Farfel Kugel

A kugel is a pudding or casserole, and while there are many different kinds of kugels, I generally divide them into two categories: sweet and savory. This kugel, made from matzo farfel (crumbled matzo), is a lot like bread pudding, except richer.

The traditional place of a dairy kugel like this one is on Saturday (shabbat) morning brunch; you could also serve it for any breakfast. Traditionally, it would not be served with or after a meat meal because eating milk after meat is prohibited. However, if you do not keep kosher, this makes a fine dessert.

By soaking the matzo farfel before using it, it mostly disintegrates and gives the kugel a smooth, pudding-like texture. I plan on posting another variation on farfel kugel that seeks to keep the matzo somewhat more intact.

I got this recipe from my mother, who got it from The Jewish Home Cookbook. I have made a couple of substitutions (in parentheses) to bring it from 'inconceivably high fat' to merely 'very high fat.' Mmmm....

INGREDIENTS:

• 3 cup matzo farfel (or whole matzo crumbled into small pieces)
• 3/4 cup butter
• 5 eggs
• 3/4 cup sugar
• 1/2 tsp. salt
• 8 tbsp. cottage cheese
• 4 tbsp. (lowfat) sour cream
• 8 oz. (light) cream cheese
• 3/4 cup golden raisins
  
• 1 cup milk
• 1 tsp. vanilla
• 2 tsp. cinnamon

DIRECTIONS:

1. Preheat the oven to 400 degrees; boil some water.
   
2. Combine matzo farfel and raisins in a bowl.
3. Cover farfel and raisin mixture with boiling water and let stand 15 minutes; then drain in a colander.
4. Meanwhile, beat eggs and then add sugar, salt, cottage cheese, sour cream and cream cheese, combining thoroughly. (Use a blender for this if you prefer.)
   
5. Melt the butter and combine with the matzo farfel so that it is coated. Then add the egg mixture and combine. Transfer the mixture to a buttered, nonstick baking pan or casserole.
6. Scald the milk in a saucepan, then pour it evenly over the kugel. Do not mix.
7. Bake for 30 minutes at 400 degrees, then another 20 minutes at 350 degrees.

Allow to cool slightly before serving. Makes great leftovers.

Banana Spice Griddle Cakes

These are really cakes that are made in a pan, so calling them 'pancakes' doesn't get the point across. They puff up in excess of one inch apiece, and have a velvety cake texture. Made one fine shabbos morning when I discovered I had forgotten to plug in the slow cooker.

The trick to getting them to come out perfectly without raw centers is to begin flipping them over as soon as you can, and then to keep flipping them for several minutes. This might take some practice.

INGREDIENTS:

• 1 1/2 cup white flour
• 1 1/4 cup evaporated milk (nonfat is fine)
  
• 3 tsp. baking powder
  
• 1 extra large egg, beaten
  
• 3 tbsp. butter, plus more for frying
  
• 1/3 cup brown sugar
• 2 tsp. vanilla
• 2 tsp. cinnamon
• 1/2 tsp. nutmeg
• 1/2 cup walnut halves
  
• 2 large, not-quite-ripe bananas, mashed
  
• Pinch of salt

DIRECTIONS:

1. In a large bowl, combine the flour, baking powder, evaporated milk and beaten egg.
   
2. In a skillet, melt 3 tbsp. butter over medium-high heat.
3. To the skillet, add the bananas, brown sugar, cinnamon, nutmeg and salt. Cook for several minutes to blend.
4. Add the banana mixture and nuts to the batter and mix thoroughly.
5. Clean the skillet and heat to medium.
6. Butter the skillet when it is completely hot.
7. To the buttered skillet, add dollops of batter to meet your preferred size. (The cakes won't spread much.)
8. As soon as it is possible to do so (Maybe 30-60 seconds), begin to flip over the cakes. Flip them over every 30 seconds or so. They will be done after several minutes. (This depends on the heat of your stove, so try one and check to see how long it takes.)

