheat. Serves six to eight people.

Options: According to Brown, you can strain the gravy though a food mill or put in a food processor and pulse a few times to make a nice sauce. To store the meat, cover it with a bit of gravy then freeze. Freeze the remaining gravy separately.

Chana Susskind’s Cheese Latkes

Ingredients
3 eggs
1 cup milk
1 cup cottage cheese, drained
1½ cups flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
5 tablespoons sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
Oil for frying

To make: Mix all ingredients in a blender or food processor until smooth. Using a deep-fry or candy thermometer, heat oil to 360-375 F on stovetop. Form latke mixture into compact patties using about three tablespoons of mixture per latke. Fry latkes in oil until brown and crisp on both sides — about two-three minutes per side. Susskind recommends starting with one “test latke” to get the oil temperature just right before proceeding with the others. Yields 12.

Bruce Brown’s Three-Cheese Dairy Kugel

4 tablespoons melted butter or margarine
Scant ½ cup sugar
1 cup sour cream
2 cups milk
1 pound cottage cheese
1 pound ricotta cheese
½ teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
6 eggs, beaten
1 pound medium-width noodles, cooked and drained
1 cup golden raisins or cranberries (optional)

(Bruce Brown: My preference is to use whole milk and regular cheeses above. However, light versions can be substituted to reduce calories.)

To make: Preheat over to 350 F. If using the raisins or cranberries, place a cup of either in a bowl of very hot water for 15 minutes to plump them up. In a large bowl, mix all the ingredients together except the noodles. Fold in the noodles. Pour into a 9-inch-by-13-inch inch buttered casserole dish. Bake for 1½ hours. Serves 10-12. Kugel freezes well.

Bruce Brown’s Salt and Pepper Kugel

12-ounce package fine noodles
2 tablespoons oil
1½  cups chicken soup or chicken broth
1 teaspoon salt (or to taste)
½ teaspoon pepper (or to taste)
5 eggs, lightly beaten

(Bruce Brown: This kugel is often called lokshen kugel and is most commonly served with the Sabbath dinner.  It is great as a side dish with meat or chicken in place of potato. Leftovers are fantastic when actually served in the chicken soup.)

To make: Preheat oven to 375 F. Cook noodles in salted water according to package directions. Drain and rinse well. Do not overcook. Return the noodles to the cooking pot.  Heat oil in a 9-inch-by-13-inch glass baking dish in the preheated oven for five minutes. Add hot oil, eggs, chicken soup, salt and pepper to the noodles. Mix well. Pour back into the baking dish. Bake for 1 hour until golden brown. Serves 10 to 12.
Kugel freezes well.

Marti Biller’s Stuffed Cabbage Rolls

Cabbage rolls:
8 large cabbage leaves
1 pound lean beef, ground
1 egg, beaten
2 teaspoons sugar
1/2 apple, grated
1 onion, grated
salt and pepper to taste
½ cup cooked rice

Sauce:
2 cups canned tomatoes (or 1 cup chopped, fresh tomatoes plus 1 cup tomato sauce)
1 onion, chopped
2 tablespoons cider vinegar
2 tablespoon sugar
bay leaf
1 cup raisins
Sour salt (citric acid) and honey to taste

To make: Cut out and discard hard core of cabbage.  Put cabbage in a large pot. Pour boiling water over it; let stand until leaves are flexible and can easily be removed from the head.  Cut off some of the hard stem of each leaf, thinning it, so it will bend. Season the meat with salt and pepper; add egg, grated onion, apple,  sugar and rice.  Roll or fold approximately ½ cup of the meat mixture in each leaf.  Fasten with a toothpick.  Spoon a little sauce mixture on the bottom of a Dutch oven or large pot.  Place cabbage rolls folded sides down in the pot. Add the rest of the ingredients.  Cover and simmer on the stovetop for about an hour.  Add additional sugar and vinegar if needed to adjust seasoning.

Amy Silverman’s Noodle Kugel

(luchshen kugel)

One bag medium-width noodles
1/4 pound butter
3 ounces cream cheese
4 ounces cottage cheese
3 extra-large eggs
1/2 cup sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla
2 cups milk

To make: Cook noodles and drain. Mix in butter and cheeses and place in a buttered 8-inch-by-10-inch casserole. In a bowl, beat the eggs well, then add the sugar, vanilla and milk and beat for a minute. Pour over the noodles, then bake at 350 F for 50-60 minutes. Top with cinnamon and sugar if desired.

(The following recipe is from the Chabad House recipe book Tastes of Jewish Asheville.)

Chana Susskind’s Cherry-Apple Kugel

3 cups flour
1¼ cups sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
¾ cup canola oil
1 egg
1 teaspoon baking powder
3 granny smith apples, peeled and cubed
Cinnamon for sprinkling
21-ounce can cherry pie filling

To make: Make the crumb mixture by mixing the first six ingredients. Sprinkle one third of the crumbs on the bottom of a greased 9-inch-by-13-inch pan. Top with the apples. Sprinkle cinnamon generously over the apples. Pour one third of the crumbs over the cinnamon. Spread cherry pie filling over the crumbs. Top with the last one third of the crumb mixture. Bake at 350 F uncovered for one hour and 10 minutes.