Well hello there blogosphere, it’s been so long, hasn’t it?! Life has been hectic as ever, but I’ve always got my blog on the back of mind, wanting to cook, and photograph, and post and just share with y’all. Pesach (in Beijing, China!) has come and gone. I’ve since been to Ohio, and off to Antwerp tomorrow, and guess how I’m celebrating? By making kugel!
If you know me, I consider myself the Anti-Kugel. Yes, that’s right. I’m Jewish and I don’t like kugel! Why, you ask? Well I believe that instead of boiling up veggies, mashing them, and then mixing them with oil and eggs and who-knows-what-else, why don’t you skip the whole complicated process and JUST. ROAST. VEGGIES. Same goes with potatoes. And noodles? Well you can cook em and eat em JUST. LIKE THAT. But alas, kugel has stood the test of time, and you’ll find the gazillion calorie concoction in most Jewish Ashkenazi houses on Erev Shabbat (my mom included)!
So what, pray tell, is kugel doing HERE? Well in one word: Shtisel. The viral Israeli TV series that was made popular by Netflix has captured my heart, and that of many, Jews and non-Jews alike. It has me craving Israeli salad with tahini, tea, and all sorts of traditional heimish foods that I haven’t looked at in years. In short: If Shtisel has ME making kugel, and you’re not watching it, then you’ve got to GET. ON. IT. Chasdei Hashem I’m here to spread the Shtisel love!
So I’ve been sprinkled with “heimish” dust but that doesn’t mean that I’m going to made traditional kugel, because, well, I’m still ME. And because Shavuos is coming up, what do you think I did? I made dairy lokshin kugel – one that’s lightened up with the refreshing taste of orange, cardamom and vanilla bean + some ricotta for creaminess and yogurt for some tang. All in all, a perfect compliment to your Shavuot menu. B’hechlet!
Orange Cardamom Noodle Kugel
12 oz. wide egg noodles
4 tbsp butter, plus more for greasing the pan
4 eggs
15 oz. ricotta cheese
12 oz. plain Greek yogurt
Zest and juice of 1 medium orange
2 tbsp honey, or to taste
1/2 tsp cardamom
1 vanilla bean, split and scraped or 1 tsp vanilla extract
1/4 tsp kosher salt
1/2 cup pitted medjool dates, chopped (see note)
Method:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
Bring a pot of salted water to a boil, add noodles and cook for 7 minutes. Drain and return to the pot. Stir with butter.
In a second bowl, lightly beat the eggs. Stir in the ricotta cheese, Greek yogurt, orange zest and juice, honey, cardamom, vanilla bean paste and salt. Stir with a spoon until the mixture is smooth. Add the buttered noodles and dates and stir to incorporate.
Grease a baking dish with butter and pour in the noodle mixture. Bake for 50-60 minutes, until the kugel is set and starting to brown around the edges.
NOTE: to make chopping easier, freeze the dates or refrigerate for a few hours.
Related Recipes:
orange cardamom malabi
shavuot menu roundup
rosewater cheesecake mousse parfaits
Bubby’s challah kugel
I can totally relate to your anti-kugel stance. Me too. However, because it is a traditional food, I made a kugel recipe on Jewish Food Hero blog that was inspired by a recipe from Claudia Roden Book of Jewish Food. I think the key to getting into kugel is making your own recipe that suits your dietary preferences and your tastes. I love that you added orange juice and cardamon to this recipe..
I love the photos in this recipe and will be pinning them to my pinterest board. Well Done Chanie!
Thanks Kenden! I agree with you! I find most lokshin kugel to be too sweet and oily so adapting the recipe can definitely help with that!
I was looking for a noodle recipe for the whole family and I stumbled on this article. I read and followed the instructions carefully and I made it deliciously! Every member of my family is so happy! Thanks for this
I’m so happy to hear that Kate!
Does this taste good served cold? I don’t have a milchig plata, so we just do cold dairy on Shavuos.
I think it does, yes!
Hi, I’m looking for an overnight noodle kugel that I can put in the oven before shabbat, for a Kiddush/brunch on shabbat. How would you adjust this recipe for that purpose, assuming that it can be done?
Also, the pan looks like it is a 9×13 in the photo. Am I right? (This goes to quantity and cooking time.)
(This is for a Kiddush for 150 people, so my blech will be otherwise used with stuff for a meat lunch, after the Kiddush.)
Thanks,
Hi! While I’ve heard of overnight potato kugel, I’ve never heard of an overnight noodle kugel. I would love to hear where you’ve seen this!
Shalom I love your recipe cards! Im contacting to find out what websites you use to make them as I would love to make my recipe cards printable.
Do you mean which plugin I use?
This sounds delicious. I just make a sweet noodle kugel tonight. A few items I added to a recipe I looked up was salt, and I also cooked the noodles in salted water, 3/4 tsp vanilla and a small can of crushed pineapple. Haven’t made noodle kugel in years but it’s soooo comfort food and I’m going to try this one. Thank you for sharing the recipe