Serve immediately.

Candied citrus fruits / Citrus syrup

This is a two-fer kind of recipe. After you've done it, you've got two wonderful things: candied citrus fruits, and citrus syrup.

Add water or seltzer to the syrup (along with lemon juice if you want it tart) and you've got a delicious beverage, iced or hot. For a beautiful mojito, mix it with seltzer, lemon juice, rum and fresh mint. Pour hot over ice cream. The possibilities are endless. If you want to get fancy, you could throw a little mint or ginger in with the fruit while they're cooking, which will further improve the syrup.

A lot of people use candied oranges or lemons as the base of a more complex candy, but I think they're fine just like this. Muchas gracias to this orange candy recipe, which showed me that you really need an unbelievable amount of sugar for this to work.

If you're new to cooking and don't know what kinds of pots to use: for things that get very hot, such as frying oil or candy, you really want to stay away from nonstick and aluminum in favor of a non-reactive, heat-tolerant metal pan such as stainless steel or (if you can afford it), copper.

INGREDIENTS:

• 2-3 lbs. oranges, lemons, limes or grapefruit
• 5 cups granulated sugar (divided use)
• 2 cups water
• Dash of salt

DIRECTIONS:

1. Slice the citrus fruits in half through the axis with the stems. (That is, if you had a navel orange, you'd be cutting the navel in half on one end, and the green stem at the other end.) Slice the halves into 1/4" thick slices, leaving the peel intact.
   
2. In a deep, non-reactive skillet or a saucepan, add the water, salt and 3 cups of sugar and combine.
3. Bring to a boil (warning: this will be much hotter than 212˚ F!).
4. Add fruit with a slotted spoon and reduce to a simmer. Simmer, uncovered, for 1 hour, occasionally pushing down pieces that are on top.
5. Turn off heat and allow the mixture to cool.
6. Transfer the fruit to a cookie rack to dry.(You probably want to put something under that cookie rack.) Don't put them on top of each other or they'll stick!
7. Strain the syrup through a fine strainer into a glass jar. The syrup will be very thick and have an intense, mildly bitter taste (like fresh marmalade).
8. Allow the fruit to dry for 24 hours or more.
   
9. Dredge the fruit in sugar.
10. If you have time, you could let them dry for another day; otherwise, they're ready to serve.
    

The candy will keep reasonably well in an airtight container. Arrange the fruit in layers, separated by wax paper, so they won't stick together. Enjoy!

Chocolate Coconut Pecan pie

This pie is unreasonably delicious, and extremely easy to make. Leave the pie crust frozen until you are ready to use it.

My mother got it from some cookbook and I inherited a xerox of a xerox. Whoever the original author is, my apologies for failing to provide an attribution. (Also, the original author will note that I've changed a couple of things, which of course means they must be improvements.)

INGREDIENTS

• 1/2 cup sugar
• 1/3 cup light brown sugar
• 1/3 cup light corn syrup
• 2 tbsp. unsalted butter, melted
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 3 medium eggs
• 3/4 cup raw shredded coconut
• 3/4 cup semisweet chocolate chips
• 1 cup whole pecans
• 9" frozen deep-dish pie crust

DIRECTIONS:

1. Put a baking sheet in the oven and preheat to 350 F. The baking sheet is important! Without it, the inside of your pie won't cook properly.
   
2. Mix sugar, brown sugar, corn syrup, butter and vanilla in a mixing bowl. You will get a big, sugary blob, which is cool.
   
3. Beat eggs and mix them into the aforementioned blob of sugar.
4. Add coconut, pecans and chocolate.
5. Pour all of this into the frozen pie crust.
   
6. Shove the whole thing in the oven and leave it there for 50 minutes or until the top is brown and the inside is more or less set. (The recipe originally said 40 minutes, but I've found that it takes significantly longer than that.)
7. Remove from oven, cover in foil, let cool slightly. The inside will firm up a bit as the chocolate solidifies.
   
8. Serve warm.